[BleachITP Reborn] Episode 2: Hannibal's Past: Flashback to the Old!

[riccaru]

Suddenly from inside the mist a bright red light is seen, slowly growing in size. The liquid in the air refracting the light to make it seem massive. As the cero is charging, the ground erupts into a stream of low class hollows, all blood thirsty and heading straight for the group.

"Lament your final hour shinigami! Sereg the destroyer comes for your souls this day!" Is heard loudly. "Now my followers, CRUSH THEM ALL! Leave not a single shinigami alive!"

[Frozen_Feet]

Snorting, Hannibal leaps over the edge of the plateau, landing on thin air above the advancing hordes. At the same moment, his Reiatsu erupts downward as a thick pillar, weighing on the lesser Hollows like a curtain of steel, making some of them stumble or lose their grip.

"Oh? Give it yer best shot, sucker!", the Captain bellows, before twirling upside down in the air and rocketing against the mountain side, striking it with such force it makes the whole plateau quake, causing several large boulders to tumble down in massive landslide.

[riccaru]

Sereg quickly charges his own cero, firing it into the mountainside where Hannibal flew before moving to destroy the boulders personally. The gillian second in command still charges its' own cero, aiming directly for the group atop the mountain.

"Ah! A fighter here! You will not harm my followers so easily, Shinigami!" Sereg screeches at the captain.

[Frozen_Feet]

Not long after the Cero carves a chunk out of the mountain, a battered hand emerges from the stone beside Sereg, grabbing the Adjuchas by the mask. "Wanna bet?"

A small explosion sends dust and shrapnel flying around as Hannibal pushes off from the stone, taking the scorpion-like being to the skies with him. Guffawing madly, the captain swings his sword one-handed towards Sereg's neck.

[riccaru]

Sereg barely is able to block the sword with one of his six spindly legs, though the limb is severed completely through. The sword then glances off the heirro in Sereg's neck, thanks to being slowed by the leg. As Hannibal swings off balance Sereg brings his long tail into play, stabbing at the ogre like captain then trying to bludgeon him. "You little! I'll kill you for this!"

The hollows are able to move closer to the group of shinigami now, unimpeded by the powerful captain. A few begin to pummel large rocks at the group.

[Frozen_Feet]

Though initially exhilarated for landing such a good hit early in the battle, Hannibal's face falls flat as Sereg's stail strikes at him. "Crap." At the last moment, he lets go of the Adjuchas's mask and grabs the tail instead, narrowly avoiding its stinger. As Sereg jerks his tail back to prepare for a new attack, the captain goes with it, clinging to it for his dear life.

"Ye sonofa - ! Lets see how well ye'll do without this!", the captain growls and slashes at the appendage, hopefully severing it."

---

Back at the Senkai gate, several guards take the liberty to ignore the captain's suggestion and begin herding students back to Soul Society. They're not convinced the battle is worth risking the lives of the next generation of Shinigami.

Curiously enough, Sayuri is not with them. "I'm not going anywhere!", the small girl shouts to Kiku. She doesn't expand on why - she doesn't really know herself, either, but is stubborn in her decision. Instead, she begins chanting.

"Ye who rule over the skies! Lend me thy strenght and cast Heaven's purifying light on my foes! Hado 4: Byakurai!" A thin bolt of lightning shoots from the girl's finger, heading towards one of the boulder-hurling Hollows. It's unlikely to be lethal, but it might make drop the rock in surprise.

[riccaru]

The lightning strikes a weaker hollow, momentarily stunning it as the gillian fires directly for the gate. More hollows now target Sayuri, seeing her as a threat.

Sereg anticipates the strike and imposes his claw, catching the blade inches before it hits his tail. He then tries to force the blade from the captain, at the same time stabbing at Hannibal's legs with his own.

[Terry576]

Karite glances over, and sees Sayuri being targeted, and rushes over to her.

"Okay, next time, let's try not getting a swarm of Hollows to attack us. It's rather hard to fend them all off"

He unsheathes his sword, and a twisted grin comes over his face.

"Alright student, you take the smaller ones. I'll go for the ones who are a bit larger. Crystallize, Kuyashinaki."

