For Strength

ooc: this entire thread will be for fighting skill...and I realize Bakuhatsu's accent is fairly stereotypical...oh well

Sekkou and one of his companions, Bakuhatsu, arose like twin obelisks of death from the desert floor; white sand streaming down their heads and all around them. "This is a good place," said Sekkou. "We will train here."

"Aye laddie, then let's hae at it!" Bakuhatsu charged without warning, his massive white hands coming forward in powerful sweeps.

Sekkou raised his hands to defend and caught Bakuhatsu's hands in his own. He roared defiantly as he slid backward against Bakuhatsu's strength. Out of all his followers, Bakuhatsu was the strongest physically, and Sekkou was determined to surpass him. Quickly, Sekkou gave a little, letting his right hand come loose, and then bringing it forward to land a devastating punch on Bakuhatsu's midsection. Bakuhatsu let out a roar of pain and looked down. "Oh that smarts," he said.

Then he roared and again came at Sekkou. Sekkou again met Bakuhatsu's charge full-force and growled as he struggled to hold his own. "Brute strength is not what will help you win," he said confidently.

"I'll be takin' a leaf from yer book there then," retorted Bakuhatsu. He drew back a fist and punched at Sekkou, using the same tactic Sekkou had just used on him. Sekkou saw the move coming, but was too slow to avoid it entirely; Bakuhatsu's punch caught his left side, and it felt as if it had been hit by a red hot wrecking ball.

Sekkou roared his defiance and began punching at every inch of Bakuhatsu that he could reach. Bakuhatsu responded by blocking with his large hands. Sekkou considered that form of dodging to be overly simplistic. "Attack me now!" he commanded.

Bakuhatsu obliged and began throwing his own punches at Sekkou. Sekkou did not block the blows- instead, he deflected them, and when possible, dodged them. Bakuhatu's first punch came at Sekkou's face; Sekkou punched up and Bakuhatsu's blow went wide. The next punch came at his midsection, and Sekkou chopped down, again causing the blow to go wide and miss its intended target.

Sekkou could feel both of their reiatsus waning as they fought on fairly even ground. "Enough!" he said. "We must never push ourselves to the point of exhaustion. Or we will be vulnerable."

Bakuhatsu agreed, and they both disappeared back beneath the sands...

+1 fighting skill

ooc: this post will actually be for speed

Sekkou and his companions were running (or in the case of Sogekihei, flying) across the stark white landscape of the desert. They searched for fellow Adjuchas that had risen from the Menos Forest below them to hunt in the desert. Sekkou ran on all fours, like Sukauto did. They were the fastest of the group, Sogekihei was slightly behind them, and behind him were the two arthropods, Kougakusha and Bakuhatsu.

They ran in silence, saving their breath for the pace that they were setting for themselves. Sekkou's gait was something like that of a cheetah's. His legs moved in toward his torso, and then out, in and out in a quick patterned movement. Sekkou's breath came in steady bursts as well; his body seemed made for speed. Sukauto was the only one who could keep up with him. The steady pounding of feet against the sand was all he registered. There was only the run, the adrenaline, the feel of his muscles contracting and loosening as he pushed himself.

Sogekihei's voice jerked him from his reverie. "Three Adjuchas up ahead mates," he informed them all. "We'll be on 'em in a minute."

"The strongest one is mine," said Sekkou. No one disagreed. Their pace did not increase; they all trusted Sogekihei's eyes, which were just as good, if not better than those of a normal golden eagle. They were closing in; Sekkou was 20 meters away from his target. He leaped, and this was where he showed his superiority to Sukauto. Sukauto could not jump as far as Sekkou could, nor as high.

Sekkou hit the Adjuchas hard (it was like a dire bear). The other two resembled a wolverine and tasmanian devil respectively. Sekkou's claws raked the the Adjuchas's side, and his tail whipped across with surprising speed to lash it across the face. The Adjuchas cried out in pain, and then fear as it saw its predicament- namely that its companions were now being torn to bits by Sukauto's antlers, Sogekihei's sharp tearing beak and talons, and the jaws of the arthropods.

