The long walk back (solo)

Stratus felt relieved that the arrancar that he saw did not follow as he made his hasty retreat. They did not have the intense crushing spiritual power, but their hostile nature was evident. His tendrils had sensed that much. A part of Stratus wondered what had happened to the shinigami, but he figured they were all dead. There was no reason for the damned soul reapers to survive the encounter. Even as the thought that he tried to understand why they were there in the first place. Were they some kind of scouting party for a larger force? While a part of him was worried about an army of shinigami attacking Huenco Mundo, another part of him was excited by that prospect. A large scale battle was something he might enjoy. He recalled fondly the time he had ventured to the shinigami stronghold. Some arrancar had seen fit to launch an attack on the enemy stronghold. Together with an array of hollow he had laid siege to the shinigami. The memory made his head tingle. It wasn't everyday that one got the chance to lay waste to shinigami after shinigami. The ripping of flesh, the screams of agony, it made the adjuchas smile. Still he couldn't remember how the battle had ended. He stopped walking as searched for the memory. There were alot of shinigami being killed, but then things got fuzzy. Stratus can only think that they lost, but he found himself back in Hueco Mundo. How that had happened was the question of the hour. Had they retreated? He didn't remember being overwhelmed at any point. Stratus gave a shrug. He was about to start walking again, but something stopped him. Something had come within range of his senses. Even when relaxed a hollow had to be aware of it's surroundings. Although it was a desert, it was actually a jungle. And like any jungle it was all about survival of the fittest. You were either hunt or were hunted. At the moment it would seem someone was hunting him. Stratus wondered what matter of foolish hollow was trying to make a meal of him. He was sorely tempted to chase down the idiot and devour him, but after his trip he rather rest than eat. Chasing the would be attacker would be more work that it was worth. Stratus employed one of the best deterrents from attack; he raised his spiritual power. He had thought he his spiritual power was low enough to avoid detection, but it seems he was mistaken. In a way he had to commend the other hollow for finding him. Stratus let his spiritual power surge. A green aura cloaked his body as the sands vibrated from the sudden outpour of energy. The signal that he was felling began to retreat. Stratus smiled and let the power recede. He looked in the distance dunes that awaited him continued the long trek.

Time wasn't something a hollow worried about, but Stratus wondered how long he had been walking. How far had he run to catch up with the strange beast? He regretted his curious nature and damned Amago's refusal to explain. Wait, did Amago know about the creature? Those other arrancar seemed to command it. He had forgotten about that fact since leaving the battle. The creature had been culled by the females. He had left before addressing that matter. Stratus could only shake his head in frustration. Things were getting messier by the minute. All these questions and alot of secrets. Who was doing what, and why were all eluding him. Among those questions he wanted to know why Moledale had sent him there in the first place.
"What could possibly be going through that bastard's head?" Stratus muttered as he kicked up the sand at his feet as he shuffled across the desert. In the distance he thought he could make out the monstrous peak. He didn't have far to go it seemed. The sight was somewhat reassuring for the weary traveler. But at the same time it was discouraging. Much like his trip to Las Noches the scale was deceiving. As close as it looked the huge mountain was actually very far away. Grunting he continued his leisurely pace towards the stronghold.

More time had passed and he seemed to be no closer than he had been. He knew for sure he'd made progress, but it didn't show. Scratching his head he raised his face skyward. As much as the desert hadn't changed, the sky was unmoving. Stratus really wished for something different, but his journey continued in silence. Utter boredom awaited him as he walked, he had given up pondering the mysteries before him. As such he decided to let those matters rest until he was in a more comfortable setting. After awhile he started to count his steps to pass the time. It wasn't a wise choice, as it made the whole trip seem even more tedious and mind numbing boring.
"Two thousand, eight hundred and thirty seven." Stratus muttered. "Two thousand eight hundred and thirty eight, two thousand eight hundred thirty_" he stopped as something approached again. Another spiritual signal was coming up behind him, very fast. Stratus flared his spiritual pressure once more, but the other signal kept coming. This was surprising. The one approaching him was terribly weak, why would it advance upon him. As impressed as he was he still wasn't in the mood for a fight. He turned to see the dust cloud quickly approaching. Shaking his head he waited. While he waited he tried to get a better read on the creature. After several moments he thought that the signal was the same he had sensed some time ago. "Persistent little bugger." The wait ended as the monster came into view and skidded to a stop before him. The creature was tall to say the least, but this was only due to long limbs. It's body couldn't be more than four feet, but it's arms and legs were more than double. Those very limbs seemed to have double elbows. Not only the legs and arms were long, but the neck as well. This made it look even taller. The yellowish red skinned creature gazed down at him from it's high vantage over Stratus. The mask was a perfect square with two leering eyes. That block broke to show it's mouth filled with fangs. The creature growled and hissed at him, but Stratus looked upon the bigger creature disapprovingly.
"Look, I see you're hungry, I get that." Stratus began "But it's not going to happen. I'm going to be nice and let you go. Find some other little fish." he finished. To accent his point he released all his energy. The green light danced across his body and a sudden wind whipped the sand everywhere. "Back. The fuck. Off." A visible tremor ran through the creature, but it didn't retreat. It stood there frozen. "Good boy." he said and turned around. "Two thousand eight hundred and thirty nine, two thousand eight hundred forty, two thousand eight hundred forty one, two thousand eight_" There was a roar behind him as the creature lunged at Stratus' apparently unprotected back. But he wasn't unguarded in the slightest. Stratus' armor separated and swung at the attacking creature. One of them swept low and cut off it's leg. With it's balance lost the lunge became more of a tumble, but the rest of the tendrils had already gone to work. One blade caught the monster dead in the chest right below it's hollow hole. Two others slashed across it's arm while another cut right through it's neck. It's body crashed into the ground behind Stratus while it's head and what remained of it's neck went flying forward. Stratus looked down at the severed head and sighed The mouth and eyes continued to twitch. "Damn, you made me lose count." The tendril retracted as he continued walking "One, two, three, four...."