Fish Out of Water (Luca and Eleonora JT)

[Akira Hinosai]

training for ttp

Karasu River was strangely clear. It always was. It was clear when it swelled in spring, and when it froze in winter. You could see the fish if they swam close to shore, but Luca was never much of a fisherman. It required a certain patience he didn't have. Luca was more the type to jump in the water, and spear a fish than wait for it to come to him. Today, the quaint little river was quieter than usual. Luca had run off some blowhard delinquents trying to hold some bad excuse for a party, giving him a nice spot all to himself. He figured a change in scenery would be just what he needed as he pondered his next move and wait for the sun to set.

Luca was never really alive when the sun was shining. Daylight meant visibility, witnesses and a mess of trouble for most of his attempts to fight hollows. He was getting good at stealth kills, but night time was when he could really let loose. Today though, there was more on his mind than how bored he was waiting for the sun to set. Irina revealed to him an avenue he hadn't considered for a long time. Actually advancing in UE. With recent departures and Irina's plans, he actually had a shot at higher paying, more illustrious positions. Honestly, who could blame me for jumping at this opportunity. It was perfect! With the higher paycheck he could arm himself at the black market he'd been hearing about on the streets, with better access to sensitive information he could learn how to beat higher level threats, but more than any of that, he'd have the prestige of a higher rank. No one except the lowest level scrubs feared a UE grunt. A senior employee, and partner to a soon-to-be manager, though...That would help Luca stick out in the world. Everyone's going to know what I am capable of soon enough!

Sure, he'd have to work under a girl, but the biggest obstacle in Luca's way was the fact that he'd never really had the big moment of proving himself. There were moments that came close, like the hospital or up in the mountains. Yet when it came time to put pen to paper, his list of completed missions was a short and dismal thing. He'd done a lot and gotten way stronger...just not a whole lot for the Uzaki Enterprises. Luca was a wild card, a maverick, which while making him seem really cool, also meant he got this far without really helping out UE much. They'd been good to him, sure. They're the closest the spirit world has to genuine good guys... I'm just not the kind of guy to vow undying loyalty and all that shit.

"Aw screw this!" Luca said, jolting up from the picnic bench. "Paper work is for normal people anyway! If Kaz doubts me I'll just show him what I'm capable of!" Luca jumped up, catching himself mid fall with a plate of reishi infused air. He felt confident using blatant spiritual abilities here. It wasn't like anyone else would come. He flexed his spiritual pressure, just a little as if to mark his new territory...even if he was going to leave in an hour or two when the sun set. Descending back to the ground, Luca sat by the river. Too jittery to sit still with no stimulation again, he decided to practice soul command.  With a flick of two fingers, a small column of water rose, and with more cool looking exaggerated hand motions, Luca moved it around like a waterbender. It took his mind off everything. In fact, Luca let his guard down for once, but certainly no one would sneak up on him so blatantly doing something spiritual.

[Eleonora Schmidt]

Training for CTP
_____________________________________________________
Now that she doesn't have to attend to highschool anymore Eleonora lacks of a motive to wake up early and as such she spends most of the morning asleep, nowadays she's usually up at the early afternoon and stays up to very late in the night sometimes even staying up until dawn, this is because she knows most spiritual aware are active at night, who knows? Maybe crossing paths with one or seeing a fight between one and a hollow would help her develop as a Quincy.

But before even deciding to wander around town the German always goes directly to the Karasu River, usually just to waste time and enjoy a bit of peace and think about her life, one would think that with more free time she could be training and/or hunting hollows but truth is, she feels she lacks direction more than ever, the fact that she still can't even shoot one spiritual arrow annoys her, and the only other person that she trust is not a Quincy and is extremely secretive about his powers.

The blonde sighed as she finally reach her destination, the river was as peaceful as always but it was not empty, normally the girl wouldn't pay attention to people hanging around in the river but this was different, she wasn't sure at first since she was far away but Eleonora thought he was floating for a bit, that got her curious and walked towards the young man and while she was not the best at feeling the spiritual pressure of people around her, the closer she got the easiest was for her to identify that this person wasn't a normal human, specially when he started to move the water of the river as if he was some kind of water bender.

