Feeding Frenzy

(OCC: the hollow refers to Ikaru. the story hasn't reached the point where he has decided upon his name yet. So when the story says the hollow it is referring to Ikaru. Also I am shooting for spirit power here, but award as you see fit.)

Rage. Anger. Indignation. Pain....and hunger.

These were the feelings that the hollow had awakened to when the hollow whose body seemed to have appeared out of nowhere into the white sands of the desert. He tried to twitch his finger to see whether he still had feeling in his hand without opening his eyes. To his surprise he found out that he could move a body part, but what he had mistaken for a hand was not a hand at all. Ikaru opened his eye and the first thing he noticed was that he was in a desert. He let out yell only to hear a monstrous roar, that he didn't remember having before. This thoughts were murky to the point that he couldn't remember what he was doing, where he was, or even what he was. Once again he took his focus from the desert that stretched around him, seemingly endlessly around him. He tried to stand up and found that he had four legs, all muscular reptilian legs. For some reason this seemed different, but then again he couldn't remember what it would have different from.

The thing that the hollow noticed the most was that he was feeling weak and hungry, it made him feel angry with himself. "...I am...hungry..." was the only coherent thought that he managed to decipher from his brain as he took one unsure step after another towards a rock that was close by. He wanted to lean on the rock to support this body that he had woken up to. Panting he finally reached the rock, climbing on it like an exhausted dog he laid upon it trying to understand what was this nightmare that he was in. Also he wanted to understand why when he felt so weak, it was all so angering that the more he tried to think, the more he began to lose control of himself. Now the panting had grown louder, but this was from the building rage that had taken ahold of the hollow's being. It was not a normal rage, but a rage that grasped a hold of one's sanity and picks at it until there is nothing left. This is what the hollow felt as he could only get impressions of what he was thinking and the fact that he had no sense of what was going on mentally he roared again as the rage began to reach unbearable levels. Suddenly he heard a rustle in the a the sand nearby and his crimson insect eyes shifted so he could see what made the noise, eyes that hungered, beneath a mask of pure white.

He scoured the desert and saw a dog with the mask of a bull with two horns glinting menacingly as it panted looking around in the desert probably for something to eat. At the sight of the dog the hollow began salivating and its blood rushed, pounding loudly in its head adding to the maddening mess that was already in head. Unable to contain itself the hollow roared causing the dog to look in its direction. Slowly the hollow lifted its body from the rock as it prepared itself for a fight, but it wasn't by choice, there was no thought process in choosing to fight with the dog-looking beast with wings in front of it. Nothing pushed the hollow to violence, but hunger. The hollow crawled off the rock hissing at the dog that was now growling at it as well. A another noise behind the hollow caused it to turn halfway so that it could see behind it. There was another dog there ready to assault him. Suddenly there was a growl to the right of the hollow and to the left as well. It was surrounded, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was the hunger that resided inside of the beast.

The first dog-hollow ran at him from the rear. There wasn't enough time to turn around and attack, but his anger and uncontrollable hunger forced him to push hard. It was then his tail shot out from underneath his cicada like wings and stabbed the dog just underneath the jawline. "...Feed..." was the first thought besides hunger that the hollow had experienced. He felt it, the life force of the dog-hollow that he had stabbed with his tail, he could feel its sweet life force and the hollow knew that he must have it. All of it. As if obeying the thought that flashed through his mind, the muscles in his tail contracted and expanded like it was a pump and at first the hollow became confused at what was happening since it was not fully aware of all of its body functions. Once he felt the first wave of the essence being drawn into his being the hollow knew what had happened and it thoroughly enjoyed the taste and feel of it. It bellowed as the essence of the first dog was completely drained, it was now on a blood rampage. Its eyes glazed over as consciousness gave way to instinct and it charged the first dog-hollow it had seen. Thirst had overtaken every other sense and nothing else remained within the being of the hollow.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the hollow on his right jump to attack him as he charged at the leader of the pack it seemed, this time the hollow didn't show a bit of hesitation. The tail shot out at the dog in the same way that it had against the previous hollow that had made an attempt on the hollow's life. It seemed they all learned their lesson as the dog stopped just short of where the tail could reach and leaped back. None of this concerned the hollow as it made its way to its primary target it didn't slow down a bit. Just as he was about to make contact with the dog it seemed to disappear and suddenly he felt a pair of sharp teeth sink into its hide, on the right side. The hollow bellowed as it struggled to counter the attack, but because of its body structure the hollow was unable to reach where the dog-hollow had bitten him at. Rage and humiliation once again submerged the hollow to a state beyond comprehension. Instinct took over as the hollow's tail extended high above its body, with the tip of it pointed at head dog. It struck swiftly and sickeningly as blood poured out everywhere and the dog-hollow squealed in horror as its life was being sucked away from it. Again it was if the life essence was a drug and the hollow couldn't get enough of it, the feeling that it experienced as it drained the dog-hollow dry was nothing short of euphoria.

