Training Grounds, Raptor's Turf [Solo Training]

[Tsajara Dread]

(OOC:This thread will be used for trainings for the time being. Each Entry will have a tag designating what is being trained)

[Tsajara Dread]

[SP Training]

The Menos Forest was, if anything, the most familiar place for Tsaj, the place she had spent most of the past several hundred years in fact, even if it felt like far longer a time. It had been quite a while since she'd had an opportunity to relax, the past few months having consisted almost entirely of recovering from her rather new....condition. Ironically, the dark, morbid recesses of the forest, coupled with the low resonating groans of the menos behemoths that made the forest their home was rather soothing to the Arrancar. Closing her eyes she inhaled deeply, her attention focusing on sound alone as she took in her surroundings and took but a moment to collect herself, her hand straying to the blade at her side, that almost painfully plain weapon that was her zanpaku'to.

Her attention to her surroundings was relinquished for but a brief moment before those pale eyes of hers opened up. The forest was, perhaps, not the most secluded area to retrain her body, her senses were dull these days, and her body somewhat weak, so she found some more unorthodox means of training as opposed to more traditional means of strengthening herself. She was at the mid-level of the forest, massive branches that moved from tree to tree were she could keep her attention on her surroundings and the ground below. Where she could keep watch over the hollows. Slowly she withdrew her blade from it's holster, eyes narrowed as she watched the ground below.

Her first target soon became apparent. It was amongst a small group of other hollows, a straggler if there ever was one. Much thinner and moving more slowly than the others, it was waiting for the others to cease their feasting. Clearly it was on the lower rung of the group's line of command, if anything it seemed more like a scavenger. Stepping forward from her spot, she dropped down from her spot on the branch, her eyes narrowing as she sped down the length of the trunk, her blade jamming into the bark as she sped down, slowing to a stop just above the group itself, the groans and creaks of the forest keeping her from being detected as she suppressed her spiritual pressure.

At the very least her body had not forgotten how to tread lightly. As she descended her fingers hooked into the bark, allowing herself to slip down. The carcass looked like the remains of an adjuchas of all things, how it was that these creatures had taken one down she hadn't the slightest idea, but that didn't particularly matter. As she ceased her descent she narrowed her eyes, focusing on the group and resting the flat of her blade along her shoulder. With a sudden sharp cry, like the bird of prey she was, she suddenly unleashed her spiritual pressure. The hollows below were subjected to her presence and immediately upon recognizing the difference in the pressure to her own, and began to disperse. Only, one of them did not disperse quite quickly enough. Leaping from her spot on the trunk she kept her focus on the hollow below as she dropped.

The poor thing didn't even look up to see her, it had simply begun to book it. As she hit the ground she rolled into a run, her feet digging into the ground as she raced after the hollow as it scurried away from her. The energy was familiar and invigorating, the pumping of her feet into the ground as individual muscles fired and relaxed in succession. each and every shock of her feet landing on the ground, sending kinetic energy up her legs and practically shocking her nervous system to go even faster. Once again she could feel it, that insane drive that was pumping into her veins, urging her after the creature as they ran from her.

It wasn't something she really thought about, not in the slightest, but in the back of her mind she loved watching it run from her. The pumping of its legs in a panicked nature, she could almost smell the adrenaline urging it to run for it's life, and the effect it had on her heart to begin pumping through her veins and drove the sensation of pain from her body, making her ignore the soreness. The brief and frightened glances over it's shoulder awakened her muscles, muscles that may have never tried to run this face, but good gillian she was going to do her damnedest. She had never trained herself before her life had become so unusual, she had never tried to lift weights, tried to run laps. She never needed to, the thrill of the hunt was like steroids, and she was getting a full dose.

The first stumble should have ended it's run, she could have so easily ended it right there, but instead the flat of her blade had whipped out and streaked across it's back, urging it into another short sprint until it had crashed into the ground, the completely coherent and normally-understandable babble of one trying to save their own life was audible, but completely ignored as it turned and huddled into the ground. The arrancar could feel the burning of muscles in the ambience of her body's song, a song that was at the moment in a rock anthem that urged her to pin the hollow to the ground, rip it's arms off and make a spit out of them to roast the beast. But a grin plastered over that pale face, and she walked past the hollow, leaving it frozen in shock as she began walking off.

As she returned to the upper levels of the trees, to those high branches that let her watch from above, she smiled down to the hollow as it passed out, exhausted and tired. It would have plenty of time to rest after all, and she had plenty of time to rest as well. To rest and to watch as the creature that had been given a second chance lay on the ground for several long hours before huddling into the roots of the nearest tree. The hunt was not over, even though it could have easily ended as such. But it was not about the hunt really, it was about getting back, her strength and her instincts, the ability to continue chasing, and for that she needed the hollow to live, and get stronger. She was going to continue hunting this beast, and if it stopped running she was going to start carving into it's mask and back until it was.....persuaded into resuming it's flight. She was going to turn this weak hollow into a crafty prey, one that would learn to try and escape her, try to trick her, and perhaps even try to kill her. And by the time it was finally time that it was a suitable threat, and she found herself struggling to become stronger herself in order to match it, she would end it's suffering as thanks for helping her train.

[Tsajara Dread]

[SP Training]

It did not take long for her to get back into the groove of hunting. She could already feel her body adjusting to the routine, of climbing, running, resting, sneaking, controlling her muscles as she moved to minimize the sound she made, and in the same motion keeping up as she quieted her spiritual pressure, only to intentionally flare up in order to give her prey a scare, and incite yet another delicious bout of sprinting away from her in a visual banquet that satisfied the hunter inside of her, even if consciously she made no such connection, to her this was simply a necessity, she even felt sorry for the thing, or at the very least, she told herself she did.

The prey had begun to catch onto her game in rapid order, impressive and promising in Dread's eyes. As she dropped down to give a direct pursuit, those pale white eyes locked onto the form of the hollow as they ran, she'd begun to get a very good idea of the hollow's physical capabilities. The gait of the animal seemed light and without hinderance of a low center of gravity. The creature was fairly nimble but obvious malnutrition had weakened it, or at least until now. It's panicked attempts to escape were, if anything, what she'd expect from someone who didn't want to die. So she could hardly complain.

