BBQ (Gouldo and DM)

New York, Central Park

The darkness of the night was a fitting setting for two hollows to go on a small killing spree. Kishin wasn't one who would usually visit the states, but there were a few cases of special spiritual pressure coming from around these parts. He hadn't had a feast for a couple of weeks now, he had just had eaten the odd soul here and there, just enough to get by really, those damn shinigami’s had been patrolling more and more often around his favourite feasting grounds; the town of Karakura, but the risk was too great to simply going to that town every day, so a change of setting was in order.

All around you could see foolish souls, and humans, this place was probably some sort of tourist attraction. It made quite the romantic setting for couples that decided to take a late stroll down the paths. It was almost too perfect; trees wherever you looked, thick grass, large bushes. So many places to hide, that is if they wanted to take the stealthy approach, but that wasn't Kishin's strong suit, and he didn't think his oversized companion was the stealthy kind of hollow either.

The two large beings standing in the centre of the walkway, was a chilling site, but it seemed none of the human's close were spiritually aware, so they continued with their business, unaware of them. A small group of spirits were only a couple of hundred metres or so down the path. Rather than catch them off guard, he let out a loud howl to alert the spirits up ahead, he then turned to Gouldo "Let the hunt begin..."

His latest accomplice had led him to a new hunting ground, a forest in the middle of a sea of concrete and steel which certainly was a curiosity to him; that the world he had known was now covered in these massive cities and the forests that had once been seen all over the world were now confined to specific areas within this metropolis, it could have been seen as sad, to a person that actually cared. For now all he cared about was the enormous mass of souls in this place, so many people in such a small space inevitably led to a lot of dead people and so many of those would remain as souls. The minions obviously agreed, dancing around and laughing at the amount of food ready for their master.

A single, chilling laugh was the only response that Gouldo would give to his new partners declaration of the start of the hunt, simply pointing towards the nearest soul the minions jumped with glee as they rushed forward while Gouldo took his time following and not even going out of his way to dodge trees, simply tearing down whatever got in his way.

Though it had already been a couple of days since his arrival, Tatsuya was still in awe of the massive structures of New York. He would walk the streets whenever he had free time. Normally he would stick to the rooftops, but seeing as the majority of buildings in the city touched the clouds, it would be trouble some if he missed a step. Tatsuya was surprised that despite the size of the city, the spiritual awareness in it was incredibly low. He had not felt the presence of any distinguishable reiatsu aside from Zamoreus' own. Tatsuya was amazed at how active the city was at all hours. Even at night when most small towns would be tucked away, the large city was still full of life.

Walking through the busy streets, Tatsuya found an area quite more familiar in looks. Full of large trees, it was its own forest in the center of the city. Tatsuya felt more comfortable and relaxed as he stepped into the mini forest. Even in the park there was still quite a few people. Tatsuya felt that he didn't think he would have to worry about hollows showing up in a city devoid of any high spiritual pressure. At least that is what he had hoped until he felt the reiatsu of two hollow appear not far from where he was. "Trouble always seems to find me." Tatsuya sighed and rushed in the direction of the howling monster. The hollows probably didn't feel the presence of any shinigami as the felt no need to hide their presence. But that was a costly mistake.

Tatsuya saw the two large hollows moving slowly towards a group of souls. He also saw some unusual creatures heading towards them as well. "They brought friends." Tatsuya flash stepped in front of the creatures with his zanpakuto drawn and quickly dispatched them before they knew what had jumped out in front of them. "Well now that the small fries are out, I can move on to the main course." Tatsuya looked confidently up at the two larger hollows.

Kishin was ready to pounce on the group of souls; he didn't want Gouldo's minions to have all the fun. But he hesitated, a human, no not a human, what was he. Kishin slowly clenched his fist, "Shinigami" he muttered, this one was quite large compared to the average sized shinigami, but he still paled in comparison to the two hollow's.