Eleonora thought for some seconds how to proceed and ended up deciding to just sit in the grass and observe the young man, at one point he will be aware of her presence and she would rather introduce herself there than to interrupt him, not everyday one gets an empty and peaceful place like this one to train, who knows? She might even learn something too!

[Akira Hinosai]

For a seasoned fullbringer, pulling on the soul of the water to play waterbender was hardly a new feat. Still, shaping it and holding it in the form Luca wanted was good practice. Like before workout, one needed to stretch. Luca figured the two acts were comparable. After a few minutes, the whole thing lost its charm. Luca had grabbed his last clump of water with soul command before letting it plop back down with a satisfying splash that sent small waves outward. Though as Luca grew bored and slowed down, his attention was less occupied. Someone was behind him. If they're an enemy, they would have attacked. If they're a spy, there a really bad one, which means...

Making a good first impression shouldn't be hard. "You know I can sense you, right?" his tone was that of amusement rather than annoyance. Luca got up and turned around nonchalantly. Eleonora would see a particularly lanky young man about her age with sunset orange tinted sunglasses and long, unkempt brown hair and an outfit that wouldn't be out of place on the member of a 90's grunge band. "I'm just gonna make a guess and say you've seen stuff like that before?" She wasn't freaking out and filming him, so she must know about her powers to some extent. That placed her way up the list of people Luca wouldn't mind talking to. Besides, she had to be at least a little interested to watch like she was! "Basic stuff, really. Ah, man you should see the shit I can pull back in the city!" Luca smiled and shot finger guns at his one-girl audience. "ALRIGHT, CHECK THIS OUT!"

Before he could perform a more impressive feat, it hit Luca very suddenly that something was off about this girl. No one ever watched him train before like it was a cool show. That and the dim energy signature confirmed it in Luca's mind. "Hold it just a sec. Is it like your first week being spiritually aware?" If this offended her, he'd quickly jump to damage control mode "Hey, hey, not that I hold that against you...Guess we all have to start somewhere!" Luca punctuated it with a nervous laugh. Regardless of if he had to say something to diffuse the situation or not, Luca would continue. "Name's Luca, by the way. Charmed, I'm sure. You are?"

[Eleonora Schmidt]

The girl just sat there watching as the young man manipulated the water in the river, from small pillars to holding a clump of it and moving it around in any way he wanted, it was an interesting power and the blonde definitely wanted to see what else he could do with that, not everyday you get a free show of "magic" but sadly the show came to a quick end.

"You know I can sense you, right?" The man said with a tone of amusement and then turn around to face her, now that she had a better view of this person the girl smile as it was definitely not a Shinigami, if anything he looked like a normal human being

"Figures" The German chuckled as she stood up "But I didn't want to interrupt you, I figure you would notice me sooner or later"

Eleonora took a moment to have a good look at this person and try to figure out what he was, again she knew he wasn't a Shinigami due to the lack of uniform and the katana they always carry, but he didn't strike her as a Quincy either nor she knew about normal humans capable of hydrokinesis, one thing was sure tho, this person sure enjoy his public, the blonde couldn't help but smile when he finger gun her and got ready to show her something else, but unfortunately he stop before doing anything and ask

"It's like your first week being spiritually aware?"

That question pierced like an arrow to the chest, while incorrect it wasn't too far from a correct assumption either, Eleonora put her hands on the pockets of her jacket and sighed looking at the river rather than the person in front of her, she wasn't offended or something but he could've phrase it a bit better, fortunately the man realize it and attempt some damage control.