His sword unleashed, he readies himself for the onslaught.

[Frozen_Feet]

Hannibal grunts angrily as Sereg tries to yank his blade from him. His grip stays firm, and he uses few rapid kicks to deflect the blows aimed at his legs. His boots are quickly torn to shreds by the effort - curiously enough, his bare feet stand against the barrage far better.

For a moment, it seems the combatants have arrived at sort of a stalemate, with neither being able to score good blows on another. However, the Captain is sharp enough to realize the situation favors his adversary. Tis no good. Can't reach anything vital from here, but one mistake and this bastard will skewer me. Gotta gain some distance.

"Choke and imprison!", the captain yells as his blade rattles in his enemy's grasp, "Espírito de Ferro!" Suddenly, Sereg is holding nothing but air - very hot air, at that. Only the hilt of the weapon remains in Hannibal's hand. The Captain lets go of Sereg's tail, flinging it to the side to avoid the stinger, and lets the momentum of the Adjuchas's last kick blow him away, before using Shunpo to get far from the Hollow.

"Neener-neener!"

---

"Duck!", one of the guards shouts to the people around the gate, the students immediatly diving out of the Cero's way before the crimson luminescence swallows their means of escape. Hopefully, the gate will hold - hopefully.

Sayuri pales as she realizes what she's done, but sighs from relief when Karite hurries to help. Then she pales again when she remembers how poorly the man did against their sensei, and gives Kiku a panicked look.

"Are you sure you'll be allright?", the small girl questions Karite as she hurriedly draws her own Asauchi. She's clearly more worried about herself than Karite.

((Deadtiming. Got to have some shuteye))

[Terry576]

Karite rolls his eyes.

"Look. These are Hollows. I was beaten by a Captain. Me against a captain is like you against a mortal. Horribly unfair."

He glances over at the nearing Hollows, and slices upwards, creating several spikes of ice that fly towards them.

[riccaru]

Sereg screeches in pain as he is thrown from the brutish man, hitting the ground with a thud and immediately burrowing under the rock.

As the smoke and debris clears the senkai gate still stands, throwing of sparks intermittently. At Sereg's shriek the gillian turns to its' master, but turns back to attack the group atop the hill as it sees Sereg is not dead. Lower class hollow now swarm the mountain, rushing full force at the weakened attack force. The hollows are no longer throwing boulders.

Two hollows attack Karite, flanking him on the left and right. One is a large serpent like hollow, looking much like acidwire only thicker. The other is an even larger bipedal and ape-like hollow. The serpant strikes at Karite with its' mouth while the simian brings a tree trunk sized arm straight down above him. No hollows have attacked Sayuri at this time.

[Krazddndfreek]

"Duck!", one of the guards shouts to the people around the gate, the students immediatly diving out of the Cero's way before the crimson luminescence swallows their means of escape. Hopefully, the gate will hold - hopefully.

Sayuri pales as she realizes what she's done, but sighs from relief when Karite hurries to help. Then she pales again when she remembers how poorly the man did against their sensei, and gives Kiku a panicked look.

"Are you sure you'll be allright?", the small girl questions Karite as she hurriedly draws her own Asauchi. She's clearly more worried about herself than Karite.

((Deadtiming. Got to have some shuteye))

Crap. Kiku yells back to Sayuri, "Get over here! Don't fight!" We've got to hide. She thinks and looks for a place to conceal the both of them.

[Terry576]

Two hollows attack Karite, flanking him on the left and right. One is a large serpent like hollow, looking much like acidwire only thicker. The other is an even larger bipedal and ape-like hollow. The serpant strikes at Karite with its' mouth while the simian brings a tree trunk sized arm straight down above him. No hollows have attacked Sayuri at this time.

Karite laughs as he dodges the bite, and brings around a wonderful pillar of ice to crush the simian.

[Frozen_Feet]

Crap. Kiku yells back to Sayuri, "Get over here! Don't fight!" We've got to hide. She thinks and looks for a place to conceal the both of them.

For a chance, the smaller girl obeys. "Kiku! There!", she says, pointing out a large rock near the Senkai gate which, hopefully, would provide cover for the two long enough.

