//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Battle at Forlorn Ridge // Story: Hunters and Hollows // by thatguyvex //------------------------------// Episode 5: Battle of Forlorn Ridge With no sun to mark the passage of time, they were reliant on the internal chronometers Gigan and Megalon possessed to know just how much time had passed since they’d begun driving west. As such, X knew it was sometime around early morning the day after they’d departed Las Noches, after covering easily around four hundred miles of the same, bleak and soul-draining featureless territory that they finally came across their first ‘settlement’. X was not particularly impressed.  A ridge of black, barren rock rose from the sands in a slowly curving line about half a mile across and at most thirty feet high at its tallest point. A steady wind was sweeping sand off the ridge in a slow but ever present white mist. Within the rock ridge, small dwellings have been crudely carved, showing simple openings at ground level, and a smattering of ‘windows’ higher up. X estimated there were four or five dozen such ‘homes’ carved into the rock, large enough to constitute a small town of a few hundred souls. “Don’t let it fool you,” Di Roy said, as if reading X’s thoughts as they observed the Hollow settlement from some distance off, “That’s just the surface. There’ll be more caves and tunnels below, enough for a good chunk of Hollows to live in. Last time I came by Forlorn Ridge, there was maybe a thousand poor buggers living here. Might be less now, after the big fight with the Quincy, but there’s still probably a lot there.” “Why is it called Forlorn Ridge?” asked Irys. “At a guess, because it’s a ridge, and nobody actually wants to be there,” Gigan said, and Di Roy pointed a finger at the cyborg. “Captain Deadpan got it in one. Honestly nobody who lives there calls it that, it’s just what everybody else does. Anyway, I know the dude who was in charge there last time I was in the area. That said, that was a while ago, as in, not quite a century, but upwards in the double digit numbers. So the last ‘chief’ might’ve been eaten by now, or axed by a Quincy or Soul Reaper at some point. If he’s here, that might make talks easier, even if he doesn’t like me very much.” “How do you suggest we approach?” asked X, preferring to defer to the one with native knowledge rather than make his own assumptions.  “Openly, bodly,” Di Roy said, “The lesser Hollows with dumber, weaker wills are going to smell us and want a bite, but as long as we give them a proper power display and make it clear we are not to be screwed with, they’ll be cowed and we can start asking questions.” Gaw gave an eager grow, flexing her clawed hands, “Kill a few, make good display?” “Hey, let’s ease up,” said Irys, “If there’s no reason to fight, let’s avoid it. Maybe just blast a few hunks of rock to make it obvious we’re not easy prey, eh?” Gaw made a rough, barking grunt at that, but no further comment. She wasn’t the one in charge, X was, and hence the call was his to make. Megalon was surveying the ridge as well, shading his eyes despite the entire lack of sunlight in Hueco Mundo, and he cocked his head curiously. “You know, I’m not seeing anyone around. Shouldn’t there be, like, villagers to go with this village?” “To be fair, Megalon, it doesn’t really look like Hollows have ‘daily tasks’ or anything that’d keep them busy, so maybe they’re all indoors?” suggested Irys. “She’s correct,” said Roka, “Although it is a bit odd there isn’t at least a lookout in view, most Hollows don’t do much other than rove around, or remain underground. There’d be hunting parties out, but we wouldn’t see them. Anyone remaining behind would likely just stay inside, as to keep the settlement as low a profile as possible. Visitors are rarely ever a good thing in Hollow society.” “Hence our cheery welcoming party when Gaw found us,” Gigan commenty dryly, “Okay boss, what’s our move?” X considered a moment longer, then said, “We approach openly. If things begin to take a hostile turn we give the locals a taste of what we can do. Hopefully that will make them more agreeable to conversation.” “And if it doesn’t?” asked Irys. “We give them more than a taste,” X said with a firm tone, although he did prefer it didn’t come to that.  To keep the Land Cruiser out of the line of fire in case hostilities did occur, the group left the vehicle behind a dune a fair distance away and approached the settlement on foot. Forlorn Ridge didn’t look any more impressive from up close than it had from a distance, it’s carved openings and windows in fact looking even cruder now that X could get a better look at them. It was clear Hollows, at least of a ‘lesser’ variety, were neither engineers nor artists. He did inwardly confess to some small curiosity, however. He’d seen Arrancar, which were apparently at the top of the Hollow evolutionary chain, but he’d yet to see what a ‘lesser’ Hollow looked like. It didn’t take long for that to be rectified. Before the approaching party got within a football field’s length of the ridge, forms began to emerge from the darkened openings in the pale rock. As X and the others got closer, these indistinct forms became the outlines of dozens of creatures, amassing in a loose pack. X studied them carefully, eyes absorbing every detail.  The Hollows were far more varied than he’d imagined from looking at the Arrancar. While the Arrancar all bore a distinctly human appearance, the ‘lesser’ Hollows were chimeric creatures whose forms were significantly more varied in appearance. He saw some that were thick-limbed, humanoid brutes akin to some puffed up ape. Others had more reptilian shapes, with claws, tails, and reverse jointed legs, some with more than one pair. Others still took on insectile shapes, with many spindly, moving legs, or large, curving claws and grasping pincers. More still took to the air, a new tactical consideration that X mentally cataloged as at least eight or nine Hollows spread wings in the shape of birds, bats, or insects and rose into the dark sky above.  The only traits shared universally between each member of the Hollow species, regardless of form, were the gaping ‘Hollow holes’ somewhere on their body, usually the chest, and the stark white ‘masks’ that covered their faces. Those masks had a variety of shapes, much like the bodies of their bearers, with individual details varying wildly between each Hollow, but all were the same universally bleached white color, and showed little of the ‘face’ that might lurk beneath them save for holes for glowing yellow eyes and gaping mouths that seemed as versatile as actual mouths.  The vague resemblance X bore to these creatures in his natural form was not lost on him, although he didn’t think much of it other than to note it as an unusual coincidence.  