Unleashed (arawn)

Rev glanced around, his surroundings were unfamiliar to him. A nightmarish forest, whose trees where twisted and horrifically misshapen. He was standing on a well walked path, his eyes scanning and darting around him. He would catch motion out of the corner of his eye, or hear a rustle behind him. His senses told him he was both alone and something was there. Panic began to rise in him, his own senses seemed hell bent on confusing him more. He shook his head, trying to dislodge the paranoia that was slowly taking control. He focus on the path before him, taking one cautious step after another. His eyes darted from one side of the road to the other. He spun in place suddenly, his fists raised in self defense to fight the nothingness that was behind him. "I swear I heard giggling...I am going insane..." he half chuckled to himself. As he turned back around a figure in a red cloak stood before him. Before what he saw even registered in his brain, the figure charged him.

Rev leaped out of his bed, the sound of the locks to his cell door were being unlocked. He sat down slowly, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Another nightmare." he mumbled, holding his shaking hands out before him to assess how bad he really was shaking. The door to his cell opened, for the first time since he had been moved to this cell, after his interrogation. He didn't even know how long he had been in the cell, or held captive. It took his eyes several seconds to adjust to the brighter light coming from the hallway, before he could make out any details on the figures that stood in the door. Two men, black robes, both looked relatively young. The two prison guards entered his cell and flanked either side of the door, crossing their arms across their chests, waiting for him to make one false move, he assumed. A third man stepped into the cell, Older than the others, but wearing the same black robes, but with some kind of badge on his arm. "Stand, prisoner, and get changed into these." he said tossing a change of clothes onto the ground between them. Rev nodded in compliance, and changed quickly into the white sleeveless shirt and the gray pants, and long sleeve shirt provided there was a number printed down the left leg, the back of the shirt, and, although smaller, above the heart: 100-1.

"Take him to the assembly area for the others bound for Twelfth squad." The older man said, as he turned and disappeared into the hall. The younger two guards stood at attention then produces a set of leg and arm shackles from inside their robes. Rev didn't even flince as they shackled him, he was eager to get out of this cell. Once shackled Rev was escorted through a maze of twisting and turning hallways until finally he stood in a large room with about a dozen other prisoners. Only, he was the only prisoner not wearing white robes, and, he was the only one that had two escorts. But this was not what had Rev's attention. His eyes were locked on the guard carrying a wrapped bundle. It wasn't the bundle, or the guard, that had his attention though. It was the hilt of his sword and his dog tags that were still wrapped around the handle that his eyes were locked on. His muscles tensed as he fought the impulse to 'retrieve' his weapon.

Back in the solatary confinement block, the elderly guard walked through the halls with a strange smirk on his face. He stopped and entered a door into an office. Once inside he locked the door behind him, turned and smiled at the mirror image of himself that was tied to the chair behind the desk, and gagged. The unbound man smiled as the bound one cursed and tried to fight his bonds, to no avail. The unbound man's skin suddenly began to glow, which turned into a blinding white light, and he was gone. But, what stood in his place was a beautiful blonde woman in the trademark black robes of a shinigami. "Oh don't give me that look." she said, pulling her zanpakuto from its sheathe and pointing it at the bound man, "In a few seconds you won't remember a thing." The room suddenly filled with a pulsing and flashing light, and a few moments later the woman left the room, grinning. "Now, on to the experiment." she said to herself.

The papers fell down to the ground like snowflakes. Arawn let out a gasp of dismay as he lunged to catch the parchment before they fell. He managed to get one of the twenty that fluttered around him. Lowering his head he let out a sigh. He looked as the man that had nudged him continued on his way as if nothing had happened. There were other in the hallway, but none were even looking at him. Apparently something was going on that had much of the lab in a uproar. Arawn himself had hear there was going to be a presentation or something. Bryce had explained it to him the day before, but honestly he had forgotten what. Simone had mentioned something too about it. Pushing that thought aside he bent down to retrieve his fallen paperwork. Budgets and reports from the other departments had been forwarded to his office and he'd barely finished the first half. As he reached for a page someone scurried by and nearly stepped on his hand. Arawn was quick in pulling it back saving himself some pain, but increasing his frustration. Why was it so hard to avoid a figure in a white lab coat in the middle of a bright hallway? Some people in the squad put the Mad into Mad scientist. If it wasn't about an experiment or study, they weren't interested. Which explained the lack of people skills at times.