---

Hannibal looks down on Sereg with a mocking grin on his trollish face. With his left hand, he points at the horde surrounding the students. "Hey, didn't ye say I couldn't lay a finger on those chumps?"

"Ye gotta do better than this to stop me."

Too fast for eyes to follow, the Captain lunges at the swarm, Espírito de Ferro taking the form a large axe in his hands. Appearing next to the lesser Hollows, he cleaves through four of them with one two-handed blow before they even realize what's happening.

Next moment, the Captain is beside the snake-like monster threatening Karite. He grabs the creature by the neck and smashes it against the ground so hard its mask shatters to countless pieces, revealing the face of a startled human under it. "Gruhahaha! Now this is comedy!"

[riccaru]

As Hannibal flies through the air Sereg resurfaces, charging a cero quickly and attempting to shoot either the captain or the group still near him. Sereg then moves toward Hannibal, firing off three more cero. "You must die now, pathetic oaf! Say goodnight to these Children because when I kill you I'll rip them into bits!"

The giant ape screams as the block of ice strikes it, putting it into a fury. It swings wildy at Karite, falling off balance with every swipe of its powerful arms. Soon the serpent's mask reforms and it begins shrieking and hissing at the man holding it, trying to get its mouth into play.

[Frozen_Feet]

Hannibal duly notes Sereg's enragement as he leaps out of the first Cero's way... flinging the snake-like Hollow on the blast's way, causing it to explode before it reaches Karite and the kids. The snake is presumably disentigrated.

"Oh come on, dumbass! Ye gotta have better insults that!", the Captain mocks as he jumps around to dodge the rays of energy, leaving them to the guards to worry about. As much as he hates to admit it, there's little else he can do about them. "If ye don't, stop blowing out hot air and fight like a real monster, dammit!"

The blade in Hannibal's hand fades back to steam, and after he emerges from a cloud of smoke caused by the last Cero, his weapon has formed into a large, iron bow. The Captain takes a quick aim and lets a molten hot steel bolt loose at Sereg's direction - before the first arrow makes contact, he's already drawing back another.

---

Sereg's middle two Ceros might have missed their intended target, but latter of the two is still headed straight at the students. Two of the guards abandon their current foes and turn towards the closing ray, holding their hands toward the blast.

"Bakudo 39: Enkosen"
"Ye who carry the Heavens! Bring the gold arc - Bakudo 39: Enkosen!"

Two shimmering golden barriers appear on the blast's way, but they're too weak to hold against such a powerful force. The few moments it takes for the barriers to shatter proves valuable however, as it allows all but the two casters to duck out of the harms way - then the Cero pushes through, and knocks the two guards down.

[tgva8889]

Present Day

A 10th Division guard runs down the hallway and bows to Taiki. "Sir! There's a riot in Sector 12!"

Taiki's huffs a bit, his face clearly annoyed. "Can't you deal with it? That is what you're here for." He does not move from his leaning position.

"Reinforcements were requested, sir." The guard raises and assumes a more casual stance.

"Bah. Don't bother me with something so trivial. Get Vice Captain Isamaru to deal with it. Tell him he has authority to lead the Execution Force." Taiki hands off a note to the guard.

"Right sir."

The guard bows and leaves. Taiki sighs.

"Sorry for the interruption. Hope that wasn't your doing, Hannibal. Please do continue." Taiki resumes his previous stature and stern tone, his eyes once again fixating on his prisoner.

[riccaru]

"You want me to fight, shinigami? Then prepare to DIE!" Sereg screams as he fires another cero, deflecting the arrows as they come. Sereg then slowly brings himself into the air, attempting to fight Hannibal on even 'ground'.

[Krazddndfreek]

Kiku was already breathing heavily and beads of sweat formed on her forehead. As the dust cleared, she knew she'd find the shinigami unconscious or dead lying on the floor. "Sayuri, pick him up and head for the gate!" Kiku shouted and pointed to the fallen shinigami closest to her. "Ye lord, smother and shroud us in ash without flames, Bakudo 21 Sekienton!" She'll chant and thrust her palms to the ground causing an explosion of smoke, masking their escape.