However it was quite the pleasant surprise when she noticed a sudden shift in the legs, her eyes widening as she began to process what was happening. As it turned on her, those tfearful eyes turned to anger and rage, a look of a very weary and very tired animal rounding on its pursuer. That mouth opened into a menacing snarl and the first droplets of liquid being flung in her direction caught her eye, prompting her to shift her body sideways, skidding to the side as she veered course and a spray of viscous liquid was flung past her, the stray droplets eating into the fabric o her cloak as a single drop managed to connect with the side of her cheek and she felt a sharp burning as it began to eat a small divot into her face and drew blood. A slow smile spread across her face as she slid forward, her zanpaku'to dipping forward and up to race along the hollow's torso, the blade dipping into flesh and bone as it traveled cleanly up along the beast's body, pursued by a line of red as blood blossomed from the wound and the hollow fell onto their back.

She could only stare, still smiling as the beast dropped and let out a pained screech even as the acid hissed softly into her cheek, a minor injury if anything, her cloak had taken far more punishment with holes eaten into the fabric. Looking down she knew the hollow wouldn't be getting back up, and the screams were already attracting attention, as it would not be very long until the other hollows began to close in at the prospect of a free meal, one they would get. With a gentle shake of her head she stepped toward the downed hollow, gripping her zanpaku'to tightly and taking a deep breath as she promptly reversed her grip on her blade, glancing down at the agonized hollow.

She considered, for a brief and fleeting moment, the idea of nursing the thing back to health, to try and revitalize it to the point there it might be able to further assist with her training, but really it was simply her conscious mind going through the motions. There was no real means that made sense for her to use any energy keeping this...training aide alive. It had served it's purpose, and fantastically at that, she could indeed feel the soft ache in her muscles, but also the recovery of her body, it's own natural way of repairing torn and used muscle with excess to prevent further such injury. This being had been an excellent means of strengthening herself, it was simply...unfortunate.

The hollow knew better than to beg for it's life, even as she stood over it with blade in hand. She would have called it dignified were it not in a puddle of it's own blood, shaking in terror as it resisted the urge to start babbling for it's life to the arrancar. And it was better that way, as after all she had enough to thank the being for. Raising that blade, she murmured a gentle "Thank you" before her blade sank down into the skull f the hollow and into the ground beneath. With a sharp tug of her blade she freed her weapon from them and promptly turned away from the beast, and in doing so suppressed her pressure and her presence as she raced up the face of the nearest tree. The scavengers would be closing in soon, and after all she needed a new training partner.

[Tsajara Dread]

[TTP Training]

Tsaj could not have asked for a more exhilarating experience, even as the first set of claws raked along her skin. A particularly observational group of hollows had been watching her stunt with the hollow from before, and after the fatigue and "injury" she had received, it seemed they had decided to capitalize on the opportunity to see if they could find her a suitable meal for themselves. Something that was just convenient enough for her to enjoy. She was always one to feel regret, and the emotion dug at her as they surrounded her with murderous intent. Unlike the scraggly thing she had killed before these hollows seemed much more pronounced in their personalities, they were brutish yes, still hollows after all. But they were still primitive enough for her to not mind fighting them.

There were three in total, three for her to watch and avoid. She did not have very much time to observe their differences, as she was a bit busy avoiding the raking claws and long blade-like tails that they had so carefully placed on paths to tear into her body. It was quite the experience to say the least, and in this case she was in some ways enjoying the workout. Her senses were on high alert as the trio cornered her and fought. each seemed to have their own varying levels of interest on her, and at one point she could have sworn one of them went for more of a grab than a clawing, but that was the least of her concerns at the moment.

Two of them relied primarily on slashing at her in a very...intriguing manner. While they were not actively coordinating their actions they seemed to simply strike at different times altogether. While one would seem to be more reliant on keeping up the pressure, moving in to strike whenever it was that she would come to a rest and try to gain decent footing, another seemed quite intent on chasing her whenever she attempted to avoid a slash or simply reposition herself, placing their body to block her off and corner her further to ensure she could not gain any sort of distance from them. The only real accurate blows intent on ending her seemed the strikes from that bladed tail, a rather wicked looking thing that seemed to give off an odd smell.

It was not very long that she had to wait for an opening, not with her rather unique set of fighting moves. IT was the first score that gave her her reprieve to the onslaught, not quite moving as much as she knew she would need to. She allowed the claws to dig into her cloak, even as her head ducked and she rushed under the arms of the hollow as it found itself with her cloak in it's claws, the gentle whisper of her blade as it swept along the ribcage was something that she was all too familiar with, and memories of past fights briefly struck across her mind distracting her long enough to receive another set of claws snagging her shoulder.

The set of claws that had caught her were met with her own set of teeth digging into the flesh, as particularly unrefined as it was she was not a particularly fair fighter and as that hand moved to recoil her own blade followed it and kissed the flesh of the beast's shoulder before plunging into a violently romantic relationship with the hollow's shoulder joint before so regrettably cutting into it, parting the arm from it's lover the torso before Tsaj stumbled and rolled to her side, conveniently so avoiding the tail that sank into the ground beside her and or a brief moment she was glad she had done so.

As she rose to her feet the tail lashed out and promptly slammed her into the trunk of the nearest tree, cringing as she connected with the hard bark and raised her blade fast enough to lift the trajectory of that tail blade, making it sink into the bark above her shoulder rather than into the flesh of her own body where it would undoubtedly make her endeavors of training far more difficult, but then again it was a learning experience was it not? But of course, a lesson in such pain would get in the way of the rest of her itinerary, which of course she had originally planned to practice her reiatsu control, though as she held her blade up, keeping the tail from her body, the soft glow of reishi along her blade escaped her attention as she so subconsciously began to piece something together, as if expecting to burn through the offending tail.

Glancing up to her attacker she could not help but smile slightly as she saw the raw intensity of it's stare, followed by feral snarl and bite as it snapped it's jaws at her with clear evidence of it's discontent. The beast was a survivor no doubt and with food before it so pale and inviting it seemed all but lost on it's surroundings and with eyes for her and her alone as were a lover intimate but with more dire a purpose. Were she not alone it would have been a very good opportunity indeed to simply gave the brute stabbed from behind and dispatched with far more haste than otherwise achieved, but as it were she was indeed alone.

