Just my Luck.... [Open, Bill]

Vance Holiday was named for the gunfighter stock he was bred from.  A member of both the Hickok and the Holiday bloodlines, he was a real Quincy.  Well, he should have been, but unlike his adopted sister, and the few other's he knew, Vance was a failure with a capital F.  Vance couldn't process reishi correctly, but he could redistribute it.  Unfortunately, considering how weak he was that basically meant he was a liability.  He was in a suit and tie, with his bracelet alongside his own Quincy Cross, his particular flavor that of a Mariner's Cross.   It was a usual outfit for him, his sword was in large case he had with him, and his revolver was as well.  

Vance was here on normal business, specifically he was looking into a special investigations case where a bunch of buildings in the same area all had spontaneously combusting walls.  Vance knew that it was probably something normal folks couldn't see but was just as dangerous anyway.  He was looking at one of the walls, marked off by tape now.  The claw marks in the side were the odd part, to anyone looking on, though Vance knew they had come from most likely a masked monster.  Vance never called them Hollow, he thought the term was a might be off.  Just like shinigami, if you can die, you ain't a god.  

Vance had his phone out and was snapping pictures.  His hair was standing on end as he looked around a second later.  While Vance sucked enormously at being a warrior like most Quincy, he was very good at using Spirit Ribbons and carried a lot of tubes to make up for his problems.  The bigger issue was refilling the dam things later.  That and explaining why he had them to his boss every time he was back in the office. "Well Vance, you haven't had anything bad happen lately... means you're definitely in for a bad hand."  He stated in English under his breath.  Vance could speak about ten languages, it was how he had gotten hired in the first place.   That and the degree in criminal psychology.  Though, that meant very little when investigating things with little to no explanation.

You know the deal. Work gets stressful, your superior officers are asking probably too many prodding questions then you would find usually comfortable. People had been vanishing and assassins had been seen attacking people in Soul Society. You know, that sort of deal. So why not take a vacation? You deserve it after all, you’ve had too many close encounters of the dangerous kind then most just-graduated Shinigami get in an entire year. Some would even say you had a penchant for raising trouble.

Those people would be prying a bit too close to your secrets.

. . . .Weeping . . . he focussed his mindseye just enough to hear it as he travelled through the mysterious corridors of the senkaimon following a hell butterfly. He was lucky, his superior officers had agreed on this little stint of vacation leave. Apparently being attacked multiple times in the same week warranted some sort of leniency from superiors. Fine by Emon. Let her cry, what did she know? It was better this way.


The doorway opened above him and he stepped out into the sky of the city. Humanity bustling below the Hell Butterfly now it’s job done crawled up the sleeve of the shirt he was wearing. No Shinigami uniform today, no sir. This man was on vacation. He wore denim jeans and had a green plaid shirt on.

His Zanpakuto was attached horizontally to his lower back, generally it was common practice that a Shinigami would take their Zanpakuto anywhere. His eyes scanned the horizon to see another Shinigami off in the distance darting through the air, this was probably the regions assigned death god.

Emon Suzumei fell through the air as his hands performed well-practiced actions to insert a cigarette into his mouth as he made landing. He took a long drag as he looked around the plaza he had landed in the middle of. Most of these Humans wouldn’t be able to see him, the ones they could would avoid him. Perfect, time to get lost and put his feet up. Fine by him.

He took a long drag and walked towards a fountain and sat down. His eyes scanned the crowds and nearby he noted a particular individual with significant spiritual pressure and blonde hair examining damage to a building.

Not my problem.

The Shinigami on routine patrol could handle it.

Something in the back of his mind slotted that bizaare spiritual pressure the human exuded, there was something off but Emon was quite sure he had missed the lesson in the academy which described what was off anyway.

“Vacation” he hummed.

He tucked a hand into a pocket and extracted a small flask of alcohol and unscrewed the top, knocking back the liquid as he forced his eyes to look directly in front of him, away from the bizarre man and his curious investigation.

“Vacation” he muttered.

The garganta tore open through the sky as Nakunzuh made her first appearance in the human world since she visited Hueco Mundo with Illan. Looking around her surroundings she did not recognize the city she had come back to. "Bah, this is gonna get some getting used to time, where did I land up?" She made a quick recon of the land around her and noticed she was probably somewhere in America.