[InyutheBeatIs]

In the olden days:

An arrancar in a Fraccion outfit, modified to look like an open trenchcoat of sorts, crouched on top of a building just far enough from the scene to see the fighting, and the people who are fighting. One combatant in particular caught his eye; the scorpion-like Adjuchas fighting the troll captain. He hissed in utter rage at the scene. "That punk-*** son of a ****. I track him down for a whole frikking week and just when I find him, he goes Genghis Khan on a poor unsuspecting training regiment and a neighboring village. What's next, he makes himself a ruler and tries to pull some diplomatic immunity crap?"

Pico gets up quickly and pulls out two khopeshes hanging around his belt, white bandages that wrapped them up unfolding and wrapped a little bit around his wrists. "Well, I said I would bring the guy in alive. God, I can almost hear the yapping from the boss already." He then turns around and forms a Garganta, opening up behind the Shinigami recruits, and Sonídos through. He hits the ground right in the middle of the Shinigami training party, attacking everybody in the vicinity with hit-and-run tactics, peppering the group with Balas and slashes.

[riccaru]

Sereg sneers, knowing just who the new arrival is. "What is that Arrancar filth doing here?" He mutters to himself as he comes closer to Hannibal above.

As this happens the Gillian slowly moves to the shinigami group, heading to fight Karite as she had been told when the attack started. The low class hollow begin running swiftly from the arrancar.

[Frozen_Feet]

Past:

Hannibal is Distracted by the Arrancar's sudden entry to the fray, and thus fails to dodge Sereg's Cero. "****! Fall back! Fall ba - " For a moment, it seems like the Captain is engulfed by the blast... then the ray is cleaved in halves, as Espírito de Ferro's sword form flies through it towards the Adjuchas's chest.

If Sereg turn to look, he might catch a brief glimpse of Hannibal's figure, the Captain's right hand extended in a throw, sleeves of his Shihakusho torn and scorch marks dotting his arms. However, in a blink of an eye the Captain is gone, and standing at Sereg's side, grasping one of the Hollow's legs.

"Worry about that on yer own time", Hannibal snarls, eyes gleaming with cold fury as he plants his leg against Sereg's side and yanks at the leg, aiming to tear it off with his bare hands.

---

Sayuri heeds Kiku's words and sprints to the fallen guards, kneeling beside the wounded man. He's a very heavy for the little girl to carry and she has to struggle to get him on her back, but fortunately she succeeds and starts stumbling towards the Senkai gate, sweat trickling down her freckled face. The smoke from Sekienton provides just enough cover for her to slip away unnoticed.

Although initially disastrous, the Arrancar's appearence soon turns to the Shinigami's favor, as it diverts attention of the more numerous lesser Hollows. Though six guards are struck down by the newcomer, soon there are only other lost souls on Pico's way and the remaining Shinigami have much easier time retreating.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico had just cut down a guard when he noticed the Cero seemingly engulf Hannibal for a moment, then be split in two by the troll's Zanpakuto, just before he rockets over to rip Sereg a new...well you know. "Oh son of my ***!!" Pico screams at the sight. Noticing that all that little stunt did was take out a few Shinigami and help them escape, he diverted his efforts. You frikkin idiot! he thought, Forget about the Shinigami, get that big-stupid-ugly off of the megalomaniac!

Pico then rocketed towards the troll. When he gets close enough, he slashes at Hannibal's wrist in an attempt to cause him to lose his grip. If that works, he then throws the khopeshes around Hannibal, wrapping him across his chest with the bandages, before making said bandages as hard as steel and rockets towards the mountain, seeking to slam Hannibal right into it at full force.

[riccaru]

Sereg wails in pain as his leg is severed, bringing his tail once again to stab at Hannibal. His other legs also stab at the captain, trying everything he can to injure the assailant. As Pico moves from the shinigami, the lower class hollows return with the Gillian. The renewed attack is spearheaded by the gillian's Cero, fired directly into the largest group it can find.

[Frozen_Feet]

Past:

Hannibal manages to tear Sereg's limb off, but Pico's sudden interference catches him off-guard. He manages to grasp the hilt of Espírito de Ferro, but before can bring it down to defend himself, the bandages wrap around it him and he is send reeling against the mountainside.

