The Reaping (Dray only)

Tenma stood on top of a building near the assigned mission area. It was a simple enough assignment; a group of hollows have been attacking humans in the area. The numbers of them were as of yet unknown. But the hollows always disappeared before a shinigami patrol could arrive. It finally came time to send a mission team in to hunt down the hollows and eliminate them. Tenma was the first of the two man cell to arrive and he didn't know who his partner would be. He waited around trying to listen for anything going on in the area but the night was dead silent. He passed the time by surveying the area and took in detail.

He was nearby a small playground and the street was a dead end up ahead. All but one of the street lights were out and it was showing signs of dying soon due to its incessant flickering. The stars were shielded by clouds as black as the night surrounding them. His black and crimson hair swayed gently in the breeze that kissed the night. He felt something was amiss about the area. He knew there was something wrong, but he had no information regarding anything about the nature of these hollows, and he was anything but a fool. His partner was due to arrive soon. The only thing he knew about him was that he was a rank higher than himself. Between the two of them however they should be able to handle the situation with relative ease.

Draylon hopped out of the portal onto a rooftop and did a quick shiver in the cold as his body adjusted to the new temperature. He looked and felt around for energy, it was a cold dark night with clouds overhead, he felt his partner for this mission up ahead. It was a two man search and destroy mission to eliminate some troublesome hollows. That was all the intel he was given, hopefully his partner could fill him in further. Draylon did a little flex stretch and started to hop rapidly from rooftop to rooftop towards his partner for this mission.

He landed right next to his partner for this mission and said, "Sup, I'm Draylon Karosu, Seat 8 of Squad 12, nice to meet you." He looked over the man next to him, Wearing normal shinigami robes his red eyes and streaks in his black hair stood out on him along with his light skin.

Dray was wearing his normal clothes, totally not regulation, except for his scarf, it tended to get in the way when he fought. He really didn't like the normal uniform, it gets in the way for his fighting style and his clothes fit his style better and he was now a high enough seat to pull it off and not really get in trouble. He glanced over again at the robes, he was glad he didnt have to wear those anymore.

Tenma looked over at his newly arrived partner and grinned "Tenma Yamato, unseated member of the 1rst Squad" He said as he looked at the man hopefully. "I hope you have more information than I do, I only know that there is a group of annoying hollows in the area. It's strange to not have more information." He said as he stretched his legs and cracked his neck. "I was getting rather bored waiting, and I can't shake this sense that something is definitely not right here. We need to be on guard and stay that way." He suggested as he began straining his senses for anything that could be a scream, a panic of any kind. He then began trying to sense whatever he could besides himself and Draylon. He did not however find anything of use. "I think we should begin searching the area together as a team. Splitting up is too risky with the vague information, and we need to be able to be on guard on all sides in case they decide to attack us. What do you think?"

He awaited the response and surveyed Draylons clothes. They definitely not normal shinigami attire, he intended to get rid of his own basic robes as soon as he could without being reprimmanded for it. He noticed the spear on his back and realized that it was Draylon shikai, and was always released. It looked like a basic spear, but he knew shikais were always more than meets the eye. He placed a single hand on Ishi Genkotsu and wondered if he'd need to use it tonight. He figured he could practice on some real live hollows for once, instead of tearing a training room asunder. He partially drew the black and crimson blade and stared into his colours for a moment before resheathing and trying to sense anything he could once more.

Draylon let a sigh pass his lips when he heard that this man didn't know about anything further about the mission. Search and Destroy, no intel. He listened to the man's concerns but wasn't that worried himself. He listened to the man's direction. "Its just a search and destroy mission, just be careful and keep your eyes open, and as long as we stay within visual range of each other I think we will stay safe. Cloak and standard parallel grid search pattern. K?"

Dray took a breath and said, "Bakudo 19: Energy Fade." Draylon's energy dropped and faded until you couldn't feel it anymore. "Do what you can to hide your energy and search parallel, keep it quiet, they seem to flee when they feel shinigami. Search and destroy." Draylon drew his spear and leapt to another rooftop, beginning the parallel grid search pattern.