With a forceful forward shove she unlocked that bladed tail from it's meeting wit the tree and with her fist soon following to connect solidly with the beast's mask, only to feel teeth digging into her knuckles she almost burst out laughing. Tearing her hand back and propelling her knee up and forward she violently yanked the beast into her kneecap, causing a sudden slackening of it's body as air rushed past her bleeding knuckles. With a form group forming on it's shoulder from her other hand she dropped the risen knee and planted her foot behind the hollow's, then hooked back, yanking the beast free from it's grasp on the ground before pushing forward and down, using her fist to deliver the beast's head to the ground.

As that skull connected solidly with the hard ground it was followed with the wet impact of her knuckles with the beast's uvula, causing a sudden upchuck of its prior meals into her hand, which was just always welcome to decorate the skin of her fingers, or at least that was what so sarcastically drifted through her mind as she took hold of the upper jaw and promptly set her foot on the lower before prying the beast's face apart from itself, ignoring the agony as she allowed her button to be pushed. She didn't have much problem with vomit but as it turned out she did not particularly like the feel of it on her fingers and she found herself with an oddly familiar sensation as she began focusing her reiatsu along her knuckles, burning into the inside of the hollow's mouth as she found her body working slightly on it's own.

Ignoring the pained gasp and rasp of the beast as it was given ample time to enjoy it's new lack of connection between it's upper and lower jaw as she freed her hand from it's encasement, she was prompt in the delivery of her blade's edge to the beast's shoulders one after the other. It's arms separation seemed to only exacerbate the situation of screaming, and with her free, vomit-covered hand she promptly grasped one of the severed arms she promptly whipped the bloody stump across the being's face, striking it silent for a brief moment, a reprieve from that annoying sound that she used to plant her blade's tip into the hollow's brain to finally silence the noisy beast properly, as in the back of her mind it became clear that if she was going to survive she would have to train her body in a bit of a different manner, one that would supply her with a means to make these skirmishes a bit more manageable.

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

+35 SP
+50 TTP

[Tsajara Dread]

Training for CTP

Tsaj took very little time to decide on her next targets. As a matter of fact her targets found her to be frank. She had been recovering from her little debacle with the trio, mainly just sitting in the tree branches and watching her wounds heal. She by no means had high speed regeneration, but she certainly healed faster than others, and the piddly scratches and tiny dinks the trio had managed to land on her were gone in no time. Really it was a bit sad. With a small collection of libs she'd taken she was removing the flesh from them to use the bones when she sensed a nearby presence. She dove forward as something crunched behind her, spinning about and narrowing her eyes as she looked up at her attacker.

It was, like her, an avian type hollow, and it was clearly nonetoo happy about sharing it's little nest. It was large, a good two to three meters in height and more than four meters wide in wingspan. The thing was one of the larger hollows, but those tended to be the weaker ones down here. She backed off, watching the thing carefully as it opened it's wings and then pumped powerfully. Dread raised her arms defensively as that powerful wind suddenly kicked up and began to push her toward the end of the branch, gritting her teeth as through the wind she could see the bird lurching for her. Leaning back she allowed herself to fall straight from her spot in the tree, spinning and dipping her blade into the tree to slow her descent as the bird hollow soared past where she'd been moments before.

The being was persistent though, and soon dove after her. She narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath, taking a brief moment to collect herself before a feather streaked past her, almost slicing into her arm. Looking up she found the source of this to be the plumage that the thing was spitting after her. Grunting in irritation she dug her blade a little deeper, completely stopping her descent. The bird smacked right into her first first before knocking her the rest of the way down, the pair of them tumbling before Tsaj managed to get on top of the thing right before landing.

Grunting, Tsaj raised her blade and slashed down, her blade ringing off the beak of the massive bird, making her narrow her eyes as that beak clacked shut around her blade, the pair of them wrestling for control of the blade as she began punching the bird repeatedly in the face, her fist cocking back and firing repeatedly into the side of it's skull, and bit by bit persuading it to loosen its grip on her blade little by little, that beak beginning to part as she punched the will to clamp down out of it's face with each and every successful knuckle sandwich she delivered to it's temple.

Once it's beak parted enough she pushed down HARD, the edge of her zanpaku'to diving into the flesh of the being's cheeks before a talon kicked her in the chest, knocking her away from the beast and sending her skidding across the ground. She bit her lip slightly and rolled to her feet, cracking her neck and letting out a soft grunt as she bruised herself off, her eyes then shifting to the side where the beast still writhed, clutching it's face, it's feathers slicing up the ground below it as it tried it's damndest to ease the pain she'd injected into it's stupid beak a la sharp edge, something that the bird most certainly didn't seem to like if the screaming was anything to go by.

It took all of three seconds for her to trot her way over and swing her blade like a golf club, the sharp metal ringing as it went for the neck, though she was surprised to find the blade rebounded off of the thing much to her surprise, her eyes going rather wide as she stumbled back and recovered from the blow, the surprise clear on her face as she took a brief moment to collect herself. Those feathers were tough! Frowning she took her blade from the ground as the impact had knocked it from her grasp, something she'd be sure to avoid next time for sure seeing as she most certainly didn't want to be eaten again as that had seriously sucked the fun right out of her evenings and she had enough work to get herself to full strength as it was.

Circling the bird she watched as it rose to it's feet, raising its wings in an act of intimidation and opening that beak to give a low rattling hiss as it began to charge her, aggressively, brandishing those large blade-feathered wings of theirs as it made a clear swipe at her, those pinion feathers like miniature katana aiming to open her up like a salmon. Needless to say she was quick to avoid the attack, ducking and rolling to the side in an evasive maneuver, her eyes scanning it's body as she went, the sight of its bleached legs catching her attention and earning the beast a swipe across it's ankles, earning her a lovely blossoming of red along the ground.

The screech was not as loud but just as irritating as the last as the bird tumbled to the ground before shambling forward, trying to rise off the ground as Tsaj did so quite effortlessly, her blade raised in a defensive manner as those sharp eyes stayed locked onto the beast's form, a slow and deep breath escaping her as she went back to her circling, now that she knew it's legs were free to attack then at the very least she knew of a place to strike aside from it's face, so she was gaining some progress at the very least, the big trick would be getting the hits to land with it's rather annoying noise that seemed to be coming from it's feathers as those blades slid and scraped against each other.

