Welcome to Gaia! ::

I want you to understand something... Mock calmly said, as if trying to ease Rakey, showing her that there was no reason to get so emotional. First, you need to listen to more of my own past...

Like I've told you, my life started on Rukongai, since I do not know the person I was before dying here on Earth.

I was a young boy... And, the only family I had there, on the merciless alleys of District 79, was a group of four other lost souls - three boys and a girl. They gave me my name, as I helped to name them as well... It was a fresh start for us.
We used to hang out together, and I have fond memories of that times... But I don't want to dwell on them for now...

Bottom line, years passed, turned to decades, centuries... I've lost the track of the time spent there! You know how we age differently, so...

From the start, some of us started to show some uncommon traits between "normal" souls. We felt hunger, we sometimes had visions, etc...
You can imagine that at the time, we didn't understood the meaning of these things that were happening to us...

Mock made a long pause on his speech, in order to catch his breath, but essentially to regain his courage...

I had grown into the man you now see in front of you, when there was that unexplainable Hollow incursion on Rukongai!

Till this very day, the attack is still shrouded in mystery. The point is, that most of my friends died in that attack! I myself, was left near-dead, but was rescued by some Shinigamis who slew the Hollows. They noticed the presence of a strong Spiritual Energy within me, and brought me to the Shinigami Academy in order to learn how to make use of it...

Do you understand now?

It was your kind, that made me into what I am today! Just as you, blame my kind, for turning you into what you are!

Maybe we should be grateful to one another!... We wouldn't be who we are now, if those events didn't occurred. I guess we justify each other's existence!

MockaDash closed his eye, before getting up in a swift jump. You seem to hate Shinigamis because they "made" you... But that could only mean that you hate what you have become!

(( No problem. It happens to all of us.

Also, I haven't done this in a long time... But I was just hearing to the song while posting, and thought "why not?". It put me in the mood so... I hope you like it. ))



And this brings me to my main point... Mock called Rakey's attention to it. Some things are just greater than us...

In order for you to become what you are today, you had to fed on countless hollows, such as yourself once... You needed to do it, in order to survive!

There is no way to exist in this - or any other - world, without leaving our mark on it. It's virtually impossible not to make someone else miserable by our actions, unless you are making yourself miserable... Do you understand this concept?

In order for Arrancars to live, Shinigamis must die, and vice-versa. We cannot coexist peacefully, but we need each other to exist - this has already been proven during our conversation.

If you deny this fact, then you are fighting only against yourself...

It's "natural selection"... It's the "survival of the fittest"! You either kill or get killed!

Having said this, Mock adopted once more, his battle stance... Enough already. Let us determine who's fittest to survive.

(( I love biology in general, though the phrase "survival of the fittest" is actually authorship of Herbert Spencer in "Principles of Biology", based on Darwin's "natural selection". Darwin late used Spencer's sentence - survival of the fittest - as a metaphor for "natural selection". The term is inaccurate though, since survival is not the only factor in play to the natural selection.

To me though, this sentence will always be associated with Shishio Makoto's "Survival of the strongest" in Rurouni Kenshin. This is "Social Darwinism" instead of biological. xp ))

If you are to survive against me, 6th Espada, I'm sure you will be needing to show me "it". Mock said, in reply to Rakey's question if he would like to see her Hollow form.

Mock resoluteness, that was being felt in his voice, did not derived from self-confidence in his power. Rather, it derived from the knowledge that he had to win - no matter what cost!
Oddly, that was his burden.

Given time, Rakey-san, you will understand the extent of my true power.
Your actual power is trivial to this matter. For I shall smite you and chasten your sins.

Atonement will be delivered by my blade. Mock finished saying, as his reiatsu started to leak out yet again.

Have you already repent, then I shall be the one who'll die today!

(( I do believe you got that image links mixed up... XD ))

I've never fought a deer before! Mock thought. Guess there really is a first time for everything...

I just hope the NWF doesn't get me for this...

Mock readied himself to make the first move. He was unsure how the Espada would react. Her shape had changed significantly, as well as her weapon. Also, an Espada's resurrecion was stronger than (even) a Captain's shikai - many were said to be as strong as a bankai. So Mock would have to be careful from now on.