"Don't worry about it" Said Eleonora looking at him again "I've been aware of this almost since I have memory, I just never trained so my powers never fully develop, so in a way yes, you can say it's my "first week" With that said it was time to introduce herself too "The name's Eleonora, pleased to meet you, Luca"

[Akira Hinosai]

Luca was glad he didn't blow his opportunity to talk to someone. Talking to another seer of spirits would definitely alleviate his boredom. "Wait, so like, you've never killed a hollow before?" Having never really trained, she was an absolute beginner. Luca was used to being the one who had to prove himself. He was always the underdog, not the wise mentor. It was definitely a strange position to be in. "I mean, you do know that you've got some power inside you, right? People like us always do. Which means you can totally escape the boring normalcy that most people are trapped in!" People like them were definitely lucky. Just talking about it made Luca giddy.

Luca examined her and figured she was like...13 or 14, probably. She was really short after all. "Well it's your lucky day, cuz yours truly is going to show you the ropes!" Luca remembered very well the sense of aimlessness and confusion he felt at the beginning of his journey. He remembered the shinigami discouraging him from attacking hollows with improvised weapons. Like hell was he letting someone with latent powers waste her potential being a stupid regular girl or whatever. "Ok, first thing's first. You don't have your special power unlocked yet. Assuming you're a fullbringer, you probably can't even manipulate objects yet. But fear not, cuz the first thing you need, is a weapon, and I know just the place! Follow me, we can talk along the way!"

Luca remembered before he unlocked his fullbring, he used a shovel to fight hollows. Japan wasn't the kind of country where you could walk around with a gun or sword, so amateur hollow fighters had to get creative. There was a sporting goods place not far from the river. A baseball bat to the mask would hurt a hollow just like a sword. If Eleonora chose to follow Luca he would, true to his word, keep talking as she followed. "So, how much do you know about the spirit world? How much do you know about what goes on here in Karakura?" If Luca knew her current level of knowledge, he could tune his explanations to what she needed to know.

[Eleonora Schmidt]

Gotta love how Luca asked her if she has never killed a Hollow before, as if that was a normal topic for a casual conversation between two people who just met, to be fair Eleonora does know a bit of basic about Hollow killing, and by that I mean she knows that breaking their mask is the major one has to focus while fighting one, whether there is another process to purify their soul or something the shinigami does it's out of her knowledge

"I never kill one, yeah, tho I would lie if I say I never felt like doing something about it" The girl said "You know what I mean? I just have the feeling that I have to do something whenever I see those things preying on someone that can't see them, then again not much I can do without a bow" And even with one she doubts that she could do something until she gains more experience gathering reiatsu to create the spiritual arrows

And so the young man offer to show her "the ropes of the job" and the blonde couldn't help but chuckle at his enthusiasm, she definitely needed a bit of guidance and he was offering it for free (or at least she assume so), in any case this should be an interesting experience she can't say no.

"I know a bit, my father did took his time to explain to me that aside from Hollows I should avoid Shinigamis and Vandenreich Quincy, I have no idea what a fullbringer is, first time hearing about it" The German asnwer to Luca's question on how she knows about the spirit world "I know the whole soul cycle and how apparently anything but a Shinigami killing a hollow interrupts said cycle, honestly I get why that might be a problem but again I can't just see a Hollow prey on the weak and do nothing, even though that's what I've been doing lately" Eleonora sighed

[Akira Hinosai]

"Yeah, I know how you feel. With hollows, I mean." Her answers were about what Luca expected. A few answers jumped out as strange, but nothing major. "Take notes, Ellie, cuz lesson zero is that you should never trust a shinigami. I'm pretty sure the soul cycle is a lie they tell us to keep us out of their way. If we don't kill hollows, we don't get strong, and they reign unopposed. That's exactly what they want. Your dad was smart to tell you to avoid them." Some part of Luca knew he sounded like a conspiracy theorist, but it was important information For that reason he decided to not tell her about the mod soul genocide. A this point, all she needed to know was that the soul cycle was a lie. Fear of the soul cycle shouldn't hold anyone back from striving for power.

"Lesson one, and the most important one. Power is all that matters in the end. Don't believe me? Hollows prey on the weak because they can. Normal people can't stop them. Wayward souls can't. Hollows are above both of them on the food chain. So they eat people, unless someone with power stops them. It's the same in the ordinary world. People use power to bully the weak all the time. But people like us, we can stop the bad guys. We just need power over them to do so! So don't be afraid of ambition. Strive for the top. I take it you understand?" By this point they'd gotten back into the city proper. Cars drove by, some people walked in and out of shops, others walked home. Not one of them knew the magic that happened here. None of them could see it.