Thankfully Arawn had people that had some shred of humanity and decency around him. Otherwise he would have quit quite awhile ago. Another person pushed by his crouched form nearly knocking him down. He could definitely use such a person now.
"Arawn!!!" he heard someone yell from down the hall. He turned his head to peek over his shoulder. He manged a small smile as he saw Simone coming his way.
"Thank you gods." Arawn muttered to himself as she drew closer. But instead of stopping to help him Simone grabbed Arawn by the arm and yanked him to his feet. Rather startled he put up little resistance as he puled him down the hallway. The few papers he had gathered back up slid back to the floor. She did seem to be rather strong for her size. He gazed at the brunette woman in disbelief. "Wait, my papers!" he managed to get out.
"Don't worry about them, we'll get them on the way back." She said with a dismissive wave. "We got to hurry before all the good seats are taken. I sent Bryce ahead to secure us a place."
"Bryce?" Arawn asked quite puzzled. Now that he thought about he had yet to see the hunchback all day.
"Yeah, no one likes that tentacle; perfect man for the job." As she talked she hadn't slowed down in the slightest. They had turned twice and Arawn was still too confused.
"So where are we going?" he finally asked. Trying to fight with Simone when she was like this was nearly impossible. She got her way, or annoyed you until you wished she had. Simone turned her compact eyes at Arawn and winked. Of course she wanted it to be a surprise, but did it need to be? Groaning the red haired man followed her lead. That lead to an elevator and then four more corridors.

As they passed a door Bryce popped out and waved all three of his arms frantically.
"Over here you guys!" he screeched. "It's almost started." The two came to a stop and entered the door behind the hunchback. They had entered small looking room with with six chairs. All of these chair were empty giving Arawn a clear view of a rather large screen. It almost looked like a private movie theater. On the screen was man in a labcoat. His mouth was moving, but there was no sound coming out.
"What is this?" Arawn asked as Simone finally let go of his arm and took a seat in one of the leather chairs.
"Observation booth." She said grinning as she flopped down. Arawn moved around to take a seat in the middle just as Bryce too the chair on the far end. He sat there watching the screen, but still he couldn't hear anything.
"Ummm." he said looking over to Simone would whose face had a broad grin. Finally he asked the obvious question. "What's he saying?"
"Boring stuff, I wish he'd hurry and get on with it." she replied very much annoyed..

Rev's eyes never left the the carriage it was taken into. Even when they move him into another carriage with half of the other prisoners. Once the prisoners were secured into their two carriages, the guards took up positions around the carriages, and the three carriage convoy moved out. They moves slowly through the streets, but Rev hardly paid attention, he was focused on the feeling of his sword. Although it was locked inside of the first carriage, he could still feel it there. This feeling of longing absorbed most of his attention. The world outside the carriage was a blur to him. The other prisoners in his carriage carried on small talk, disused their crimes, and mostly left him alone. But as they neared what Rev assumed was their destination, the prisoner to his left nudged him. "hey man, I heard if we survive this then were free. what do you think?" Rev turned and stared at the man for a moment. "Survive what?" he asked. His question silenced the others, and they stared at him, not sure if he was joking or serious.

The convoy entered the building and the prisoners were unloaded and the two guards that escorted Rev before took up their positions on either side of him. Rev and the rest of the prisoners were then escorted through a long series of narrow hallways and corridors. Until finally the twelve others were inside what looked like a holding pin. Rev's escorts stopped him at the gate to the pin, and unshackled his legs. He held his arms towards the guard to get his hands unshackled, but the guards looked at each other, nodded, and pushed him into the pin. Rev stumbled back from the shove, and recovered to slow to stop them from closing the gate. The two guards stood just out of his reach, and one said: "This is for our friend you killed."

Rev could only glare at the two as they turned and left. The shackles on his wrists would only let him keep his wrists just under a foot apart, not enough room to defend himself properly. The other prisoners turned their backs on him, saying things like "tough luck man." or "it sucks to be you." The holding pin was not level with the ground outside of the larger gate, where the other prisoners were gathered. Rev pushed his way to get a better view. They were roughly fifteen feet above some kind of arena, and above them sat a few hundred onlookers, some in the black robes of his guards, although the majority wore what looked like white lab coats. Outside the pin, in the center of the arena a man spoke, but Rev's attention was focused elsewhere. His felt his sword near him, he glanced down to see a blonde woman in black robes carrying the bundle from before, walking out from what he assumed was a passage below them. She walked around the arena, reaching in and pulling out sword after sword from the bundle and tossing them to the ground carelessly. After she made a lap around the speaker, she stopped next to him, and pulled the last sword, Rev's sword from the bundle and plunged it sheathe first into the ground nest to her. Rev felt pain when to woman touched his sword, and more so when she stabbed it into the ground. "shit....is everyone against me today?" he mumbled. The blonde woman, nodded to the speaker, and then vanished, leaving the fabric bundle on the ground next to his sword. She reappeared a split second later in the stands next to some kind of booth. Rev blinked a few times, trying to wrap his mind over what just happened. "how the fuck...." he said, which got a chuckle out of the other prisoners. Rev didn't like how his luck was going today, but one thing was for sure, he was getting his sword back and getting out of the chains.

The door to the booth opened, and a blonde woman stepped in, and look curiously at the three 'guests' that were in her booth. She shrugged, knowing it didn't matter if she was seen now or not. "Oh I'm sorry, I did not realize this booth was taken." she said politely, giving a polite bow. "Do you mind if i watch the experiment from here?" she said as she raise back up, giving a very polite smile.