+2 spirit

The hollow's hunger had not been quenched by simply devouring two of the dog hollows; in fact the taste of the dog’s spiritual power had only served to increase his thirst for blood. It roared as the last of the dog hollow's life was sucked away and it disappeared to nothingness as the spirit particles dissipated into the air. Breathing heavily, the hollow eyed the two other dog hollow that were still alive. The dog hollows stayed their distance as they had seen their comrades go down at the hands of the hollow, but the hollow had no intention of letting their life force escape from him. Bellowing, the hollow raised its reiatsu, letting the other hollow know that he was going to move in for the attack.

Charging at one of the two dog hollow, the hollow made no sound as its feet shuffled across the sand. The dog hollow didn't really react rather it stood there panting as the hollow crashed towards it. Raising the tail, the hollow roared once again as it came charging at the dog hollow anticipating the taste of blood and the fulfilling satisfaction of taking the power of another hollow. Lust drove it mad, but suddenly the hollow was thrown careening through the sand as it felt the a weight crash into its side. It struggled to quickly regain its balance so that it would be able to defend itself from any further attacks.

Once it was back on its feet the hollow caught sight of the dog hollows dashing towards it in a wild frenzy, saliva dripping from their jaws as they moved in for what they thought was a sure kill. The tail extended from his back in the defensive nature and the hollow brought it above its head. One of the dog hollows saw through the hollow's attack and evaded to the side, but this didn't matter as the hollow brought down on the other dog hollow. The dog hollow whimpered as the syringe tipped tail plunged into its flesh. Lifting the trapped hollow with his tail, the hollow brought its focus to the other hollow as it came charging from the side.

Contracting its muscles in the tail, the hollow began extracting the spiritual power from the dog hollow that had been impaled with its tail as it awaited the attack from the other dog hollow. Howling the beast came at the hollow with incredible speed, its jagged teeth glistening in the moon of the hollow world. This didn’t bother the hollow at all as it felt once again the euphoria that came from devouring the spiritual power of another being. The feeling was so great that it almost completely clouded the hollow’s mind, but it continued to keep watch of the dog hollow that was charging at it. Suddenly it disappeared and the hollow could feel teeth burrowing into its flesh once again.

By now the hollow’s black blood had spilled heavily over the sand and its vision was even beginning to blur as it tried to maintain focus during the fight. Suddenly another rush of reiatsu flowed into his being and the hollow was rejuvenated as it spun its body, flinging the dog hollow loose of its hide. Blood dripping from both of its sides the hollow attacked the dog hollow with wild abandon; the tail had become free as the other dog hollow dissolved into scattered bits of reishi once again. The hollow felt warm blood as its beak pierced the flesh of the last dog hollow and he shook its body vividly until there was no longer any movement. Finally the hollow dropped the body on the ground and plunged its tail into the body to suck away the last remnants of life from the doomed dog hollow.