The bear-Adjuchas turned and fled. It lumbered across the sand in a blind panic. "I do enjoy the chase," said Sekkou gleefully. He dropped to all fours and began to chase after it. His muscles worked with near perfect efficiency as he ran after the Adjuchas. Breath came easily to his lungs, his heart pumped with unwavering strength, bringing oxygen to his powerful muscles. He was closing in on it now- 30 meters...20 meters...10 meters...5- Sekkou leaped. Sekkou landed directly on top of the bear. His jaws went down around its neck and bit down with terrible force, snapping its neck and tearing it clean from its body. As the body collapsed beneath him, Sekkou shoved his blood-spattered face into it and began eating away. This one would give him much more power.

+1.5 Speed

Sekkou ran alone now. He had told his companions to stay away from him until he called. Why? Sekkou felt that he should not need their assistance if he was as powerful as he believed himself to be, as he believed he would be. He would hunt alone; they, the weak would stick together- but he, he would survive and succeed by himself.

Sekkou ran on all fours, his long, flexible tail trailing behind him as he ran. His sleek white body was barely visible against the similarly colored sand beneath him. Only someone who was watching the small clouds of dust that he left in his wake could've detected his presence, or perhaps someone whose eyes were sensitive to movement. Sekkou's feet beat against the sand at a rate of perhaps five times per second- they sounded almost syncopated.

His breath came in an even tempo, never increasing in rapidity, and never decreasing. His lungs worked like a pair of well-maintained bellows, easily and efficiently allowing him to keep up his pace. There was only the view of the world passing by him, and the sight of the horizon going up and down that occupied Sekkou's mind. That was all.

And now Sekkou reached he point he had been waiting for- the point of fatigue. He began to feel a dull ache in his muscles as he continued to force them to move. His breath came shorter, and though it was painful, Sekkou took a perverse sort of joy in it, knowing that it was helping him reach a point of more power. It was taking more effort now to even remain balanced; Sekkou's claws dug more into the sand than they had before in order for him to keep his balance and not go tumbling to the ground at a missed step.

In fact, it became necessary for him to really measure his steps now, for him to focus on every moment where one of his claws touched the ground. Time seemed to slow down. It was like he could count seconds in between the times when his claws hit the sand. He could see the sand trickle down from each claw as it lifted into the air; he saw the sand explode outward when the claw hit the ground again.

His senses seemed to increase with his fatigue. The dull, burning ache was sharpening his senses. He felt as if he could hear individual grains of sand hitting other grains as his claws tossed them up, and as if he could feel each individual grain in the most intimate sense. And then, Sekkou stopped. His heart was pounding, his chest was heaving as he fought to regain control. Today had been fruitful- he was sure that his speed and endurance had increased.

ooc: again, for speed

+1.5 speed

Today, Sekkou decided that he would call his fellows to him. After having done so by firing three consecutive Ceros into the sky, he faced them with a scrutinizing stare. They appeared to have gotten marginally stronger- however not as strong as he had gotten in the same period of time. It didn't matter. Right now, he wished to train with them. He quickly explained to Sukauto and Demō what he wanted them to do to help him train.

About 15 minutes later, they were all standing apart from the others. Sekkou stood about 15 meters from each of them. "Go," he commanded them. They complied instantly. Each of Sukauto's antlers began to glow, and a second later, Balas came shooting out of the tip of each point on each antler. Sekkou jumped to avoid the initial barrage, but was quickly forced to counter a couple with his own Balas before landing on the ground.

Here, he was forced to go on all fours to avoid the Balas that followed him here, sending sand spraying up in all directions. Demō showcased a different talent. He curled his abdomen around in what seemed an extraordinary act of flexibility so that his head rested on it. From both his head and the bottom of his abdomen popped small cylindrical objects, though the ones produced from his abdomen appeared to have sharp little spikes on them. Demō began throwing them at Sekkou with great speed, despite his spindly looking legs.

Sekkou was hard-pressed to dodge all the attacks; Sukauto could easily take him out if Sekkou took to the air, and Demō's seemingly limitless supply of bombs was keeping him from staying in one place for too long. This was far more helpful than just plain running around had been- already he was feeling the pumping of adrenaline that had taken him hours of straight running just to achieve.

Sekkou's heart beat steadily to pump that adrenaline all around. He reveled in the feeling it gave him, the feeling of imminent peril, of excitement. Sekkou dodged left as he saw a bomb arcing toward him, rolled to the right to dodge a Bala, and then dived forward to avoid another one of Demō's bombs. Sekkou noticed that the bombs did not explode right away- it appeared that the un-spiked ones blew up about 2 seconds after hitting the ground, and the spiked ones seemed to blow up at Demō's discretion.