While Arawn was curious to what the man was saying it would seem Simone wasn't. She had the remote so her will be done. He tried fervently to read the man's lips, but this proved to be pointless. Not just because Arawn had zero skill in doing so, but the man had a mustache and beard that made it quite difficult to do so. In the end he resigned himself to just 'watching and seeing'. It was a rather close up of the man so there wasn't much to see at the moment. With a light sigh, so that Simone wouldn't hear him, Arawn cradled his chin on his palm and tried to relax. The room itself was rather empty so not much else for him to do. As he lazily kept his eyes on the screen he noted some motion from behind the old man. He really wished there was some way to turn up the volume, but instead he focused on the motion he saw. Sure enough another person had come into view. A woman at that. It was a shame he couldn't see what she was doing as the speaker still dominated the screen. All he could see what abit of her face as she passed the speaker. First she went by in front and then behind. Was she walking around him for some reason. Mentally he willed for the camera man to zoom out. His telepathic message was never recieved and the view of the bearded man continued. Arawn gave a small sigh, but kept his eyes on the woman. At least she was easier to look at than the man. It was definite she was doing something as the way she moved didn't seem like a leisurely walk. Still it didn't make sense for her to walk around him without some purpose. She then came to a stop and there was a jerking motion. She had done something, but it was still out of sight of the camera. If this was supposed to be a show, it was rapidly shaping up to be rather boring. And just like that she vanished. Whatever task set before her was done. It was back to the man going on. Perhaps Simone was right the fact he hadn't stopped talking might be a sign he was saying something rather boring. Still Arawn's curiosity grew with each second. So he sat there cradling his chin wondering when things would start to get interesting

It didn't take long. Less than a second later the door opened. Arawn welcomed the distraction and turned to towards the door. His eyes widened as he beheld the woman that had just appeared on the screen. What are the chances? he thought to himself. Simone and Bryce also turned to meet the guest.
"Hello." He murmured with a small wave. Bryce's tentacle was already waving vigorously after he laid eyes upon her.
She seemed shocked to see them there. Simone had said the hunchback had secured them seats, he might have taken someone's without knowing. She had been just on screen so being part of the experiment might have prevented her from coming here. "Sure by all means take a seat." Arawn said quickly accepting her request to join. He got up from his seat and moved closer towards Bryce leaving the center chairs for the newcomer. Just as he sat down Simone sat on his opposite side. The insect eyed woman looked and the blonde as she took her new set beside Arawn. The silence was abit awkward, but he decided to break it.
"Nice to meet you I'm Arawn Dan'Shir. These are my friends Bryce and Simone." He said pointed to each companion in turn. Bryce's tentacle waved ever more quickly at his introduction. Simone gave a slight nod. Honestly Arawn felt bad not telling their full names, but honestly he didn't even recall what their last names were. He was about to say something else when picture on the screen changed. Simone jabbed him in the shoulder to get his attention
"It's about to begin!" she said.

Rev caught a few words of what the bearded man had said. "...And these prisoners will be facing hollows.." At the mention of hollows he took a few steps back from the gate. He remembered the monster that killed him vividly. But he found it odd that he wasn't afraid to fight another. He was actually eager, although he couldn't even explain to himself why. He hadn't noticed the announcer leave the arena, and without warning the gates opened. Rev rushed forward, but was violently pushed down by another of the prisoners. "Survival of the fittest." the rather large prisoner said laughing. Rev scrambled to his feet, but was already far enough behind that another prisoner was standing next to his sword. But, The prisoner just stood there, his body was rigid, and his hand hovered an inch above Rev's sword. Rev started to run towards the man, but slowed to a cautious walk. "Somethings not right" he said to himself. The other prisoners all had weapons in hand, and ready to attack whatever monster they were to face. Rev was about a dozen feet from his sword when he noticed a small pool of blood under the prisoner that beat him there. Before he could even think to shout to the others the mans body lifted into the air, and infront of him stood something that made Rev freeze in his tracks.

The hollow had a grotesquely thin body, with limbs that were barely thicker then a pool cue. It had nearly a foot long claw for each of its fingers, and its body was pitch black. Its mask was what Rev found to be the strangest. A maw of sharp teeth, no nose, and the eye sockets were nothing more then indentations in its mask. It lifted its first victim up with its hand that was plunged deep into his chest, and threw him at the booth the blonde had disappeared into earlier.


