BLEACH: Fragments

[Blake]

Using Shunpo, Kazu appeared about 3 feet to the right of Shinobu before Hakyou used his techinique, and she continued to spin her Zanpakuto, to keep momentum. She watched as Viral jumped off, in the middle of Hakyou's plan, and basically did exactly what he should not be doing. With a sigh, she looked over to Hakyou. "Is this going to affect the plan? 'Cause I have a feeling that he just screwed us over, badly." As her right hand continued to spin the scythe, she placed her left hand in front of her face. [i]"If the plan was messed up by that guy, then I'll have my mask on in an instant. Not sure how much Gokaikiba's Bankai would do here.[/i]

[Andx]

The girl-like portion of the Pain Drinker had been injured and as a result the tentacles that had been surrounding the group retreated into the earth. Then the ground started shaking and cracks appeared in it. Before it could reach the group Hakyou used kido to launch the group and the portion of cement they were standing on into the sky, just about level with the human looking side of the Pain Drinker. The buildings and streets around where they had just been standing were now being torn apart and dragged down into wherever the other portion of the Pain Drinker was. Shinobu was glad to see roughly a dozen of his orbs of fire had been brought up with them and they were all prepped with his reiatsu, the only thing left was to use his short sword to add darkness to the flames. With the fire that would be created he would have enough for about two or three good sized attacks considering the darkness step increased the size of the fires.

A little shaken from the sudden upheaval of the ground, Shinobu took a step forward and stabilized himself. He then swung the short sword at the balls of fire, a wave of dark energy emerging as he did so. The wave itself couldn't hurt anyone, and they passed by any comrades who might have been in the way harmlessly. The darkness then covered the balls of fire, increasing their size and turning their flames black. They now seemed to be truly impressive attacks.
[i]"So far this monster has experienced slashes of all kinds. Lets see how either portion handles burns."[/i] Shinobu thought. The group of orbs raised somewhat higher than they had been and then rushed into either of Shinobu's two swords, both now freely flowing with the darkness, fire, and reiatsu mixture that had just been collected. He could tell he would have about three decent attacks out of what he had made and he intended to use one on the girl and two on the monster far below. However not knowing the creature's depth was a problem and as such Shinobu settled on attacking the girl. With any luck he could draw the monster below out of hiding if the girl was in enough danger.

Shinobu stepped to the edge of the levitated platform closest to the girl, each hand behind his head with the blades running parallel to his back. At once he swung the two weapons down following the motion through until his arms were behind his back. A great burst of the collected flames erupting forth as he did so. The bursts from both blades combined as they flew, the dark flames would have a bit of an edge and quite a decent pushing force to it but more important were the flames themselves which were quite dangerous when concentrated with reiatsu as they were.
"Let's see you extinguish those flames demon." Shinobu said almost under his breath as he stepped back and readied his weapons in a proper stance to defend himself should the need arise. The energy that he had sent off would now close the distance between the girl in an attempt to engulf her in the mass of searing flames. Shinobu realized he had used about half the stored energy when he had only meant to use a third meaning he'd only have one more respectable attack. And due to the reiatsu required for the technique his breathing was now somewhat heavier than it had been.

[Umbra]

(TIME REGRESSION: I interfere in the middle of a post, disregarding everything past that point.)

Hakyou nodded at Kazu.
"We're not completely screwed, but I don't like what he's doing over there. But I think we have worse things to worry about. Look down." All around them, going on for at least a mile in each direction, most buildings had collapsed into the dark rifts below. The center of Karakura Town had now become akin to a large hole, a deep crater as if a meteor had crashed. As a matter of fact, the only building relatively close to them was the one the female Hollow - and their friend Viral - was standing on. Far beneath them, something stirred.
"I wasn't expecting one of this magnitude. We're in for a bit more than we bargained for."

As Viral appeared behind the Paindrinker, she turned her head a full 180 degrees.
"I wouldn't think so, pretty boy."
Using Sonido, she moved quickly to the side. Viral, who had recently used Shunpo and hadn't mastered it to quite that degree yet, took the full blast of the Kougenjin he'd intended for his enemy. While he was recovering from the blast, she reached out her arm and grabbed his Shihakusho by the collar. She smiled.
"Got you know, kid, got you now!"
Somewhere far beneath them, a deep growl echoed in the vast crater. The Paindrinker was shouting loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Sounds like sister's huuungry!"
Holding Viral in one hand, she simply turned back to face the other Shinigami. Viral was now dangling over the rift, with the endless darkness below him and right in between the Paindrinker and the Shinigami.
At this time, Shinobu's Shikai ability was completed, and the flames rushed toward the female Hollow. She simply smiled.
"I didn't know you cared as much for pain as I do, Shinigami!"
Holding Viral up in the path of the flames, the fire burned his entire body.
"Sister likes her meat well done."
With that said, she flung him into the depths.