The land smelled of death and the people around her too preoccupied by their own noses to even see the troubles of others, but that's humanity for you, everything has to revolve around them. But, at the same time as this fact completely made the fox gag it was also this lifestyle that she found so curious. She envied these drones able to go through their mundane lives like their own existence mattered more than that of the insects around them, this sense of self-worth they attributed to themselves even if they had no immediate impact on the world around them as individuals.

Getting a quick lay of the land was the most crucial part at this time, Nakunzuh wouldn’t want to walk into a trap after all, but she could hardly ignore the tasty smell in the air and so decided to make her way towards it. She kept her ears up to avoid any unnecessary surprises, but made quick pace towards the scene. It smelled like burnt charcoal and rotten eggs, a very bad combination, someone had been very naughty recently and it would be bad to stumble upon someone else’s territory unprepared. Yet all she saw when she arrived wasn’t one of her kind, but a human investigating the scene. He had a very peculiar scent to him and yet he did not feel really strong at first glance, underestimating her opponent was not something she would be caught doing in a million year, she could smell the reishi close to her, but it wasn’t this man, but something on him, or close.

Prowling in the area, she heard him through the crowd, mumbling to himself. she made her presence known to this individual, testing to see if he really was one of the “gifted ones”, those who could see her kind, or if it was just a dumb stroke of luck. “You’re a very peculiar one aren’t you, you smell delicious but I don’t sense it from inside, what is this trick?” She sat down looking at Vance curiously, slowly analyzing this mysterious person.

Vance sighed, being someone really good at sensing things had a terrible disadvantage.  Especially when most of the time he didn't have the skill to back it up.  "And another black robe, and queue the death vibes."  He stated before looking around as the hollow tried to talk to him.  He blinked at that before looking at the building and then back up at the hollow. It was only then he noticed her reiatsu had knocked him to his knees.   Which was not something he had really expected, but it came with the territory of being one of the few Quincy with Soul Dispersion, unfortunately for Vance, he didn't have limitless energy like most other Quincy would could just absorb. He could only do it to a very basic extent, and not even enough to form a bow.

Vance, clicked his finger to the case as he reached down, a bit slowly to his jacket pocket and pulled out a small item.  "Ummm. Are-are you talking to me?"  Vance asked the hollow, mainly to buy time as he fidgeted with his case, not wanting to pull anything from it if he really didn't have to.  "I'm Vance, as, umm as a duly designated representative of the Earth, I order you to cease any and all supernatural activity and return forthwith to your place of origin or to the nearest convenient parallel dimension. "  Vance stated factually, before blinking.  "Oh, you're not sensing me, I am an idiot!  You're sensing my weapons!"  Vance said still aiming for diffusion as his hand found the lock of the case and clicked it.

And enter stage right, the Hollow. Emon had no idea why the Hollow had decided out of all things to talk to the Quincy, but maybe this Hollow had eaten enough souls that it’s rudimentary understanding of prey had developed to the point in which it could make a choice. Either way it seemed like Quincy had a grasp of the situation, or lack of a grasp? Really it was hard to say.

Either way, neither of them seemed too bothered by his presence which was great for him because he could appreciate his drink in peace. Emon wasn’t the Hollow-fighting type, in fact if he had it his way, he wouldn’t do anything until somebody chose to fight him. He flicked his radar in the direction of the patrolling Shinigami who still seemed to be occupied with another Hollow across the city.

He stood and walked across the plaza to the peculiar Human and the fox-like Hollow. As he approached them he noticed that he wasn’t sensing the Human at all but rather his weapons, right now the Human himself was relatively above average.

“Hey you two, it’s not really my place to get into the friendships of men and Hollow but society doesn’t really agree with you two interacting” was he actually trying to explain interspecies relations to a monster and a guy who put way too much gel in his hair? Apparently. Well if he was going to start a vacation off right, this was probably the way to do it.

Nakunzuh’s ear darted to the side as she heard the shinigami approach them, dropping her carefree stance into a more prepared defensive one. She turned her nose away from Emon, but kept her eyes fixed on this strange human. “Nobody asked you here shinigami, I was simply asking the man a question as you so rudely interrupted us.” She relaxed her posture seeing as neither of them had yet to adopt a combat posture, though she noticed the quincy clicking as to open his strange case.