He wasn't scared though. He knew than when it came to him using his powers, justice would prevail. This was not a simple fight against two opponents... This was a fight between both side's creeds!

Deciding to keep a safe distance, in order to first ascertain the Arrancar's speed and reflexes, MockaDash broke his stance and reached for his wakizashi, kept inside his kimono.

With the dagger, the Shinigami made a small cut on his left palm, allowing the blade to freely taste and absorb it. The pure white blade, begun tainting itself black, as the blood poured on it. After completely turning dark, Mock's indigo "shaped" reiatsu was overthrown by an ominous, much more hostile, one. The crimson aura that spurted from within the 13th Squad Captain, seemed to cover the skies, as light began to fade. The clean blue sky was no more.

It was as if the Grim Reaper itself, was hanging around Mock's back. A pulse of dark energy was felt, as his wakizashi's blade grew, turning the Zanpakutou into a large man-sized nodachi.

Woe matures blood... The once complacent Shinigami said, in a wicked tone. I bet your blood tastes just swell!!!

Itsuryu!!!

Brandishing the large blade in his opponent's direction, a large wave of dark energy was released from it, and swiftly traveled across the air to meet its target. As it was reaching Rakey, the condensed wave, spread to all sides, aiming to engulf her within it. The reiryoku on it was so raw and strong, that in the eventuality of striking a successful hit, it would felt like being pierced by dozens or even hundreds of blades at the same time!

(( I'm assuming the cero was negated in the blast right? If it did came through towards me, say so, and I'll edit this. Hum... My bad about the pictures... I though you were saying that Rakey's normal appearance is that of a deer and her ressurrecion is the human form. HeHe. I didn't understood you were referring to the time-skip when you mentioned "current Rakey"))

This was an opponent Mock wasn't going to underestimate. As the "crescent boomerang" came at him, instead of blocking it with his nodachi, he decided to dodge it. Mock lowered his body and crouched near the ground. As the uncommon weapon passed above him, Mock noticed how it had been infused with Rakey's reiatsu. Damn it! It's a boomerang after all! MockaDash recalled, while realizing that sooner or later the boomerang would come back. Choosing not to stay on the same place, and using the momentum from his squat, he rolled to his right.

MockaDash only had time to look up and see that Rakey had ran past him. If she were to attack, I would have been caught off-guard! he thought. The Captain was still baffled at the way that the Espada used to escape his previous attack. There was no reason to worry though, since that was KetsuekiZenchou's most basic ability. And, as Mock just realized, it had dealt some damage after all.
Still crouching near the ground, the Shinigami noticed some drops of blood near him, that fell from Rakey's legs as she passed him. After touching the blood with his (left hand) index and middle finger, Mock lustfully tasted the blood, by licking them. He then stood up and faced Rakey.

Bittersweet... Just the way I like it! The Shinigami said, before throwing his head back while laughing malevolently. The small drops of blood on the floor around Mock, started to spiral in the air, and were absorbed by his Zanpakutou.
Give me more... Please!!!
Mock's dark reiatsu increased by a small amount, after KetsuekiZenchou absorbed Rakey's blood.

The Espada had become much faster now, and as Mock had suspected, engaging in close combat would be a bad decision. The katana at Mock's side, turned to ash once more. The Captain brandished his nodachi yet again, only now, he did it three times in a row!

Three waves of dark reiatsu shot towards Rakey. They were spiraling around each other (like a vortex) as they traveled across the air, shortening the distance between themselves and their target. Ye Lord! Mask of flesh and bone, all creation, flutter of wings... Instead of simply going forward, the dark energy was actually maneuvering itself in order to correct its "flight path". ...ye who bears the name of Man! Upon reaching about 5 ft. from where Rakey stood, the three waves expanded and surrounded her - one at his front and partially covering her flanks, and the remaining two at each flank and both covering her back. Truth and temperance...

One at a time, but almost instantly after each other, the waves collapsed upon the Arrancar. Upon this sinless wall of dreams... Meanwhile, Mock had been chanting the incantation for a kidou... ...unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws!