--A few moments earlier in the booth--


"Oh its nice to meet you all." She said giving another polite bow, "My name is Alidia, but please just call me Ali." She did not give her real name, not like it mattered if she did or not, the infiltration part of her mission was over. Now all she had to do was sit back and watch the real experiment. She made he way to the unoccupied chair, picking it up and moving it to the wall, that she sat with her back facing. "I hope you enjoy the experiment. From what I was told they are using a special hollow today." she said. As if on cue, the gate for the prisoners opened, and at the same time a gate on the opposite site of the arena opened. And out of the second gate a two thin creatures moved. One darted quickly to the center of the arena, intercepting and plunging its clawed hand into the first prisoners chest. The second creature stayed in the shadows near the open gate. "Oh now this should be intriguing, I wonder what its abilities are. " the blonde said putting up a front of excited enthusiasm. She already knew which of the captured hollows was going to be used, she picked it out. A second later the impaled prisoner bounced off the glass to the arena, and a smirk appeared on her face. "This should be good indeed." she said to herself.

The picture on the screen no longer had the man speaking; a welcome change. Still since he didn't know what was going he could only watch and try to figure it out as it transpired. The scene before Arawn was that of men running out of a gate. Men? This peaked his curiosity. What could be the purpose of these men? They were all wearing rather simple white robes. They were rushing from the gate towards the center of the area. The whole place seemed to look like an arena. But it was then that the woman spoke her greeting that he turned away to listen. Alidia. No last name? He could only guess she didn't want to get too familiar with them, but first name was a start. And then she mentioned hollows. For a moment Arawn thought he heard her wrong. He had just seen men on the screen. It was then that he heard Bryce whoop with excitement. Arawn turned to face a gruesome scene now. One of the men was being held some feet off the ground by a very odd looking creature. It had such a skinny form, but he face said it all. It was indeed a hollow.

Arawn's widened in horror and his jaw dropped. What the hell was going on here? He wanted to shout that question at the top of his lungs, but only a minor squeak came out. Was this some kind of joke? This had to be some kind of practical joke. He quickly looked over at his two companions, both had their faces locked on the show before them. Bryce had a broad smile across his face. It was utterly impossible that a hollow would be in Seireitei. But in this case there were two. To make matters even worse, they were releasing men to fight against it. Where these men even shinigami? He had seen swords laying in the middle of the ring, but what kind of chance did they have against such a creature. As his thoughts reeled the creature threw the bloodied and limp form of the man it had just slain. There was a thud from outside the room and felt sickened to his stomach. The timing was too precise with the thrown body. The camera was kind enough to show the dead man rag-doll through the air and slam into a booth. Their booth. The disbelief turned to horror as he realized that what was happening on screen was indeed very real. This wasn't an experiment, it was a massacre.

Rev stared in disbelief, while the other prisoners moved to attack the monster. After a few moments though, his instincts and training he had in live kicked in, and he started to sprint toward the body of the man that was thrown. He stopped a several feet from the man, who was still moving, and unable to process what he was seeing. There was no hole in the mans chest, and the man's head was the only thing that was bleeding. Confused, he moved forward, he wanted to see if this man was still alive, and if he could help keep him that way. He stopped again a few feet away from the man, the sight of the head wound told all he needed to know. The man was dead, probably from the impact with the glass to the booth above. He turn around, knowing he couldn't help the dead, and to see if he could help in the fight against the monster.

--In the booth--

'Alidia's ' face remained still when most of the prisoners charged the hollow. But, she grinned alittle when she saw her test subject move toward the body of the now dead prisoner. Maybe he is smarter then he looks. She thought, her grin widening alittle. She glanced at the others in the booth. The other woman and the tenticle man, she could tell were scientifically engrossed in the experiment, but the other one, arawn, looked mortified, but to shocked to say anything. No stomach for this... she thought, shaking her head at his reaction. The screen split into two different images, One showing the battle with the 'hollow', and the other showing her test subject and the now dead body. She scowled when he turned his back on the body. Well he'll either die in the next few seconds or- her train of thought was interrupted when the body move in a very unnatural manner and now stood a foot behind her subject. But she had expected the body standing back up, it was the mans reaction that followed that surprised her.

--In the arena--

Rev watched the battle in silence, try as the other may, they couldn't seem to hit the hollow. Atleast that is what he thought at first, but as he watched he saw clean hits from the other prisoners that didn't even seem to phase the hollow. It only seemed to dodge when an attack was focused towards its head. He felt more someone behind him, and reacted like he always did, he turned quickly and punched it. The punch landed squarely in the jaw of the now dead prisoner. Shock filled him, and fear induced adrenaline pumped through his veins. The corpse raised its now broken sword above its head. He noted how odd and unnatural the movement looked, as he jumped back out of the way of the downward swing. As it raises its sword a second time, Rev got an idea, and grabbed the chain between his shackles in both hands. When the blade came down, he didn't dodge, instead using his shackles to parry the attack. The attack was stronger then he suspected, and knocked him back several feet. He glanced over his shoulder for a brief second to see that the fighting had forced the hollow and the others to move away from his sword. Looking back forward he barely parried a third attack from the corpse, this one sending him rolling along the ground. Rev was dazed from the previous attack, he had ended up face down and further away from the corpse then from the last attack. He rolled over onto his back, and realized that the chain connecting the shackles had broken from the last attack. He was starting to sit up when the hollow appeared beside him and stomped on his chest. Disoriented, in pain, and unable to move out from under the hollows weight, panic filled him. His hand reached out and grabbed onto something. Something that filled him with power, making him feel whole for the first time since his death.

