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Rat had been on high alert, paying close attention to his warbeast beneath him and its reactions to his prods and pokes. After all, if he wasn’t paying attention how could he learn to ride one? So when in fact Rat began to feel a massive bubbling of Hollow spiritual energy, as well as physically having seen large, bubbling growths sprout up throughout Tufty’s body like a tumor. Now Rat is a man who works, and enjoys working, with explosive ordinance and what-not and that requires a certain intuition and/or luck to do without dying quickly. As a result, when his “********” senses started screaming, he began to plan to promptly do just that.

Even a cursory check of the reiatsu building up to its critical point right under his feet told him that it was going to make a pretty and pretty large explosion. Rather, he’d likely die from the direct blast, the heat, the ensuing concussive shockwave, or some sort of shrapnel. He would go away from Vesuvius, the last thing he needed was to get caught in a landslide. If the explosion reached that far, well sucks to his mission buddies, didn’t it? At least he could claim he managed to eliminate a serious Hollow threat after loosely interrogating it. Well, he’d cross that bridge when the time came, now he had to deal with this. Hurriedly, he grabbed his backpack and gear as a reflex. He looked away from Vesuvius. Since it was relatively flat - most terrain is when compared to a mountain, - Rat began to use rudimentary physics. Slight downward angle, acceleration, Acceleration Plane, something to keep him moving… His quickly put together and likely bad idea of a plan was going to be energy intensive.

”Suichokuryoku!” Rat quickly called out. He didn’t have time for chants or even numbers until he felt a safe distance away. A block of energy erupted from his palm, firing away from Vesuvius and Tufty. Rat followed up immediately with a Shunpo, placing him right in front of his kido. He maintained its shape. Getting hit on the head and slammed into the ground would severely damage him and he wouldn’t even be out of blast range. As it slammed into his heavy backpack on his back, which through its content helped cushion it. And since it was Rat’s own kido he had let himself get hit by, the actual energy damage would be minimal.

”Acceleration Plane!” Rat shouted out after he felt the additional force his Suichokuryoku exerted on him and soon increased his acceleration and velocity after passing through Bakudo #19: Acceleration Plane. He was going pretty fast. While he felt he was at a safe distance, or soon would be, the ground was starting to catch up a lot faster too. He dispelled Suichokuryoku to get rid of a force, though it did nothing for the speed he was going. Casting all these kido in quick succession over the course of the mission, Rat was feeling tired. He probably wouldn’t be able to whip up another kido, especially so soon after linking together two of the harder kidos he possessed, so he spun in mid-air so his ever trusty, and now ravaged, backpack would take the brunt of the force and cushion his fall. At the very least, the angle he was falling at would lead to a skid across the ground rather than a straight-up nose-dive. It was going to be jarring nonetheless. Closing his eyes, Rat braced for impact.

[OoC: Apologies for the late post too. In fact, I kind of forgot about this because distractions. Oh well, I'm separated from the main group as it is. Tufty Taming all day every day.]

((Since we're all gathered I'm going to use this as a sort of reset point. This is to prepare you for the final phase of this mission so you're on equal ground.

Basically I'm making this a sort of final boss encounter so your characters are recovered from their injuries and can cast Kido at will again.))






The Warbeast which Rat had so elegantly began to destroy began to bubble more furiously and faster yet still until it reached a high point. As the creature finally bulged out on all sides with its' thick fur shaking wildly it popped. However this wasn't the sort of pop a balloon would make. It was more the kind of pop that could rip off half a mountain and rip the mountain asunder it did. First came the wave of the force that carried everything away. As the combination attack made its' way for the Rider who had frankly ran out of options a wave of pure force erupted past him knocking both him and his opponents for the crater itself. The Kido now dissipated being blasted away in a thin but powerful wave of hollow energy and the armour of the rider could be seen being torn off before a red flash engulfed the entire group.

