Welcome to Gaia! ::

This is an area surrounded by a vast forest. What appears to be a small village sits in the middle of this forest. Time has taken its toll on this abandoned area, and as a result it's nearly completely covered in vegetation. There are two stories as to the reason the village has fallen into this state.

The first and more believable is that it was believed that the village was far too distant from others, out of the reach of most patrolling Shinigami. As well, it was often susceptible to Hollow attacks. As a result the souls living there packed up and either started a new district in a better location or simply moved into an already existing district.

The second story, and also much more far-fetched, is that a Hollow appeared. But not an ordinary Hollow...Some of the older souls who existed at the time swore that it was only the size of a human, but it effortlessly killed and devoured dozens of souls, then disappeared without a trace. This was disregarded as a rumor by most of Soul Society.

As for the landscape itself, a mid-sized waterfall empties into a small stream, most likely where the souls used to gather water.

Gabriel considers the village and waterfall to be his own personal training grounds, as he appears to be the first in years to have found this place.

Please PM me if you want to train in this place, I'd be happy to share my training grounds.

((I'm not sure how to give stats on a waterfall, so I'm going to just say it has a constant dodge of 26.))

Gabriel, thinking this would be the easiest thing ever, hopped into the waist deep water. Looking the waterfall itself over, he marveled at it's beauty for what was the first time ever out of the dozens of his visits to this place. It seemed to shimmer even when the sun didn't focus its rays on it. As well, despite the fact that it was a constantly flowing substance, it appeared eerily solid. Gabriel shrugged this off. "Heh, I'll pretend that you're that scary Miyoko-sensei!" Raising his Zanpakutou for the attack, he half-heartedly swung it at the fast falling water.

(Roll+6=Not enough)

His blade didn't even get a quarter of the way through the waterfall before the power of hundreds of gallons of falling water sucked the Zanpakutou and its holder straight under, subjecting the arrogant boy to nature's equivalent of a schoolyard beating. The waterfall forced Gabriel into its depths, and violently pounded on him, as well as preventing him from breaking the water's surface.

With some effort, Gabriel managed to crawl underwater, out of the range of the waterfall's powerful suction. Now breathing heavily, Gabriel raised his Zanpakutou, and muttered a swear or two. I think I get it...This waterfall is still a part of nature, a living, breathing part of nature. It has its own natural strength...and right now, it beats mine hands down. Stepping forwards, Gabriel slashed the air. "I'll just keep training, until I can cleave this waterfall in two!"

It went further this time, almost half way across this time. But like before, the blade was beaten down into the murky depths. Gabriel, however, refused to let himself be dragged under. He was pushed down onto his knees, the falling water pounding on his shoulders and head. His wounded shoulder was screaming in pain now, the ointment's affects having worn off rather quickly. Gabriel's knees shook violently, trying to work against the fall's crushing power. His muscles roared in defiance against working any further, but Gabriel pushed them as hard as they would go. Without warning, the boy's legs completely gave out on him, and he fell into the fall's murky depths.

Gabriel felt a blacking out sensation, followed by the feeling of traveling down a tunnel at an extremely high speed.

Suddenly, Gabriel was thrown onto his feet, the shock of pain jolting through his muscles caused him to fall immediately to his knees. He spent a good minute staring at the ground. "Where...the hell am I?" He sputtered, wondering if he was dead or not. "But...I'm already dead." The boy mustered up the courage to look upward, and what he saw paralyzed him with fear.

A village, completely covered in snow, lay before the boy's eyes. Most of the houses were completely destroyed. Their wooden fragments laying in the snow. Some of them were beginning to rot, meaning that there wasn't anybody around to pick up the pieces. Aside from Gabriel, there didn't seem to be a soul alive in the entire village. "M-My....home." His eyes were wide with fear, it was exactly as it was just before he died, only there wasn't a single sign of activity.

A voice called out. It was extremely raspy, and had a pitch so cold to it that you knew automatically it wasn't human. It was something far, far, far different from a human. It only said four words, but those four words caused Gabriel's very soul to shudder. "Hey boy....up here."

Now shuddering horribly from head to toe, Gabriel managed to crane his neck upward towards the source of the voice.

Standing on a small drift of snow in front of the wreckage of Gabriel's old house, was a figure. The cloak it wore was extremely tattered, and led up to a hood which framed a ghastly sight in pitch black. What was framed by that hood caused fear to resonate fear in Gabriel's very soul. It was a mask, a Hollow's mask. It had a pair of wide, ghastly empty eyes. Its mouth had two rows of the same looking squarish teeth, all twisted into a sickening grin. Below both its eyes had two red streaks going from the bottom of the eye sockets to the bottom of the mask's jaw, making it look like the mask was crying blood. It suddenly began a maniacal laugh that sounded like it could echo for miles.