She had to admit that this thing was rather difficult to fight, it's entire damn body was covered in both weapon and armor at the same time. With her blade raised she kept a close eye on the rather unusual beast, her sword held firmly in hand as she took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as she did so and keeping her eyes peeled for any sudden movements, though for that she had only a short time to wait, the bird lunging aggressively, both wings raised like pointy shields as it then swept it's wings, her zanpaku'to raised in time to get knocked almost out of her hands as a series of feathers knicked her shoulders and elbow, causing her to retreat.

The Hollow repeated the action over and over, that incessant cawing driving her nuts as it continued to bull after her with blow after blow (giggidy) of those winged featherbags that crashed into her defensively positioned blade until it was almost knocked from her hands. Once it was moved to the side that beak streaked forward, her empty hand raising in time to snap shut around that beak right as it was about to try and peck a new hole in her chest. She gritted her teeth and flexed her muscles, struggling to keep the beak at bay and away from her body, though the superior strength of the bird causing her to slowly skid backward along the ground as she adamantly attempted to hold it off.

She got as far as the trunk of the nearest tree until she was forced to roll to the side as that beak sank into the trunk of the tree, splintering the "wood" as she ducked, avoiding the wings that slammed forward to try and batter her into the trunk. With both hands winding around the handle of her zanpaku'to she drove that blade upward with a mighty upward stab, that tip piercing up underneath the hollow's chin and up through the top of it's skill, giving the woman a miniature shower of crimson lifefluid all over her as the beast grew limp and slumped to the ground, leaving the warrioress panting.

Stumbling to the side it took all of eleven seconds to collect herself, her eyes closing as for a brief moment she relived the experience of clashing with the rather psychotic bird, well.....psychotic.....maybe not. Considering the thing was a hollow it could hardly be blamed, not that it made her feel any better about being attacked by the damn thing. Her attention moved to it's corpse, most notably the feathers that littered it's body like a porcupine sortof. It was an admirable defense, even if it hadn't helped it much in her final strike, but then again she could hardly complain about that either. Wiping her blade off on it's body she brushed herself off and began to walk off, pausing only now and then to make sure she hadn't sustained any surprise injuries.

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

+60 CTP

[Tsajara Dread]

Training for CTP

It was something of an astounding realization when one realized that they were a bit....rusty. The main thing that was the issue was that her body was simply not up to snuff, not to mention she couldn't perform any of her old techniques, it was truly a big debuff. Not to mention something that was going to annoy the dicks out of her to no end, but of course it was simply something she was going to have to deal with, be that in the form of meditation, looking up at the sky, or mauling hollows to the point where she found herself to be un-angry. Probably the latter now that she thought about it, as she was not particularly good at controlling her frustrations, then again people could hardly tell most of the time.

As she found herself racing along the floor of the menos forest with a literal herd of Gillian following after her and a number of other smaller hollows she began to feel just how far she'd fallen in her shift in power. Looking over her shoulder she could see most of them were simply generic Gillian, though a good three of them showed signs of more individualistic features, and would no doubt be much more irritating to deal with. The bright and shiny glow of cero charging simply confirmed her suspicion as not only did the first gillian, one of the leaders, start charging, but the others soon followed it's example and no less than 18 cero soon began charging. Fuck.

Leaping to the side and taking cover behind a tree, she winced as fiery energy blasted all around her, rushing past her tree shield in a barrage of cero that obliterated the hollows that had been running alongside her, leaving them as twitching writhing masses that no doubt would be picked up and munched on like candies. However as she turned to the side, ready to sneak off while the menos snacked on her former running buddies, she noticed the face of one of the sentient gillian, crouched down to look her right in her face. Double fuck.

She had half a second to stare before she drew her blade and stabbed the monster in the eye, stumbling to her right as she began to book it as quickly as she could as the roar of pain followed after her, the trees shuddering from the force of the shout as it began charging after her, her breath catching in her ragged throat as she leapt instinctively, a swiping clawed hand sailing over her body as she rolled, grunting and biting her lip as she then turned to look at her attacker as it stumbled after her like a nerd looking for his contact lenses.

Amusing a picture as it was, the Menos stumbling after her was soon joined by a good 8 of it's buddies, another sentient included, which was suffice to say not a pretty thing to see. With a grunt of frustration she refocused her attention to the running with her legs, something she liked significantly less than chasing down weaker hollows. Ducking behind a tree she watched as one of the gillian skidded pest, and immediately took her chance. Focusing her reiryoku along the bottoms of her feet she began to race up through the air, jumping from reishi platform to reishi platform as she made her way up to the leg of the menos and slashed at the hip.

The result was rather rapid all things considered, and she barely managed to back off as the thing stumbled and clutched at it's tiny wound, roaring out loudly as she began to beeline for the thing's face. Her blade drawn as she promptly slashed twice along the ear before dipping that blade into the thing's mask, yanking the weapon free and leaping back as she took a look at her handywork. The saving grace was that she was incredibly small and difficult to track by the gillian, especially considering how good she was at concealing her presence. Latching onto the gillian's wrist, she went unnoticed as the thing began to look around fervently for her.

Taking a deep breath she turned her attention to the other gillian. They all seemed to be looking about rather aggressively for her for the most part, especially considering the new condition of one of the sentient's. However some of them had begun to wander over towards the barbecued hollows that had been scorched by the cero barrage, seeming quite content with simply munching on the burnt hollows that had already fallen victim to the mob. At the very least she didn't have ALL of them after her, after all that would be a fate fare more ludicrous to try and live through. Looking to the current victim of her stinging blade,, she narrowed her eyes.

She was going to need something more effective than simply stabbing it repeatedly, as fun as that was, though really she didn't know any other techniques she could use to attack the damned thing. Something that she was begrudgingly realizing would soon need to be remedied if she was going to be surviving in this crazy place. Not to mention the fact that sooner or later she would likely have visitors that would require more finesse and utility in her attack kit, as amusing as it was to continually have to rely on her more physical attacks in order to take down foes until she decided to take the time and relearn the techniques she had known before her little run-in with a set of teeth, ah memories.

As she considered this she was making her way toward the shoulder of the behemoth, quite the journey all the way from the wrist, but one she managed to take. Once there she immediately began to slash along where she deduced the joint was, intent on slicing into the ligaments that held the arm in place, though she didn't really get much intoo hack and slash fest when the hand rushed in to slap the area, forcing her to leap out of the way as another roar of pain erupted from that gargantuan tooth factory the gillian called a mouth, the force once more was tremendous as the sound and rattled her bones as she did her best to ignore that tumultuous assault of sound to her body.