By the time they drew within fifty or so feet from the ridge, a gathering of perhaps three or four scores of Hollows stood to meet them, arranged in a semi-circle. The Hollows let out howling cries, but they weren’t charging, or making any overt attacks yet, although the noise they made set X on edge. There was something haunting and endlessly hungry in those high-pitched, piercing howls, and he could almost taste the hostility in the air. But there was also fear, little a bitter tang tainting the howls. For all their hostility, these Hollows were afraid, though whether they were afraid of the approaching group of strangers or something else, X didn’t know. Di Roy, having moved a bit ahead, came to a stop. X and the others did as well, and he turned a glance towards Di Roy.  “What happens now?” “Just wait a tic. The local ‘chief’ oughta be out in a sec. Was probably waiting to see if we’d just attack first, before showing himself.” Di Roy sucked in a breath and shouted, “Hey! You in there Ilforte, or have you croaked already!?” A moment later there was a pounding noise as the crowd of Hollows parted and a bulky specimen emerged from the ride’s tallest entrance. This Hollow was a good ten feet or so taller than any of the others, and given the way the others parted for him, there was little doubt he was the local leader. His form was that of a bipedal bull, with incredibly broad shoulders and long hanging arms. His ‘mask’ was entire bull shaped, with swept down horns that ended in narrow points. Strangely, a mane of blonde hair extended from the back of the mask, the only non-Arrancar Hollow present with hair.  This Hollow took a few lumbering steps forward, until he was solidly in front of his ‘horde’ or ‘tribe’, X wasn’t sure what the proper term might be. The bull crossed his thick arms of corded muscle over his wide chest and looked down at Di Roy. For all of it being a rather imperious stance, X noted the nervous look in the Hollow’s almost human eyes. “Haven’t seen you around these parts in a long time, Di Roy. When you decided to run with Grand Fisher’s gang, figured you’d never show your face around these parts again. And what, now you’ve managed to crawl your way into being an Arrancar? Must be swell, being the Espada’s bootlickers. Which one you serve?” “Don’t sass me, Ilforte, you know damn well how things work around here,” Di Roy replied sharply, eyes narrowing, “Doesn’t matter which Espada I serve, just as long as you know I’m working for one, and that means you either play ball, or things get uncomfortably messy around here.” Gaw was still flexing her claws, and licked her lips then as well, “I not mind messy, if that’s how things go.” Ilforte glanced at the diminutive Arrancar, then slowly looked over the others as well, giving special attention to X and the other Dark Hunters, “What’s with these four? They’re not Hollows. They smell... almost human.” “Never you mind them,” Di Roy said, “Whatever they ‘smell’ like, they’re not squishy, and if you or your people try anything you’ll find out real fast that they’re not to be screwed with. Now, we’re not here to bother you lot with anything more than a few questions, so what do you say we cut the posturing and you just cooperate, eh?” For a few moments no one spoke. X’s companions were alert and ready for trouble, each one just tense enough to act without looking overtly prepared. Gigan could have been a statue, although X knew the cyborg was scanning the gathered Hollows, likely decided priority targets in case a fight broke out. Irys had her hands at her sides, looking none threatening, but X could see the slight twitch in her throat that said she was preparing the energies for a sonic ray. Megalon was looking more at the ridge’s architecture than the Hollows, seemingly at ease, but X didn’t doubt he was similarly ready to jump into action. Fortunately it didn’t appear to be necessary, as the large Hollow, Ilforte, blew out a snort of air from his nostrils and said, “You’ve always been such a damn punk, Di Roy. Never did like you. But yeah, I ‘get it’, so what do you damn well want, exactly? We’ve gone out our way to keep off the Espada’s radar, and not cause any trouble. We don’t poach their hunting grounds, we don’t join up with any Privarons, and we sure as hell don’t cause trouble, so what does an Espada even want with us?” “Nothing, other than like I said, we just want to ask a few questions. We’ve got a mission to complete, and need info, and given Forlorn Ridge is the first spot out west that actually does any trading with the settlements in the deep desert, I figured you’d hear the skinny on anything... unusual going on out that way. Specifically anything concerning the current territories of any Privaron Espada.” Ilforte swore profusely for a few seconds, shaking his bull-head, “Goddamnit Di Roy, I just said we don’t want to deal with any Privaron! They stay out of Las Noche’s eye for a reason. They don’t come this close to the fortress anyway.” “I know that, but people you trade with do have contact with them, and I and my lovely friends here want to know where those folk might come from,” Di Roy explained, “All you need to do is give us a direction, nice and simple.” “I... can’t do that,” Ilforte said, and X noticed that the Hollow’s uneasiness increased tenfold, his thick hands grasping nervously. The feeling of fear in the air only increased. He also noticed a gesture from Gigan, a subtle tilt of his hands towards the upper window-like openings on the ridge. For a moment X saw movement there, and he returned to Gigan an equally small gesture to acknowledged he’d seen the movement.  Meanwhile Di Roy seemed taken a bit aback by how growingly uneasy Ilforte was acting and glanced at X. In response X gave Di Roy a small nod and stepped forward, meeting Ilforte’s unnerved gaze with his own steady, arresting look. “You’re afraid of something. Tell us what, and I give you my word we shall trouble you and yours no longer.” “And who are you that I’m supposed to believe your word, just like that?” As they spoke, Gigan had used another couple of small and barely noticeable hand signals to get Irys and Megalon’s attention, alerting them to the potential of other enemies in the area. It was a testament to how well they knew each other and worked together that the other pair of Dark Hunters easily picked up on the signals and carefully shifted their stances, preparing to move, even as X responded to Ilforte. “My name would mean nothing to you, but right now I and my companions are the only chance you have, if there’s something, or someone who’s threatening you and your people. So ask yourself this; can you afford not to believe me?” “It’s not that simple,” Ilforte said through clenched teeth, his voice lowering to a point that even X had to strain a little to hear him, “They’re already here. If you don't leave, now, they'll probably attack. They might do it anyway, since Di Roy crowed about you all working for the Espada." "Waitasec," Di Roy cut in, "Who's they?" X glanced at him briefly, but