"Aw damn it, I know it's around here somewhere!" Luca looked around, not sure if he'd missed the place they'd find a weapon for Eleonora. "You see the one sport equipment place anywhere, Ellie?" Luca looked around for a moment before realizing he was standing in front of it. It was a nondescript little building that blended in with the rest of the little shops that surrounded it. Sure there was a sign, but it was small and weirdly placed. "Oh, uh...Ok, here we are then!" Luca tried pulling all attention away from his little blunder. "Go wild, I'll cover the cost." said Luca, who had no money on hand. He had his ways of getting things without paying though, ways that were sure to impress Eleonora, assuming she wasn't a stickler for ethical behavior.

The sporting equipment store had what one would expect. Clothes, hiking stuff, and of course: stuff you could use to kill people. Baseball bats, cricket bats, and of course, bows and arrows. They were for sport archery instead of self defense, but they'd do nicely for a fledgling quincy. With a bit of focus they'd punch through weaker hollows and prepare her for using her real bow when she unlocked it. As he waited, Luca perused the selection of baseball bats. Given he had his fullbring unlocked, they were of no use to him, but he still felt cool swinging it, pretending to hit someone. When Eleonora had picked out what she wanted, Luca sprung his plan to get it all for free.

Setting the baseball bat he was playing with on the ground. "Got everything then? Let's go check out." Luca then tripped on the baseball bat, wiping out hard as he fell ass first onto the ground. "AAAaaaahh!" Luca's scream got the store owner's attention. "W-what happened?!?"

"I just...tripped over that..." Luca pointed weakly at the baseball bat.

"What was it doing on the ground?"

"I-I don't know..." Luca tried to get up only to whimper in pain again. "Ellie...can you call for an ambu-"

The store owner started sweating. "Wait, there's no need for that!" He didn't want to get tangled in the prefecture's bureaucracy, or litigation and was willing to do anything to avoid it.

Like give away a few presents, for example. Assuming Ellie didn't intervene, he'd let them have the bow and a bunch of arrows, even a backpack to store them PLUS the baseball bat for free. Just so long as they didn't tell anyone the store owner was at fault for Luca's fall. When the store owner looked away, Luca winked at Ellie and gave her a thumbs up. Luca limped out of the store with her until they were out of view of the shop, at which point Luca would burst into laughter "Oh man, did you see the look on his face? That was priceless!" Luca would be too caught up in the thrill of it to notice if Ellie had reservations about conning someone out of their product. "Any questions before we start the next lesson?" Luca said, smirking.

[Eleonora Schmidt]

The blonde raise an eyebrow when she hear him call her "Ellie" Normally she's not too fond of nicknames, but seeing that Luca is helping and is incredibly into it she can let it pass, now unto what the guy was talking the German wasn't sure if the soul cycle was real or not, it's hard to prove and with her avoiding Shinigamis left and right she hasn't had the opportunity to talk with one and try to understand said cycle better, although Luca could be unto something she doesn't see why her father would lie her about said cycle (or believe it in case it was an actual lie).

"Survival of the fittest, gotcha" Said the girl doing the OK sign with her right arm "I figure if I have a power I have to do something with it to help and get rid of those things, yeah I understand what you mean a hundred percent"

They walk back into the town and into the shopping district and Luca seemed to be looking for a sports equipment shop, Eleonora thought that it was an odd place to take her to learn about taking on hollows, but it didn't took long for her to catch up on what he was up to, "Go wild, I'll cover the cost" Well, don't mind if I do the blonde thought for herself

The girl immediately darted towards the section with bows and arrows, she has practice archery before and as a Quincy she has a natural attraction to them as those are their main weapons, well since this is going to be a temporal thing until she gets her own Eleonora didn't saw point of getting a big bow, she picked a small compound bow and a quiver with a set of arrows.