She immediately scouted for a quick exit, just in case she’d need one, she was outnumbered after all. Her tails raised in the air she snarled at the human in front of her and said : “What kind of weapons are you carrying around that they smell like this, I’ve never seen one like you where I came from.”  Her attention now fixed on this weird case which was apparently the source of the reishi she felt in this area. She proceeded into getting some distance between her and the death god but keeping her gaze fixed on the object of her desire. She was a curious hollow, both in shape and attitude she really stood out from the rest of these mindless soul eating beasts.

“Careful now, I’m not here to fight anybody, but it doesn’t mean I won’t defend myself…” The small vulpine hollow looked curiously towards Vance with a puzzled look on her face, she was determined to find out what he was hiding in there, now if only there was a way to get rid of this shinigami without making a ruckus.

Vance wanted to punch something, but it really wouldn't have done anything so instead he decided to just smile and wave. He figured that was the best way to look not intimidating and not get himself beaten to a pulp as the black robe showed up. "Nothing personal, chief but shinigami really shouldn't be the nomenclature, you're an extra-dimensional being in black robes." Vance stated as if he was completely right, and anyone else should try to prove otherwise. Then he added. "Gods, after all, don't die."

Vance shifted his weight before blinking. "Something smells like booze and I want some." He stated to the two intruders to Earth. Heaven and Earth knew Vance was a bad Quincy, but he always liked his taste for rotgut and fanning the hammer. "I don't plan on fighting anything, as I said, I suck." He reiterated to the masked monster. Vance finally managed to get the case open, but he didn't fully open it, he just left the lock off and it closed.

"Society doesn't agree, never been much for society, you bring a posse with you mister black robe. Oh by the way, I'm Vance your resident human and designated representative of the Earth." Vance said before pointing at the wall and looking at the hollow. "Your handiwork?" He asked politely.

Emon shaked the flask and took another sip from it in the direction of the Quincy. Maybe this was some sort of weird stress related fever dream. Maybe that was why he felt like none of this should be happening. Yeah, that’d make sense. Somewhere through the senkaimon he’d passed out and this was all some stress-related trip brought on by a lack of alcohol.

“Honestly, fighting isn’t really my thing either. My zanpakuto isn’t particularly good at it. If you think I’m going to do the old acrobatic downward slash thing. I’m not really in the mindset too, too much destruction lately you know?” he said tipping his flask in the direction of the fox-like Hollow. For all he knew this one would try kill them on a whim so his instincts weren’t entirely switched off but the amount of self-control the Hollow exhibited was impressive.


“Also I don’t know where you got the memo about us dying, we’re very capable of dying, what did you think was after the afterlife? More afterlife? Nah that’s it. Second chance, you’re kaput. There’s another guy about five blocks over hunting a Hollow” he tilted his head and took another drag of his cigarette blowing smoke up into the air around them.

“You know, you speak like your some sort of hero, you a hero kid? Cos heroes that deal with monsters often get burnt” it wasn’t a mean comment, it was an honest one, by the way the strange man spoke he saw himself as some sort “representative of earth” which Emon interpreted as foolishness.
He took another drink.

This situation just got weirder and weirder.

Satisfied by the reactions of her interlocutors Nakunzuh relaxed her posture, she scoffed at the shinigami as he tipped his flask in her direction. Sitting down and wrapping her tails around her legs she looked at Emon and inquired: "if you're not here to kill me then what are you doing here, shinigami. I don't believe I've ever seen your kind deal with mine save through swords"

She then got up again slowly walking towards the Quincy. With each step she took you could feel the pressure build up in the air, she wasn't threatening, no Nakunzuh did not need for isle threats or intimidation. As a relatively small hollow compared to all the others, the vulpine spirit acted in a regal way, showing off her superior agility and intellect in favor or brute strength. Her steps were soft and elegant, one could almost be mistaken thinking that she was really some kind of royal entity, or at least destined to become such. The fox did not remember anything from her past life as is the curse of a hollow, to forget all they were and be consumed by hunger. but Nakunzuh was different, she remembered one feeling even through the year, untouchable ice princess.