"Hahahahaha! He made short work of those pathetic minions of yours Gouldo!" Kishin took a few steps forward towards the shinigami; they were still a fair distance away. Although he mocked Gouldo for his minions being destroyed so easily, the shinigami had skill that was for sure, he couldn't be reckless, or his life would be over. He had faced many shinigami’s in the past, he knew about those annoying spells they used, he had also met the odd few who could change the shape of their blades, which allowed them to use some other ability, but they were strong, now was this man as strong as Kishin thought he was. There was only one way to truly find out.

Kishin raised his tail, and shot his acid out of the tip of his tail, at the shinigami, he sent another almost immediately after the first, the first to the body, and the second to the face.

His red eyes momentarily flared with rage as he saw his minions cut down like nothing by the sudden appearance of the shinigami, but it quickly subsided. Gouldo was hardly unused to seeing his minions die and their lives meant nothing to him as they were nothing but his slaves and he could create infinitely more to replace all that died. Immediately his hooves ground into the dirt, digging it up as he coldly watched the reaper, his ethereal voice snarling slightly when he heard his partners comment, always so snide in regards to Gouldo's power. "A mere setback. This is far from defeat for me."

He observed as the other hollow released what he assumed to be his ability at the shinigami, acid released from the tail, such poison could explain why he leaned towards such snide characteristics. Letting his partner take the heat for the moment as he finally finished digging the little pit, he poured some energy into it as the dirt melted and collided, merging together as a flamer minion rose from it. "I'll give you some fire support, 'partner'."

Tatsuya calmly watched and waited as the two hollow exchanged banter between themselves, before the dark scraggly one started the festivities. Tatsuya wasn't about to let the unknown liquid, spewed from the hollow's tail, touch him as he flash stepped to the side and braced himself against a tree. Tatsuya's eyes cocked as he watched the liquid touch the ground and begin to eat away at it. "That's some potent stuff you go there." Tatsuya began to charge the hollow, maneuvering from side to side, so as not to give the hollow an easy target. As he got closer to the scraggly hollow his eyes would dart back and forth between the two of them. Jumping into the air towards his intended target, Tatsuya, out of the courner of his eye, caught the horse-man hollow creating one of the creatures he had just cut down. Tatsuya changed his zanpakuto to a reverse grip in his left hand and flash stepped out of the air, to the ground directly in front of the hollow. He threw a hard right punch into the scraggly hollow's midsection, intending to send it flying back, but would jump back quickly if it shouldn't go that way.

He didn't think his acid would hit him, but to dodge it with such ease, it felt like he was mocking him somewhat. He was about to fire more, but the shinigami was fast, too fast to keep track, he just wouldn't keep still, hitting him, when he was moving in such a manner was next to impossible, he turned his head ever so slightly so he could see his partner "Damn it Gouldo, do something!" He gave the shinigami his full attention once again, but he disappeared, and then re-materialized, right in front of his eyes. A sickening pain came from his stomach; it felt like a bomb had hit it. As the punch connected Kishin flew a good ten yards back, before hitting the ground, and doing a few rolls to slow himself down to a stop.

Breathing heavy, he got to his feet once again "Lucky shot!" Kishin's body wasn't really built for taking much punishment, it was built for speed, and flexibility, but this shinigami was much faster than him, this looked dire. This time he coated the large spike on his tail with a much more dangerous acid, but he didn't charge, he waited, charging at the shinigami without an opening wouldn't be too smart, he would let Gouldo make an opening.

Gouldo kept a close eye on the shinigami and his partner while he continued to pour energy into the hole, another minion formed while viewing and this time he created a brute. The hollow was left disturbed by what he saw before him, a shinigami capable of moving at such speeds was something he had encountered before, during the time previous to his slumber and those times had almost every time forced him to retreat as it was too hard to catch up to such incredibly hasty attacks. This time however he was intent on redeeming himself for those past failures however, he had to be able to beat it somehow or else how would he ever be able to improve enough to gain real power.

Along with his minions Gouldo made his way closer after Kishin had been struck by the shinigami's punch, but he knew that a direct assault would be incredibly hard, he needed to be tactical about this. For this purpose, rather then charging right at the shinigami, Gouldo made his way while simultaneously going sideways, not taking too much time but at the same time ensuring a level of caution. To make sure the shinigami was not allowed to just stand around and wait he ordered the flamer minion to throw fireballs at him.