then scanned the ridge itself, looking towards the dark openings that acted as windows into the stone. Was that shadowy movement he saw, there? ---------- Just a minute earlier... Keeping all but a sliver of herself hidden, the young Arrancar with bright red hair edged her face just enough past the opening that gave her a view of the area in front of the settlement. Out there she could see Illforte and his Hollows speaking with the seven strangers. Her heart was hammering and she cast a look towards another young female Arrancar, all but identical to herself, save for the blue hair. "Yin, we have to do something, now!" she whispered. "But the Captain hasn't given any orders, Yang," the other replied, "And she and Grubber are still in the tunnels." "You heard the shark looking guy," Yang hissed, her hand going to the hilt of a blade sheathed through a sharp, tooth shaped hair ornament of white bone, "They're Espada lackeys. They must be here looking for us! And Illforte's blabbing to them! If we don't act now, our cover will be blown, and we'd have let the Captain down!" Yin's eyes narrowed, and she nodded with a grim set to her face, also drawing her weapon, "Good point. I'll signal the troops. If we hit them before they realize we're here, we can overwhelm them." Her eyes then twitched and she leaned back away from the window, "Crap, I think one of them might've seen me." "Then we do this now!" ---------- It wasn’t much warning, but it was warning enough for one as used to warfare as X. He’d already expected the ambush, and his Dark Hunters were ready for it. There’d been no way to signal Di Roy, Gaw, or Roka about the danger without tipping their hand, but the Dark Hunters had accounted for that fact, so when the attack came, X grabbed Di Roy, Irys did the same for Roka, and Megalon deployed his drill arms and leaped in front of Gaw. X had figured snipers in the windows, but he hadn’t quite known the form the attack would take. From one of the windows on the right of the ridge a streak of what appeared to be small balls of lightning flickered down towards Roka, Irsy tackling her out of the way just in time to avoid the stitching line of electrical attacks. From another window on the left a large bolt of fire descended towards Gaw, but Megalon was already there, swinging his drills arms with enough strength to disperse the projectle of flame, which did little more than slightly heat his drills. A second later all hell broke loose as a new, larger horde of Hollows came roaring and charging out of the ground openings in the ridge, swarming forward through the mass of local Hollows with zero regard for the natives of Forlorn Ridge, tearing into them in their charge to get at X and the others.  While as varied in appearance as the other lesser Hollows X had seen, these particular Hollows had one thing that set them apart; uniforms. Regardless of body type, each Hollow wore armor consisting of black, interlocking plates of metal, usually covering their chests and shoulders, and sometimes forming greaves for arms and legs. On the chest piece of each set of armor was etched a bright blue symbol that consisted of two sharp edged lines, curving in at a harsh angle and then continuing down, forming a symbol that almost looked like horns or fangs. Having been ready for the ambush, Irys and Gigan opened fire almost immediately. A thin purple sonic ray cut through three or four of the charging Hollows coming towards Irys, the beam slicing so thinly that the Hollows got two or three steps after being struck before falling in half in geysers of blood. Gigan aimed a carefully targeted eye laser that struck the window where the electrical shots had come from, exploding the window in a shower of rock chunks. Gigan had no way of knowing if he got the sniper until a second later when he saw a pair of electrical balls fly out of another window. Strangely, these balls orbited each other like binary stars, and were connected by an arcing line of electricity, and the pair of balls came flying right at him. Gigan waited until they got close before diving aside, making an expert roll and coming to his feet an instant later, arm blades snapping out. The electric balls converged on each other then expanded to take the shape of a young Arrancar woman with electric blue hair, skin almost as pale white as Irys’, and wearing form fitting black armor similar to what the attacking Hollow’s wore, also bearing the same horn-like symbol. She carried a weapon in her right hand that looked like a black corded whip extending from a white sword-shaped handle, and tipped with a metal stud at the end, which crackled with sparks of electricity. “Who’re you bozos supposed to be? Some sort of half-baked Hollow stormtroopers?” Gigan quipped, not expecting an answer but figuring there was nothing lost by baiting for some intel. Apparently the girl was dumb enough to bite, because she sneered, pulling her whip back to strike as she declared with an clear note of pride, “We serve the Storm King, smartass. You Espada lapdogs about to become intimately familiar with the name, assuming you don’t croak here and now!” Storm King? That’s both the least original and somehow most pompous name I think I’ve ever heard, Gigan thought as he watched the girl’s oncoming strike carefully. He was no stranger to whip-like weapons. Electricity crackled across the whip as it came at him, but while this girl was fast, Gaw had been faster, and Gigan had already calibrated his combat data to account for that level of speed. He pulled to the side and rushed forward, avoiding the whip as it struck where he’d been standing, making a small explosion of electricity and force, but not hitting the swift cyborg. “What the-!?” the girl clearly hadn’t been expecting her target to get in her face quite that quickly and only barely blocked the first of Gigan’s arm blades, using her whip and handle to catch the edge of it. She had to spin away from his follow up attack, and even so she came away from it with a shorter haircut and a deep gash on her right cheek, which she was clearly enraged by. “Bastard,” she spat, and vanished from view using Sonido, but again, Gigan had seen Gaw moving using that same high-speed technique, and was already calculating she’d go behind him just based on the trajectory projections her stance had indicated. So as she appeared above him in the air, sending her whip down, he had already jumped back from the spot and aimed his left arm up at the same time. As her whip hit nothing but air, his twin hook lines, fired out from ports on his left forearm, flew straight and true and wrapped around the girl’s leg.  Gigan couldn’t help but smirk a bit, “Gotcha.” He yanked down, pulling the Arrancar out of the air and smashing her to the ground with a heavy impact. His satisfaction was only somewhat hampered by the fact that as he’d been doing that, about half a dozen lesser Hollows of this new enemy force were bearing down on him with fists, claws, and fangs. He had to pull his wire hooks back and ready his arm blades, moving with short, swift steps to avoid some blows, while parrying others that rained down at him.  