The initial shock was wearing off, but just barely. He could not tear his eyes away from the proceedings on the screen. Arawn knew it wasn't fake, this wasn't some elaborate ruse to see how he would react. This was the genuine article. A hollow was laying waste to the men on that field and they were getting a show of it all. The horror was fading and anger quickly took it's place. Once more the shinigami could use his mouth and the words came out quickly.
"What the hell is this!?" he turned to Simone and then Bryce. "This isn't science, this is barabaric!" Arawn shrieked any illusion of calm cast away with the complete disgust of the scene before him. "Those men are dying out there! What the fuck is wrong with you two!?." Before he knew it he had jumped out of his seat and stood before his companions. Arawn had already forgotten about the woman that had joined them. His anger was pointed squarely at the two people he had thought were his friends. How dare they enjoy the suffering of others?

Both Simone and Bryce were quite shocked by the sudden outburst. They didn't know what to think. They looked at one another and then back at Arawn rather sceptically. Their expressions made it seem like he was the one with a problem. This only further fuled the fire in the red haired shinigami's belly. He fought the urge to strike them both across their blank faces. Once again he was at a loss for words, he turned to stormed toward the door.
"Wait! Wait, wait, wait!" Bryce yelled while Simone jumped out of her chair to grab his sleeve and held him in place. Simone was strong for her size and petite stature.
"Sorry, I guess we should have better explained it all." The hunchback continued. Simone tugged harder on the sleeve to pull him back to the chair. Reluctantly Arawn moved away from the door. If he wasn't pleased with their explanation Simone's inhuman strength would not stop him from leaving.
"What you see is synthetic hollow." He said quickly. The battle was still going on the screen, the men trying their best to slay be beast. "The lab here was able to literally grow a hollow from it's remains. There various experiments on hollows done here overall. "
"Why would we need to grow a hollow?" Arawn questioned, he glanced over as another man was struck down. It was hard to focus on the other man's words with such a distraction.
"Well it's more so to better understand them. We know their purpose, but it's to better understand how they act. In doing so we learn new and better ways to combat them." That sounded all well and good, but obvious still stood out.
"Why the hell are we sending those men against it?" The men in question were not dressed like shinigami at all. If anything they looked like people picked off the street in Rukongai. "They won't stand a chance against."
Simone and Bryce shared a look, and said nothing. After a moment the hunchback nodded to the bug eyed woman.
"They're actually prisoners ." She said finally. "Each of them with a death sentences"
"Criminals?" He asked doubtfully as he saw Rev deftly dodge his attacker and maneuvered weapon to break his chains. Those weren't the moves of some random inmate.

A invisible pulse of energy resonated out from him like a shock wave, knocking everyone in the arena back, and knocking the walking corpses to the ground. The monster that was standing over him jump back several feet, landing in a defensive posture. His mind was filled with a calm that was new, yet familiar to him. Silence fell over the audience as the pulse reached them, and worried and knowing looks followed. He stood slowly, and dusted himself off with his free hand, the other hand maintaining its death grip on his sword. The whole of his outward demeanor was calm, the only thing that gave away otherwise was the cold, hateful look that filled his eyes when he cast his gaze to the hollow. The hate and anger he felt toward the monster made his eyes almost glow. He felt the power surging through him, it calmed his mind, eased his pain, and gave him a strange understanding of how to use a weapon he hand never used during his life. "Now, monster, we fight on my terms." The sound of his own voice would have startled him otherwise. The tone, emotion, and pure hate that filled his words were something he had never heard in his own voice before. But he would think about that later, at the moment he had an enemy that needed killing.

-- In the Booth --

'Alidia' shivered when the pulse hit her. She knew his bond with his blade was strong, but she didn't realize it was this strong. By her best guess, he was above the power of the average student in the academy, but his power was still raw, fresh. He did not know, in her opinion, how to wield it properly yet. But the potential was undeniably there. She turned her head to see the reaction of the others she shared the booth with. Despite her training, she had a knowing grin on her face. Her experiment was going better then expected, and her superiors would be quite pleased.

-- In the arena --

Rev tossed his zanpakuto from his right hand to his left, and held it by the sheath there. The hollow didn't move since being knocked back, and from what rev could see, it was analyzing his every movement. Slowly he drew the blade out from its sheath, the sound it made was both new and familiar at the same time. This new and yet familiar feeling did not bother him, but it did give him questions he would ask someone later. For now, he had a hollow to kill. He spun the blade in a circle, testing its balance and weight, then charged the hollow.

