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

[Frozen_Feet]

Pico lands his punch, making the Captain flinch for a moment, which allows him to grab his arm. Unfortunately for him, his attempts at breaking Hannibal's arms are less than succesful - he might as well be trying to yank a grown tree from its roots.

"Ye don't have to ask me twice!", Hannibal snarls, and foils Pico's attempt to take him down by hammering him in the nose with his free hand. Planting his feet in thin air, the Captain starts whirling around, aiming to gather enough momentum to send Pico flying towards Sereg.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Hannibal's punch sent blood squirting out of Pico's nose, punctuating Pico's sudden disorientation. For a moment, Pico was scrambling to regain his composure, locking arms with the big troll. When he gets his composure back, he finds himself being swung around like a rag doll. In an effort to regain ground, he attempts to swing himself around onto Hannibal's back, grabbing onto his clothes. The instant he grabs onto Hannibal's back, Pico unsheaths one of his swords with his right hand, bringing the outward edge to bear on Hannibal with a war cry before the cloth can even fully unfurl. After his slash, he attempts to hook Hannibal's side with the point and inward edge, drawing his other sword to attempt to do the same.

[Frozen_Feet]

Pico manages to give Hannibal a nasty cut to his side - then the brute manages to grab his right hand and prevents him from doing more with it. As Pico lets go of the Captain's sword arm to bring his other sword to the fray as well, Hannibal suddenly lets go of Espírito de Ferro, twists around in Pico's hold and grabs his other hand too, holding both swords away from his body.

He then knees Pico to the groin with extreme prejudice and smashes his forehead against the Arrancar's already broken nose for extra hurt. "Hyah!" As Hannibal brings his foot back down from the kick, he pushes forward with all his strenght, sending them both on collision course with Sereg.

Somewhere far below, Espírito de Ferro falls against cold stone with a mournful clatter, its blade fading to steam.

[riccaru]

Sereg turns, seeing the two flying toward him. Rashly he fires a cero at both oncoming fighters, the cero is in place to harm them both, quite possibly solving both of Sereg's problems. In case the cero doesn't do much, Sereg then points his stinger straight toward the oncoming attackers, knowing Pico will be able to heal this attack, if he survives. Sereg braces himself with his remaining legs and both pincered arms.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Hannibal's kick caused Pico to yell in pain, but the hit to the nose cut him off. Pico was now reeling, a constant low ringing in his ears, and a sort of clenching ache around his groin thanks to the kick. He was struggling to keep himself composed long enough to put a dent in this guy. He then noticed Sereg's Cero charging. "Oh SONUVA..." A thought then struck him, causing him to smile an impish grin. "You know, big guy, I ought to tell ya something. He grabs Hannibal's waist with his legs, wrapping them around him and squeezing. "I ain't into that crap." He then forms a Bala in front of his mouth, seemingly spitting it right at the big guy's face. Right after, he leans backwards and makes his body into the density of lead in an attempt to flip Hannibal to a position that would cause him to take most if not all of the Cero blast.

[Frozen_Feet]

Past:

Hannibal reels as the bala smashes against his face, nearly knocking him out cold. However, he regains his senses fast enough to realize what Pico's trying to do. "Oh no ye won't!", the ogrish man growls, hanging upside down in the air as the Cero heads for them. He then pushes off from thin air, sending the pair out of the Cero's way...

... and againt the mountainside. Again. "Get off of me, ye pesky lil' sonuvabicth!", the Captain foams, headbutting Pico to the face one time after another. Pico's hold is failing to squeeze the breath out of Hannibal, but on the other hand the Captain isn't getting free of it either. The two keep rolling downwards with the rubble at ever-growing speed.