Elsewhere Megalon and Gaw had ended up back to back as they were surrounded by a larger portion of enemy Hollows, at least two dozen, as even more boiled up out of Forlorn Ridge to join the fight. Megalong bounced on his feet with deft but energetic motions, ducking the hefty swing of a pincer from a horrible spider-crab Hollow. His right drill arm came up in a blow that took the Hollow’s pincer clean off, and a shorter, frog-like Hollow leaped at him from the side. A cutting flash came from Gaw’s sword, cutting the frog-Hollow’s skull in half, and the creature dissipated with a mournful howl. Similarly, when a tigerish Hollow leaped to rake at Gaw’s exposed back, Megalon took a deep breath and spat a flaming red energy grenade right into the Hollow’s face, blasting off its entire top portion in a spray of rapidly dissipating bits. Gaw gave Megalon a brief, madcap grin, blood already coating half her face from hacking at another Hollow, and the two continued to fend off the growing horde.  However they were cut off from the rest of the group, and X was looking to get the team fully linked up. The last thing they needed was to be split up, and even as he charged into the fray with a lance of gravity beams flying from his hands and scattering several lesser Hollows, he was issuing orders. “Di Roy, Roka, support Gigan! Irys, with me, we’re breaking through to Megalon and Gaw!” There was no questioning his instructions. Di Roy threw a salute that was, probably by his standards, not mocking, and all but vanished with a Sonido, and Roka gave a quick nod before doing the same. Meanwhile X saw Irys rush to catch up with him, her mouth spitting forth another deadly line of sonic energy to cut a gore-strewn line through a number of Hollows that were charging around to the group’s left. X could see that with how many foes there were, they were trying to encircle the whole team. If he could get everyone together, however, they could spearhead through the horde and break free to head for the Land Cruiser.  Just as he and Irys were about to make it to the cluster of Hollows hounding Megalon and Gaw, however, a large, dancing ball of fire descended from the ridgeline. It hit the ground in front of them, and X could hear a woman laughing form within. Then the fire took the shape of another Arrancar girl. She looked like the exact twin image of the girl with blue hair, only this one had red hair, a somewhat brighter, starker shade of it than Gaw’s. In her hand was a weapon that for a moment looked like a simple bone white baton, but then flames extended from it, forming around the spur until it was a sword of solid fire. This girl didn’t waste time on words, and just zipped in straight at X, blade of flame thrusting for his face. Normally X tended to be cautious around new opponents, but he didn’t have time for that, and he was perhaps harbor a tad bit of irritation at being ambushed like this in the first place. So he surrounded his fist with gravitons, the bright yellow energy beams springing to life around his hands, and he moved in to the girl’s attack. His left fist came up and battered her sword aside. The flames burned hotter than any normal fire had a right to, but X’s fist wasn’t exactly normal human flesh, and was further clad in a field of gravitons. His strength alone was enough to brush the blade to the side with only a slight, barely noticeable burn, and his counter attack was brutal. He slammed his right hand directly into the girl’s exposed stomach, eliciting a look of shock from her as the hit sent her reeling back like she’d just been hit by a speeding car. She staggered, gripping her gut with one hand as she clearly tried to shake off the hit. However a mere second later, Irys zipped in from the side, lashing out with a snap kick that clocked the Arrancar girl across the chin hard enough to send her spinning to the ground. The girl turned it into an awkward combat roll, barely, and dazedly rose, slashing with her fire blade as X rushed in from her opposite side. He knocked the sword aside again, but the girl had compensated for that and did a short backward dash to avoid his following uppercut, but only by a scant inch.  X and Irys both put the pressure on, coming at their foe from both sides, and the girl went on the defensive, inverting her grip on her flame blade and backing away from a pair. For a few seconds a dizzying array of dodges, punches, kicks, and flaming sword strikes passed between the trio, but nothing critical landed besides glancing blows. The Arrancar girl was stuck almost entirely on the defensive, and when X sent a swift series of jabs at her she was finally put off balance, giving Irys an opening to slip in behind the girl and get her in a headlock. Irys might have been the physically weakest of the four Dark Hunters, but she was still way beyond human strength. Granted, so was this Arrancar girl, but rather than try to out muscle Irys, the girl snorted out a dark laugh, and her whole body became fire. Irys let out a brief yelp as she hoped back, singed a bit but otherwise unharmed as the girl turned fire flowed away in a flying ball of flame, only to reform into her normal shape a second later a dozen paces away. With a yell she swung her flame blade and sent a quarter of firebolts flying at Irys, but X stepped in the way and countered with a blazing array of graviton beams. The beams cut right through the firebolts and went on to strike the surprise redhead, blasting her with sparks and sending her reeling and slamming to the ground.  Doubtful he’d actually finished her, but not losing sight of his objective, X turned to Irys and with a shared nod they both went charging right back to help Megalon and Gaw. Unbeknownst to them, the battle was being observed. ---------- From the ridgeline atop the Hollow colony of Forlorn Ridge, two figures stood watching the battle unfold.  One was a squat male Arrancar with dusky gray skin and a portly body, almost pot rounded. Blue eyes watched from a pinched face, atop of which sat a mohawk of off white hair. He wore the same black body armor of the rest of the Storm King’s army, and scratched his nose as he looked at the fighting below. “Soooo, who you want to bet started the fight? Yin, or Yang” he said. Beside him, a tall, athletic woman of dark purple skin and a similarly styled mohawk of hair, this the color of a magenta, turned flint-like paler blue eyes towards the fight with a distinct hint of consternation, “It could have been either. Or maybe the strangers struck first, but knowing the girls, they probably jumped the gun.” Like her short, stocky companion she wore black metal body armor that covered her well muscled form, albeit with fewer armored plates and more form fitting black cloth that hugged her body tightly. Over that she wore a tattered, yet immaculately clean white overcoat. Its edges and sleeves were torn and frayed, but the coat was clearly well cared for and patched in several places. On the back of it, painted in black, was the Japanese kanji for the number ‘Eleven’ inside a diamond shape. At her left hit rested a katana in a black sheath, with a white wrapped hilt and square crossguard.  