Sekkou started as he found himself nearly on top of one of the spiked ones. It exploded, sending him spiraling up into the air, burned and angry. He hissed as he fell, and began firing Balas of his own to counter Sukauto's Balas. Sekkou hit the ground hard and immediately took off toward Sukauto. As he ran directly at him, Sukauto aimed his stream of Balas right at Sekkou. Sekkou was forced to dodge to the left and right very carefully to avoid each blast.

He drew nearer and nearer until finally, one of the Balas clipped him and sent him tumbling to the ground. Sekkou got up, shook himself, and commanded them to stop, which they did immediately. He would continue this training with them later, but right now, he was exhausted, soaked in sweat, and he could taste a little blood in his mouth. Still...the gain was well worth the price.

ooc: speed please

+1.5 Speed

ooc: fighting skill please for this post
Sekkou was running alone across the desert of Hueco Mundo. His heart beat steadily against his ribs, and he reveled in the feeling of freedom and power he got from being able to so freely run across the desert. Every so often, his tongue would flick out and taste the air to see if there was potential prey about. And this time, there was. A fellow Adjuchas from the feel of it. Sekkou made a beeline toward the reiatsu source, and soon came into view of an Adjuchas that was the same height as Sekkou, but was bulging with muscle. Its mask was like the craggy face of a cliff wall- unlike any Hollow mask Sekkou had ever seen.

It didn't matter. Sekkou charged it recklessly. The muscle-bound Adjuchas lashed out with a massive fist as Sekkou came close. Sekkou ducked under it and whipped his tail across the Adjuchas's chest. It barely flinched as the tip of Sekkou's tail sliced a thin cut across it. Instead, it punched out with its other fist. Sekkou was caught by surprise, and even though he twisted to avoid it as fast as he could, it caught his side and sent him spinning into the sand. The Adjuchas charged him now, and brought its fist down at his prone form. "Golem crush you!" it said stupidly.

Sekkou rolled out of the way just in time, and this time lashed out with a claw, ripping out some of the flesh in its left thigh. Golem roared in pain and somehow managed to kick out at Sekkou with its injured leg- and somehow he connected, and the powerful kick sent a winded Sekkou tumbling through the sand a second time. Sekkou ran at Golem again, sure that this next tactic would work. Just as he neared him, Sekkou jumped and then twisted in midair. He landed on Golem's shoulders, where he instantly wrapped his tail around his throat and began choking him with all his might.

Golem reached up and began tugging with all his strength on Sekkou's tail. Sekkou had underestimated Golem's strength, and could feel his tail giving way. Desperately, he raked his claws along Golem's shoulders, but Golem fought through the pain and grabbed Sekkou's tail. He pulled Sekkou off and began whirling him in a circle before tossing him. Sekkou flew a football field in length before hitting the ground and bouncing a few times.

He got up and grinned. This fight was definitely worth it. He was sure of how to beat this behemoth now. Sekkou ran at Golem for a third time- Golem responded by running directly at him as well. As they drew close, Sekkou dove between a bewildered Golem's legs, where he quickly lashed out twice, his claws neatly hamstringing the huge Adjuchas. Golem's scream rent the night as he was forced to his knees. Not quite finished, Sekkou's tail darted out twice, and these two stabs took out the tendons and ligaments that connected Golem's shoulders to his arms, rendering them effectively useless.

Sekkou admired his handiwork in the crippled Adjuchas for a moment before almost lovingly wrapping his arms around Golem's neck and breaking it. His jaws worked furiously as he began devouring the powerful Adjuchas. It was a good night.

+2 Fighting Skill Another one bites the dust...or at least Sekkou is this time...dust, rocks, maybe a few grains of sand......

Sekkou was once again hunting on the open white deserts of Hueco Mundo. It had been days since he had had a decent meal- Sekkou's memory of Golem was almost fond in a sick kind of way. He kept up his pace, his muscles working hard to do so. Sekkou tasted the air- and smiled. Another powerful Adjuchas was nearby. "I'm coming for you!" Sekkou said almost joyfully. His claws carried him very quickly toward its source. And then it came into view- and Adjuchas that looked something like a tree, except that it was living and moving (think an Ent from LotR).