Now she didn't expect for Luca to pull a scene and kinda pressure the owner to just gift them the articles they had, but she wasn't going to stop him in fact she play along helping Luca stand up and pulling his arm around herself to hold him and help him out of the store, she kept the act for a while until they were far from the shop and the owner couldn't see them before releasing Luca

"Not a single minute is boring when you're around, huh?" The German said with a smirk "Clever, but next time tell me about it instead of waiting for me to improvise" That being said they got what they wanted so it didn't go too bad for them "Alright, now what?"

[Akira Hinosai]

"What can I say, Ellie? I'm just an interesting guy!" It was nice to impress someone without trying, especially since this someone could see spirits. Luca actually got to talk about his real passion. He shrugged off being told to warn her next time. I mean, we got the stuff for free didn't we? Thinking on your feet was what kept one alive in a real fight. Really all Luca did was give her practice. "Ok, next on the agenda is...Finding a hollow to kill! Come on, I'll show you where you can always find a few." Sure, she was just a kid, but she had to learn eventually. Kaz and Irina might have tried a more measured approach, but Luca knew what he was doing. He'd make sure she didn't get too terribly hurt.

And even if she did, UE had doctors that could- HOLY SHIT! THIS IS HOW I SCORE THAT PROMOTION!!! Uzaki Enterprises always needed new people. Luca bringing one in would be prove he deserved a promotion. Eleonora would see Luca zone out for a bit before quickly snapping back to reality. Ok, show how do I make the sell... There were a lot of perks of membership, sure, but Luca would have to turn up the charm to reel her in. He did need this promotion, so screwing up wasn't an option. "So Ellie." He might have continued that sentence before he realized something. If he told her right now about UE, and the wealth of knowledge about the spirit world, the training from the established members...she wouldn't really have much of a reason to stick around to hunt a hollow. Luca was actually having fun, and she thought he was the coolest person in the world. He'd let this go on a bit more before telling her about UE. That wasn't wrong, was it?

"Right, yeah, sorry. Lesson 2, I'll save for when we find a hollow. They always turn up, don't worry." Luca almost asked some dumb normal question like "Where are you from?" "What do you like to do?" He could do that with a guy, maybe, but asking a girl those things just made him feel like an idiot. She thought he was cool and he wanted it to stay that way. "Hey, you sense that?" there was a hollow, maybe two, not too far. They had left the little commercial area to enter sort of residential area of sorts. The road was wide and clear, and small trees rustled in the wind, but something was wrong.  Luca pulled the lighter from his pocket and began flicking it, ready to activate his fullbring at a moments notice. A habit he'd had for years, and a cool one at that. Eleonora would totally think so. Totally.

---

Even in its hiding spot, the hollow sensed the two humans. Its barbels twitched and it laughed breathlessly. While it expected to ambush hollows or soul reapers attracted to its energy, these humans would do just nicely. They were so close, and soon the time would be perfect to strike. An ambush predator, through and through, the hollow had dug into the large koi pond in some human's back yard, blending in perfectly like some large rock. Its reiatsu cloaked somewhat, but not entirely. Just a bit longer and they would die. Humans were easy meals, after all. These had a certain strength that would make for even more nourishment. Just a few minutes after it heard one say "Hey, you sense that?" it would jump out at them.

When it did, Luca and Ellie would see a large bipedal catfish hollow burst from a koi pond they likely overlooked. Its form oily and black with large arms and legs, and a massive tail that looked like it could knock down a wall if swung. Although it tried to pound on Luca, his speed allowed him to narrowly avoid being flattened. The hollows surprise assault had failed, but the battle was only just beginning as it stared at Luca and Ellie with a mix of hunger and malice, ready for whatever they had to throw at it.