As the hand slapped down she reacted as quickly as she could, hopping onto the relatively softer flesh on the back of it's hand her blade flashed out and dove into the flesh along the large bony white knuckles that ran along the thing's fingers as it attached to the palm. The sudden burst of scarlet fluid rippled from the cut as she began to layer her slashes ontop of one another, and before she knew it those massive logs the gillian called fingers fell from the beast's hand and crashed down to the floor below in a bloody mess as she leapt back onto the shoulder as the beast's concern was shifted to it's mutilated hand that had just lost five little piggies from it's roster. Not that it really needed them in the first place as she was pretty sure that palm and thumb didn't need four more fingers to slam her against a tree like a mosquito.

At the very least she had accomplished that much, one less set of fingers was at least progress, not to mention the bleeding would begin to eat away at the gillian's ability to move. The fact that she was still, in comparison, an ankle biter was something she did not think so fondly of and well, she considered it a substantial leg of the battle accomplished as she turned her attention back to the red-stained recesses of the creatures titanic shoulder, so little of it having been slashed into that it was almost an insult to the far more dire wounds she'd inflicted on the handy-hand-hand, which definitely seemed to be as, if not more, concerning to the behemoth.

This however was a considerably easy thing to fix as she got to work cutting into the thing's shoulder once more with the blade of hers, that lovely edge swicking away at the being's flesh and massive cloak, cutting away ribbons of fabric as well as slicing deeper and deeper into the flesh that connected the shoulder to the rest of the beast. Admittedly not the most efficient way to go about things but she wasn't exactly full of options here, not in the absolute least, as with only her sword she could not do much more than inch her way through the body, not to mention that incessant roaring that bellowed from the beast as she was sorta cutting off it's arm. There was a sudden stretching and tearing of flesh before the arm simply started to spill away from the shoulder, dropping tot he ground with a titanic impact on the ground.

This seemed to be the dinner bell of sorts as it were, and the other gillian immediately stopped looking for her and turned their attention to the dropped arm. It was a very substantial source of food after all, and the gillian Dread was combatting certainly was in no condition or position to fend them away from it. It could only look once at it's now-missing limb before refocusing it's attention on finding the little bitch that had cut it off while it's comrades dove in on the enormous surce of meat and began tearing into the dying flesh of the menos, some of them becoming a bit over-enthused and even fighting one another over the meat.

This however was not little miss bitch's concern as she was racing up along that blood-soaked chest to get at the face of the gillian. Leaping up powerfully from the thing's slightly-less-broad shoulder and up onto the side of it's cheek, Dread gave the gillian a blank look before her blade raced across the bridge of it's nose, tearing a considerable ammoutn of the mask away as the thing was subjected to further assault by the little wasp that had managed to make it's way onto it's face. Needless to say it certainly didn't seem very happy about the whole situation in the slightest, then agai who WOULD enjoy being all cut up and dismembered? Certainly not anyone Dread wanted to meet.

However she had more pressing issues at hand, specifically the handless, facefucked, armless menos that was currently looking at her like she had just cut it's puppy's face off, or something along those lines, she really wasn't that good with faces unless it was jabbing pointy things into them. Empathy most certainly was not one of her stronger points and really it was probably good that none of her fights relied on such a skill as she certainly did not want to have to go through something so against her skillset, but she really needed to stop getting distracted.

The Menos promptly opened it's mouth, Triple fuck. She immediately began to race to the side as the enormous behemoth charged and fired the doom blast at the spot she had been only moments before, the concussive blast of the attack alone jostled Tsaj from her spot up in the air, causing her to waver slightly and tumble into the beast's massive shoulder before smacking clean into the bloody part where the arm used to be before she went all freddy vs jason on the poor limb, which bye the way seemed to be in good hands, but hungry hands as it was still in the process of being torn apart and eaten by the other gillian. Yum.

Her attention was brought once more to the beast as it finished firing it's attack, her heels digging into the cloth as she searched for a foothold in the monstrous hollow as it seemed to take a breather after the ferocious attack that seemed to simply blow everything away that had been in front of it's ugly sword-torn face. Lucky her. She Took a deep breath,taking a brief moment to rest in her spot, thankful for her ability to suppress her spiritual pressure as she did so. For having not fought in so long the fight was actually a bit exhausting, and clearly taking a toll on her as she took a moment to recover her stamina before rising to her feet.

Rushing up along it's face it was a simple thing as she saw one massive, and BOY did she mean massive, opening in the thing's complete and utter defense that was it's enormousness and lack of anything really vital. Rearing back it's head the thing oh so deliciously exposed it's throat. She took the opportunity immediately and began racing up and in toward that throat like a bat racing it's way out of hell, her blade already drawn as she was oh-so-ready to end the fight. With just seven shot slashes of her blade that throat exploded with massive amounts of blood, making her shield her eyes as the thing gurgled it's last and finally fell.

[Tsajara Dread]

More CTP Training

Dread sighed as the beast finally fell, relief clear on her face as much as in the tone of that sigh as she too a moment of respite, but as it were it turned out to be a moment she did not have. No sooner had the great behemoth fallen than the roaring of the others begin. The sudden terrible hunger of those behemoths making itself known as all at once the giants began to converge upon their fallen comrade and begin devouring his or her remains. Tsaj herself was completely forgotten in the process as the tree she was taking refuge in seemed to shudder and quake, immediately making her way to get herself away from the area.

It was not so easy as one would think however, as the felling of a sentient gillian was of no greater importance when an entire forest was starving. Smaller hollows and gillian alike rushed in, trying to be a part of the feeding, and of course resulting in some fighting amongst the ranks. Some of the hollows turning on themselves as they clamored for the food. The weaker ones falling, and being trampled upon became another body to be strifed over and consumed. Alas it was a recipe for a bad time and she didn't particularly want to be anywhere near a part of it in any sense of the word. Then again it was something she would otherwise flock to for a nice and clean kill while others were distracted.

