Welcome to Gaia! ::

Salte had followed the triplets to their spot in the palace, no one had bothered her while she was with them. Along the way she had noticed how the other residents had watched her. She was strong, and not hiding her power in particular, but many she had seen were strong. Her senses now alert to just how much weaker she was. In spiritual power anyhow. She could run circles around almost every being here, a few of the Espada's included, which was not to be sneezed at.

She just smiled as Adan wanted to show off his garden, the boy was being awfully sweet, which was odd to her, she had only had the attentions of the hideous Fosser in the sea of stones. "Grandpa will be thrilled to know you are able to keep plants from the human world alive here, and I could never get bored of plants, but the boss lady is right. My spiritual powers are fledgling at best, despite my physical prowess." She stretched, lacing her fingers behind her head as she bent backwards purposefully provoking her admirer grinning like cheshire.

She followed Marta Nicole wherever she was going, poking Adan gently on the nose as she passed. She was sure she was gonna get scolded for this but the chance for mischif was too much of a temptation. She wasn't know for retraint on her silly mind.



(ooc: Arbutus will arrive outside your area next time I post, he had to take a moment to set up the lower Gardens. Also Salte is a silly character but most of her antics are mild in nature. She is a bit air headed but when her instincts take back over she falls into where a proper arrancar should be)

Salte had been about to answer when the ringing of metal caused her to turn. The brothers were at it again, but it seemed like Adan had a bit of an upper hand this time. She smiled brightly, Adan was reacting quite strongly to the teasing, which could point to something, but she wans't sure if that would be possible. Danger was everywhere. Here just as much as the stones.

Turning back to Marta Nicole she replied,"I can fire off the bala move rapidly, And I can do a basic cero, but im rather rusty at it since it was hard to charge in the stones."

Salte held out a hand and charged a cero. All seemed normal enough, but when she tried to fire it, it went off like a confetti filled party popper, with a short explosion and a dozen mini cero flying outwards. The cero petered out after about ten feet or so.

"See this is often what I get. Its nice and packs a wallop if I'm close enough but it doesn't do much more than plant the target on its behind. Fosser got the brunt of most of these." Salte didn't try to hide the fact that it was an imperfect cero, but she kinda liked the fashion in which it fired. Like a shotgun. Something she could use to compliment her speed, but it lacked the stopping power she wanted.

Salte just giggled at the boys, they were so fiesty! Kicking herself back to her feet she waved at Arbutus, "Hiya Grandpa! I can do a neat scatter-cero, watch!" Salte concentrated and fired her cero again in a random direction, the blast burst sending out multiple cero that exploded around the training area, never once hitting the twins as they battled. Salte wondered if they were just good or if she had meant to do that.

"Well done Salte," Arbutus said praising her progress. She had managed to pick up her cero, even if it was not quite refined yet, in a matter of hours. He was glad to see she was growing. While he may not know how things worked out here in the palace, he had the strength to back himself. Salte was a dandelion in the wind. Her carefree attitude was all well and good, but they had descended into a veritable lions den.

But he was not worried, Salte was a bubbly one most of the time, but when pressed or in her release state she was a formdiable foe. "Thank you for watching over Salte," the old man said to Marta Nicole. "She has much to learn, but dont worry over much. She can be a right savage when she wants to."

Salte stuck her tongue out at Arbutus playfully, which only made him chuckle. "Continue your practice dear, I believe we shall continue our Segunda Training. I have not garnered enough control on it. But I should be able to return to that form with some effort." Normaly such a transformation took a great dea of strain to acheive. But with the ternary being close to mastery, and his own memory of the change in himself still fresh he should be able to achieve it soon. The major flaw in his ability is that he needed to grow to his massive release state before releasing the segunda which was back to his pre-release size. It would be a hidden ace as the release form was very hard to take down to begin with. he wondered if there was some way to bypass the second stage and get to the third? Well he would come to that bridge once he could use the form in any case.