Tempest Shadow, long ago Captain of the Gotei 13’s Eleventh Division, now something else entirely, carefully watched the fighting at the base of the ridge and took assessment of the enemy her forces were arrayed against. She and Grubber had been overseeing the construction of expanded tunnels beneath Forlorn Ridge for the sake of better converting the settlement into a long term observation outpost for the Storm King's forces. The sensation of Yin and Yang's reiatsu flaring up and the sensations of battle that had reached them both had alerted her and her Arrancar lieutenant to the battle, and it'd only taken them a minute to exit to the surface via an escape hatch and reach the ridge top. She had no idea precisely what had caused the fight, but that was immaterial at the moment. Her people were engaged in a fight, and she wanted to gauge both their performance, and the ability of these strangers. There were only seven enemies in total, but Tempest knew well that numbers hardly mattered in battles between individuals of the spirit realms. Like all warfare, numbers could be useful, but a sufficient difference in strength rendered numeric advantage a moot point under the right or wrong circumstances. Right now it seemed a coin toss whether her elite ‘shock troop’ Hollows were making much of a difference against these seven individuals. It did seem like the enemy was at least being pinned down by numbers. The two in the middle, the feral Arrancar female with blood red hair so similar to Yang’s and the somewhat bulky looking fellow with the orange goggles were holding their own against what was now close to thirty shock troops, but were stubbornly avoiding being overwhelmed. Meanwhile Yin and Yang were clearly having ‘difficulty’ with the others. It was almost embarrassing how easily Yin was getting tossed around by the man with red sunglasses.  I’ve told her time and again to stop being so cocky, but she clearly needs a more severe lesson in not underestimating her opponent. Yang wasn’t faring much better, although at least she hadn’t stopped to trade insults with the enemy. The twin girls were Tempest’s apprentices, for all intents and purposes, and acted as the equivalent of seated officers in her (or rather the Storm King’s) army, but they were young, inexperienced, and still clearly in need of more training. Talented, certainly, but they were clearly outmatched in this case. She was concerned for their safety, but she knew both were tough young ladies, and they'd never learn from their mistakes if Tempest coddled them too much. “Yeash, Red and Blue really need to get their heads in the game. C’mon guys, what’re you doing down there!? Practicing to be punching bags!?” shouted the stocky man at her side, and Tempest gave Grubber a look. “It's clear they're outmatched, but don’t judge them too harshly. Its obvious their opponents are far more experienced fighters, and I suspect they possess the edge in power as well,” she said with a calm, analytical tone that belied the concern underneath.   Grubber turned his gaze northward and pointed, "Looks like Illforte and his locals have made a run for it." She glanced that way, noting that the residents of Forlorn Ridge and their bull-headed leader were making tracks well away from the battle. She shrugged at the sight, "I don't blame him. I'll worry about him later, once this is all sorted out." An explosion from down below drew her eye. She saw Yin, having managed to get back on her feet after being face planted by the red glasses fellow, rush back into the fray and unleash a hefty ball of lightning from her whip at him. He flashed out of sight with an ability that almost looked like a Flesh Step to Tempet’s eyes, but she realized was teleportation. At the same time, twin red Cero beams flew at Yin from the side and she barely dodged in time to avoid the resulting explosion. It looked like two of the three enemy Arrancar had gone to help the man in red glasses.  At the same time, the other four enemies had joined each other, the pale white female and her similarly colored ally having broken through the circle of shock troops around the other pair. Now all four were cutting a bloody line through her forces to join their compatriots, while Yang was still trying to pick herself back up after taking the blast of yellow energy beams from the one whose face was partially covered. That man Tempest had picked out as the enemy commander, and allowed herself a brief moment of admiration for her foe. He and his team had turned a total ambush into a far more even fight than Tempest would have expected, and he’d done it very quickly. She admired that kind of quick thinking and command skill under pressure. A shame she’d have to step in and put an end to his hard work, but she could hardly afford to just watch her people get slaughtered. She'd only watched this long because she'd wanted to see how her people would fare against tougher foes than the usual riff-raff they'd fought thus far. Forlorn Ridge was the forward operating base for the Storm King’s army, and the outpost from which they would spy upon Las Noches and plan the eventual destruction and downfall of the Espada, and the detestable ‘Lord’ Tirek. They couldn’t afford for anyone to get word back to Las Noches about their forces hidden here. Which was why she'd need to step in and deal with these strangers, one way or another. The Storm King had been hinting for weeks now that he was ‘very close’ to realizing their ambition to kill Tirek. Perhaps, at long last, after so many centuries waiting and planning, the end was finally drawing close? If that was the case, they really couldn't allow any of the Espada to discover them. The here and now demanded her attention, and if she left things as they were, these seven strangers would likely overwhelm her garrison. She didn’t consider any of her troops to be expendable, but she also didn’t like having to bail them out, either. She couldn’t be everywhere at once, and if they were ever to become a real ‘army’ instead of just a pack of Hollows, they needed to learn to fight with more teamwork and discipline.  Like how the strangers fought.  