Sadly, it seemed she wasn't the only one. Before her a large hollow plopped it's enormous gorilla ass, literally speaking a the thing was indeed an enormous gorilla. Knuckle-dragging, chest-pounding, damsel-snatching, plane-crashing, building-smashing, butt-crack-rashing gorilla. The thing was an absolute beast, no pun intended, and with arms like cannons that seemed to exude a strength that would have made a weight-lifter cream his pants. If anything this creature had a stank about it that just reeked alpha male. And this alpha had seen something it liked. It was glaringly obvious in no time at all that it's intentions were not so....pure, if it's rager and the part of her it was staring at was anything to go by.

Immediately she raised her sword, earning her a smirking grin from the ape itself, clearly a confident one. And oh how this was going to be an uncomfortable fight, she could feel it in her jimmies. The first swing of course was expected, her body rolling out of the way on instinct even as it smashed into the tree and tore a sizeable chunk out of it, goring it like a trout that owed it money. Needless to say she really needed to not get hit. The second blow shattered the branch she was standing on, resulting in a mad leap on her part to the nearest foothold she could get.

Looking over her shoulder she spotted kong leaping to the next branch as well, the impact alone of those cinderblock feet of his hitting the frame of the extension shook the tree practically and cracks slithered along the wood like vipers. Getting to her feet, Tsaj took a deep breath, narrowing her eyes as she focused on her opponent. He wouldn't be fought by pure aggression, she'd need to carefully take the guy out while avoiding hits as much as possible. A phenomena that was thankfully, but also unluckily, quite frequent as she found he began to swing wildly at her like a drunk at fight club.

The first blow to connect felt like it was gonna shatter her bone, though the impact sent her flying into the trunk of the tree, clutching at her arm as she rolled out of the path of his next blow, a flash of snarling, seething anger-filled eyes all she saw before she rolled and tucked in, dropping to the forest floor below as a brief and temporary sanctuary from the mad ape. As the being landed beside her she let out an exasperated grunt as she got to her feet, turning in time to duck another powerful swing, raising her blade as she did so and snicking the elbow of the monster, although snicking was perhaps too subtle a word for the absolute chomp that her blade proceeded to take out of the monster's arm.

The impact however partial on the blade of her weapon was massive, and she almost was bowled over by the force sent along her blade as the force of that blow tore the blade clean through the arm itself, resulting in a none-too-happy roar of pure fury from her bonerific opponent. She backed off just in time to avoid the beast grabbing at her, snagging the severed forearm and chucking it at her, the limb slicing past her to bury itself several inches into the tree trunk. Clearly this thing was some sort of monster, as she had no other idea how something could be this strong while at it's level, though really it's level wasn't something she was particularly familiar with, this thing could be a vasto for all she knew.

looking over her shoulder she was amazed at the pure output of force this thing had to throw at her, and it seemed it wasn't quite dead yet, as the beast started to charge her again, beating it's chest with it's remaining fist as it continued to race for her on a hell-bent quest to either rape her or kill her, or some combination of the two. She winced as she didn't quite manage to sidestep, her left side being smashed into the tree with insane force, almost making her drop her blade, though she recovered from the blow enough to turn that edge on gorilla boy and take a swipe at the hulk that was it's massive body, even glancing at it she couldn't help but be both impressed and disgusted by it.

The blade of her zanpakuto sank deep into the flesh of the hollow, even as it roared out in anger and agony mixed into a very dangerous cocktail that did so indeed seem to intoxicate the ape into greater levels of hatred, rage, and strength. Though that roar was cut short into a strangled gurgle as blood filled one of it's lungs as a result of that blade of hers making a neighborly visit to the creature's lungs and blood vessels. Digging the blade in as much as she could, she twisted and then yanked hard, tearing the blade like a bandaid from the beast's side before both hands wrapped firmly around the handle of the blade, holding her breath for that short moment before her blade raced through the air.

The result was conclusive to the fight, and she watched the rage die from the hollow's eyes as that blade severed it's head and left shoulder from the rest of it's body, that fluid strike ending the hollow as it's pieces tumbled to the forest floor below, completely ignored by any but the smallest of hollows that proceeded to dig into the meal least contested as the gillian bodies behind her received far more attention from the crowds. Wiping her eyes she let out a grunting snort as she forced herself onto her feet and away from the area, this had turned out to be much more of a workout than she'd thought it would.

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

+140 CTP

[Tsajara Dread]

Training for CTP

IT took all of a few moments to get out of the feeding frenzy, which surely was an understatement if one had ever left her porcelain lips. Once she was a good distance away she collected herself, looking herself over as if to spot any injuries she might have not felt immediately due to the adrenaline, not that she thought she'd unknowingly taken a hit, it was simply a force of habit. Once she knew she was alright and safe she immediately burst out laughing, leaning against the trunk of the tree and holding her side as she shook her head in mirth, having truly enjoyed the little escapade she'd been yanked into through her hunting.

She hadn't had a blast like that in ages, seeing as prior she'd only really hunted the adjuchas up in the desert. But this, hunting amongst the swarms of gillian, having enemies at every turn, having to keep an eye on one's self for the entirety of one's stay, not to mention managing one's attacks on threats far above her usual capabilities by wit, sharp mind, and finesse alone. It was beyond exhilarating, and surely something she would be enjoying for some time to come assuming well....so long as time permitted that was. She was more than aware of the trouble others often brought to her, but well for now she was enjoying the hunt.

As she took stock of her belongings, which really was just her blade, It was fine enough, not even a scratch on it. She was a bit worried after all, with that bird and it's feathery armor she was worried it had nicked her blade some. Thankfully that wasn't the case and the blade was intact. Sheathing it she looked around to ensure no more surprises were around for her. At the very least it would be prudent to keep her spiritual pressure low for the time being, feeling that the surrounding hollows might be encircling the perimeter in order to pick off any injured wandering from the frenzy. Not that she didn't feel confident in her ability to deal with such threats, but she didn't want to go inviting trouble.

As she began making her way to the hole leading up to the desert itself. However she paused as she noticed something in her way. It was quite the collective. What looked like some sort of organized squad of hollows. They seemed startlingly organized, the hollows separated into squads of some sort, different variations split off into different and of course some sort of leader in the center that seemed to be directing them, an alpha to the pack of hollows that seemed intent on every word the hollow was speaking.