[riccaru]

"More's the pity. Pico had better stop this soon, because if not I'm leaving him to rot in this pathetic world." He says to himself, looking from Pico and Hannibal to his gillian and Karite, deciding which of his associates he should be helping. "Pico, finish that filth so we can continue our squabble!" He yells, firing another cero at the two fighters grappling

[Frozen_Feet]

A strange glow reflecting from Pico's eyes alerts the Captain, and he manages to briefly glance over his shoulder. "Oh crap", he says solemnly, before the Cero engulfs the wrestling pair, a large explosion once again shaking the mountain and obscuring the two from sight.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Every headbutt from Hannibal made the ringing in Pico's ears sharper and louder. He was dangerously close to losing consciousness, when he noticed a strange glow from around Hannibal's shoulders. He then snapped back into the real world just in time to say a little phrase at the same time as Hannibal. "Oh crap." As he was engulfed in the explosion, he felt scorched, but at this point, he didn't scream. Instead, the pain drove him to desperation. He lets go of his leg hold on Hannibal and attempts to kick him to a position to where he can flip himself over Hannibal. When he does so, he makes a herculean effort to get out of the big guy's grasp, not even caring if it rips his arms right out of his sockets. What he has in mind, he doesn't need his arms all that badly.

[Frozen_Feet]

The trollish Captain is rather stunned himself, his upper body smoking as the last remnants of what clothing he had above the waist burn away. At first, he barely notices Pico stops squeezing the life out of him, and the Arrancar easily gets on top of him. He then snaps to his senses, his hazy gaze focusing once more.

"Ye want it yer way? Have it yer way!", Hannibal snarl, delivering a titanic kick to Pico's gut, and then another while simultaneously letting go of his arms. This ought to send him flying away from the Captain. Hurriedly, Hannibal scrambles up and starts speeding to where he senses Espírito de Ferro fell. Though determined, something is bogging him down and making his steps falter, so this time he's clearly visible several times during his Shunpo.

[riccaru]

Sereg notices the wounded captain going for his sword and also moves for it, though much more slowly. Assuming Pico doesn't interfere, Hannibal will reach the sword before Sereg. As Sereg reaches the area he leaps into the air, trying to come down on Hannibal while he is still supposedly preoccupied. Sereg points all his remaining legs and his tail stinger downward as he attacks.

[Frozen_Feet]

Hannibal notices Sereg's assault just as he manages to grab the hilt of his weapon. His face distorting in a desperate frown, the Captain shapes his weapon into a large club and brings it to defense, but his footing is uncertain and his block half-assed. The stinger and the claws tear deep gashes to his right arm and side.

However, even so gravely wounded the Captain does not lose his fighting spirit. Filled with berserker fury, he presses onwards with all his might, even as his weapon dissolves to mist. Enraged, he knocks Sereg's limbs away, creating an opening for himself.

"RAAAAAAH!!!", the Captain screams, foam flying from his mouth as his Reiatsu weighs heavily on the Adjuchas, drowning him in steel grey haze. Determined to win, he turns his Zanpakuto back into a sword, and strikes it through Sereg's midsection.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico was sent flying through the air thanks to Hannibal's kick. After he coughed up some blood, he stops himself midair. He then takes out both of his khopeshes and reverses them, folding them against his arms. The bandages started flying off to Pico's sides as he folded his arms in front of him, one on top of the other. His Reiatsu seems to spike, a feeling of sharp, electric rejection throughout. "Ranbuoni furai," The bandages begin to turn into black wings that begin to surround Pico. "...Garra Errática!" At that point, the bandages had completely become wings, encasing Pico into a ball. A moment later, the sphere bursts into feathers, revealing Pico to be a changed man.

His hair is now long and feather like, highlighted with dark green. His skin is now partially black and reptilian. He appears to have a long coat made from the waist up of bony armor, with the rest being made of long feathers. His arms are now covered in feathers to where they almost look wing-like, his hands now bony claws. His legs are digitigrade, covered in reptilian skin and bony armor, ending in wicked looking claws. He is surrounded by several feathers, along with eight amber covered feathers.

His Ressureción is now released.

Some of the feathers compact into a spear, Pico grabbing it with his right hand. He then seemingly teleports down to Hannibal, kicking him down and running him through the shoulder with the spear. Pico bends down to whisper in his ear. "My turn now, troll." he hisses into his ear. He then pulls out the spear, kicks off of Hannibal, then breaks apart the spear into its component feathers, leaving his hands free to give Hannibal two rude gestures with his hands.