Tatsuya slowly retracted his arm as the hollow flew back and his attention turned towards the horse-man hollow. "That one is slower than the other one." Tatsuya quickly observed as the horse-man moved over towards the other one. "One attacker and one support fighter. It's easy enough to see which one would be more annoying if left unattended." Tatsuya raised his zanpakuto in front of him and glided his right hand along the back of the blade; flames emitting from his body as he raised his reiatsu. "Rise from the ashes, Suzaku" Flaming metal gauntlets, with a blade protruding from the top, now covered Tatsuya's hands and forearms. Not wasting any time he vaulted high into the air and began to chant. "Crusader of the sky ensnare thy burning clouds. Burning clouds set ablaze thy captor." Tatsuya turned his head towards the hollows as his back was facing them, hiding what was happening around his hands. Fire was quickly gathering and condensing into a small disc as Tatsuya prepared to unleash the kidou. "Bakudo number 28- Inferno buckler." Tatsuya flash stepped in-between the two hollows, but appeared immediately next to the horse-man hollow. Rotating his body quickly Tatsuya catapulted the disc at the scraggly hollow, continuing to turn while aiming a devastating round house kick at the horse-man's large black head.

So, this shinigami could change the shape of his blade, how troublesome. He had only faced a few like him before, and it never did end well for Kishin. But what did these new weapons do, by the look of them; they seemed like a weapon for close combat. Perhaps increasing the power of his punches, but he couldn't be sure. Damn that shinigami was fast, reappearing in between Kishin and Gouldo. The shinigami then threw, what seemed to be a flaming disc at Kishin, trying to ignore the disc, he fired two doses of acid at the shinigami; hopefully his attention was on Gouldo, and his acid could deal a decent blow to the man. His smugness was short lived, as Kishin was engulfed in flames. He was trapped in a sphere of flames; singing his body all over, if he were to move, he would be burnt pretty badly, his skin was tough, so he could take these mild burns he was suffering as he stood still. This attack couldn't go on forever, he would just have to wait it out, and think of a sufficient strategy, hopefully Gouldo might do something useful for once.

Gouldo instantly took note as the shinigami spoke a rather curious phrase, followed by the sword transforming into a pair of gauntlets, both wreathed in flame and from these visual queues Gouldo could not decipher much about what precisely the new weapon would do but he could only imagine it relating to fire. This was of course not the first time that Gouldo would have encountered a shinigami with such capabilities, having existed for over eight hundred years after all, but universally for all these encounters was the fact that it was never a good thing for the hollow. The reaper however gave little time to consider it as he proved capable of incredible speeds, Gouldo not even able to pick up what exactly happened before the reaper was next to him, launching some projectile at his ally while coming in against Gouldo.

There was no way in hell that Gouldo could ever avoid such an attack, the speed was simply far too great for him to comprehend but fortune smiled as his body would soon prove quite the perfect build for dealing with such an attack in particular. First the tip of the foot would first glance, then impact against the shielding presence of the humongous shoulderpads that partly covered the side of his helmet-like mask, taking up part of the impact. Then came the horns, also not enough to take away all the force but proving a more effective way of taking the hit then simply tanking it with his face. Finally it impacted on his mask, a loud cracking sound but no visible damage except for the torn up shoulderpad and the lack of one horn. To try and capitalize quickly on this opportunity Gouldo swiped up with his hand, hoping to grab the leg while his torso bended to the side from the force, the sturdy legs still holding.

Tatsuya heard the bakudo expanding in flames as his back was turned to the scraggly hollow. Tatsuya's kick landed with a punishing thud against the hollow. "Chh" Tatsuya wasn't to pleased with the results. He was going to string his attack with a kick to the other side of the hollows head when he felt something hit his back. His head jerked and eyebrows cocked up as his mind began to quickly deduce what had occurred. With his leg still extended out, Tatsuya without a second of hesitation ripped the top portion of his shihakusho from his body and dropped it to the ground before the scraggly hollow's acid touched his body. Whether it was coincidence or planned out, that attacked caused a distraction long enough for the other hollow to grasp Tatsuya's leg. "Shit!" Tatsuya felt the hollow's grip tighten on his leg. Tatsuya began to draw the fire from his gauntlet into a ball to launch it at the hollow.