The first to disperse were the flyers, a much smaller group than the others, seeming to be rather proud really, the beasts having higher posture, shoulders back, chests out and puffing themselves up as if they were privileged or honored in some way. In any case they shot up high before spreading out and branching out overhead, the excited chitter and screeches of them as they shot off in a fan to search the area, as if out to hunt just like her....well...perhaps not exactly like her. She liked to think that she was unique.

The next group to move out were some sort of underground crawlers. Centipedes and snakes of some type raised their heads, roaring out before diving into the ground and roiling into the dirt like the beasts they were, leaving nothing but a slimy set of holes in the floor before the sound of their digging slowly faded away as they went off into their own directions at the behest of their leader, only one of them sayed behind and began to slither out and begin lgightly running a set of feelers over the ground.

The final group was the largest, in both number and size. They were monsters, much like the gorilla that she had encountered not so long ago. They were burly, barrel-chested things that had arms like cannons and eyes like shock troops. She didn't look for long until they leapt up into the trees. Immediately she flattened herself against the trunk of the tree, her blade unsheathing, now naked against the light as she kept her attention to her surroundings as the beasts flashed by, beginning to search the area, seeming to be scouring for something, just like the others seemed to be, whatever it was they were doing, they certainly seemed to have some sort of purpose.

She was about to turn, ready to get around the trunk and make her way back to the surface when she suddenly found herself stopped as she was face-to-face with the leader, of the little faction she'd jus witnessed being sent out. Before she had a moment to react she felt claws grasping her by the throat before she was quickly and bodily slammed into the trunk of the tree behind her, making her grunt and gasp out as she was so quickly knocked into the tree and had the air knocked from her lungs, stunning her temporarily before she saw a clawed arm rearing back.

She hissed as she dropped down, the claws racing along the trunk of the tree where she had been moments before that, the bark being torn into with those claws and dug into the wood of the tree, surprisingly good at gutting the tree. She raised her blade defensively and bulled foreward, aiming to slam herself bodily into the chest of the hollow, knocking both them off the edge and following herself, latching onto the being's neck as they plummeted down toward the ground, ignoring those scathing claws as they landed hard onto the floor.

As she rolled away, her body aching from the force of the fall, a soft laughter reached her ears and she turned, seeing the hollow slosly getting to his feet, a grin spread across an almost clown-like mask, streaks running along the hollow's back as it collected itself. "So it seems there was one here after all, my deepest apologies, had I known you were so....apt, at hiding,I would not have bothered with the others. So it looks like there is no need to stick around. You'll be hearing from us VERY soon indeed." the holow wheezed before sinking into the ground, and vanishing from sight.


She didn't go back to her tent up on the surface, not ye anyway, she had far too much on her mind after that unusual encounter, and she needed to remain...somewhere less open that would have far less of a chance to be exposed to the rest of whatever it was that hollow had done. The moment it's spiritual pressure had vanished the search party had as well, forty or so hollows suddenly no longer giving off pressure had not exactly been the hardest of things to sense. Though in any case she was trying to decipher exactly what it was that had brought them to her.

She considered the past few weeks, and was not sure where any sort of attention might have been drawn to her. She'd been careful after all, but then again in huecomundo, it was never really enough. With countless numbers of them it was ever so easy to become distracted, not notice onlooking hollows. And in places like this where hollows sometimes worked together, rumors could spread easily, no wonder though seeing as an arrancar on it's won down here probably wasn't something too often encountered, let alone one so territorial as she was.

In any case she figured the best thing for her to do was....well what could she do? She could relocate of course, find a new camp and a new spot to go in and out of the menos forest but how long would that last? Really she hadn't the slightest of ideas what it was she should be doing. She could run and be chased, or stay and try to fight off whatever it was that was hunting her down. Though really what could she do? The search party alone going after her had bee massive. If she'd actually been caught by the others, well...she didn't know.

At the very least she had an idea of what it was that was going after her. They seemed to be hollows, or at least the grunts were. The leader even was a normal hollow, or at least as normal as hollows got she supposed, and as it turned out they had a very unusual ability no less. Seeing as she didn't know what they were after, aside from her, she needed to consider how it was she was going to handle this new development. For now she needed time, so she would relocate and see about trying to find somewhere it would take a while to be found, and most certainly somewhere that would provide a similar access to the Menos forest, hopefully they didn't know she was keeping her camp up in the desert.

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

+70 CTP

[Tsajara Dread]

Training for CTP

It didn't take long to hunt her way through the Menos forest. At the very east she had nothing of value in her tent. Finding a new hunting grounds was something that was...inconvenient, but not necessarily hard. As she went she took precious care to make sure that the hollows that spotted her did not live very long after doing so, a painstaking and more annoting than difficult to do. At the very least the forest still seemed to be in flux, congealing near the feeding frenzy she'd started by taking down the gillian before.

At the very least it was loud, noise was always good when trying to stay hidden.The first spotter was a small bat-like hollow, it had been watching the feeding from afar, quite calmly as if it were like her, hunting the crowds for meals. She was almost impressed if she hadn't so easily snuck up behind the beast. The hollow turned in time for her to sever the being's head from their shoulders. The corpse falling well enough from the height it was slain from, and from there it was a simple matter of watching the body slump and crumple on the ground while she continued on her journey. From the bottom of her heart it was a pain in the ass.

Really she began to wonder how it was that she wound up in such situations, at the very least it seemed that she seemed to simply attract this sort of attention from those that had some unusual individuals, not to mention she had some somewhat good luck for getting out of it. At the very least she got out of the situations that seemed to result from the bad luck, so she guessed it event out in some weird sort of manner, not that she was particularly happy about the fact that the events happened in the first place but it wasn't as though she had someone to complain to.

Taking a moment she sighed, looking around at the forest and closing her eyes, taking all the time she needed to relax and settle. With a slow, cleansing breath she folded her legs beneath her, resting her zanpaku'to across her lap and taking a moment to center herself in the chaos that was the forest. Really meditation in there had to be somewhat....interesting now that she needed to calm herself, the forest was the best of places to accomplish the eat. It was the noise that was the key to her practice, to make sure that the noise what was helping.

Meditation was a focus that was on one's being internally, one that traditionally centered around inner focus, the focus of one's own body so that they could achieve inner peace as a means of focusing, a familiarity of one's insides to ensure that one could focus enough to allow thoughts to pass from the mind, clearing it of any obstruction and allow the body to reach a state of singularity and lack of thought that would soothe the body itself, a means of making one move better, think better, react better, although she had a very...different means of doing so.