Catfish hollow stats

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{hollow stats}
Strength: 140
Speed: 40
Reiatsu Strength: 40
Spirit Pressure: 40
Light Aura: 0
Dark Aura: 100
Senses: 50
Instinct: 50
Energy Sensory: 100
Total: 480

[Eleonora Schmidt]

"Ok, next on the agenda is...Finding a hollow to kill!" Eleonora had her doubts about this, specially due to the excitement Luca show in his words, but she couldn't say no if there was a hollow around it would be better to take it down ASAP rather than let it do as it pleases and prey on normal humans, it was also her chance to test her abilities as little as they were.

There was a bit of an awkward silence after that, Luca seemed to be lost in thoughts and much like when he was training Eleonora decided to not interrupt him or anything, she just kept walking alongside him to wherever he was leading he, while she was a bit nervous about the whole "let's find a hollow and kill it" there was a certain feeling of excitement Eleonora couldn't shrug off, the adrenaline was rising and they haven't even found one yet!

And then it happen, as soon as Luca asked her if she felt something a large bipedal Hollow burst from a nearby pond, Eleonora has seen hollows before but from a safe distance and never had the intention to fight them so seeing one so close and with limbs so massive that most likely could crush her with as much as a swing from them.

It actually target Luca first but the young man swiftly move out of the way, that gave the German a window to throw the first attack, she hold firmly the compound bow with her left hand and pull the rope with the right hand, she didn't grab any arrows as she tried to focus the reishi around to create a spiritual arrow but due to her lack of training the arrow never form.

"Damm it!" Eleonora cursed as she miss her opportunity, she quickly grab an arrow from her quiver and shoot an arrow aiming at the mask

Thanks to the levering system of the compound bound the wielder need to put less force on their arms to pull from the bow making it easier for Eleonora to execute a rapid shot and move out of the way from the hollow, she knows that single arrow won't do much specially when it give it time to move instead of immediately attacking.

SPOILER: Click to show

Eleonora's stats
Strength: 40 (52)

Speed: 40

Reiatsu Strength: 40

Spirit Pressure: 70 (105)

Light Aura: 50

Dark Aura: 50

Senses: 30

Instinct: 30

Energy Sensory: 30

Healing Expertise: 0

Total: 280/280

Type: Struggler (50% to Spirit Pressure - 30% to Strength)

[Akira Hinosai]

Ellie's arrow plunked off the hollow's white mask. It seemed far more annoyed than in genuine pain. "Do you have a death wish, girl?" the hollow's voice was low and guttural. "IT DOESN'T MATTER! I'LL STILL FLAY YOU BOTH!!!" It ran at Luca and Ellie, claws bared. Let's even the odds here. Luca decided to step up, but not activate his fullbring. Not yet. It would be like fighting with a hand tied behind his back, but it would make this far more productive. The harder a fight, the more you learned, after all. Luca delivered a haymaker at full strength to the hollow's gut. He was no fist fighter, but sheer force counted for something as the hollow staggered back slightly, giving Ellie a small opening for another shot.

Luca swayed back. "Lesson 2: Focus! Your weapon is an extension of you. You have to-" Luca jumped back, narrowly avoiding a swipe from the hollow. Man, fist fights suck. Fighting with a spear had spoiled him. He was used to having range, if nothing else. He considered activating his fullbring, but still decided against it. He wanted Ellie to face SOME challenge here. The hollow glared at Luca, and the two circled around, testing eachother. Luca was stronger, but the hollow was far more experienced using its arms and tail to kill. "Your power is a river that flows through you. Don't fight the current, don't force it to flow into your weapon. Guide it into your attack." Luca said, sounding strangely sage-like for once. It was a lesson he remembered learning. Real jedi type shit.

Luca decided to make a perfect opening for Ellie. He remembered the baseball bat they got for free too. His spear might be too powerful, but a bat... With soul command he plucked it from Ellie's bag (assuming she didn't discard it immediately) She would see the bat float through the air and into Luca's hand like he had telekinesis. Catching the hollow off guard, he swung beneath the hollow's guard, slamming it into the hollow's hip. It wailed in pain, and Luca sidestepped to give Ellie a clear shot. Center stage was hers, but only time would tell if she could make good use of it.