Yes that's what they used to call her. Stopping but a few feet away from the Quincy she tournée her head towards the wall she looked at the claw marks and sneered. "Honestly I am a little offended you'd thinking I would be so sloppy as this poor sod is. No that's not my handiwork I don't much care for fire, it's too unpredictable and messy. As your little robes friend here mentionner there's another one of his ilk nearby fighting off one of mine, but I do not believe he found the culprit yet, all I can tell you is this fool will be back before the day is over. He wouldn't have left a trail leading to him if he wasn't confident he'd get away with it." She turned around and scoffed, listening through the crowd to see if she could hear anything strange in the midst of all these buzzing insects.

As if right on queue a few blocks away from where they were, in the direction of the already fighting shinigami, trouble was brewing. Taking her paw and raising it in the air towards where she heard the second hollow approaching, she looked at Emon and told him: "looks like your friend is about to be in trouble, shouldn't you go help him?" Then a sudden burst of heat was felt as another building went up in flames.

Vance thought about how to answer the shinigami, but decided that antagonizing him with mockery was probably not the best decision he could make.  Instead, Vance shifted his weight as he noticed the other reiraku of another hollow and sighed to himself.  "I'm no hero, I just don't bring my wars to other people's dimensions.  You see me invading your home and waving my sword around damaging walls like this?"  Vance said as he ushered his hand at the wall he had been investigating.  

He shifted to think about what the hollow had said before he pulled the smaller of the two weapons, a revolver out of the case and opened the breach.  He was going to tell the hollow that there were actually two others of her kind and a third on the way.  While Vance couldn't shoot arrows or use skills forever, he did understand sensing to an odd level.  The young man then clicked the side latch of the case and put it down for a second.  

He hummed, briefly as he pulled out a tube just large enough to fit in the chamber before opening the breach, and sliding it in.  Vance then stopped and looked at the hollow with a odd look on his face.  "You say these smell good?" Vance asked pulling another one off his belt and holding it in front of her in the palm of his hand.  "Beat the hollow, and I'll give you one.  Well the contents anyway."  After all, if he didn't have to fight, Vance wasn't going to.  He didn't have infinite energy or superpowers, he just had some decent aim and swordsmanship.  Plus it was actually an experiment, he had never met such a straight thinking hollow before, usually he was already covered in blood swinging a sword at this point.

“Vacation of course” Emon smiled at the Hollow holding up his flask and taking another sip. Man that was the good stuff, the type of stuff that rolled right down your gullet and warmed your insides up. Boy he was really starting to enjoy this acid-trip of his, wait till he got back to Soul Society and told -

He took another drink and tilted his head in the direction of the conflict. The Hollow was right in her observation, his compatriot was indeed losing. He could go help, but he needed to remind himself he wasn’t doing the fighting thing anymore. He was going on vacation. Emon looked up in the direction of the burning building. Sure was a big fire.

“Nah he’s got him on the ropes. Guy’s completely fine. It’s the classic “set the building on fire” trick, use it all the time” Vacation Emon, just keep thinking about that sweet sweet vacation in the bahamas. Cool wind on your back, warm sun on your face and plenty of alcohol. He’d be damned if his nice fever dream became another combat exercise. He was pretty certain of that.

“Oh, don’t take the bet by the way Hollow-chan, I’m ninety percent sure that the stuff in those vials is poison to Hollow. Why else do you think he has them? For show?” he paused for a moment and considered his options idly staring at the contents of those vials. The tubes . . . the weird presence. . . oh, he knew what this guy was - a Quincy.

A Quincy.

He took another drink.

Nah he was on vacation.

“Actually what do I care, go fight the other Hollow, que sera, sera”

"Boy you're starting to test my patience" the fox growled under her mask. Taking a few steps back from the Quincy in front of her she looked directly at Emon. Her eyes, piercing, as if looking through him. She was getting irked at this man's attitude and indifference. This shinigami was weird, why would he come here with his zanpakuto and not even lift a finger to help his own. Nakunzuh was getting really suspicious of the two strange people in front of her. She had come back to the human world with a mission, if those two weren't willing to help then maybe she'd have to force their hand.