A part of her hoped they'd surrender once she demonstrated the difference of power between them. Then again, who knew, maybe they'd surprise her and give her more of a fight than she thought? And if that happened, well, she enjoyed a good battle, and had a hard time stopping once she got started. ---------- Irys wasn’t a fan of being this outnumbered, but at least these ‘lesser’ Hollows were essentially a pushover compared to the Arrancar they could potentially evolve into. Her sonic rays cut through their bodies, armor or not armor, like a searing hot poker through rice paper. The problem was that there were so damn many of the bastards that, quick as she was on her feet, it was impossible to avoid every single slash of claws or smashing first that came her way. Fortunately she was pretty durable for possessing such a willow thin frame in human form, and X had been teaching her enough martial arts that she knew how to roll with the blows. So far she’d taken only a few minor scrapes, cuts, and bruises, and in return had wiped out at least two dozen Hollows, and that was before she’d stopped counting.  She and X had reached where Megalon and Gaw had been surrounded, cracking the enemy encirclement like an eggshell. Then Irys had generated a cloud of black fog with a wave of her hands, covering about two thirds of the Hollows surrounding them and throwing them into confusion. In that instant X led a charge through the other third of the enemy line, Megalon spitting grenades and laying about with his drills arms while Gaw, grinning like a blood splattered madwoman, stuck close to him and cleaved apart any Hollow that got close to striking the cyborg. X swept gravity beams across the left side of the charge, while Irys raked the right side with her sonic beams, and in seconds all four of them were in the clear, cleaving behind another dozen Hollow corpses. Irys wasn’t sure why some Hollows seemed to disintegrate upon death (weren’t they already dead? What happens when you die twice?), while others left their bloody corpses behind. She also didn’t take the time to think about it. Up ahead she saw where a smaller group of about twenty Hollows were battling Gigan, Di Roy, and Roka alongside one of those twin female Arrancar, this one with blue hair.  The girl apparently had wised up enough to keep back while sending her Hollows in at the trio, using the range of her whip to send strikes that cracked with lighting and struck like thunder. She seemed to have it in for Gigan, focusing all of her fury on him while ignoring Di Roy and Roka, who were free to tear into the Hollows in front of them. Di Roy charged in readily, using his shark-tooth shaped blade to cut away limbs like someone might hack at a overgrown forest trail with a machete. Roka kept back, making odd gestures with her hands. Irys’s keen eyes spotted the glint of tiny strings that appeared to be extending from within Roka’s thick robe sleeves. Several Hollows found themselves bound by the strings, then with a cold gesture from Roka, the strings constricted and cut through them like sharp wires. “Stop dodging already!” shouted the blue haired Arrancar, whipping ever faster at Gigan, who was side stepping and leaping away from the majority of her attacks. So far he’d only gotten a tad scuffed form a few grazing hits. The electricity didn’t do as much to his hardened electronics than they might have otherwise, given the advanced technology of the aliens that had built them.  “Try aiming better,” he said flatly, “Or, you know, keep flailing randomly. You might get lucky.” “Nrrrgh!” the girl let out a feral, throaty sound as a torrent of electricity coursed up her whip and she spun it around once before snapping it forward, unleashing a scintillating, beach-ball sized bolt of lightning at him.  “Seriously, you are way too easy to bait,” Gigan said, his form disappearing in a red flash of light as he teleported once more, this time appearing directly in front of the girl while her weapon was far too overextended for her to pull it back in time to defend. His chainsaw blades popped out of his left arm, revving up as he slashed upwards in a hard arc. Sparks flew as they dug into the girl’s armor. She threw herself backwards, but blood still spurted from a grievous wound across her chest, causing her cry out in pain.  “Yin!” Before Gigan could follow up on his attack, several bolts of fire rained down towards him from behind. The red haired girl, having finally regained her senses after X had hammered her with gravity beams, had rushed up from the right side of the battlefield, and upon seeing her twin injured, came at Gigan in a heated rage of flame bolts flying from her swinging blade. Gigan dodged one, and batted aside another with his chain blades, but several others struck hard in small explosions. By now Irys, X, Megalon, and Gaw reached the scene, and Irys didn’t hesitate to send a sonic beam screaming at the red haired Arrancar. She saw it coming, just barely dodging with Sonido as the beam cut through the space she’d just occupied. X went for her at a dead run, then made an incredible leap into the air, assisted by gravity manipulation to cover the distance in one large arc. Golden energy built around his back and arms in a golden river, then discharged down in a storm of graviton beams that ravaged the area around the redhead. Even X was a bit surprised at just how much output his graviton beams had, as if the amount of his true form’s power he had access to was higher in comparison to the last time he’d been in human form. The red haired Arrancar had jumped away from the center of the attack, but even catching the edge of the gravity beams this time caused an impact not unlike a Cero in power, blasting off parts of her armor and sending her skidding back-first across the sand in a smoking heap for several dozen yards. As X landed, he saw the girl was still moving, but was barely able to prop herself up using her sword, blood trickling from multiple open wounds. The blue haired one wasn’t much better off, clutching at the deep gash Gigan had given her, sucking in pained breaths. The flames that had hit Gigan dissipated and the cyborg emerged from them, scorched in a few places but looking more annoyed than genuinely injured.  “Hot, but I’ve taken hotter,” he commented dryly, glancing at X, then at the two heavily injured Arrancar, “Looks like we’ve got this about sorted out.” With the group having properly linked up now, the enemy Hollows that had been fighting just Di Roy and Roka were now readily overwhelmed, and the few survivors retreated to the larger portion of the horde that was regrouping by the ridge. X estimated that, out of what had to have been at least two hundred Hollows, they’d cut the force down to nearly half. With the twin Arrancar who appeared to be in charge both injured and on the ropes, he’d have agreed with Gigan’s estimate that they had this battle well in hand... ...But instinct warned him of the approaching threat before he even saw her. It was just like with Adagio. The woman simply was there one instant, just appearing as if by magic. She was on the other side of the group, walking up to the nearest of the two injured Arrancar, the redhead. X immediately noticed this woman’s vibe was utterly different than that of the Hollows. She was completely composed, her tall, muscular and darkly purple frame giving no hint of unease while being filled with ready, capable violence. While her armor was much like the others, form fitting and black, he noticed the white, billowing coat and the odd symbol upon it.  “Yang, can you move?” the woman asked in a rich and strong voice. “Y-yes Captain, barely...” the girl replied, in the embarrassed tone of a child who had disappointed their mother.  The woman nodded, “Good. Yin, how about you?” The Arrancar with blue hair grimaced, “Yeah, hurts like hell, but I can move.” "Good," the woman said, "Now, question; did you two start this fight?" The twin girls gave each other uneasy looks, and Yin grit her teeth and said, "We did, Captain. They're Espada scouts, and Illforte was telling them who we were!" "We wanted to take them out fast while we still had the element of surprise," Yang added, "L-like you taught us, Captain." "True," said the woman, this apparent 'Captain', "I did teach you the value of surprise. At any rate, I want both of you to fall back. Take the survivors and retreat to a safe distance beyond the ridge.” “N-no way!” “We can still fight!” A hurricane couldn’t have carried more foreboding menace than the woman’s eyes did as she said, “No, you can’t. Do not make me repeat my orders.” From the reactions of Yin and Yang, they couldn’t have been more chastised if the woman had literally cuffed both of them physically. Looking more like saddened children being sent to their rooms than defeated adversaries, the pair limped to each other’s side, and supporting one another, vanished with the use of Sonido. By now the group had gathered around X, giving the woman varied looks that ranged from apprehension from Irys, contemplation from X, confusion from Gaw and Megalon, and outright fear from Di Roy. “Oh screw me sideways with Adagio’s trident, this is every level of not good,” Di Roy whispered under his breath, and X gave him a hard look. “Explain. Who is this?” Di Roy visibly gulped, “I don’t know who she is, but I know what she is. That white rag she’s got on. That symbol on the back means ‘Eleven’. As in, Eleventh Division, Gotei-fuckin’-13. Only Soul Reaper Captains wear those coats. If she’s a Captain, or even just a former Captain, especially of the Eleventh Division, we are... quite possibly hosed beyond belief.” “She not look that tough,” Gaw said, and Di Roy shot her a glare that was halfway between terrified and exasperated. “Okay, Gaw, I know you’re not exactly the lore-oriented type, and you’ve never fought Soul Reapers before, but I have, and I know what kind of bad news their Captains are. They’re on the same level as Espada, and unlike our Espada, they don’t conveniently rank themselves by power. For all we know this lady is stronger than Adagio! Good bet, given Eleventh Division is the Soul Reapers dedicated combat unit.” “You know she can probably hear us, right?” Gigan noted, nodding towards the woman. She’d turned to face them, displaying clearly the katana sheathed at her waist, although she hadn’t drawn it or even put her hand on it’s hilt yet. Now that attention had been drawn to her, she actually smiled in faint amusement, “Oh, don’t mind me. I’m kind of enjoying having a reputation precede me for once. Feels good to know the Eleventh is still feared by you Hollows of Las Noches. I’d hate to think they’ve slacked off in the centuries I’ve been gone.” Since the woman, the Soul Reaper, seemed chatty, X figured he’d take advantage of the situation. His team needed to catch their breaths, and he might as well fish for intel while buying them a few minutes to do so. “I admit I still don’t know much about this world and its waring factions, but from what I understand Soul Reapers and Hollows are mortal enemies,” he said, eyes narrowing, “So why exactly are you, a Soul Reaper, leading a force of Hollows?” The woman looked at him directly in the eyes, and there was something akin to... acknowledgement, admiration, respect? X wasn’t sure, but the woman’s eyes, a sort of light, aqua blue, met his without a hint of derision as she said, “A fair point. Honestly I haven’t told my story to anyone in a long time, but I think this isn’t really the time for it. First, I'd like to confirm some things. Is it true you work for the Espada?" "In a sense," X replied, "Myself and my team are doing one a favor in exchange for information we desire, while the three Arrancar are vassals of hers who are here assisting us. Can I put any hope towards the notion that this fight was a misunderstanding resulting from overzealous subordinates of yours and you'll allow us to depart without further issue?" The Soul Reaper shook her head with a wane smile, "Sadly that won't be possible. Even if you're tangentially working for an Espada, it's entirely too risky to allow you to just walk away with information of myself, my people, and our presence here. I either need to eliminate you, capture you, or secure your cooperation. Personally I prefer the later option, but am willing to see through either of the former.”  “Sweet of you to offer, but we’ve already got an employer,” said Gigan, “And technically we’re also currently subcontracting with somebody else. We add to many more to the list, and this is going to get confusing as hell.” “Besides you could always, you know, just let us go and pretend you never saw us,” mentioned Irys, although at the woman’s look she sighed heavily, hanging her head, “Well, it was worth a try.” “Unfortunately I can’t risk Las Noches’ Espadas discovering my forces here,” the woman replied, “I can tell you four aren't Hollows, and I admit I'm pretty damn curious who or what you all are, but that's kind of besides the point. I can't let any of you return to Las Noches. Even if I was inclined to believe the four of you are just, as your sunglasses wearing friend put it, 'subcontracting', that doesn't change the fact that the three Arrancar with you are more direct servants to an Espada. I don't have a lot of reason to trust you, and less reason to trust them. That being said, I would still accept a surrender.” “That would be a problem for us in more ways than one,” X said. “Are your loyalties to the Espada that strong?” “No, but we have another master to whom our loyalty does belong to, and we still have a mission for him to fulfill, which for the moment requires we cooperating with the specific Espada who has asked us to search for signs of Privaron Espada. Can I assume that you and your small army here represent such a sign?” “It may,” the woman admitted, “Although the information won’t do you any good.” “That remains to be seen. It may be a long shot, but if I told you that the reason this particular Espada wishes to locate Privaron Espada is due to her own ambition to have allies against the Espada known as Tirek, would that change anything?” X asked, figuring at this point there was little