Kishin had no idea what was going on, he couldn't hear much except the crackling of the flames, which surrounded him, it was unlikely that Gouldo could beat him on his own, it still didn't look very possible when they were fighting together; although they weren't really fighting together, they were basically taking turns to attack. They hadn't really worked together in a fight before this one, so it wasn't a surprise that they weren't very coordinated. Despite trying to stay calm and think of a plan, he couldn't think in such a place, and he didn't really want Gouldo to hog all the fun, Well, this is going to hurt. Kishin took a breath, raised his arms, over his face, and jumped into the flames, trying to break through. He did so, but the intense heat from the flames, were burning him, after rolling on the ground, to put out the flames, he slowly got to his feet; it hurt to even move, he overestimated the toughness of his skin, the burns were severe, he couldn't fight very well in this condition. He looked up, to see the flaming sphere, it managed to get out the other side of it, this left him in a good position, although he couldn't see what was happening between the shinigami, and Gouldo, they would presume he was still in the flaming sphere, well for at least for a little while.

Kishin's burnt skin, began flaking and cracking, until it was gone; he know had a new layer of healthy skin, with no injuries to be seen. He then coated the bladed tip of his tail with acid, ran to the left of the sphere to see what was happening, Gouldo had managed to grab the shinigami, this was perfect, if he could just hold of him long enough, for Kishin to get a shot in. Kishin darted towards the two, but the shinigami was up to something, he began to gather fire. So that's his trick, he uses fire. He jabbed his tail, trying to stab the shinigami in the back, with the tip of his tail.

His counter had apparently succeeded, it would appear that Kishin had actually managed to provide a distraction ample enough to allow an opening in the reapers defences, leaving little resistance as Gouldo was able to grab onto the lag, clamping down hard with his clawed fingers. Now he was just about to go into another step of attack when he noted the fire forming in the hand of his prey but not yet being released. It would certainly seem that he had made the correct choice when it came to what minion he decided to create for himself after the loss of all others.

To prepare himself for what was to come he had the fire minion jump into his hand, having waited loyally by his side for when its master would call and as he did it eagerly leaped as it was called. Striking forward with his living weapon Gouldo aimed at the ball of fire forming in the reapers hands with the intent (or hope) that the creature's natural immunity to fire would negate the fireball's effects and cause it to disappear.

The hollow's grip was tight on Tatsuya's leg, tight enough that he couldn't kick himself free. Fueling the growing fireball, Tatsuya felt the trapped hollow's reiatsu greatly fluctuate; first going up then dropping drastically. Tatsuya head turned slightly as he heard the scraggly hollow charging towards them. Out of the corner of his eye Tatsuya saw one of the flaming minions jump towards his fireball. Not wanting to chance the capabilities of the minion and in need of a defense, Tatsuya quickly rotated as best he could. "Hinote Soujuu," The fire ball he had produced to attack now flattened out and widened to produce a flaming wall in-between him and the scraggly hollow's attack. The minion was slow. Slow enough that Tatsuya had enough time to grasp it after quickly setting up the wall. Tatsuya was in a bad spot and needed to get out fast. He tossed the flaming minion at the horse-man hollow's face, and "sat up" in the air, delivering a hard punch into the hollow's wrist so that it would let go and he could get some distance.

As Kishin closed in on the shinigami, their victory looked certain, if Gouldo could just hold onto the man for a few more seconds; Kishin could punch him full of holes. But the shinigami made his move, separating Kishin from the pair, with a wall of flames. He quickly skidded to a halt, so this was what the shinigami's powers were. Manipulating flames, or something of that nature. How troublesome, something which his acid wouldn't have much effect on. He was once again isolated from the pair, this was beginning to annoy him, what's the point of fighting two on one, if the man wouldn't let them do that, what was the point of it. "Argh."