Hadou #33 -- Sokatsui!!! he yelled, as he released the beam of blue fire at Rakey's current location - either aimed at the collapsing Itsuryu attacks from his Zanpakutou (in case she did not budge or Mock didn't perceived her escape), or to where she currently was, had she dodged the dark attacks.

((Everything you write makes sense. Pretty good! xp ))

The Itsuryu attack had caught Rakey off-guard once. Mock knew that chances were that it wouldn't caught her again. Nevertheless he did it, since the Shinigami wasn't really trying to get her with that attack (he knew that at best it would probably graze her), but rather limit her freedom of movement so he could actually cause some damage with the follow-up kidou.

The Espada's agility was amazing, as MockaDash had feared, thanks to her four legs. He failed to predict however, how amazing they actually were. Even with the wounds on her legs, she was still able to perform swift jumps all over the place. Mock's fired hadou missed its target, traveling through the air before disappearing on the horizon - they were on a skyscraper after all, the tallest building for miles and miles.

Damn!!! the Captain said to himself, as he sensed that Rakey was about to shot a bala at him, possibly in order to get an opportunity to approach him. MockaDash made the ash from his katana (that was, almost imperceptibly, hovering in the air) form into a thick shield roughly with only double the diameter of the bala. The shield accurately appeared exactly in front of Rakey's attack, and halted the movement of the bala, thanks to Mock's ability to use his own reiatsu as a "radar" to calculate the exact path of the "foreign" reiatsu.

Mock did not have time to increase the distance between himself and his opponent, so instead he prepared himself to take whatever blow she was intending to direct. As he did so, and was monitoring Rakey's movements, he noticed that she lost her focus of him for a moment. She was glancing at something on the ground, but what?

The Shinigami understood what she was after,and grinned. As the reiatsu-infused horns were about to hit him, he only thought of one option. Shitsunen! he yelled.

A pillar of hot red fire burst, from the ground around him, into the sky. As the fire grew hotter by the second, its color gradually changed from red to light blue. Mock was unharmed, within the fiery barrier. The fire was filled with reiryoku, making it an effective barrier against other energy attacks. It would also be able to burn but not much, since the spiritual energy composing it, was focused on defense rather than offense.

Lasting only a few seconds, the fires subdued, and MockaDash shumpoed next to the clover and picked it up. He used the fire pillar not only as means for defense, but also as surprise effect, to allow him to reach the clover before Rakey could.

Holding the crimson herb in his left hand, Mock said. So this is what you were after? I sense reiatsu still inside of it... Maybe you were trying to absorb it?... Tough luck!!! While talking he stored the clover inside his kimono. You must have noticed by now, that the cuts on your body won't heal naturally!

You see? This little baby right here... He said, while caressing the nodashi's blade. Once it cut's something and tastes blood, becomes able to control its flow! Basically, what I'm doing right now is increasing the flow of blood that is running towards your wounds, forbidding them to close and heal.

Your only option would be to force the wounds shut and suppress my control over your blood with your reiatsu... But are you able to do that? And for how long will you be able to continue doing it??? He smirked.

(( Be my guest. ))

Mock witness with amazement as Rakey changed form once again. The shinigami understood what this new form would imply - greater flexibility and lesser consumption of spiritual energy.

The Captain brandished his nodachi in the air, releasing another large wave of dark reiatsu from it. As the wave was about to strike the Arrancar (in the same manner as before) Mock muttered something...

Moetsuku. Ichibanmehakka -- Shageki [First Ignition, Gunshot]

The ash was encircling Rakey without she realizing it. As Mock articulated the command word, the ash ignited and violently exploded, at the same time that the dark energy had reached her position.

The fiery explosion was produced with reiryoku from Mock's KaijinKami's, and the dark reiatsu with that from KetsuekiZenchou's. Both Zanpakutou's energies were opposite in nature, so when brought together, they tended to cause a chain reaction.

The Moetsuku attack caused the initial blast all around the Espada, but was immediately followed by the collision with the Itsuryu's energy, which boosted both the power and range of the primary explosion - the blast radius was of ten meters.

Mock stood in place, with the nodachi gripped tight, ready to respond to Rakey's next move.