[Frozen_Feet]

Holding his bleeding shoulder, Hannibal stumbles up and prepares for counter-attack... when he realizes his sword isn't in his hand. "Hunh?" He gives a quick glance towards Sereg, which reveals the blade still stuck in the Adjuchas's body, probably trapped between plates of chitinous armor. "Ooops. Ehhehheh . . ."

Regaining his composure, the Captain takes a ready stance and faces Pico again. "Oooh! Look's I'll 'ave chicken for dinner tonite, ehhehheh . . .", he cackles, swaying from side to side. He's bleeding much less than expected considering his injuries, so it isn't likely bloodloss making him delirious, but it's clear he's seen better days.

Still, even though it isn't visible to naked eye, he's focusing a terrifying amount of Reiryoku on his hands. Next time he even grazes Pico, it'll be one helluva punch.

[riccaru]

Sereg yelps in absolute agony, trying everything he can to escape the primal fury of the captain. As sereg backs away he claws desperately at the searingly hot((it is still hot, right?)) blade lodged in his body. "destroy this shinigame filth!" he howls to Pico, sputtering black blood from his mouth as he does so. It is well and truly his end in this fight.

[Frozen_Feet]

Fortunately for Sereg, the strange blade gives away at his seventh try, fading to steam and its hilt clattering to the ground. Unfortunately, it isn't blocking his wounds anymore, meaning any fast movement could rip open the cauterized stab, causing massive bleeding, both internal and external. Hannibal gives the Adjuchas a hasty look before focusing on Pico again. He's swaying more by the moment and his vision is getting blurry, but despite the much better condition of his foe, the Captain shows no fear or hesitation.

Upwards the slope, the fighting has come to momentary halt, with the crowd of Hollows slowly circling the few remaining guards. The Shinigami are slowly backing towards the gate, though they know the beasts won't let them retreat unimpeded. Any moment now, they'd surely lunge at them again. The wounded Gillian glares murderously at Karite.

[Terry576]

Karite glares back at the Gillian.

"Oh come on! Why won't you just die already?"

He closes his eyes, and concentrates for a few seconds before opening them, and his eyes appear to be pure white.

"Alright you damn Hollow, how would you like to be encased ice? Oh wait, I don't think I'm going to give you a choice."

A massive amount of power begins to emit from Karite's sword, and he slices it at the Gillian, probably encasing it in a massive pillar of ice. Eventually, his eyes fade back to their normal color.

"Well, glad that's done with. If Captain Hannibal's done as well, maybe we can go home."

[InyutheBeatIs]

After he was done flipping Hannibal off, Pico started cracking his fingers, a smug grin on his face. He heard Sereg screaming in agony. Serves ya right, jerk. He then heard his rallying cry, "Destroy this Shinigami filth!" "You don't have to tell me twice." The amber colored feathers formed a circle around his left wrist, other feathers forming into a trident as big as he is. His Pesquisa picked up the Reiryoku forming in Hannibal's hands. His smug smirk then turned into a full-on slasher's smile. In a second, an electric whine was heard, then a small sonic boom punctuating his sudden venture into the air.

It's on now.

He fired Bala from all eight of the feathers right at Hannibal just before he Sonídos behind him, aiming to gouge him in the back and lift him off of the ground straight into the Bala barrage.

[Frozen_Feet]

As Pico flashes behind him, Hannibal whirls around, blocking his gouge with a strong kick and then grabbing his massive trident, halting it in place. But then, the Balas strike him, and for a moment his figure is but a black silhouette against their exploding light.

"Now yer talking, chicken****", the Captain chuckles, squeezing his fist closed so hard the trident with it is crushed to pieces. He then delivers a rapid punch at Pico's torso, hopefully breaking something, before kicking himself off from the Arrancar. Hannibal stumbles when he lands, but manages to roll backwards and get on his feet instead of falling flat on his back.

"Yer strong. Gotta give ye that", he mumbles, grasping his left shoulder again. "Ye might be some cafl-. . . chll-. . . challenge after all." Hannibal's face is curiously twitching between two expressions, that of demented joy and grim determination. Unable to focus his sight anymore, he wearily lifts up his left hand covers his left eye, to prevent himself from seeing Pico in two.

