Sand Serpent[Nius]

It was his very first time here in Hueco Mundo, all by himself even. Who would ever let an unseated and squad-lacking Shinigami into Hueco Mundo? Well, as soon as he was shown how to enter Hueco Mundo he decided to go. Hell, if he would have had someone to inform about it he would have, but he didn't. They could probably hold this against him later, but he had a feeling no one would be looking. He was an official Shinigami now. He had the uniform and everything.

That didn't mean that Tataki wasn't still going to do whatever he wanted, however. No. He was still going to persue his individual goals and do whatever he felt like. That could or could not change in the near future when he's put in a squad, but for now it was time for a celebration. By celebration, he meant to find something to smash. Now, Tataki wouldn't have to focus his frustrations in thrashing the faces of his fellow students. No. Now he could find enemies to do that too. He had finally reached the appropriate level to which he could test his mettle in live combat. It was no life and death and he was more than ready to spread plenty of death around.

The place was a lot more empty than he would have thought. The great Hueco Mundo in it's finiest was just a endless desert of white sand. Coming here without a team could probably be considered suicide, but Tataki absolutely had to find something to fight. It didn't matter if it was weak or strong, he just wanted to fight it. To finally put his hands on a hollow...That would make everything seem to have some purpose to it. All these years of training and dedication and, surprisingly, failing and he could now put it all to the test.

Walking, Tataki spotted a peculiar trail. One that looked like it belonged to a snake, but there was something strange about it. Something...Different. Almost inconsistent as the creature dragged itself along these white sands. Tataki smirked as he already found his first opponent. How far was it going to be? It couldn't be all that far right? Tataki started to run, his eyes ever vigilant of the opponent. Sure, he could probably attract plenty more hollows than even he would want just rushing forward with his energy detectable, but he wasn't worried about that. He wanted a fight. He wanted to draw the Hollow too him like a fish line in the ocean.

How long until he found that snake?

Making its way through the endless sands of Hueco Mundo was a process that had become rather customary to N.I.U.S during its time as a hollow, it definitely wasn't a safe place but it held its merit as the place where the only true risk lay in encroaching on a stronger hollows territories rather then constantly being hounded by the pesky shinigami, as here it was rare to find anything but the weakest of hollow scurrying around. While it had certainly processed the notion of perhaps building its own territories it had come to the decision that it was too impractical, the prey would still be limited unless actively pursued and it would attract attention that most likely would not at all be desireable. For now, the living world remained an ample enough hunting ground and the spoils it could gather in the desert without making a land for itself was certainly not limited either.

While it was processing matters however, its sensors detected something else far more interesting then any unnecessary plans for conquest in the desert, a shinigami. What it was doing in the land of hollows was unknown, how it had gotten there was unknown, how strong it was, was unknown, but what was known was that it was close and that the sensation of its presence was all the more alluring to the part of it that made it devour then shinigami ever were in the living world. There was only one choice to make as N.I.U.S turned around in its path, it was time to hunt.

"Ho!" What was that just now? A slight pressure against Tataki's innards. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and gooseflesh tighten his skin. Tataki suddenly felt an excitable urge run rampant inside him. Something absolutely fascinating was put into motion and not to far from him either. Whatever it was driving this pleasurable anxiety, he didn't want it to stop. No. Stopping this excitement would be like ending a roller coaster ride just as they were climbing to the top before the ride down. This ride had yet to begin.

Tataki paused where he was, an enormous smile spread across his face as he flaunted his white teeth. His messy dark hair started to tussle as he gathered up his spiritual power and started to concentrate on the spell that he was about to cast. Slowly, he murmured the words to himself as he prepared this incantation. Above him, the sky started to grow dark and the arid desert air filled up with iron smelling moisture. The clouds were strange. They didn't gather around in their ordinary cumulus formation. It was almost a pattern in the air that made the clouds almost form a compass with a large round pool in the center and four spread out pools in each cardinal direction. There was a large center, 4 bridges extending out of that larger center, and a pole at the end of each of these bridges.

The strange clouds over the cocky, bold, maniacal boy were very dangerous. But hell, what would any prey know about these clouds? What would they know about the growing moisture in the air and the meaning behind their pattern? Tataki was confident that it would go underestimated. Hollow were just so stupid.

While approaching the source of this strange intrusion into the undisputed realm of hollows, it detected a peculiar change in the atmosphere around it. While usually the air of Hueco Mundo offered the perfect atmosphere for its internal parts, with its permanent dry cold, it now found its machinery disturbed by a sudden increase in moisture which stood out as an oddity almost as strong as the presence of a shinigami in these lands to begin with. There certainly was the possibility that it could be a mere coincidence, N.I.U.S definitely wasn't in the business to exclude options without proof, but it seemed the most likely that the appearance of the reaper and this new change was connected.

Already driven to a state of heightened awareness by this first change, the robotic serpent was able to discover all the other changes in its surroundings, the strange pattern forming in the clouds along with the fact that its eye was on a spot very close to the estimated location of the shinigami. That it was a coincidence was becoming ever more unlikely. While it was clear that something was happening, N.I.U.S had to find out what exactly it was. It could clearly sense that this reaper was nowhere near the power it had already seen come from the captain it had encountered, but being cautious was certainly not a bad thing in certain situations and shortly the snake burrowed beneath the sands, heading unseen towards its target.

"Ah ha..." Tataki was pretty pleased with the appearance of the very Hollow that left the holes in the ground. Was this luck? Maybe. Tataki had finally come up upon his congratulatory boss fight. It was about time he stretched this new found position through his sword and into the body of this Hollow. But, there was something a little off that Tataki immediately noted.

"Chicken..." Tataki breathed, a little urked by the Hollow's hesitance. What kinda Hollow doesn't speed up at the sight of fresh bait? This was in Hueco Mundo too. The Hollow had to be starving, right? Or wait. They were so stupid that they ate each other, weren't they? But this one looked pretty skinny. The sinuous, rough looking body was unfamiliar to Tataki. He'd never seen a creature just like that. "So that's what a snake looks like." Putting the word to the picture was a lot easier than simply being described on in a book. But, did they really look like that? This snake looked like it was missing pieces.

"Oi, broken snake! Get the hell over here!" Tataki demanded, pointing his hand straight for the soft white sands under his sandals. Don't bother running. Don't bother with tricks. Don't bother trying to be clever or annoying. Tataki was in the mood for a straight up fist fight. Well, not literally.

Rain. The rain fell down to hit the sands, darkening their pure white appearance, and started to summon up a muddy slush. You'd think that would be harder to move around in, especially for a humanoid like Tataki, but it was all good. There was a special quality about these rains that would be clear up close as the corrosive bubbling of the sands mimicked a sulfur pool. If this Hollow was very perceptive, it may be able to pick up this change in the ground through a few ways. A trap. An obvious one, but it was a trap nonetheless.

"I'll count to 3, Hollow. You know how many numbers that is?" Tataki would ask, insulting as he raised a patronizing hand to show three fingers. "This many. You got this many to get over here." To Tataki, he may as well be speaking to some inbreed, mutant Frankenstein. Hollow were nothing but stupid, annoying pests that were as beneficial as cockroaches. He didn't feel bad at all that he was treating Nius as an idiot. In fact, Tataki wouldn't be surprised if the Hollow didn't respond. Maybe it was too stupid to understand words.