Meanwhile, below them, the Paindrinker rose from its lair. Sister-on-the-Surface still needed her help. Getting to see the surface with her own eyes, even if meant brushing away some of the sand in her way - while being careful not to touch Sister-on-the-Surface's sand - was just a bonus. As soon as the sand touched her fingers, it bubbled and went away. [i]there! is that the light?[/i]

Hakyou couldn't believe what he saw. He had never seen a Paindrinker of this size, much less any kind of Hollow. In the last few seconds it had spread from the center, until it covered the entire crater. It hadn't retreated earlier; it had simply pushed its tentacles down to move up, just like actual octopi or even jellyfish would do. A slithering slimy mass of tentacles and flesh, with - and this was what disgusted him the most - a human body. About fifty feet below them, where the flesh started, there was the upper half of a little girl. She looked very different from her "sister"; she had black hair, and where a constant, wide smile was occupying the former's face, this one was dull and completely emotionless. She had no hands; her arms grew straight into the flesh, and as far as he could see from this distance there seemed to be no clear distinction where the girl began and the tentacles started. However, there was something else that caught his eye. Entangled in a group of tentacles not far to their right were two - [i]or is it three?[/i] - Shinigami, trapped.
"Aaaaa!"
He recognized the voice almost instantly. It was one of his recruits, one that he'd been foolish enough to send out without training, and one he'd thought dead weeks ago.

[Shadow Zero]

Viral was surprised at the speed with which the girl had stepped out of the way, and was unfortunate enough to not have the same reflexes as his own Kougenjin hit him dead on. Viral screamed out in pain as he was hit by his own attack and was grabbed by the girl. As the streets and buildings of Karakura town disappeared into the depths below them all, Viral was swung around until he was dangling over the edge and was unfortunate enough to be hit by Shinobus attack as he was used as a meat shield for the girl that would have been hit with the attack instead had he not been in the way. Viral screamed out in pain once again as the attack hit him, and then he was released from the girld grip, left to fall into the depths. As he fell, Viral grasped Muchitsujo no ha even tighter, refusing to let it end here. "BAN-KAI!"

As Viral said that one work he disappeared in a sudden swell of reiatsu. When it cleared, it showed him with a pair of wings and surrounded by shadow energy. Combining his ability of flight with Shunpo, he easily reached the slab of concrete where the others were, then the wings changed to an aura that completely surrounded him and the pool of shadow energy changed to an at first seemingly innumerable amount of orbs that actually numbered somewhere in the hundreds. "Tenkuu no Muchitsujo no ha." As Viral said the name he scowled. He had been caught completely off guard, and he didn't like it. [i]Laugh while you can witch, you'll get yours soon enough. Still, I can't believe that I had to force myself into my second form of Bankai immediately upon release just to save myself.[/i] The effort of what he had done had left Viral momentarily winded. However, he had quickly got his breath back again, and was now thinking of how best to deal with this nuisance. Then he looked down at the Paindrinker below and went pale. Words failed him as he saw what they were having to face, and he could think of nothing to say. [i]Well, we're thoroughly F*cked now.[/i]

[Signosis]

Kuroyuri screamed due to the pain, and, more or less, to get the musty air out of her lungs. She coughed and hacked afterwards, spitting out dirt and anything else that decided to crawl into her mouth, then wiped it on her bare shoulder. Glaring at the bright light, she squinted at the group of Shinigami in the distance, then squirmed in her prison of disgusting tentacles.
[i]Better to have them get me first than trying it on my own -- greater in numbers. [/i] She thought and stopped squirming for a moment, looking around. [i]'Sides, I'd probably die on my own -- or die before they get over here...[/i]

"Keh," Kuroyuri spit out a centipede, then checked her mouth for anymore creepy-crawlies with her tongue.

[Mugendramon]

[i]Dammit. How the hell did I get involved with this idiot, and end up down here? This bastard won't allow me to use my Bankai, and Shikai is not enough as to cut through it. Perhaps her screams will alert the others of our presence. Hmmm. If I get to die here, who would ever care about me. Nanao has not ever taken a look at me. Renji... he very much occupied with his 'Ichigo' friend now... he wouldn't even care, either. Now, all I should do would be... [b]Sssilence, Deizua! I'm not letting you get killed thisss way. Let ussss find a way out; once we are, we can fight thissss gigantic bassstard evenly. [/b]Hmmm... you are right, Hebimai. You always are.[/i]
Deizua had already lost account of the time. How much time had passed since he was trapped with Kuroyuri, he didn't know. Now, wrapped up in slimy tentacles, barely able to percept his surroundings, finally managed to see through a minute breach how this gigantic Hollow finally emerged from its seemingly deep hideout.

When he first faced this Hollow -Paindrinker, he had heard-, the very first thing Deizua realized was the fact that the small, bony Hollow had no Mask. It was not even an Arrancar, he knew, for not even a chunk of it was still hanging from the chuckling Hollow. It took mere seconds to Deizua to realize they were stuck in an arena of tentacles, surrounded and attacked repeatedly in every direction. Not much time had passed until the horrendous appendages sank them down to depths he wasn't aware of.

