El guantelete de sangre dorada!

[Kitai Yoru]

Name: [El guantelete de sangre dorada
- The Gold Blood Gauntlet]

Participants: [Three Hollows]

Location: [The Menos Forests]

Difficulty Level: [Medium]

Setting: [NDE]

Plotline: ["Congratulations, you unevolved animal. I've selected you, yes you, to participate in this year's El guantelete de sangre dorada! That's the Gold Blood Gauntlet, for those who haven't managed to evolve enough to speak yet. You, somehow, managed to impress my recruitment specialists enough to be 'invited', and are now stuck in our special holding cells. Don't try to escape, Garganta doesn't work here, thanks to our sponsors in the Black Market. Your job is to survive long enough to make it to the final round, against me and my crew. If you win, not that you will, you'll be freed, and given several marvelous prizes. When you lose, me and mine get a well earned meal. Now, lets start the two hundred first, El guantelete de sangre dorada!"]

Estimated Enemy Strength: [5-3]

Estimated Time Until Completion: [At least 3, probably 5 depending on the fights]

Starts: [When I get three Hollows to join]

Special Conditions: [The Garganta technique has been disabled, as well as other techniques that would allow one to escape the colosseum]

[Teresa]

Joining

[Deleted]

I'm in!

[Kitai Yoru]

Ooc: Alright, it's been a week, and I'm starting it!

Teresa was a hunter, a killer, someone who wouldn't waste a second thought about consuming another living being if it meant sating her hunger for even a few seconds. In fact, she was in the middle of doing just that when they found her. Chasing down a particularly elusive target, a hollow that looked more horse than hollow, with only a mask to let someone know that the beast was more than just a steed. She was about to catch it, about to sink her teeth into it, when an explosion of pain struck her in the back of the head.

She would fall to the sandy floor of the Menos Forest, groggy from the cheap shot she suffered. She might attempt to turn and face her attacker, she might try to flee and reposition herself. No matter what she tried though, it would be in vain, as a second strike would land in the same spot. The last words she would hear before fading from conciseness, would be the words of someone who was arrogant, someone who took supreme pleasure, not in beating down some random hollow, but being better than Teresa. Someone who loved talking down to the weak. "Maybe this will help you learn to watch your back next time, ey, Chica?"

---

Something similar was happening to the newly evolved Menos known as Caballero. The tall hollow, compared to how he was previously anyway, would find himself under assault, many fish-like Beastclan surrounding him, be it on the ground, on tall areas like trees or buildings, he would find himself under attack. Lassos made of solid water grabbing hold, snaring his horn, his hands, his leg, dragging him to what looked like a fish-man in a fancy suit and a top hat. The dapper look he was no doubt going for was ruined by the wear and tear that the clothing had suffered, as well as the scales and the hollow mask that wrapped around his jaw. It wasn't too hard to see the man was some sort of Shark, be it a loan shark or otherwise.

It was clear that the minions of this man were dragging him to meet this man, face to face. And the closer he got to him, the louder his laughter seemed to get. "Aie, certnly managed to snag a big one. Aintcha, big fella? You'll fetch me a hefty sum in da pits." The man-shark swung his arm, once, twice, winding up for a big punch. "Just rememba, dere's no such ting as 'fair play' in the pit. Onla cheatin... and gold." Those were the last slimy words that Caballero would hear, as the almost dapper arrancar rushed forward, and gave the hollow the worst uppercut he would, hopefully, ever receive.

---

The two hollows would be awoken by the sound of hushed whispers, and the groaning of metal hinges. Teresa and Caballero would find themselves in what looked to be a prison cell made inside of a cavern, with their section carved out by large claws. The room looked close to being twenty by twenty, with the exit blocked by thick wooden bars, speckled with strands of white rock. These strands extended into the grey sandstone walls, giving the odd sensation of powerlessness the closer one got to them. They were trapped together, along with what looked like a lion hollow, with an '8' stamped onto its left shoulder. In fact, if they bothered to look, they shared a matching tattoo on their arms.

[Deleted]

Caballero had wandered the deserts of Hueco Mundo after their battle with Benjiro Hiroto, the 12th Seat of Squad 10, and their re-encounter with Hikari. Both interactions had ended up with the little knight asserting their dominance over the myriad souls that powered their Menos Grande form. However, they still were unsure of the damage they would cause if they happened to go berserk, or if they could keep those Hollow souls within from a feeding frenzy if they spotted large groups of humans or Plus. As such, the not-so tiny Hollow had kept themselves to their home world for the time being, eating some of their brethren when the need to feed turned far too strong to overpower with Strength of Will alone.