"HA...HA HA HAAAHHH! You're so freakin weak! You can't even cut through a waterfall! It'll take you years to hear my name! Can you hear it?! My name's ******, I SAID ******!!! You can't hear it can you?

"I'm not weak..." Gabriel growled, his pride roaring in defiance.

"YEAH YA ARE! You're body's drowning like a rat while you cower in fear at your Zanpakutou's own spirit! You're gonna die! What are the other Shinigami gonna say when they find your bloated corpse floating face down! Yer gonna die, DIE, DIE!!"

"NO...I WON'T!" Gabriel suddenly snapped back into the real world, he was underwater once more, with the waterfall's might smashing into his body once again. He suddenly summoned a reserve of strength previously undiscovered. From being on his stomach went to being on his knees, and being on his knees went to Gabriel standing tall against the waterfall's crashing power, Zanpakutou in hand. "Che...That thing called itself my Zanpakutou's spirit...no way in hell something that freaking twisted is my partner..."

Gabriel suddenly stopped his attacks on the waterfall. His face contorted into a bizarre shape. "Ahh...Ahhh....AHH-CHOO!" The sneeze blew him off his feet and straight onto his a**, the water now up to his shoulders. "Che...So now I'm getting a cold?" He noticed that it had gotten dark during his bizarre blackout, and the water was now ice cold. "Is this my limit?" He was beginning to shiver. He roared in defiance "No....NO!" Running as fast as he could in the waist deep water, he sloshed his way towards the waterfall like was his mortal enemy. He readied his Zanpakutou, and slashed out. Once more, his attack was pushed away like a bothersome child.

Gabriel screamed in frustration, showing no signs of stopping, he attacked yet again. This time even fiercer than the last. But he was denied yet again by the fall's might.

Gabriel wanted to scream out again, but his voice had left him. He was breathing heavily, his entire body was beginning to shudder from the cold. He lashed out once more. Denied again, He was brought to his knees this time, now breathing so heavily that his breath was visible as thick clouds of smog.

(Attack@Gabriel. Roll+5) (Dodge@Hollow. Roll+18. Successful)

The Hollow lurched forwards, a taloned arm raised to attack. It swung down at Gabriel, intending to either seriously wound him or outright kill him. "Che, you think I'm a freakin snack?!" Gabriel caught the Beast's attack with his Zanpakutou, using his superior strength to keep the talon's at bay. He gave a loud grunt, and pushed the Hollow's clawed arm away.

(Attack@Hollow 12+6=18, Dodge 3+14=17 HIT)

The boy vainly tried to right himself in mid air, but he collided with the ruins of one of the left-over houses. Gabriel smashed through the already crumbling wall, landing in a huddled mess of debris. Dust and dirt stuck to the boy's soaked robes. Despite the injuries to his wardrobe, the boy was mostly unharmed. "Damn Hollow..." He jabbed his Zanpakutou into the ground and used it as a crutch to get back onto his feet. Gabriel shook the dust out of his eyes. He could hear that the Hollow's cries were growing closer and closer. The boy pushed his back against an unharmed wall of the building, intending to remain completely silent. That Hollow can more or less match my strength without any problems at all....What am I going to do? He could feel his resolve starting to waver. Zanjutsu class, cutting the waterfall, nothing had seemed to be going his way lately.

The Hollow's cries were so close that Gabriel's Zanpakutou was beginning to shake. Not in excitement like before, but this time with fear. He had never had a real encounter with a Hollow, and this was his first. Without warning, four razor sharp talons sliced the wall behind Gabriel into ribbons. He spun around, Zanpakutou in hand. The dust raised from the Hollow's attack had caused only the beast's silhouette to be visible. "Ha....YOU WON'T KILL ME!" Dashing forwards wildly, Gabriel swung his blade, and his mind completely clear. For an instant, Gabriel didn't even care if he died making this reckless attack.

Surprisingly, it paid off. His Zanpakutou had inflicted a good sized cut into the monster's side, causing it to spill pitch black blood all over the ground.

(Hollow HP 24-9=15)

"I...I can cut it!" Gabriel stared in awe at his Zanpakutou's blade, it was dyed black from the Hollow's blood. He wrinkled his nose slightly, the blood made his weapon stink horribly. "So this is what a Hollow smells like." Gabriel nearly gagged.

Nearby, the Hollow had been writhing in pain at the deep cut Gabriel had inflicted on it. "Che, you aren't nearly as strong as I thought you were!" Gabriel rushed forwards and threw himself at the Hollow. He smashed his shoulder into the beast's chest, knocking it off balance and pushing it back further. He made a stabbing motion similar to the one Rikou used at him, only Gabriel was aiming at a Hollow's chest. The Hollow reacted quickly using its talons to deflect Gabriel's attack.

((Attack Roll+6=24, Dodge Roll+14, Successful.))

((Damage))