In the next moment the four of them not including the Rider who was fallen down a fair distance away from the rest of the group would find themselves sat on the rim of the crater. The box they had been trying to protect now finally shut but too close to the edge for comfort. The Rider meanwhile pulled themselves up as their armour clanked onto the ground, each piece cracked apart and the metal shards falling to the ground. It seemed the armour was not particularly resistant to hollow energies if nothing else. Perhaps it was made for tackling something else entirely. It seemed more than likely that it had been made for anti-Shinigami fighting and this had been completely unexpected.

"Wha-" As he tried to make a sound his helmet fell away and a dark black and red ooze fell from his mouth onto the floor. The man inside the armour was now laid bare before them. A silvery pipe channelling some foul liquid fell from his mouth as the helmet fell away and the dark black and red ooze began to spread across the floor. Other than his violent sickness the man appeared to be entirely well without a scratch on him. Fortunately for him both groups would need some time to regain composure after such a dramatic explosion. Rat had lived up to his Squad's job. Demolitions. He could now safely say he had blown up a good chunk of Mount Vesuvius. A unique achievement to be sure.

As the breast plate fell away the Rider lifted themselves up revealing their masculine face, with icy white hair and dark skin and moderately sized bust. That was unusual men didn't usually have bosoms. "What the hell have you done!" The Rider screamed at them clearly distressed. Her Zanpakto was nearby and she scooped it off the floor and pointed it at the group. Without her armour she seemed far less fearsome. Clothed in the same robes that the Shinigami before her wore. Separated from the armour and Warbeast she was significantly less powerful. Outnumbered and with far less swords to hand and her Kido launcher gone. The Shinigami would have little trouble cornering her.

On the other side though the Shinigami would find something unusual happening. Any wounds they had taken were quickly healing as though they had high speed regeneration at their disposal. Within seconds their cuts and bruises were gone and they could begin this fight again with all the energy they had started it with. However this time they had managed to gain the advantage. Thanks to the efforts of Kusari and Bob in occupying the main enemy and Rat's reckless abandon when practicing safety around volatile substances they could now take this opponent on while the strange energy the Warbeast released still boiled in their blood.

Kusari waved his hand and said, <******** that noise." He moved over to the box. "She ain't touchin' it." Now that they had confirmed that she was in fact a she. "We are going to take this box and if I even see so much as a hair fall out of place and face my direction, she'll get a blade in her throat." He squatted, eyes trained on the woman and ready to pounce as he picked up the box. "I otta shove her face in here now that she isn't wearing all of that armor, but that seems like it might be to much." He moved behind Bob, the guy made a better wall than he did a door, and Kusari could respect that.

(I was waiting, but I guess everyone else is too.)

((Sorry it took so long to get this post out the door. I honestly though we'd have to give up on this one.

Thanks for posting. No matter how long it took you. That means something to me.))





Slowly but surely, as she ignored the team assembled before her picking up the box, the Rider worked out what had happened. A huge explosion, the bragging of one of the team members and the huge hollow reiatsu that had been unleashed. They'd killed it. Hadn't they? She already knew which one of them had to die. As long as she could kill the little b*****d she'd be contented. It didn't matter any longer if she got sliced to pieces. She just had to kill him. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. What was left of her common sense quickly evaporating.

Not even speaking a word in her almost blind fury she began to take a step forward. All common sense having left her. Her skin began to change slowly. Turning a porcelain white and something was growing out of her face as she moved. As this was all happening she was suddenly off. Her feet now moving too fast to see. Not as fast as a Shunpo and yet infinitely more dangerous as her movements were unpredictable. She leapt high into the air screeching like a banshee with her spear now pointed down to hit Rat straight in the face.

As her sclera went as dark as night and her eyes became a wild yellow she came crashing down upon Rat. Her spear aimed to go straight through his eye. He would die at this rate if he did not dodge and then Bob and Kusari would have something far worse to deal with. The progenitor to a Vizard. It may have made them wonder. Just who were their enemies that they could throw Vizards (even an incomplete one) here and there just to tackle a few soldiers? Or was this all part of something bigger than they'd stumbled into?