Tenma nodded his head and repressed hi energy as best he could. He hadn't learned that particular bakudo yet but he intended to learn what he didn't know as soon as possible. He jumped up to another rooftop to begin the search pattern along side him and he started to search the area intently. He didn't feel anything at first, but soon he began to feel something. A terrible dread in his stomach that he was about to be in a vicious fight. He became far more alert to his surroundings and soon heard a noise in the distance. At first he only thought it was the wind, then he heard a defined laugh within the night. It was as if something was laughing at them for searching around.

He gave a silent signal to Dray to follow him and he ran toward the east, he vaulted from rooftop to rooftop until eventually he found their targets. Six hollows were busy devouring a fresh human soul. The sight of it angered Tenma, which he then tempered and aimed at the hollows. He waited for Dray to be ready for the assault as he drew Ishi Genkotsu and awaited for the signal from his partner. He was ready to move in to destroy these foul creatures. He was busy coming up with a quick plan of action for his movements when suddenly many more hollows appeared in the area. He looked at the sight nervously and couldn't begin to count how many.

He looked to Dray for comment as he raised an eyebrow. Was this a bit too much for only two of them? He wondered to himself as he kept the call phrase for his Zanpakuto fresh in his mind. He steadied his breathing and worked to make sure his reiatsu was suppressed. He tried to hide himself well against the rooftop so as not to attract their attention as he waited anxiously.

Dray surveyed the scene, he was glad his partner had waited instead of going in and attacking, he felt over the mass of hollows for any decent strength and couldn't find any, they were all low class hollows, easy to deal with, he rapidly thought through the kido he knew ending up deciding on the one he had made out. It would be best if one remained behind. Dray whispered, "Stay behind and survey the situation, I'll engage." Then mumbled, "May the arrows of my soul, be guided by my will, to reach their true destination." then shunpoed onto the street, breaking his reiatsu cloak, and said "Hado:20 Arashi-Tomoshibi!" 10 Balls of explosive light shot out of Dray's hand and rose and volleyed the clustered hollows from above. He raised his Zanpakuto in his other hand pointing the tip towards the hollows and started rapid firing bolts of electricity out into the hollow horde.

Tenma heard the orders and his eyes widened a bit, that was definitely not what he would do. He scanned the area looking for more hollows and soon found another group of them a bit off to the west. His eyes flickered at an opportunity to do something useful on this mission and he dashed off toward the group of twelve or so hollows. The new location brought him to a wide cul de sac where the lights still worked. He suddenly gained an idea. If this group was in the area, then there must be more. Draylon was still outside of this location dealing with the other group. He could fight this one in plain sight of any other hollows to attract them. Draylon could then easily pick them off from a distance with his lightning attacks.

It made sense to Tenma whos zanpakuto was far better for melee combat than ranged. He would draw the attention, and Dray would finish them off. He himself would have to be extremely careful as he was after all a lower rank than Dray and he would be taking the major risk. But that was simply a part of the job. He dashed into the middle of the group of hollows and drew Ishi Genkotsu and spun it in a flourish. The hollow behind him, the first to notice him, immediately disintegrated. The others turned around after registering another entity was amongst them and immediately attacked. Tenma ducked under one attack only to have to immediately block another as eleven hollows attempted to kill him all at once. He stayed away from the stylish combat of his more over eccentric colleagues and focused on simplicity to keep himself alive.

He continued to fight off the hollows under the bright lights of the street, killing one every so often when an opening arose. He had yet to release his zanpakuto yet though and he decided it was finally time to bring it out. "Rip the earth asunder Ishi Genkotsu!" He called as his crimson and black zanpakuto transformed into dual crimson cestus' with twelves black rods protruding out of the back of each hand. He caught the next hollow strike with his newly armored hand and punched the hollow clear in the mask with the other, disintegrating instantly. He then weaved out of the way of another attack before allowing three of the twelve rods on his left hand to punch in. He suddenly felt a burst of his reiatsu course through his cestus as he connected with another hollow. The cestus itselt went trough the mask, the extra power behind the strike allowed his attack to continue to olbiterate the mask of the hollow standing right behind it.