He tried to hear what was going on, but the crackling flames was all he could hear. "Gouldo! Hurry up and do something useful! I'm getting tired of waiting, either kill him or die so I can have some fun!" He smashed his tail into the ground out of frustration. He was forced to wait once again, but this is the last time he was going to be forced to wait like this.

Gouldo was feeling confident in their chances now, having a tight grip on the reaper and seeing his lost ally appearing behind the shinigami and charging forward to finally manage to do something in this fight. As he sent the minion forward to quench the flame however things began to take a turn for the worse as the shinigami turned quicker then he could which allowed the reaper to release the fire and block off the advancing Kishin. While the other hollow's taunt was annoying he had no time to consider it as the minion he had unleashed was quickly defended against and the fiery being flew straight into his face, not hurting him as it was after all a part of himself but still blocking his vision.

That would of course not be all however as he felt a tug from the leg in his hand as the shinigami jerked forward, the fist slamming into his wrist and with a roar the hand was forced open by the pain, the exo-skeleton slightly caving in and pressing up against the nerves inside. Gouldo would not let him go so easily however as that could easily mean their deaths and so quickly lashed out with his front legs, hoping to kick the man towards the firewall behind him before being able to get the legs back on the ground again.

Tatsuya ignored the scraggly hollow's comments to its companion as his punch pushed into its armor. Needless to say, he was less than pleased when the hollow's grip didn't weaken upon taking the blow. Tatsuya wasn't sure what to expect when the hollow failed to let go. "Damn" he guarded his body with his arms and kept his head closed to it as he felt the hollow lift its front legs. Getting hit full force, Tatsuya was stunned by the hollow's hoofs, but he felt the hollow's grip release his leg, sending him flying. He quickly realized where he was headed. Tatsuya flew through the firewall, but did not exit the other side. Tatsuya took a few seconds inside the firewall to shake his head and compose himself looking at both the surprised hollows. "Hmph, guess they thought I would get toasted by the fire." Tatsuya quickly jumped back out, unscathed, with a drop kick right into the horse-man hollow's chest. Not waiting, he pushed himself back into the firewall and jumped out appearing beneath the scraggly hollow planting a hard right knee into its own leg and pushing off and upward turning around backwards swinging his left leg around aiming for its head, planning to push off back into the flames. They had their chance had they held onto him, but once they let go, their fate was sealed.

Kishin's tail was eating away at the ground which it was resting on. He didn't relieve the acid on the bladed tip just yet, he was sure the shinigami would show himself soon, so he had to be ready. He kept a close eye on the flaming wall, and saw an outline of shinigami, but appeared much closer than he would of expected, it was almost like he was inside the flames, but there was no sign of pain, or struggling involved, so he couldn't be in the flames, could he? Perhaps that was a bonus to manipulating fire. His theories were put to an end, and the man shot out of the flames heading towards Gouldo once again. Needless to say this frustrated Kishin further, however his frustration didn't last, as the shinigami now pounced at him.

His knee smashed into his own leg, making his stance falter somewhat, and then the shinigami tried a kick to his skull, Kishin raised his arm to try and contain the blow, but this man had a lot of power behind his kick. Kishin skidded back, before getting out of reach; he attempted to wrap his tail around the shinigami's leg; like a snare. Hoping he could make the shinigami lose his footing.

It would have appeared that his plan hadn't exactly come to fruition in any way close to the manner Gouldo had anticipated or hoped it would as the shinigami seemingly stayed inside the fire rather then popping out on the other side a charred pile of remains as he should have, perhaps he functioned similarly to the flamer minions in that while he was able to use fire he was also immune to its effects. Regardless of how it actually worked it meant trouble, all their efforts up until then gone to waste all because of one simple punch, how they would get out of this now was the better question, this certainly couldn't be a battle any longer.