Turning around and facing the direction of the battle she looked back at Emon and said loudly: "Well if you don't care if he dies maybe I'll go eat him myself!" She leapt up in the air and took off towards the battling shinigami. There she could meet the hollow who's responsible for all this mess and maybe test him to see if he could be a potential recruit to their ranks. It's true she was a bit annoyed that Illan had made her try and find more for their cause but she knew that in the end it would be better for her too.

Dashing through the crowd she knew it would be best to stay low, amidst the humans to avoid making a target of herself, she was quite proud of her speed and agility so she had no problem outrunning these two weirdos. Just leave them to their own fate who cares anyway. She had been tasked of finding this fire hollow and she ended up losing precious time talking to a weird human and a lazy death god. Illan would probably be angry that she even addressed them but she didn't really care at this point. That big lion wasn't there to track her every movement, she could do what she wanted, as long as she delivered results.

The smell of sulfur was strong in the air, this fire hollow was in fact a giant salamander, he took the poor shinigami by surprise. As he was already battling with another hollow the lizard spat his weird jelly like spit, but fortunately missed. As soon as this substance came in contact with the air it lit up like a fireball and came crashing on the building next to them. The resounding explosion badly charred the wall and scorched the bricks. It was clear this death god wouldn't be able to handle these two hollow on his own, after all he wasn't even a ranked shinigami in a squad. He was supposed to be there to patrol, not intercept and engage. He would soon be overwhelmed if nothing happened.

Vance shrugged, the man on vacation was half-right. If Vance changed the nature of the reishi in the tubes it would have been damaging to the hollow. The problem was he couldn't absorb it himself so he used tools to do it for him. Vance was more of a supernatural engineer who took his time learning everything before fighting. "Those buildings, are ours..."

Seeing the hollow bolt, he did wonder about something, he didn't know it was so easy to sense him. Maybe that was just a thing in this part of the world. Usually, unless it was something really powerful, like his sister, black robed people couldn't spot him ever. "Great job miss hollow." Vance stated giving her a slow clap as she went off to fight. He was laughing after that as he watched the salamander.

Vance watched the fireball slam home in the building next to him and his face suddenly changed. Normal Vance looked pretty reserved as he left judgement to others. The moment the hollow decided that it was going to burn up a building, he seemed to shift. "Sheriff's in town folks, that's all she wrote." He stated holstering the revolver and opening the case all the way out to grab the large sword inside.

The large blade got held on Vance's shoulder as he calmly walked towards the hollow spitting fire. The moment he was close enough, Vance stuck the blade into the ground and took two steps towards the Salamander before he set his feet apart. Vance, didn't belong in this day and age, anyone could tell by the dominant foot forward slightly, the spread bent knees and the fact that he pulled his coat back around the holster. Vance looked like he had simply stepped out of a western. He didn't have a hat sadly, but the action got the attention of the Salamander like hollow who looked down at him.

He was pretty sure that the goop it was spitting was quick, but Vance wasn't strong. Vance had few skills, and most of which were simply honed by repetition and combat experience. He hand flexed over the handle of his revolver. The world dissolved away, except for the sheriff, and the man who had lit the bar on fire. If there was anything going on around the terrible Quincy, he missed it as the other hollows battled and the black robed warrior was left fighting only one.

Minutes flew by, or maybe hours, it was always hard to tell when you got that focused. He though he heard screams, but that could just have been the wind. In the real world, not even a few seconds went by before the hollow reared its head to spit it's Jelly. Each shot rang out like a explosion in the darkness. Vance's hand had only lifted the gun off the cross approximately a half-inch then leveled the barrel, and rolled the hammer with the first shot, which hit the hollow's upper chest. The simple recoil movement of being slammed with the spiritually created bullet made the hollow back a tiny bit, enough that Vance continued slamming the hammer with his off-hand.

Not all of the shots hit, they didn't need too. The jelly was released as the hollow was on the back foot and Vance took a quick rolling dive to the side. A bit got on his coat and burned through it. A spent tube slipped into his pocket as he pulled another from his belt, and slammed it back into the chamber before holstering the revolver as he came up on his knee in front of his sword. He hefted the large blade and pulled another tube out, he flicked it open and tossed the reishi onto the sword before stomping towards the wounded hollow on it's back.