+1.5 spirit

Panting after the vicious encounter with the dog hollows, the hollow walked through the desert sand alone. His shadow cast a long silhouette by his body as it continued wondering the sands looking for something else to kill, some other reason to further its goals. It picked up speed once it caught sight of what looked like the nesting site of other hollows. Once it got there it realized that there wasn’t anyone present there so it decided to camouflage itself within the sand as it waited for the other hollows to come back to the nest. The hollow was pretty hungry as he considered what to do, “…Feed…” was the only thought that ran through the hollow’s mind as it waited for a chance to strike once again at his prey.

Hiding quietly in the sand, the hollow waited as he finally felt some reiatsu show up around the nest. His hunger nearly caused him to give away his position after all the work that he had done to hide himself. Despite the many things that flashed through the hollow’s mind, it kept still as it watched two other hollows come into view. The hollow waited patiently as the hollows continued to stomp around their nesting area, unaware of the danger that was lurking very close by to them. Suddenly once the hollow deemed it safe to attack it sprung out from under the sand screaming a bloody war cry. “Must…eat” the hollow roared out loud. His crimson eyes flashing in the moonlit world of the hollows as he descended upon his prey.

The two hollow looked a bit bird like, but had reptilian scales on their being which made them look fearsome even though their size alone would have contributed to the ferocity of their appearances. The hollow didn't care, all he knew was that he wanted to feed upon the spiritual power that it had developed a taste for since it had its first taste of the wonderful energy during his first encounter.

"Hunger...must eat..." the hollow's mind was filled with only the desire to eat as it took a couple more steps towards the hollow that stood before it; they were his meal.

The meal that he wouldn't let get away from him no matter what the costs may be. Inching closer once more, the hollow observed the hollow as their reptilian feathers began to get ruffled as if they were planning to rush at the hollow. Without warning the bird hollow cawed and flapped its wings, as it flew into the air. The other hollow took off running at the hollow, its reptilian feathers ruffling and flapping all over the place as it charged towards the hollow noisily as if trying to warn the hollow of its attack. In response the hollow roared as it raised its power to the highest level, hoping to stun the hollow giving him enough time to snack on their beautiful energy. The hollow that had taken to the air attempted to land on the hollow, but the hollow countered its aerial attack by opening up its cicada wings on its back.

Moving out of the way of the hollow that had charged him, the hollow finally decided to extend its tail and counter the unfortunate hollow that had made the mistake of charging him in the first place. Raising the tail over its head the hollow watched as its prey looked up at the tail in horror, unprepared for the feast that it was going to provide to the hollow.

"...Kill..." the hollow thought as its eyes glowed a blood red as it brought its tail down with fury and blood lust upon the unsuspecting hollow that had fallen prey to him.

The energy that was being absorbed from the first of the hollow's victims was delicious and the hollow once again felt that ecstasy, that he normally felt when he fed upon the energy of another being. Making a noise of pleasure, the hollow continued to feed upon its victim when suddenly a shadow formed over the hollow and it quickly adjusted its vision to the source of the shadow. Descending upon the hollow with vengeance the other hollow came down, its claws extended in preparation to kill the hollow in the name of its fallen brethren. As it came down slowly, the hollow continued to finish off its earlier prey feeling as the energy from the hollow gave him new life and quenching its thirst just enough for it to go after the second hollow.

The hollow attempted to stab the hollow in the air with its tail, but the hollow dodged it. This didn't matter to the hollow since its blood lust was the only thing driving it and it wouldn't relent at the cost of its own life. Stabbing at the air twice more, the bird hollow evaded the first one, but the second strike was too quick for the hollow to dodge and the bird quickly fell to the ground writhing with pain. The hollow drank the energy from its prey freely and steadily as it contracted its tail muscles, enjoying every second of the euphoria that came from killing. Even if it was one of its own the hollow wanted more energy.

+ 2.5 spirit power. Well done

Ikaru was prepared this time as he attempted to take out not just one or two hollow, but he had been spying upon a nest of hollow that had made a certain area in the desert there nesting place; they also made it the place where they fed upon each other ruthlessly. For many days, Ikaru watched as the hollow fed into each other and the though of being able to join in the melee was enough to make his mouth water for more. There was only one thing that drove Ikaru to continue to feed and that was the ever calling hunger that had plagued him since he had first materialized; it was as if there was something that he was searching for in feeding upon other hollow, there was something that he needed to feed upon as he devoured more and more hollow gaining strength each time.