Loud rumbling obscures other noises for a moment as a small landslide caused by the impact buries the Captain. Elsewhere, most of the remaining Shinigami, Sayuri included, hurry through the Senkai gate, finally reaching safety. A small group of 13th divisioners stay to hold the Hollows back, Karite among them.

Then, there's a loud crack as the metallic bandages around Hannibal shatter. He shakes the rubble off of himself and stands up, stone behind and under him shattering as his Reiatsu weighs heavily on it.

"Ye", he says, glaring at Pico, his wrath burning on the Arrancar like the heat of a furnace. "Ye're on my WAY !" Quickly, the Captain flings a rock towards his opponent - it might be just a rock, but it's rock thrown by Hannibal. It hits Pico squarely to the chest like a cannonball, knocking the Hollow back. Next moment, the Captain is on him like a raging bull, sending several powerful kicks at Pico's ribs before finishing with a titanic punch, sending the Arrancar flying towards Sereg. The air itself seems to quake from the force of the blow.

"I'll get ye ******s", the captain snarls, pointing Espírito de Ferro, now in axe form, at Sereg and Pico. His Shihakusho is torn from waist up and he has bruises all over his torso. Blackened blood is trickling down his left arm from a nasty gash, probably left by Sereg's stinger - all the while, the Captain is squinting as if he's not seeing properly.

He still has enough steam to give both his foes run for their money, though.

[riccaru]

Sereg leaps out of the way before firing a cero toward Hannibal, trying anything he can to hurt the monstrous captain. "pico, you fool! Destroy that swine now! We must destroy him!"

[Frozen_Feet]

Grasping his axe with two hands, Hannibal strikes at the Cero, cleaving it neatly in halves. The split rays collide with the mountain, two vast explosions illuminating the cold stones. From the destruction, the Captain stares, gritting his teeth, his face distorted in the ugliest frown the Hollows have ever seen. Then, he lunges at them, axe ready, howling like a madman.

"Uraaaa!"

[Terry576]

Karite grins as the Gillian walks closer to him, and holds his sword fairly loosely.

"Well Hollow? What're you waiting for!??! Come on, don't be so slow, show me what you can really do!"

And then he notices as it starts firing its cero.

"Great. This'll look just great on my report. 'So Karite, you watched the Hollow fire an energy blast into a group of people?'"

Karite gets close to the Hollow, then cuts it via creating a fairly large sword of ice, and slicing with that.

[InyutheBeatIs]

"Oh crap." That was the thought that went through Pico's mind as he saw the rock jet towards his chest. Then he got pummeled. Badly. Pico managed to get himself on solid ground on instinct alone. The whole way down, he was coughing up blood.

As he was crouching there, hurt, gasping for breath, he looked up at Hannibal. Everything that happened recently went through Pico's head. The long, frustrating efforts towards tracking Sereg. Finding him with a small army attacking a training regiment. This frikkin captian, looking down at him with his frikkin ugly mug. That frikkin Adjuchas piece of crap who has the frikkin audacity to boss him around. All this built up rage just became focused on one object, Hannibal's face. Pico wanted nothing more than to kick that face in until it reached the back of his skull. Nothing else mattered, not the pain from the pummeling, not the other Shinigami, not even that holier-than-thou Adjuchas. All of his fury, all of his rage, was directed at Hannibal.

"COME AND GET ME OLD MAN!!" Pico screamed in primal rage. He sheathed his swords, whose bandages were almost whole again by this point, and hardened his arms and legs to that of steel. Pico then pointed at Sereg and screamed "Shut up and cover me!" Pico then launched himself at Hannibal, punching him square in the chest. He then grabbed the arm holding Espirito de Ferro, and made a motion to break it. If he succeeds, he then grabs Hannibal by a piece of his clothing, then Sonidos his way down to the ground with Hannibal in tow. Ideally, Pico then manages to get Hannibal under him, and then just start stomping him.

[riccaru]

While Pico attacks Hannibal, Sereg moves to protect his gillian. Before he can reach her however the blade of ice slices deeply into the gillian, making it howl in pain. Sereg fires a cero now at karite, trying to disrupt his concentration and save the gillian