He didn't seem to care about the fox, it hadn't damaged earth.

Did Emon care? That was a very good question he was currently asking himself as the Quincy and the Hollow took off in the direction of the fighting. He felt he should care, but quite simply the more he thought about it, he really didn’t. If that Shinigami died then they were simply a casualty of war, Emon would report it and simply say he saw the remains later as he was on vacation. It was believable and he sure wasn’t the first Shinigami to find the remains of a compatriot on an excursion to the world of the living.

He kept up with them easily, in fact he made sure to finish his cigarette before he took off in their direction because wind played havoc with cigarette’s midair and Emon didn’t really have an interest in lighting the other. What ensued in front of Emon as he lit another cigarette was close to madness, if not insanity. The patrolling Shinigami was being attacked by a salamander Hollow who launched an explosive jelly-like spit that immolated on impact. It was spectacular.

He hovered down next to the fox-like Hollow as the Quincy unleashed a flurry of bullets into the Salamander that seemed to cause it serious harm. Emon tilted his head in the direction of his compatriot Shinigami who was gathering himself up from the rubble he’d been flung into. “I thought you were going to kill him?” Emon said mockingly “the truth is, if he died he was weak. If he lived he was strong, I thought out of all creatures a Hollow could respect that logic”

He took a step backwards and leant against the side of a building watching the Quincy engage with the Hollow. Yes there were strict societal codes that the Hollow had to be purified but technically as of this moment, Emon’s own justice was stronger than the societal codes. As far as he was concerned the Quincy was a hypocrite and the Hollow was naive.

So he would play their game.

He would do nothing.

“Hey Quincy, are you going to show the fox here what you do to her kind? I think she’d be interested”

Nakunzuh turned curiously towards Emon, did this man really not care if that other shinigami lived or died? How very hollow of him. After all he was right, the fox could totally respect the way he was thinking, for she was here for the same reason, this salamander was her target. Word was circulating of a strong hollow making a huge racket down in the human world. These words had reached Illan and that was why the sly vulpine spirit was sent here. A wicked smile crept up under her mask, she was even more intrigued about this guy. This death god was so different than the self righteous ones she was used to dealing with. She suddenly stopped and sat down right beside him, admiring the sight in front of them. This Quincy would prove to be more than a challenge for the salamander, she wouldn’t lift a paw to help, if he died he truly wasn’t worth her time after all.

“I’m liking the way you’re thinking shinigami, I’ve never quite met one like you and I’ll have to say, I’m curious if you’re really gonna let him die.” Wrapping up her tails around her legs Nakunzuh got comfortable, looking on at the scene it wasn’t going very well for this salamander, if it didn’t impress her more than this, she had half a mind to go finish it herself. Getting hit by a few of those bullets and it was already on its ass on the ground, it barely burnt scraps of the Quincy’s cloak, pathetic. A sudden thought took hold in the fox’s mind; ”Quincy, Quincy…” she said under a breath. Where had she heard that before? She remembered Zalun mentioning them before, a variant of the human race, more powerful, they could gather spirit energy into weapons to annihilate hollows. But this guy was one of them? Surely he couldn’t be, he was not using the abundant spiritual energy surrounding them to fight, he was using gizmos and gadgets. Surely the shinigami was wrong, but only time could tell.

Her ears perked up on her head and she surprisingly looked at the salamander, on its back, suddenly roll back and spit a volley of smaller fireballs towards the Quincy. Splending, at least it was adapting to his enemy, but that wasn’t enough to warrant a bigger reaction. He still had yet to land a single good blow against his opponent after all. ”I am curious indeed, show me what you got, Quincy.” Nakunzuh laughed while looking at he battle. The other shinigami wasn’t fairing much better against his own enemy though, that hollow wasn’t quite as impressive as the salamander, he only looked like an overgrown man with a giant torso standing on smaller legs. He was slow, but powerful, his blows could break bones and that’s probably what he was doing. The patrolling shinigami looked battered and broken, he probably was taken by surprise and got a few good hits landed against him before he could retaliate, but then again the fight wasn’t over, maybe he would somehow pull through.