It was now the fourth day that Ikaru had stayed in his perched spot watching as a hollow would stumble into the area and then find itself quickly pounced upon by three or four other hollow in a matter of seconds. Watching, waiting, Ikaru paid attention to the only thing that mattered to him at that point which was the voice in his head saying, "Hunger...Feed...Feed...FEED"

Ikaru didn't care whether or not he confronted the group of hollow by himself since the only thing that mattered to him was obtaining their spiritual energy so that he could quell the hunger that threatened to consume his soul if he didn't obey it. Scuttling out, Ikaru found himself quickly surrounded by the hollow as they sensed his own great spritual energy and wanted to feed on his just as he wanted to feed upon their own. Eight different hollow now surrounded him, but in the face of the hunger that commanded that he devour them all and obtain their strength, odds were irrelevant to the hollow as it prepared to engage in combat with its other masked brothers.

The first hollow finally attack; it had the body of a snake with two muscled arms with razor claws on the end of them. It slithered in a zig zag pattern trying to confuse Ikaru, but once again such things didn't make a difference as the hollow struck his hide with lightening fast speed. Black blood spewed from Ikaru's hide as it roared in pain while lunging at another hollow that was shaped like a frog, but had the mask of a bird.

Scuttling as fast as his legs would carry him, Ikaru descended upon the bull frog hollow only to have another hollow crash into his side sending him reeling across the sand as he turned end over end. Once he came to a stop without wasting anytime, Ikaru opened his mouth and began to gather spiritual energy in his mouth as he remained completely stationary. The spirit particles made a buzzing noise as they made their way into Ikaru's mouth and he began to focus and compress the energy in his mouth. Once he had maximum power

Ikaru released the attack upon the hollows that were in the center of the formation that they used to surround Ikaru in the first place. Sand flew into the air as the attack landed and Ikaru heard the pained screams of at least three of the hollow that had been standing in that area. Suddenly Ikaru's body became weighed down with fatigue as its breaths became ragged and came in short bursts, alerting the hollows that he was near the end of his rope.

Gathering the last of his strength as he gripped the grass firmly between his toes, Ikaru roared again as it gathered its reiatsu into another cero attack in the hopes that it would take out some more of the hollow leaving him a chance to feed properly on them. Again he fired the cero blast, but this time all the hollow that were of the quicker persuasion dodged out of the way and then once they were clear of danger turned their focus upon feeding on the weakened Ikaru.

Even as his strength started to drop dangerously low, the only thought on his brain was, "Must...feed...hungry" which drove him to dash at the hollow with no arms, but had a stinger for a tail. The other hollow stepped back at the sight of the one on one issue that had now presented itself and they awaited eagerly to see which one of the hollow would die first; giving them a meal without forcing them to hunt. Circling Ikaru, the hollow seemed to be trying to read Ikaru's movements in an attempt to remain strong and not get devoured.

Such thoughts didn't cross Ikaru's mind as he swallowed the saliva in his mouth in anticipation of the movement that the other hollow would soon make thanks to being impatient. Finally Ikaru could no longer wait for the hollow to make its move so he rushed the other hollow first, but it didn't guarantee the victory as his first a attempt at stabbing the hollow with his beak was met by a narrowly thrown miss at Ikaru's hide. Roaring Ikaru raised his spiritual energy as high as he could without having to waste time with the beast. His power depleted from using two cero, which ordinarily would have left Ikaru in the sand whispering for food and energy.

With the hollow having no arms, Ikaru decided that he would attack with the tail which proved to be a good choice because it ended up striking the hollow in its mask on the first try. As Ikaru fed upon the edible parts of their fallen comrade, the other hollows watched with saliva dripping off their mouths wishing that they could have some of the feast.

Awesome! +2 to Spirit Power