"Heck, wouldn't even be ashamed of losing to ye", he continues, calculating his chances. "But I've got a job to do, and it involves ye suckers dead. Lets fuh-. . . fihs-. . . finish this ****." Ground below the Captain cracks as he darts... backwards, away from Pico, running up the mountain as fast as he can. He's aiming to find advantageous terrain.

"Hey, boy!", he shouts to Karite as he jumps over the guards. "Fetch mah sword, will ye?"

---

Meanwhile, Karite's attack on the Gillian starts the fighting again - many of the Hollows lunge at the guards, eager to finish the small force - but a large portion of them stays back, turning to look either up or down the mountain.

Some sprint after Hannibal, joining Pico in chasing the ogrish man... but others have lost their interest in the fight, sensing weaker prey.

Sereg.

Several of lesser Hollows lick bony lips or teeth of their mask, sensing the waning energy of their master. Maybe the weakened state of the Adjuchas has removed their fear and reverence for the Menos, letting their bestial hunger take over; or maybe, they want to be devoured by him, their loyalty making them ready to throw themselves into oblivion to give their lord a second chance.

Who knows? In any case, much of the horde starts slowly advancing towards the wounded, scorpion-like figure.

[InyutheBeatIs]

The trident in Pico's hand shatters into several pieces, returning to their component feathers in the process, some of the feathers crushed in the process. Hannibal's punch shatters a good chunk of the bony vest of armor that Pico dons, cracking a rib and sending him flying backwards in the process. It is more evident that he can take a punch better now, as instead of hacking up blood, he flips himself in midair, gets his feet on the ground, and injects his spurs directly into the ground, braking himself after leaving long traces on the ground. He concentrates Reiryoku around his forearms, then flicks his arms outward, replacement feathers flying out.

He then quirks an eyebrow in surprise at the fact that, instead of running headlong into him, Hannibal is running up the mountain. Pico heads towards him, a chain of sorts forming in his hands. When he reaches him, he throws the chain at him, suddenly forming clasps around his wrists and ankles. "Hang on!"

He then jerks him right off of the mountain, and grabs him by the back. Hannibal would probably notice that he feels much denser than he should. Pico then flys low to the ground, eventually dissolving the clasps, causing Hannibal to take an involuntary dive face-first into the ground. Just as if it couldn't get any worse, Pico makes sure he stays on the ground by essentially surfing on him, his foot pushing down on Hannibal's head, bouncing off of him when he comes to a stop.

[Frozen_Feet]

Hannibal stays still in the ground. His steel grey reiatsu flickers in the wind like a storm cloud abating in a southern gale. If Pico really tries, he might still hear faint breathing from the downed Captain.

One chicken leg for lunch... two chicken legs for lunch... three chicken legs...

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico turns around in the air, and notices that Hannibal isn't getting up. He appears beside him and kicks him rather gently in the hip, to check that he is really down for the count. He notices the faint little folk song that Hannibal is singing, and couldn't help himself from smiling. "Hmph." He then reaches down and picks him up by the cloths on his back, lifting him and slumping him over his shoulder. He starts walking towards the Shinigami group. "You know, I oughta tell you something old man. I ain't a chicken." For some reason, even though he was blind with rage a second ago, Pico couldn't help but like Hannibal. Maybe it was the fact that he could take a fight. Maybe it was the fact that he didn't stop until the end. It may even be the fact that the guy is sarcastic. Nonetheless, Pico couldn't help but like him.

Pico charged up Bala in front of the fingers on his free hand, and appeared in between the Shinigami group and the Hollows, turning and firing on the Hollows. After he sent the first barrage towards the Hollows, hopefully sending them fleeing in terror, he turns around towards the Shinigami, the amber feathers charged with Bala aimed at everybody in the group. "Nobody move! No one moves, and nobody gets hurt." He then drops Hannibal in front of him. "Now take him and get out of my sight, or I'll do the same thing to you!"

Moments later, he rockets towards Sereg and fires Bala at the Hollows surrounding him, appearing right Next to where Sereg is lying. He then picks him up and slumps him over his shoulder, preparing a Garganta behind him. "Go back to where you came from!" he yells to the crowd of Hollows. "The war is over! You have no reason to be here anymore! Now leave, before I rip you to shreds!"