Vance brought his sword down in an arch against one of the legs of the salamander-like hollow. He was getting really sick of this. If the black robed morons had done their jobs, there wouldn't be a fire on two different buildings. Unfortunately, the hollow had rolled backwards just as Vance's sword came arching down. His strikes were broad, they weren't overly swift, but he had always made up for it with reishi. Vance wasn't the strongest and he probably never would be. The smaller fireballs rushed at him and Vance took off his coat as he tossed it in front of him to impact the first fireball. The second one hit home and he rolled backwards as his shirt caught on fire.

Vance heard screaming again, he wasn't sure if it was the other humans or himself. He tossed his shirt to get the burning jelly away from him. His torso looked like he had gone through a blender and lost. He was muscled, but it wasn't pure tone, and his had more cuts and scars than most would ever see much less have. Vance hefted the blade as he pulled out another tube and brushed it along the edge.

He had the one in his revolver, and two more left. Vance only had five with him at the moment, he wasn't sure he was going to get into a fight. A chuckle that seemed more like a killer in the darkness appearing before the horror scene in a move extruded from Vance's lips and he ran towards the salamander. What followed next was a little different than most would care to tell.

Vance, was not like most Quincy, if you could even call him one. He had their gear, he had their cross, but he had no way of doing what Quincy did, right. Where other Quincy were elegant, gliding on reishi, casting spells and sometimes shooting hollow out of the sky as they entered Earth, Vance made up for it with an extreme combat sense. He could see everything in a different light than others did. He already knew he had won, simply from the amount of reiryoku the monster had expended attacking the black robe, then himself. He knew from it's reiraku, Vance was a sensor, and a dam good one. Where even captain level black robed idiots couldn't pinpoint people, Vance could tell you about their dam steps.

The sword glowed an eerie blue light as it clashed against the salamander hollow's limbs strike after strike, reishi rolling off it over the course of a few brilliantly colored swings as Vance kept striking. It was an assault meant to give opening, despite the fact it must have looked pretty cool. Just as the last of the light began to fade on the sword, the hollow grabbed it. A single mistake, was all it took before Vance let go of the weapon, a split second later the hammer slammed down again as he shot each limb of the hollow.

He left it there, not dead, looking back at the stupid black robe who had watched. "Finish it!" He said in an annoyed and pained tone as he glared down the vacationing black robe. It was obvious, Vance was giving him a chance to purify it. Though he was now standing on top of it with his revolver pointing at its mask in case it tried anything again.

Blood dripped down his arm, if the black robe didn't move, he would shoot, if the fox did, he would shoot. That simple. He was hurt, and running low on ammo.

Emon’s words were more deadly than any weapon. Maybe that was why he was here because through some weird weave of fate he’d been spun in this direction to meet this Hollow and this Quincy on this day.

“We keep balance. It's not a compulsion, it’s a reason. Some Shinigami raise their blades to purge Hollow at a whims notice and more power to them I suppose, much like Hollow they are driven by the same cravings “keep balance” - “feed” at the end these motivations are no different” his Zanpakuto glittered on his back as if feeding off his words, sometimes it radiated spiritual pressure - a sort of misery that radiated off the blade and hilt. He often wondered if people who really focussed on the weapon could hear the faint crying from inside.

“You put a Shinigami and a Hollow in a room? Their motivations are exactly the same. Here we have a great example. A Shinigami seeks to purge a Hollow, a Hollow seeks to consume the Shinigami. At the end of the day, no matter the result, balance is kept” he stared at the fire that was produced by the Hollow as the world around them began to burn. He didn’t mind this fox, she spoke reason and perhaps he respected her for it. Emon knew that the primal need for her to hunger and feed would eventually overtake her, that was their way and like the rest, eventually he too would end her.

The Quincy was practically defending the other Shinigami who lay unconscious in the rubble, driven there by another attack the Hollow had used. Well that was beneficial, none of his actions would be recorded and the man would recover. One problem ticked off the list.

What surprised Emon was the Quincy’s request for him to finish it. Emon tilted his head upwards towards the Monk of Destruction - the great antithesis of the ‘Balance’ and then looked down at the small fox Hollow by his side and then at the lumbering beast with it’s limbs maimed unmoving.