Pondering the words that the others had spoken, Arawn was unprepared for the shockwave the rippled through the arena. When it hit him his mind went blank. He felt all the blood drain from his face and then rush back. A chill ran through him and the followed by warmth in the pit of his stomach. It was a strange sensation. As alien as it was there was something familiar about it. That in itself was what bothered him about it. As the feeling faded his mind returned to the matter at hand. There was a hollow laying wasted to several men below. And still the knowledge that they were criminals made Arawn pause. These men were those that had broken the laws. Who knew what horrible crimes they had committed to be given such a fate.

Fortunately the redhaired man hadn't lived in Rukongai long when he arrived to Soul Society. By luck he had been taken in to the academy almost instantly. From his dorm in Seireitei he had heard tales of the lawless and vicious regions of the city around the great fortress. When he had become a shinigami he saw first hand some of those areas. Bandits killing and maiming for fun. Robbing people of what little they had just to have more than they ever needed. Power ruled such places. And all the power was in the hands of men born of pure evil. In a place ruled by such vile people death was the only release from the cycle of pain and misery that they propagated. People huddled in their simple homes in absolute terror. Where these men those very same villains? It was hard to tell. But something in Arawn was genuinely disturbed by what he saw. Good or evil no one deserved such a thing. He knew what he had to do.

"Hado #17: Smite." he said as he raised his hand toward the screen. Simone and Bryce's eyes widened and they scrambled to move out of the way. Even without incantation the purple block was more than enough to cause some serious damage. It was more than enough to destroy the wall. The screen shattered as the block ripped through it and out the other side. From the impact the body against the side of their booth earlier Arawn had figured the wall itself not being that thick. Whatever method they had used to protect it from the dangers of the arena, they hadn't made it as secure from the inside. After narrowing avoiding the kido battering ram his companions were at a loss for words. Good he thought as he jumped through the newly made hole. As he fell he he serious regretted this decision. He didn't even have his zanpukto with him. I still have kido he reassured himself, hoping that would be enough. A second later he landed and gazed upon the battlefield that moments ago he had watched from the safety of the booth. The man was already charging the hollow.

With every step step he took towards his enemy, more and more of the outside world seemed to fade out around him. His returning power rampaging through his veins, the sound of the crowd, the cries of the wounded prisoners, even his own pounding footsteps faded. Even the sound of his pounding heart faded, the whole of his attention focused on one thing: The utter destruction of the hollow before him. He closed to within a few meters of his enemy, and leaped into the air. The cold steel blade of his zanpakuto sang as it slashed down at the hollow. The monster reacted as he expected, raising its had to catch the blade in an almost casual sense. The blade passed cleanly through the monsters hand. The monster recoiled, and for the first time since its appearance, it moved as if it really was in danger. It took several steps back, clutching the remnants of its hand.

At that moment, one of the glassed in booths exploded outward, and a red haired man jumped from the wreckage to the arena floor. Rev glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, then back to the monster. Without turning his attention away from the monster he said: "Friend or Foe."

--A few moments earlier in the booth--

When Arawn made his move, Ali was stunned at first. But only for a second, when he blasted the viewing screen out, her hand shot behind her back to the belt, where her zanpakto was hidden. When her hand touched her blade, a voice echoed in her ear. "Wait agent, DO NOT blow your cover. Let this play out. It could work to our favor." The anger was painted on her face plainly, but she complied. This experiment was her idea, but she absolutely had to follow orders, she had no choice. Still she carefully palmed her zanpakto and slipped it up her sleeve. Might as well be ready, she thought as she planned her next move.

For a moment Arawn was taken aback. Here was a man facing off against a hideous creature with only a sword, and he really had to ask if the new arrival was friendly or not. Honestly one wouldn't be so cautious when faced with such a monstrosity. If he was an enemy he wouldn't even bother coming down into the arena at all. He would only have to let the creature do the work for him. Rather than let out a witty remark Arawn instead tried to think of a way to assist in dispatching the hollow. Again he rebuked himself for leaving his weapon. Still if the man's weapon was enough to cause the creature harm, it was probably more than enough to kill it. With that thought in mind he began to channel his spiritual power.
"Friend." he said swiftly as he funneled the power into his hand. ""Burn of the blades that have been lost. Hado #8: Blade of flames." As the words were spoken fire erupted from his hand then consolidated into the shape of a sword. It wasn't a zanpukto, but it was good enough. Arawn launched himself at the beast, his display of reiatsu was enough to get it's attention. The charge was avoided as the hollow jumped backwards from him. Still he had closed the gap between himself and the armed man.
"I'm a friend." He said again as if to reassure the man of his intent. "I don't suppose you're able to jump that high." Arawn asked gesturing to the hole that he had came from.