[Eleonora Schmidt]

Well the arrow was as effective as she expected, a dull hit that barely even left a scratch on the mask of the thing, now the Hollow was annoyed and ready to charge in but Luca step in between Eleonora and the beast  throwing a punch aimed at the hollow's gut making it stagger back, this was her opportunity for another shot but maybe rather than to try break the mask  immediately, she could wear the beast down before trying again, with that in mind she stood firmly in the ground, pull an arrow from her quiver and aim her bow releasing the arrow that flew above Luca and was aimed at the left eye of the Hollow.

Whether her arrow landed or not she would step away and retreat a bit, if Luca was going to fight mano a mano she was going to support him from afar, having the distance advantage meant she could still aim her arrows from a safe place away from the reach of the hollow, still she needs to think of a plan as she doubts they will take down this hollow with only this equipment.

She completely ignore what Luca was saying at that point the only think she saw was the baseball bat fly from her bag to the hand of the young man who swung it directly at the hollow's hip, that gave her another window to attack but rather than go for the mask again or the eyes, she wanted to test how tough was the skin of that thing, maybe she could neutralize the limbs and make it an easier target for both of them, she pull two arrows from the quiver and aim both at the left knee of the beast

"This arrows won't do much to the mask, I'll try to immobilize it's limbs, you go for the mask" The blonde shouted to Luca

[Akira Hinosai]

It was a shrewd combatant who realized where to hit and adapted quickly. The hollow might have felt Ellie's blows to the mask like one might feel a gunshot while wearing a bullet proof vest. It would hurt, but it wasn't likely to kill you. Going for a hollow's mask was the way to kill it, certainly, but every creature, no matter what, had a pain threshold, and if overcome, it would die, same as if you broke the mask or not. Ellie may have been smart, but by leaving the breaking of the hollow's mask to Luca, she'd inadvertently given him the power to control this fight. Truth be told, he could shatter the hollow's mask whenever he saw fit.

Ellie may have missed the hollows beady eye by a hair, but her attempts to take out the hollow's leg were right on the mark. "Too weak to break my mask, so you resort to this?!?!? I CANNOT BE DEFEATED BY THESE PATHETIC GESTURES!" The hollow distended its jaw and began charging an attack. Luca could have tackled it, could have killed it there and then...but where was the fun in that. "Ellie, DODGE!!" Even if she didn't a weak cero like this would just knock her down...maybe scratch her up a bit, but nothing dangerous. It was a valuable learning experience. Hollows had tricks up their sleeves, even when the battle seemed to be turning against them.

Whether Ellie dodged or not, the cero would fire, bathing the street in red light, before dissipating. "That was a cero, by the way! Watch out for those!" It was just like when he fought with Amare, just better rehearsed. Luca swung his bat at the hollow's leg, damn near knocking it over, and allowing Ellie to pop another shot or two. By this point, the hollow was starting to lose it. Like a caged animal, it was becoming vicious. It screamed, and leaped into the air towards Ellie. Oh shit. "Run!" With warning, and the hollow's low speed, Ellie would likely be able to dodge the catfish meteor. Luca ran after her as fast as he could Ready to end this if the hollow got too close to actually wounding her.

For a bit, Ellie would be standing face to face with a hollow. For some, that was a death sentence, but with the hollow being close, and still reeling from the strain it's attack put on its injured leg, Ellie had a chance to put an arrow through its eye, and putting an end to the ugly beast. If she didn't, Luca would be upon the hollow ready to smash its ugly mask to pieces. No matter what, he wouldn't let Ellie get hurt. She was still just a kid, after all.

[Eleonora Schmidt]

For being her first real fight Eleonora has prove that she is a quick thinker and can adapt to the situation, of course if she's not able to break the mask she will let his partner do it by hurting the beast enough for it to stop moving, but there was this teeny tiny little problem, for whatever reason Luca didn't go for the mask outright and now the Hollow had open his mouth to charge an attack as a red orb form in its mouth followed by a high pitch sound, then said red orb turn into a beam of light coming directly towards her.