"Remember Fox-chan, all men are monsters and all monsters are men"

And then the Salamander made eye contact with Emon and there was a mutual understanding there. A contract sealed and written with intent alone. It opened its mouth gathering power and energy in their direction, to spew a blast of energy at Emon and the fox to end their lives.

The vacationer flickered from his spot, crossing the distance in an instance unsheathing his zanpakuto horizontally and bringing it up and slicing through the beast’s neck in an arc severing it and causing the energy to collapse as the Hollow began to burn away in black energy.

“Sayoonaara”

Emon whispered as he continued the swing in a perfect circle alternating between hands and sheathing the weapon again.

Balance maintained.

Vacation kept.

He put a hand into his jeans pocket and pulled out his rattled flask he’d stuffed in there and took a last final swig of it before the last of the contents dripped on his tongue. Emon frowned and shook the flask looking inside with one eye.

“Oi Quincy, are there any liquor stores around here?”

Balance was not a concept Nakunzuh was overly familiar with, she had no notion of it and frankly she cared very little about the balance. As a hollow your only purpose is to constantly fight for your life, fight against those who would see you destroyed, fight against those who would eat you and even fight the shinigamis who seek to “purify” you. Purification is not salvation for any hollow, at least not in the sense the death gods see it to be. All a hollow is, just disappears and that was not a notion the vulpine spirit was comfortable with. She did not remember her past life as a human being, why would she care of being purified of everything she knows that makes her real, to go back to someone she doesn’t remember. That was why she was fighting, that’s what was important.

She had forgotten it for a second, but the glimpse was over, reality had kicked in. As she slowly saw Emon walk towards the already crippled body of the salamander, his zanpakuto in hand. She knew clearly what was gonna happen, he was going to disappear, he would be purified. She did not feel sad for this pathetic excuse for a hollow, he got beat and deserves whatever happens to him now. That is why she did not move a muscle when the shinigami rose his blade in the air and delivered the final blow. Sayonara, those words Emon spoke really brought Nakunzuh back to reality, she did not “fail” her mission, that hollow wouldn’t have been worth saving anyway. But it would mean she’d come home empty handed, she was just hoping that Illan wouldn’t bust her ass too much for it, it had already been a really weird and exhausting day, she didn’t need more grievance.

"Man now I’m gonna have to explain why we’re missing one fire breathing salamander." She closed her eyes and sighed audibly, getting up on all four paws she turned her back to the scene of chaos that used to be in front of her. A half-dead shinigami buried in rubble, the first Quincy she had ever met and the strangest shinigami she’d probably ever meet. As her spiritual energy poured into the empty space in front of her a loud sound echoed, as if the fabric of space was being torn open. The now too familiar garganta opened wide enough so she’d easily hop through, being able to finally get back home and rest, but before she did, she turned around and looked at Emon. She smirked under her mask and yelled at him: "Guess I’ll see you later, shinigami." And she smiled, a very wicked and disturbing smile crept upon her lips. She then jumped through the gate and returned to Hueco Mundo to report on the day’s situation.

Vance went looking for his case, and found it across the street.  He had burns in four places and he didn't seem to mind that much.  Some kind of odd form endurance had always kept Vance going.  He tossed his blade into the case and closed it.  He didn't consider that a win, Vance rarely won by his standards.  He stupidly had just saved two black robes which meant they would go home, report them then come back and try and kill him.  "Damned if you do... damned if you don't."  Vance said to himself before looking back at the black robe.

"Two blocks up and a half block up on your right, next to the small grocer."   He stated giving the black robe directions to a liquor store.  "Just give me a head start, I don't feel like having to kill someone I just saved."  Vance pointed out, he didn't give a care about balance or really anything, he had done what he did because this world belong to him.  They were just visiting.  In the words of a very wise idiot.  Don't start none, won't be none.  Vance lifted the case up and started walking away, he needed a change of clothes and some bandages.

He headed back to his hotel, though he wasn't sure why he would go straight there. Chances were he had been followed but he was staring at the Reiraku as he walked. He at least wanted to be near more tubes if he had any more unpleasantness today.