---

As Salte moved to one side of the training area to practice her cero casting on a training plant (a highly regenerative plant that worked well as a training dummy, Arbutus drew his shears. The only way to master Segunda was through harsh combat. This would be difficult to keep from causing too much damage but he knew they both could take it. "Snikity-Snak, My dear Eden" Arbutus said releasing his true form. A massive humanoid made of trees emerged. "Come children, let us do battle."

The massive form of Arbutus actually fit nicely in the room. It was deceptivly larger than it appeared, but he would find using a sonido in this form hard to manuver. The thought of such a maneuver made him itch to try such a thing, but perhaps that would be better out side. A sonido int this form would be an interesting experiment "You may release your second stage when I form mine, then the battle can start for earnest."

With the only rule agreed upon Arbutus lashed out at the single figure, first with a simple punch (which was more like a train sized mass of trees hurtling at them), followed by a ground stomp where he planted a leg for balance. It would not be long before his form shifted, he just needed some incentive. His memory was perfect, but the muscle memory was still off. He was going to go full out, a simple spar was not going to help either of them.

---

As the fight began, Axis watched from a small portion of he old man's mind. He would not be able to control the old bark skin anymore, he had failed at his chance. He simply watched, the old man had stolen more power from him of course, but it was in their interest to gain power in this place, too many arrancar with all manner of odd abilitites. He held in his hand a small box, with a simple rectangular marking on it, like a button. "This form holds more power than you can imagine Arby," He said aloud, "It is the pinnacle of my abilities. Prove to me you deserve this," the younger version of Arbutus toyed with the trigger. If Arbutus worked for it, actually tried to kill his grandchildren, he might let the old fogey have his power. But he would did not agree with the comradeship his host seemed to harbor.

---

Salte had just about mastered her shotgun cero and was practicing the homing burst varient. It was nice to have a mid rance cero with a wide spread, and one that she could fire and have it track after her target. She hopped as the ground shook from Grandpa stomping on the ground. She watched amazed by the power forms of both her superiors and it made her kind of sad at how much weaker she was. She was not weak, nor was she stupid. She was never going to obtain a segunda etapa, at least anytime soon. Satisfied that she could pull off either of her cero at the drop of a hat she itched to do something else. She needed to move. She always thought better while she was moving. Settling on sonido practice she began running around the perimeter. Rapidly using sonido with a half step thrown in the footwork she was rocketing around the room, never becoming quite visible. As she fell into her stride she vanished completely, the only trace of her was the dust kicked up in a spiral around the rooms edge.

(9/15)


Arbutus let the cero strike his leg for two reasons, one: he wanted to gauge their strength and two: that leg was not simply holding him up, he had intended to use the limb underground. The flare of pain as wood was burned and broken was not terribly bad, but it gave the old man a moment of clarity. He felt Axis at the back of his mind, though the other did not speak, Arbutus could feel his disapproval. Arbutus knew immediately what he was missing. He could not treat the Ternary like his children, doing so made him weak and was a great disrespect to them. Axis' presence darkened further and a growl slid out of his throat. Arbutus cursed mentally, he was not acting like an Arrancar, he was acting like a human! A rush of fiery energy rippled through his veins as the old man pried the lid off his power.

Axis smiled, "There you go Arby. That is how you grow strong. That is what a hollow is supposed to be. Family is all well and good, but you cannot let them hinder you."
---
Arbutus seemed to collapse in on himself, the vines knotting and tightening and crushing into a single focal point. A wash of reiatsu smoke obscured the area as the mass grew small enough. The surge in power was not masked and was easily felt by anyone in the building, Arbutus barely holding reign on his power to keep it from traveling too far. As the smoke cleared a white armored figure appeared. "Forgive me brethren." The old man spoke, though the mask over his face did not move. "I have been doing our kind a dishonor. Nurturing is for children and you are not. Come, we will battle like true hollows."

The eye holes in the old mask burned with a simmering emerald fire, Now it was time to see what he could do. With a flash he seemed to dissolve and sonido'd right next to Marta Nicole sweeping one of his long armored legs at her head.

No more games, no more fantasy. Arbutus was free from himself. Not out of control like before, but a murderous edge had evolved, making the old man even more intimidating