Leaping back out of the flames, the reaper hit him and returned before Gouldo could even blink, the large foot crashing into his chest like a wrecking ball. The carapace cracked and groaned as pieces of it fell off, revealing the wounded skin beneath and blood pouring out of him. But his opponent had already went over to the other side, leaving an opportunity for Gouldo as he stomped both his front hooves into the ground, pouring energy into it to restore his army while he sent his fire minion through the wall of flame, hoping to provide some measure of assistance to Kishin.

Tatsuya had them on the ropes, or at least that's what he thought. He had hoped his kick would have connected with the scraggly hollow's head, but was disappointed when the hollow was able to block his kick. Tatsuya was getting ready to head back into the flame wall as the scraggly hollow skidded back when he felt something wrap around his leg and pull it out from under him. Falling to the ground, Tatsuya tucked and rolled catching a glimpse of a moving fire creature. Pushing off the ground and into the air, he saw the little minion looking up at him. Coming down hard and fast, the little minion was pancaked into the ground underneath Tatsuya's much greater size, creating a small crater where the minion once stood. "This is getting old, Hollow." He looked back and forth at the scraggly hollow and horse-man hollow, having let out a sigh before speaking. Not waiting even for a split second, Tatsuya slammed his hands together once, the metal clanged as they hit. "Kudakero" He commanded as his hands came together. The resulting effect was the firewall behind him shattering into a couple of dozen volleyball sized fireballs. "You know... I'm feeling rather generous." Tatsuya took a moment to think as the fireballs hovered in the air. "On second thought.." He quickly launched the fireballs at both hollows sending half to each.

When the man fell to the ground, Kishin hoped that Gouldo could finish him off their and then, but no the man once again proved his skills, as he once again made short work of those minions, Kishin stopped and watched as the wall of flames separated into volleyball sized fireballs. This wasn't good, the fireballs then began to bombard Kishin, and all he could do was stand there, it was clear that this shinigami was out of his league, although the pair hadn't fought together before now, that excuse was no good. Even if they would have prepared for this, they would of still been beaten, all that there was to do now, was survive the onslaught and then escape.

Once the smoke cleared from the bombardment of fireballs, Kishin was down on one knee, panting, with quite severer burns covering his body. "Looks like you've won shinigami...I know when I've been beaten" He quickly slashed the air, opening a portal, "Gouldo if you're still alive, I suggest you retreat!" He yelled, Kishin quickly jumped into the portal, which swiftly closed after him. Leaving Gouldo and the shinigami.

His support to Kishin was quickly proved to be a futile effort as the fiery creature was smashed underneath the enemy form and dispatched before it could provide any level of distraction or damage to the shinigami. Gouldo had however managed to create three more minions already however, a creeper and two flamers to see if there was anything that could still be done but from what happened next it could appear that nothing could sway this battle at this point. The wall that separated Gouldo from both the reaper and his partner in crime dissipating and forming into a dozen balls of flame, separating themselves from the cluster and flying towards both of the two hollow.

Driven by their instinctive desire to protect their master, the minions (thanks mostly to the creepers speed) got in the way of the fireballs and their overlord. While the creeper was incinerated the other two of course with their natural abilities was unharmed by the assault, leaving only two fireballs having hit their intended target. But with the damage he had already suffered this still meant nothing as Gouldo had no way of defeating this foe, especially as Kishin disappeared back into Hueco Mundo. Quickly following suit, Gouldo took a step back as his body and minions were enveloped by the ethereal gate.

The fire emitting from Tatsuya's zanpakuto was flaring wildly on his arms as he waited for the smoke to clear. "Hmm, maybe I held back too much." Tatsuya looked over at the burnt scraggly hollow. "How odd, I remember hollows being more relentless." He watched as the hollow retreated back to Hueco Mundo, then turning his attention back to the horse-man hollow which had far less damage. "Those little minions really do come in handy don't they?" Tatsuya rhetorically ask before that hollow followed suit. "My, my. Not even hanging around for dessert. How rude." Tatsuya chuckled as he started walking away from the scene. People walking close by would probably think somebody had a barbecue going with the smell of burning hollow in the area. Too bad that wasn't entirely true, Tatsuya smiled as he thought about it, his zanpakuto sealing it self away back into its katana form.