It was not inner eace she sought, but simply melding into the outward environment. A normals meditation involved ignoring outwardly forces, a feat rather hard to accomplish, especially for one whose instinct it was to make sure that one was always aware of surroundings. So instead, she simply focused on everything around her. The sounds that surrounded her, the vibrations she felt along her skin, the scents se could breathe in through her nostrils. It was not by ignoring her surroundings that she calmed herself, but by simply removing her thoughts on them. An awareness of her surroundings was all that she needed, to prepare her for her journey.

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

+30 CTP

[Tsajara Dread]

Training for CTP

The trek to her new hunting ground didn't take very long, even if she had to escape the strange hollows that had deemed it necessary to go after her it didn't mean that she had to skip out on her training. As it were she had been growing steadily stronger thanks to her new training regiment. The injuries were healing well enough and she really had very little to show for her fights other than the general toned condition of her body. A pleasant effect of her tree climbing and face-stabbing endeavors over the past few days, endeavors she was quite proud of now that she thought about it. However there was one thing that did begin to bother her.

The first hollow she ran into of the social variety was annoying to say the least. Unlike many he was one of the more talkative, which was good, only the irritating begging for his life was what grinded on her nerves and made her need to resist the urge to squeeze his neck until his eyes popped. An odd and most irritating quirk of his indeed, with such an incoherent babbling of lies, half-truths, as well as sexual offers she wasn't sure what part of the filth he puked up he disliked more. But of course, alas this was the type of hollow that she needed, someone with a big mouth that loved to talk and gossip about stupid shit.

Strapping him to the tree was the easy part, as she knew very little of interrogation, figuring out the best approach was time-consuming, but eventually she finally just asked him everything he knew about the current state of events. The result was....interesting to say the least. The taint of rumor and legend was clear in his words, as did the excitement that rose and fell through the telling of his story. It was s if she had unlocked some sort of flood gate and he was letting out years of unbridled gossip and rumor into her brain, not a pleasant experience.

Apparently, war was going on like some sort of sick game of tennis using nuclear bombs. A bunch of races she'd frankly never heard of seemed to be in some sort of power struggle with the arrancar and hollows. As it was, the individuals of las noches seemed to be some sort of legend, with tales of them waltzing into soul society and pissing on the captains and laughing in their face, surely fantasy, but she digressed. Evidently the only real problem with Las Noches was that for some reason there was some sort of shinigami in charge, something that did not go over well with the hollow community in the slightest.

The others in Hueco Mundo had rumor of a second group, supposedly a resistance or rebellion, who did not agree with the means of Las noches and their capabilities being used to service a shinigami, which they found atrocious and a defilement o their nature. As such there was some sort of high-ranking militia involved where those within this escuda group were supposedly made and hand crafted to kill certain Espada. Something she found oddly specific. But the point remained that these individuals were powerful but not all the hollows believed they could be trusted.

In the human world there were some sort of myraid of different human organizations. Eiter real world companies made by ordinary humans that hired individuals of spiritual strength, or groups that were comprised entirely of spiritually aware and powerful individuals. Supposedly one of the groups were called quincy, a race that had a pure and unadulterated hatred for both shinigami and hollows, and a fight that had gone on for ages as it seemed, as the quincy had some sort of holy war against them. Why it was that this was true they didn't seem to know.

There was then soul society itself, to some it was rumored as some sort of land of wealth and pure sweet reishi-rich air. But many who went there said that it was simply as horrid and segregated as the other worlds. While the soul reapers lived in luxury, it seemed that most of the denizens of soul society lived in poverty or in lands that were simply outside of Soul Society jurisdiction, something that seemed to attract many hollows to the area as they seemed to enjoy feasting on the souls there when they were strong enough to go there without fear that a random shinigami control would take them out, as evidently was something to occur on rare occasions.

Rumors about another place floated around, and quite frankly the hollow even seemed bored talking about it. There was some sort of hell they talked about, but not much was even guessed about it. Many suspected it was some sort of lie told by shinigami to scare the hollow population, other said it was really some sort of heaven, that the idea of a pure evil spirit punishing those that had the same interests and hobbies as the individual was simply ludicrous and counter to proper logic. Others simply didn't care, and quite frankly she had an idea that her informant felt the very same about the situation.

Admittedly she didn't seem to get a whole lot of information that was specific, such as individuals of actual name, but such rumors that did revolve around individual names sounded more like scary children's stories than factual evidence of the individuals themselves, but more as some sort of story to tell the other hollows about the crazy shinigami they escaped from. Not that she wasn't amused by some of the stories, one even talked about a shinigami whose power revolved around the color pink. One she personally found a bit weird that someone would make up but she wasn't there to ask that sort of question.

She thanked the hollow and promptly released him, watching as the scared little thing soared off and left her alone, no doubt to spread rumors about her in the meantime. Quite frankly though she had little to no concerns about the matter, seeing as it seemed the world had plenty going on that she wouldn't imagine any going for her. As for her pursuers, from the information she surmised that the hollows that had went after her were either from some group nobody had ever heard about or the Escudo. In any case it was either a positive or a very very negative sign, though she was starting to wonder if the damned hollow had even been telling the truth, oh well.

As she continued to progress through the forest, sneakily as she did most of the time, she began to wonder about some of the information she'd received, and considered the idea of interviewing other hollows about what they knew. Though it was probably best to only have one of them running around telling other hollows about the scary arrancaress. Her reputation was something she didn't even know about, or if it existed, but if it did she certainly didn't want to exacerbate them. Especially if it meant clueing the group after her about where she was going to be. She didn't like the way they had been looking for her and skill in stealth or not she wasn't comfortable letting them know where she was going.


As she reached the end of the section of forest she felt some level of relief as she noticed moonlight filtering from above. Another hole to the desert above, finally a break in her bad luck streak. Stopping to a nearby branch she was surprised to find it was actually kind of perfect. No real high amount of hollows in the area, and the gillian didn't seem to like the spot much, a perfect spot to hunt, and if she wanted more of a challenge a small hike and a hop was no big deal for getting a proper fight out of the forest. Admittedly she'd need to be a bit more careful but the fact of the matter was that it was a start, and a start was far better than waiting around for those hollows to come after her again.