Gravity was a cruel mistress. Kusari sighed as the woman began her ascension, "You who has soared high above the world spreading filth. Now come crashing down into the gates of hell! Bakudo number 33, Great Weighted Shackles." His katar swung before him and an arc of energy blasted towards the female vizard as Bob finished up his attack. The arc had little chance to miss at this range. It would immobilize the vizard long enough for Rat to move, and hopefully long enough for Bob to finish her off. "Bob, if the thing makes contact, take her ******** head off. I'll hold her for as long as I can." With the speed at which things would be happening, they would know the results already from the first word that fell from Kusari's mouth. He hoped that they tilted in their favor. He was rather sick of this reckless woman.

((Welp. We're bringing this to a close now. Possibly not the most exciting final battle but your teamwork pretty much made it impossible. Next time I'll use multiple enemies. ))





Failed Vizards typically did not rely on any strategy to fight. Preferring to attempt to brute force their enemies and showing ridiculously large openings. This case was to be no different and it was a split second before the Byakurai came crashing into the woman's shoulder. Creating a huge hole in it and causing her arm to go floppy. Instead now trailing behind her all mangled and flapping behind her like her hair. She wasn't paying attention to anything but Rat as she came down. The only tie to this world she retained was a terrible hatred.

In a sudden jerky movement however just as Bob was about to make a deep cut with his blade the woman came down. Being yanked into the ground like a shot. As she was being slammed into the ground Rat's own hammer was crashing into her. As he swung the weapon a huge chunk of her pelvis was knocked loose by the Zanpakto. The chunk of flesh went flying into the air and flew deeper into the crater while almost at exactly the same time the imperfect Vizard came slamming down into the ground with a sickening crack. As if all her bones had broken at once. There was no way any Shinigami could recover from such an attack.

Of course the creature they were now fighting could hardly be called a Shinigami any longer.

Though there should no longer even be bones to facilitate her movement the imperfect Vizard turned her head up. A slightly shattered white mask covering half of her face but both eyes as rabid and hollow as each other. Her eyes darted around. Ignoring both Bob and Kusari as she searched for Rat. She wasn't even attempting to sense spiritual pressures any more. All her energy was focused on killing this one Shinigami and his image was burned into her mind. Her spear clattered as she attempted in vain to make movements under the pressure of Kusari's Kido. She was strong physically but could not muster the strength to move. This may have been due to her body's attempts to repair itself but it was impossible to tell. The fact of the matter was that she was now at the group's mercy. One of them would have to sever her head and finish the job.

The combination attacks from those three had swiftly decimated their enemy. Now that Rat had some breathing time, he began to fully comprehend what he just faced. It was mixed with Hollow energy but it was different from the one that had filled Rat and his allies, it was more integrated. It wasn’t perfect, but Rat then recognized that the Rider was a Vizard, the mask being a give-away. However, it seemed closer to Hollow than human. In fact, it was still twitching and moving from Rat’s hammer strike and though it had been subdued and crippled severely, its murderous intent hadn’t gone down. If anything, it went up. Despite his overwhelming advantage here, Rat backed up a few steps. Vizards were supposed to be terrifying creatures and he did not know if this one had any trumps up its sleeve.

Rat nervously hefted his war hammer and was about to deliver another blow when he noticed Bob had stepped up to finish off the Rider. Even though Rat viewed it, especially in its last moments, more as a bestial humanoid, he felt oddly squeamish after finishing it off. Explosions were so much more impersonal than an execution-styled beheading. Rat was more than happy to let Bob take care of it. It was impressive, a clean, simple cut that seemed to hold no anger or hatred. It was more as though he was used to it. That was another reason why it was good Bob had done the deed, the war hammer would’ve turned the Vizard into an unrecognizable mush of blood and broken bones.

”Likewise.” Rat said, pausing a moment as he nodded towards Bob and then Kusari. Bob’s cheerful disposition was a bit unsettling for the situation but he decided to take it in stride. Now that they had gotten rid of the enemy opposition, they would need to finish the mission. He had been fighting a different battle, if one could call his experimentations aboard the backside of Tufty that, which meant he only had a minimal idea of what was going on now. He’d defer to Bob or Kusari as the squad leaders.

”Let’s finish this up, shall we?”