Caballero's footsteps had eventually brought them to the Forest of Menos, perhaps through sheer instinct. Their eating of Hollows was what had triggered this initial transformation into a Gillian, and part of them instinctively knew that this was not the end of the line. Colina hadn't been as big as a Gillian, but she was undoubtedly more powerful than any random Stray; frighteningly so, in fact. The not-so-tiny knight had serious doubts they'd be able to beat her, even with their current power level... which meant that they could still evolve more. Her words came to mind: they had to feed. But they were not going to feed on humans, much less on Shinigami. Not a freaking chance in the world.

Looking for another Menos Grande to consume, the Hollow knight eventually fell into a trap, although why anyone would seek to capture a Hollow was beyond them. They quickly found themselves surrounded by what could only be described as beastly men, since Caballero had never seen Beastclansman before. However, those enemies were not their kin. After the damage they had caused and the battle with Benjiro, Caballero did not want to bring harm to anything that was not their own species anymore. Thus, they somehow patiently allowed themselves to be tied up, perhaps in penitence for their past actions. This might be reckoning, a time to pay for their sins, even if those sins had been committed by the souls they were now keeping under control.

What they were not expecting was that they would be dragged to a sort of funnily-dressed creature, one that had a plainly visible Hollow mask wrapped around its jaw. When Caballero laid eyes on this sight, they were utterly unable to comprehend. A Hollow mask... but only part of it? Not covering the entire face? What in the world were they facing right now? The Gillian would seem docile, as they could not speak, or growl, or grunt. Instead, they limited themselves to watch, as the loan-shark mentioned something about the pits. The Arrancar suddenly dashed forward, an uppercut enhanced with Hierro knocking the lights out of the physically frail Menos Grande. The world around them turned dark, and they slipped out of consciousness.

Caballero woke up an indetermined amount of time later. Still very much alive, still very capable of fighting. The Menos Grande tilted their helmet-like mask around, big, void-like eyes staring at their environment and taking as much information as they could. They were trapped, but they did not seem to be on immediate danger... if not for the other two Hollows that shared a cell with them. Caballero squared up, barely noticing the "8" tattoo in the other creatures' arms. They didn't know how to read, and as far as they knew, their cellmates could very well have had those before. However, when they got their arm out of their Gillian cloak, ready to summon Filo to defend themselves, Caballero noticed that they, too, shared a similar mark--only white, since black would really not be visible on their Reiatsu body.

This made the Hollow take a second look at the prison area, and the very recent memories from the encounter with the shark-like being returned to mind. What in the world was going on? Getting closer to the ends of the cell, the Hollow felt a pit in their stomach--not hunger, mind you, but a feeling of utter powerlessness. With their Strength of Will, however, it might be more difficult to keep the brave Hollow down with such tricks.

If only they could communicate, speak to their cellmates... although, being Hollows, there really was not much to talk about, was there?

OOC: Stats and skills

Stat	SP	Type
Strength	75	50
Speed	200	200
Reiatsu Strength	400	600
Spiritual Pressure	160	160
Senses	50	50
Instinct	125	125
Energy Sensory	0	0
Healing Expertise	20	20
Light Aura	100
Dark Aura	0

• Weapons: Sword: 2
• Strength of Will: 2
• Learning: 1
• Lack of fear: 1
• Battle Focus: 1

[Teresa]

Waking in a prison cell wasn’t something that sat well with Teresa, someone had managed to sneak up behind her, and managed to keep her from acquiring what she wanted. That Hollow hadn’t just been a source of food, no if that was all its worth accumulated towards she wouldn’t have even bothered eating it. Hollows tasted no better than shit that’d been left to boil in the heat of the sun. In order to eat any of them Teresa had to fight against her own sense of taste, her own body which always tries relentlessly to expel the grotesque meat. That Hollow though had been a stead, one fit for an Empress!

The stead she’d been searching for, hoping to eventually find, had been saved by whoever dared lay hands upon her. Some sort of sneaky coward who Teresa had already decided would be devoured. Whether or not she would set him free for anything other than manual labor afterwards was the question now. Getting up into her feet Teresa could see she was being held in an unnatural looking cave with a few unimportant others. After only a couple seconds she could feel the difference, the walls in this place weren’t normal. Different in a way she wouldn’t have believed possible. Placing her left hand on the interior wall she could feel herself weaken.

“Interesting yet moronic.”

Only two others Hollows in the cell with her, neither of which seemed like anything she’d suffer stomaching in order to devour. One was a Menos on a miniature scale while the other seemed like a lion although it appeared as nothing more than a house cat now. Reduced to some sort of feline willing to lay in time out. Teresa wasn’t going to sit by while whoever hit her smiled beyond this cell. She could tell now that she’d touched the wall with her hand, she didn’t feel the same thing on her feet. Extending her reiatsu out she’d whisper. “Let me out.” If there was nothing like the walls in the floor it would open up itself forming a hole allowing Teresa to drop through. However, getting out would only work if the floor wasn’t more than 20 feet deep. If it were deeper Teresa would be left standing in a hole now.