Sekkou rushed up to it; it turned slowly to see him coming and raised a giant foot as if to crush him with it. It came down with terrible speed, throwing up a lot of sand as it did so. And then it felt several piercings in that same leg- Sekkou had jumped onto the foot as it came down and quickly sped up it. The tree Adjuchas beat at its hard body in a frenzy in an attempt to crush Sekkou, but Sekkou was too fast for it, easily dodging it.

He was just about to reach its face when the tree Adjuchas had a sudden inspiration and swept down with both hands, one after the other, knocking Sekkou off and sending him down into the sand. Again, it raised a giant foot to crush Sekkou with- Sekkou only just managed to roll out of the way to dodge it.

This one was obviously much stronger than Golem had been- but also apparently stupider and also slower. Sekkou knew just how to take it down. He ran back, away from it. Stupidly, it slowly gave chase. Sekkou ran until he was a good distance away, turned around, and began charging a Cero. As it came closer and closer, Sekkou fought to keep his Cero charging to full power, and as it came to the perfect distance, he released it.

Sekkou aimed high- his Cero blasted into its head. It fell to the ground with its head smoking, and hit the ground hard, throwing sand up everywhere. "Height advantage gone," Sekkou commented aloud. And then he raced toward the fallen Adjuchas, where he leaped onto its face and began tearing into it.

ooc: intel please

+1 intel

The desert did not house Hollows that Sekkou considered worthy food for himself, but sometimes, he liked to come up here from the forest below and look at the sky. It seemed to put things in perspective- and also gave him a sort of metaphorical goal to shoot for. His progression through the Menos stages was moving at a satisfactory rate- Sekkou knew it was only a matter of time before he became an Arrancar.

His tongue flicked out unconsciously, a habit left over from his Adjuchas-hood. And then Sekkou stiffened. His tongue in all previous stages had served as his form of Pesquisa, the Hollow way of sensing reiatsu. And just now- he had sensed the presence of a fellow Vasto Lorde- and not one he was familiar with. It was approaching fast, and it was hostile.

Sekkou whirled around and blocked the blow of a female Vasto Lorde (judging by the nippleless breasts). Her fist hit his open palms with a powerful smacking sound that sent shockwaves out along the sand surrounding them. Her mask was like some kind of bug- an ant? Or perhaps a bee? "Tch," Sekkou kicked her off him and glared at her. "Hardly an introduction befitting a lady."

"Or a Queen," she said. Her voice was strange, like a chorus, as if it was composed of many female voices. She raised her arms, and Sekkou noticed that there were holes in her wrists. From these holes, insects, ants? crawled forth, black as the night, and their jaws pinching and making a chittering sound that was strangely chilling.

Like a carpet of death, the insects began a surprisingly quick march toward Sekkou. Clearly they were bad news. Sekkou quickly used Sonido to appear in exactly the opposite direction that they were moving in. Quick as a wink, the insects reversed direction and continued toward him. They seemed to be coming from within her without limit.

How can I prevent them from approaching me? Sekkou thought. How do ants communicate with each other anyway? And then...pheromones. Sekkou faced the horde of ants before him and bent down, touching his finger to the ground. "Way of Destruction#11: Reading Lightning!" Electricity shot down his finger and into the ground, frazzling the ants and the nerve endings that read pheromone signals. They began milling around on the ground, completely at a loss as to where to go.

"I have more children!" the Queen shrieked, and sure enough, more ants were pouring forth from her wrists.

"Oh do shut up," said Sekkou. "Hado no Sanjuichi: Shakkaho!" A burst of red fire shot forth from his claw and took her in the chest. Sekkou jumped high into the air, directly above her and began charging the Cero. "Bear witness to the coup of the century! Long live the Queen!" he laughed mockingly as he fired his Cero, obliterating her ants and fatally wounding her. He landed beside her and kissed her twitching, charred mandibles lightly. "The Kiss of a Dragon is often lethal," he informed her, and then tore into her, absorbing her reiatsu into himself, strengthening himself.

ooc: intel please

*yawn* intel stamp... where'd I put it...

+1 INTELLIGENCE APPROVED to Sekkou...