A disturbing smile appeared on his face at the red haired mans question. He turned his head slightly, revealing the almost manic grin to the man, but kept his eyes on the monster before him. "And miss out on all the fun?" he said, turning back to the creature. Before getting a reply he charged the beast again, his sheathe and sword both held in a reverse grip. Okay Rev, you only got one shot at this thing. A frontal assault is out of the question... He thought, his eyes darting around the monster assessing avenues of attack. Go in low, no to risky. And with those claws of its, a side attack is out of the question. above maybe? possible, but not from the....actually that might work.. He thought, his footsteps pounding hard against the dusty, and bloodstained floor. A few feet from the monster he stomped the ground hard, pushing his new found power into his feet, and shot into the air above the creature. The bright with light shining from the ceiling obscuring the vision of his prey. As his upward momentum faded he twisted his body, sending him into a spin down to his target.

The creature was still stunned from the loss of the upper part of it hand when its attacker charged again. And when he leaped into the air, it watched, putting its good hand up to block not just the light, but the attack that it knew was coming. At the last second it caught sight of the man, it sharp claws shooting up to catch the blade. Only, it wasn't the blade it caught, it was the sheathe.

Using his own downward momentum, and the creatures own strength, he rotated his body, and released the sheathe in his left hand. Reaching back to his right hand and griping His sword firmly he slashed at the creature. For a moment nothing happened. He hit the ground with both his feet under him, but tucked and rolled to disperse the momentum from the fall. When he got to his feet behind the creature, he spun around to face the creature, a puzzled look on his face. He knew he had felt his blade hit, he felt the resistance. But, for some reason he saw no wound on the creature. Then a trickle of green liquid formed in a line across the creatures back.. Rev smiled, but only for a second. The creature, with Rev's sheathe still in its hands turned to face him. The green like was across its front as well, but it still began to move towards him. With every step the creature took, its body swelled, becoming a bloated mass. Rev steps back, at first, but his pride told him to stay put. As it moved toward him, and its body swelled, more and more of the green liquid began to pour out of its wound. Rev raised his sword defensively, ready for whatever happened next, when he noticed something. The green liquid coming from the creatures wound, was burning into the floor. "Oh...shit..." He said, turning a second to late to run. The creature stopped, its grotesquely swollen body seeming to boil on the inside, and exploded, sending the green liquid in every direction.

That answer confused him for a moment. Why would any sane person willingly face off against such a creature? He quickly rebuked himself for that comment as his job was to doing the exact same thing. Despite the situation he laughed. A small dry laugh devoid of a smile. Correction; why would any sane normal person be willing to face such a creature? The answer was standing before him. Rather than escape he wanted to fight. The wide grin on the man's face spoke volumes. Arawn had seen such a face before. Battle lust. Frenzy. It went by many names, but it was the look of a man born for the battlefield. One that didn't step down from a challenge no matter how daunting it may look. With the man unwilling to run, his rescue plan was completely foiled. Not that he had a real plan. This is what he gets when he acts on impulse. The situation before him wasn't dire, but rather unfavorable. Him without his sword was one thing, the reliability of his companion was another. Kido along might be enough to subdue the beast. Before he could formulate some semblance of a plan the other man moved.
"Forward it is." he grunted as he started to run towards the monster, but then he stopped. The next instant the man had sent himself in to a high arc over the creature's head. He succeeding in getting the creature's attention. But rather than exploit the opening Arawn hesitated the man was a sitting duck as he came spiraling down from the sky. Almost in slow motion the two clashed and the man landed safely behind the hollow.

Arawn had to see it to believe it, but the man had tricked the monster into defending to make his own opening for attack. His amazement turned to horror as the creature started to contort and shift. The swelling was less than encouraging
"Get away from it." he yelled finally moving forward. Arawn released the fiery sword. The flame blade fizzled as he gathered his spiritual power. "Bakudo #38: Enkōsen." The spinning shield of yellow sprang to life in his open right hand. Even as the distance between him and the man dwindled the creature's body continued to expand. There was a pop like a thunderclap and green exploded in every direction. Arawn lost sight of the man as the sea of green came at him. He had expected an explosion, but something told him this was just as bad. Quickly he raised his shield and ducked behind it. He was knocked off his feet by the rush of acid. The kido was the most ideal for protecting his body. Splashes of the foul liquid hit his head and shoulders. It nibbled through his clothing and bit at his skin. This mild discomfort was nothing compared to his lower body. The feeling in his back and shoulders paled when it came to surge of pain coming from his legs and feet. Stifling a scream he held tried to shift all of his body behind the shield.

A roar echoed through the arena, a roar mixed with pain and rage. The roar brought the arena to a dead silence. As the smoke cleared, there Rev stood among the pools of acid. Half his body was smoking, he was breathing heavy, and the only thing holding him up was his sword. He fell to his knees, moans of agonizing pain left his lips. Rev's vision was blurred, and fading in and out of blackness. "I....will...not....will....not....give.....up...will....keep....fighting...." he said, repeating himself over and over as he forced himself to his feet.