Tenma continued his fight with the hollows as he noticed more arrive on the scene. He knew his plan was working. Every hollow in the area was trying to come to kill him. He only hoped his partner was done with the group he had engaged to come help, or he would be in some serious trouble. Tenmas instincts suddenly screamed for him to move his head and he did so just barely enough to avoid a hollows clawed hand the came at him from behind. He turned around, allowing three rods on his right cestus to punch in and, rather than aiming for the mask, blasted the attack into it's chest, sending it flying back into a group forming up behind him. Now with a little breathing room he took a second to catch his breath.

Dray wasn't having any problems eliminating the hollows before him, in fact they were fleeing from him. He had destroyed most of them with his initial attack and was just hovering in the air firing down and the ones that were fleeing in the streets, He noticed that his partner had gone off on his own instead of just keeping watch. It was a bad sign, Dray went up higher and looked around, he was worried, if all these hollows were in the area they probably had a leader and he didnt know where the leader was or where is partner was.

He looked and felt around, noticing off in the distance a bunch of hollows and his partner's spirit energy, it was a bad move to leave his post. Dray watched as a hollow flew into the air and disintegrated. Dray shook his head and was about to head over when he felt a large hollow power nearby, he turned just in time to see an Adjuchas class menos fire a cero right at where his new partner was fighting, and saw the area detonate in a giant blast. Damnit!. Dray shunpoed over to the detonated are and yelled out, "TENMA!!! TENMA ARE YOU ALIVE?" Dray felt a massive energy behind him and turned around just in time to block a punch with his spear, even so it still sent him flying into a building. Dray stood up from the rubble, with a few scrapes on him, and glanced at the hollow, watching it shake off the paralyzing effect that his zanpakuto had on it's arm.

Tenma suddenly felt the energy of a much more powerful hollow, he then looked up in time to see a class of hollow he hadn't seen before charging up something he'd only read about. A Cero, the energy in that attack could outright kill him. Tenma thought quickly and, after having the three rods on his left and right arm regenerate, he punched in all twelve on his right cestus and punched the group below him. The sheer power of the attack sent him rapidly skyward. He was more than far enough away from the impact zone of the cero when it hit to avoid it all together. He knew however that the hollow would try again. As he came down he landed safely on a building not far from where Draylon was. He looked over at his new partner and nodded toward him to signal he was ready to fight.

He looked back toward the menos and felt it's power. He knew it wasn't anywhere near the power of a Vasto Lorde class, but was more powerful than a Gillian. That meant it must've been an Adjuchas class menos. He began to think about the creature and figured it was twice as powerful as himself, and only a bit stronger than Dray. He moved toward Dray and spoke with determination in his voice. He was scared, sure what shinigami wouldn't be a little scared to fight a hollow twice his power. But he would fight. "What's the plan, it'll take both of us to fight him." He said as he looked down at his right arm. "My right cestus' power is gone for now, it'll need time to fully regenerate. I still have all of the power in the left though. That's the sitatuon I'm in, what about you?" He asked wanting to figure out what their situation really looked like "I know most of the hado up to 30, but I only know the basic Bakudo." He told him as he went through his hado in his head. All the while his eyes never left the hollow, watching him for any sudden moves.

Dray kept his eye on the hollow and said, "Try to hit it when i slow it down." Dray readied his spear and charged at the hollow firing bolts from his zanpakuto, The hollow however was dodging them rather easily and it sonido'd next to dray and started shooting out it's fists rapidfire. Dray was able to block some and dodge most except one fist that slammed into his gut, sending him crashing into the ground, the hollow immediately followed up by shaping his hand into a point and sonido's over to dray and stabbed at him, dray thrust up with his zan hitting the hollow and the paralyzation giving him enough time to escape as the hollow continued his onslaught against dray, it started to shoot flame out of it's hands as it continues to thrust it's blade hands at dray, "Hado 2: Pull! NOW TENMA" Dray dove in past the arms and stabbed it in the chest his electricty arcing over it and paralyzing it for a short time.