He then walks through the Garganta, looking at Sereg with a form of disdain. "You better not be dead." After a moment, Pico disappears as the mouth of the Garganta closes, and just as suddenly as he appeared, he was gone...

[riccaru]

Sereg barely manages to spit on the ground by Pico, mustering his remaining strength to insult the Espada. He turns one nearly glazed eye to the frozen Gillian before he is taken away "M-m-more... P-p-p-pow-power." He gasps , blackened blood seeping from his mouth.

[Frozen_Feet]

Past:

The remaining guards stare in bewilderment as Pico leaves the battlefield. Arrancar showing... mercy? Certainly, not the expected conclusion. Many still retain a wary stance due to the horde of Hollows still present, but after suffering such massive losses and with their master gone, the beasts can no longer muster a dedicated offense.

In the ground, Hannibal twitches, and slams his right fist to the ground, hoisting himself up enough so he can give a despising glare towards the closing Garganta. His face is torn up pretty bad, bearing a twisted, skeletal grin, as the flesh of his right cheek is completely torn away. "Tis fight not over, chicken****. . . I'll come for ye. . . I'll rip yer head off and . . . shove it up yer arse... just... you... wait..."

Then he collapses down again. Few of the guards look at each other, then hurry to pick the injured Captain up. They'd have to take him to the 4th as soon as possible. Quickly, before the situation degenerates into a mass brawl again, the remaining Shinigami hurry through the Senkai gate and close it behind them. Hopefully, medics would already be waiting for them on the other side...

---

Present:

"Hey, would ye mind if I took a sip of water at this point?", the trollish ex-captain asks from Takeshi and his assistant, who are still tinkering with his tattoos. Faint smell of ozone fills the air. "I'm feelin' kinda parched. I wouldn't wanna tell the rest of my story with a raspy voice - were just getting to the interesting part. . ." He winks at Taiki.

[Innis Cabal]

Present Day

Takeshi shrugs, smiling gently as he shoo's away his aid.

"Of course, of course. Please, you should be comfortable. I am an intruder here not you."

[Frozen_Feet]

Present:

Hannibal goes to take a sip of water. After taking his time drinking, he returns to his bed... but instead of sitting on it again, he reaches under his pillow and pulls something out.

"Soooo... as I said, we're gettin' to the real interesting part now", the ogrish man says, and puts the thing in his hand on his face. It's a three-eyed Hannya mask, made of white bone and with lines of crimson running down from the eyes like tears of blood. Fortunately, the horns have been cut and rounded, so Takeshi isn't in danger of being stabbed to death. At least, it would take some effort to do so. "Have to get in the right mood. Are ye ready, whelp?"

[tgva8889]

Present Day

Taiki stands watch, not saying anything or even accepting any acknowledgment of his being there.

[Innis Cabal]

Takeshi covers the young girls eyes with a hand, shoo'ing her from the cell.

"You may leave now, thank you for your assistance. Captain Taiki could you please bring someone to take my assistant upstairs? We're to a point I'd rather like to not have my people see. Do not turn around or look into the cell Junior Member, and speak of nothing you've seen."

He turns back to Hannibal, the smile returned to his face.

"How truely interesting Ex-Captain Hannibal. Can you answer my questions from earlier now? Or would you like to wait? It is truely...unique, that is to be certain...can I hold it? I would very much like to inspect it myself."

[Frozen_Feet]

Present:

"How it feels like to have this on? That's what ye asked, wasn't it?", Hannibal snorts. "Ye know it feels when yer wasted? Not just a bit tipsy, but drunk as a lil' monkey. The ground won't stay still under yer legs and yer spillin' yer lunch all over, yet ye still think ye can take on the whole world alone. That's how it feels."

The ex-captain sighs, and turns to look at Taiki, mask still on his face. "What ye say, Broken Sword? Can I give this to the kid? Or will ye deep-fry my nads if I do that?"

[Innis Cabal]

Takeshi nods slightly, looking back at Taiki.

"Please, if you would? It would help greatly in my bindings. We could even push these mandatory visits to...four hundred years. Perhaps even longer. Its hard to say. We of the Kido Corp have not had a great deal of time to study this...phenomena."