--A few moments earlier, In the booth --

'Ali' stared in awe, she hadn't expect Rev to trick the hollow. Nor had she calculate the hollow out on his own. She knew the second attack would end it, just from the sight of the attack. "Amazing" she said despite herself "Not only did he calculate the right time to attack with the sheathe to slow his momentum, But he also saw an opening to attack in the same motion." She moved quickly, picking her way through the hole in the wall, and then in what look like nothing more then a hop for her, she dropped to the arena floor below. The creature's explosion welcomed her. Without thinking she reached up her sleeve, and a semi-sphere of light surrounded her. She dropped the shield before the smoke cleared. As the smoke cleared she saw the the damage. If she hadn't known what the hollows abilities were, she would have been shocked. She couldn't see her test subject, A blast like that probably killed him. she thought. But she did see the red haired man from her booth. Looks like I have to keep my cover up, she thought, moving quickly towards him. She only made it to within a few feet of Arawn, when she heard it. A roar so primal, so raw with pain it stopped her dead in her track. Her hand shot up her sleeve, grasping the hilt of her zanpakto. The smoke from the other side of the arena cleared slowly, revealing a man, whose left side of his body was still, and most of his face was still smoking from the acidic blood of the hollow. His eyes were the only detail she could see through the smoke that covered his face. His glowing green eyes. A voice suddenly sounded in her ear. "We've seen enough. He'll be perfect for the True experiment. Keep your cover, for now. Help them both out of the arena. Report back to us once the medical teams show up. We have your next assignment." She nodded instinctively, and began shouting out orders for medical support to the onlooking scientists.

The wave burning acid stopped seconds after it had started. Slowly Arawn peeked from behind his glowing shield. The area was a mess. It looked like an explosion had gone off in the area. Large chunks of earth were missing. There was the loud hiss as the acid did it's sinister work. Arawn's clothes were in tatters. Although he was burned it was in patches. His casting of a spell had saved him more than he thought. Besides the shield the increase reiatsu had raised his body's defense enough to protect him somewhat. Somewhat indeed there was patches of his skin missing. He could see the raw flesh that it once hid. The urge to fall to his knees was negated by the fact there was more acid sitting on the ground. And so he wobbled there for several moments just surveying the destruction around him. Eventually the golden shield in his hand vanished. The energy and adrenaline didn't diminish in the slightest, but he felt weak mentally exhausted.

Everything afterwards. The man's scream of the other man. He had nearly forgotten about him. Out of sight and out of mind, until he heard the animal like cry.
Of the two of them he had gotten the worse of it. His rescue mission was indeed a failure. The man's current state wasn't humanly possible, but the fire in his eyes hadn't died. In fact they seemed even more alive. At woman was there. Vaguely he recalled her from the viewing booth. She was yelling for help. Arawn felt somewaht bitter about it. Why hadn't someone done so sooner? In the passing moments the medical personnel came out to treat him and the only survivor.

He continued to fight the darkness that slowly took over his vision. Dark humanoid shapes were rushing towards him, making strange muffled noises. Despite the pain he felt his adrenaline was still pumping. He pulled his sword from the ground, swinging at the first shape, then the second. But then his world spun, and darkness took his vision. For what seemed like eternity, and yet a few seconds light returned to his vision, a deafening ring in his ears, and the dark shapes were standing over him. He tried to move, tried to fight them away, but one held his arm down. The ringing faded slowly, and their voices became clearer.

"STOP FIGHTING US! We're just trying to help."
"GET THAT SWORD AWAY FROM HIM, NOW!!"
"I CAN'T SIR!!"
"WELL HOLD HIS ARM DOWN THEN!!"
"I'M TRYING SIR!!"

The two voices continued to argue, and Rev continued to fight. He couldn't stop, He wouldn't stop, and he didn't know why. A third, softer voice interrupted the argument. "Here, this will at least keep him from cutting you." It said, followed but the sound of a sword being sheathed. A calm came over him then, and his vision nearly faded to complete darkness. But not before he heard another voice, a strange, yet very familiar voice say: "Sleep now, we'll play again later..." If it wasn't for the sheer exhaustion, and his body crashing from the adrenaline high, the disembodied voice would have disturbed him. But as the darkness faded around him, Sleep was all he could think about.

--Else where--

She weaved her way through the crowd making its way toward the exit of the arena. But that wasn't her destination, and ducked into the hallway that she approached. Her pace quickened as she wove her way through the corridors. She seemed to be turning at random, until she stopped in front of a cleaning closet. She opened the door, and quickly ducked inside. She reached up, and pulled the blonde wig off her head, tossing it to the floor, along with the cloths she wore. She reached into the box where her real clothing was hidden, and quickly put them on. She turned to face the mirror on the door, examining herself in the mirror. She glanced down through the mirror to the blonde bound and gagged in the corner crying. "Really? and you call yourself a shinigami?" She said, disgusted with the weeping girl. A voice began speaking into her ear. "Your immediate orders have changed, Dispose of the girl, She no longer serves any purpose. Then return to Us. And agent. Leave no trace of her." "Yes Sir," she said smiling, and pulling out her zanpakuto, "With Pleasure"