to lose by doing so. The woman seemed to honestly consider this for a few moments, although ultimately she shook her head, “I doubt it. My own master doesn’t trust the Espada, and quite honestly neither do I. Our plan is to eventually eliminate all of them. Now, I’ve watched you all fight. I acknowledge your strength is impressive, as is your discipline. That strength is something our own army could use. I’ll ask one last time... will you consider cutting your current ties and join with us? I give you my word you will be treated with respect within our ranks.” “Sorry, but we have to decline. Our allegiance belongs to another, and that will not change,” X replied firmly, and the woman nodded as if she’d expected the answer. “So be it,” she said, and now her hand did go to the hilt of her katana, drawing it in a steady ring of steel, “Then there is just one last formality, if you’ll indulge me. It is Eleventh Division tradition to introduce ourselves to those we may be about to fight, as a courtesy.” Suddenly a wave of invisible pressure flowed out of the woman like an unseen tidal wave. Her body became surrounded by a white aura of smokey energy, rising from her like steam. X felt the aura and the pressure of it like a massive weight, although he found he could bear it readily enough.  “I am Tempest Shadow, former Captain of the Eleventh Division of the Gotei 13, and currently Captain of the Storm King’s Liberation Army.” Although she hadn’t asked, something within X felt compelled to answer as he took up a ready martial arts stance. “X, former Pretorian of Xillia.” A tiny, but genuine smile lit up Tempest’s face, “Well then, let’s begin.” Just before she seemed about to attack, a gruff voice shouted from the distance, “Hey! Captain! Do you want me to come down and help!? Heeeey! Can you hear me? Am I shouting loud enough?” All eyes turned to where a stubby, barrel chested man was waving at Tempest from the milling horde of Hollows, “Should we be helping, or what?” Tempest’s expression was like an annoyed, deflated balloon as she ran a hand over her face and growled out, “No, Grubber, I don’t need help!” “Are you sure?” “Yes, I’m very sure! Just take the troop, and Yin and Yang, and go away for a little while! I’m going to be cutting loose here, so make sure you get everyone at least a few kilometers away.” “You got it, Captain! Just give a holler if you need an assist!” As the horde of Hollows was marched away in something that resembled order under the direction of the odd little man, Tempest took a deep breath and looked back at X and the others. “Damn near killed the mood. Now then, where were we?” In response, X unleashed the graviton energy he’d been slowly gathering while Tempest Shadow had been distracted by her compatriot. It was the same basic trick he’d used on Gaw, negating the gravity in a wide, spherical zone around her by firing off streams of gold gravity beams that then bent around her into a sphere-shaped cage. She looked at it curiously as she floated off the ground in the zero gravity, and X shouted to his companions, “Run for the vehicle! I’ll hold her here!” “What is it with you and heroic sacrifice BS lately?” quipped Gigan, but he didn’t actually argue. He was getting insane energy readings off of this woman, and didn’t make much of their chances in a stand up fight without accessing their true forms. Much as it irked him, Gigan knew X was making the right call to try and get everyone to retreat. Irys looked horrible torn, only reluctantly following Gigan after he gave her and Megalon both a stern look. Megalon was also reluctant, but only hesitated a moment before beating feet after his companions. Of the three Arrancar, a similar exchange occurred, only Gaw literally pushed Di Roy toward Roka, saying, “Run fast and take soft-quiet one with you. I stay with pale man and buy time.” “The hell you say!?” Di Roy said past clenched teeth, “Neither of you idiots are a match for her!” “Not point, dumb male!” Gaw snapped, “Tribe more important than one! I Let me defend tribe! Now go or I bite you!” Di Roy looked like he wanted to keep arguing, but Roka grabbed him by the arm, shaking her head, “They’ll be right behind us.” The soft spoken Arrancar woman gave both Gaw and X a deeply concerned look, “Won’t you?” “As soon as you’re clear, we’ll follow,” X confirmed, although he didn’t mention the sheer tactical difficulty that might entail. But he did have an ace up his sleeve that might serve to even the odds. He didn’t argue with Gaw staying behind to fight, since it was clear she was entirely too stubborn to listen to reason.  Once the rest of their companions were making a run towards the distant Land Cruiser, X glanced at Gaw and said, “Your companions said something earlier about ‘releasing your Zanpaktou’. If you have a trump card like that, this would be the time to use it.” The feral looking Arrancar girl nodded with a predatory grin that belied the severity of the situation, holding her long and deeply curved blade in front of her horizontally, resting her free hand along its outer edge. “You too,” she said, “I sense you did not fight serious last time.” “I’m always serious. Tactically, there was no advantage to revealing my hand at that time.” He’d been keeping a close eye on Tempest Shadow, watching how she’d react to the zero gravity field. He didn’t expect it to hold her for long, but he hadn’t quite expected how she did respond. While the others had been running, and X briefly exchanging words with Gaw, Tempest Shadow had been prodding the air with her feet. It wasn’t unlike how Gaw might have accidentally shot herself out of the zero gravity field like an out of control cannonball with a high-speed Sonido, only Tempest was very lightly touching the air particles with her reiatsu, performing minuscule air steps that sent her floating about the field. In the span of a dozen seconds, she’d gained a feel for the way the lack of gravity affected her movement, and she sent a razor thin smile at X. “This is a real neat trick. Anybody who was a total numbskull would end up planting their ass in the ground by trying to break out of this. I think I’ve got the hang of it, though...” Then, in an instant, she tapped her feet downward, precisely controlling the angle and release of spiritual pressure, now that she understood the effect of the zero gravity and could compensate for it. The result was that she launched herself straight upwards, but in a controlled manner. Furthermore, the moment she was actually out of the zero gravity field, Tempest was able to use her superior reflexes to swiftly utilize a normal Flash Step to correct her course and cross in incredible distance in a microsecond. The group that had been running away suddenly found themselves with the tall, dark skinned Soul Reaper appearing right in front of them, sword raised above her head. “And sorry to say it,” she said, “Nobody gets to run away from this fight.”