It took a second for Eleonora to snap out of her surprise as it was the first time she saw a Hollow use a Cero, if it wasn't for Luca shouting her to dodge she might have just stood there, fortunately she jump out of the way and manage to dodge the attack still it took her some seconds to process what just happen and seeing the damage the attack did to the street.

She heard Luca said something but honestly she couldn't care less about what he was talking right now, giving lessons or tips in the middle of an actual battle which requires her to concentrate is not a good idea, the blonde would apologize later if he said something important and she ignore it now she had to keep targeting the Hollow's limbs, as the German grab another arrow from her quiver she aim her bow in the direction of where Luca and the Hollow were, but to her surprise the hollow wasn't there anymore it actually had jump to close the distance between them and in just a couple of seconds it had landed in front of Eleonora.

The girl and the beast meet eye to eye and for a second everything felt like it was freeze in place, all of the blonde's instincts were telling her to run but her body wasn't moving, was this going to be the end? No, she shouldn't think that, Luca was there and surely would come to help but right now there was only one thing she could do.

"Please hit" Eleonora said as she close her eyes and release the arrow from her bow aiming at the Hollow's face

[Akira Hinosai]

Luca dropped his baseball bat as he ran, and activated his fullbring. With a flash of light, his lighter transformed into a beautiful brass spear. Playtime was over. Ellie had apparently frozen up, and he wasn't letting her get hurt. Yet before he could get into stabbing distance, something happened. For Ellie, the world might have stood still as she saw where her arrow landed. Right in the monster's left eye. It stood there for a moment, and she might not have been able to tell it was dead until it collapsed before her, its body dissolving into black dust. "Holy shit, you actually killed it? Nice work, kiddo." That certainly caught Luca off guard. He was expecting to do most of the work, but for a lowly new blood, Ellie held her own surprisingly well.

"I wouldn't have let it kill you, but, in the moment, a bit of adrenaline seems to have worked wonders for your combat ability...So there's that! You aren't actually hurt, right?" Luca wasn't worried or anything. Upon confirmation she was fine, Luca would reach out a hand for a high five. "So! What have we learned today?" Luca didn't actually know what answer he was expecting. It just seemed like something a teacher would say.

Luca wasn't sure what to do now besides the nuclear option. Was it the right thing to do? Probably. Did he need to do it? Probably. Did he want to do it just yet? Not really. Still, he needed that promotion, and this girl needed better direction than...him. "You're a quincy, aren't you?" His tone wasn't full of disdain or malice. It wasn't even threatening. "Oh I had my hunch from the moment you mentioned your father, and that out of anything you knew what the Vandenreich even was. The bow thing really just confirmed it. It's cool, you don't much look like a nazi, so I know you're not one of those assholes...But, Miss Quincy, did this little incursion to the extraordinary world seem fun?"

"Alright, screw it. I'll cut to the chase. You impressed me today, so I'll tell you something. I don't...work alone. You could say I'm a part of an organization for people like us. Uzaki Enterprises...you may have heard of the front, but the real purpose is kept under wraps." Luca broke eye contact. "I GUESS you could say...we look out for eachother. I get coming into this world can be...overwhelming, but you don't have to do it alone." saying that was clearly very hard for Luca, but he was being genuine. "They've got a wealth of knowledge and resources to help you. Plus it pays, which sure as shit beats waiting tables. I mean...you might be a bit young, but with my recommendation, we can work something out!"

She was 13 after all, or at least Luca thought she was. Assuming she corrected him that she was, in fact, his age, Luca would reply "Wait...what? But you're like all tiny and short. Man, I'm really bad at guessing people's ages...Well then even more reason to join. Kaz can put you through college if you want, or...you could stay with us full time, and become a profession ass kicker like yours truly!" Saying the entire speech felt strange to Luca. He didn't like saying nice things about UE. It wasn't in his nature. It's not like I'm too loyal or anything. Kaz is just the lesser of many, many evils... "Say yes and I'll take you there right now to bug Kaz!" Luca was excited as he said that part. His grin was dumb and his eyes were full of childlike glee. If he just got her on, then he'd have that promotion, and she'd benefit too!