Now, as a sign, in hope for any Shinigami to notice, Deizua pointed his sealed Hebimai to the breach of light, and the snake head at the tip of the blade released a single one snake. It fell into a standing concrete block, and climbed through the leg of one of the supposed saviors.

[Dad]

Paindrinker had become enraged. It's anger spread thick in the air, much like it's tentacles. But it's anger had shown a void. The void was actually a mass of tentacles which was housing several Shinigami, which just so happened to catch Hadou's eye. But how to free them? "I would end up killing them, swinging my blade around wildly. There's got to be someway we can separate the mass. Or at least distract the sister long enough to free those fools. How the hell do you get close enough to get trapped anyway? What a disgrace," he mumbled. Something else caught his eye now. Hadou recalled what the Surface-Sister had stated before.

"[i]Hurting me only makes sister more angry![/i]"

"More angry? Seems every time sister gets angry, she gets more and more revealing. Just now, she revealed the trapped Shinigami in her blind rage. I wonder if--HAKYOU!" he called. Using Shunpo, Hadou placed himself inches away from Hakyou, and proposed a plan.

"We should focus on the Surface-Sister," he began. "Maybe if we enrage Paindrinker further, we can exploit a weakpoint," he whispered.

[Umbra]

As the other Vizard used Shunpo to blink onto the platform, Hakyou nodded at Hadou.
"Maybe we should, but that thing's still a threat. With those Shinigami trapped down there, even the slightest of movements could lead them to their deaths. One squish of those tentacles would crush all three of them. I sent those out - Kuroyuri, Deizua and Hyouketsu - a few weeks ago to deal with this. Of course, I knew they were by no means ready, but Captain-Commander Yamamoto wanted progress, so I had no other choice."
He looked down at Viral, who had already unleashed his Bankai.
"I have higher hopes for this group. You have far better control of your power. I won't be able to help you with this, though. Diverting my reiatsu from maintaining this Kidou could mean the deaths of all of us."

In the prison of tentacles, Hyouketsu Sasaki drew his blade. Using Kidou to keep his feet clean and free of the tentacles' acid, he stepped over to his two companions.
"That's Hakyou-san, isn't it?"
For the first time since their capture, he smiled.
"This is our chance, friends! If we can break out of this, we can show Hakyou-san how great we are! We have to go all-out! [b]Bankai! Kirinonai Sasshi! [/b]"
His katana lit up in a purple light, and changed shape before their eyes. The blade curved into a hook-shape, almost circular, with a ninety-degree opening. He gained armor on his right arm, chain-mail that spread over his arm and a circular shoulderpad. He swung out widely to his right, releasing a wave of energy that cut a deep wound into a tentacle.
"There! Strike at it, my friends! The battle is on our side!"

[Mugendramon]

The third Shinigami had regained consciousness. Deizua gloomily watched as Hyouketsu used his Bankai and slashed at a tentacle. It was fairly obvious to him now what they had to do to get out of this bastard. This acid was slowly torturing him. His Kido Level only allowed him keep it from reaching his Vital Organs' skin, the rest was in utter pain. Not a second did he hesitate to allow his blade in Shikai; placing it to his left, crossing it before his chest. Deizua then closed his eyes, and called; "Nejire..." While he did Deizua ran his index finger from the tip of his blade to the hilt. As he did, the blade split as if it were a zipper. When his finger hit the hilt, Deizua finished his chant; "...Hebimai." In around eight rapid movements, the two black blades had twisted and overlapped, allowing the snake head at the tip to rejoin. Without further hesitation, he grabbed Hebimai with both hands, and called; "[i]Danrio.[/i]" At that, he easily separated the hilt in half, as well as untying both blades forming his sword. As they were fully apart, they dropped like whips. "Step aside, or you might get hit."
As a drop of Poison fell from one of the fangs in the half-snake head in one of the whips, Deizua leapt at the signalled tentacle and whipped it furiously. After some minutes of intense, exhausting whipping, the large slippery tentacle simply dropped from where it hanged, and allowed for a temporary breach wide enough to escape. He clasped his hands together, to which the whips rose and combined into his Shikai blade once more.

[Signosis]

"WHAT'RE YOU--" She started to scream, but broke off, glaring at the two of them for their rashness. [i]Men.[/i] Three robotic arms slid from her pack, two to struggle with the tentacles, the other to hand her Harakiri. Once free, the robotic arms carried her away from the tentacles as she bashed them away with her Zanpaktou, which was still sheathed.

"C'mon! We're no good to them dead!" Kuroyuri snarled at them, grabbing both of them by the collar of their hakama's, throwing Deizua on her back and carrying by his waist Hyouketsu. The robotic arms carried them easily, jumping over obstacles and debri, climbing towards their saviors while tentacles slithered after them. She just hoped that the two could keep the tentacles from them, at least long enough till they reached the group.

[Dad]

"Fools," Hadou said to himself. He observed the trapped shinigami hacking away at the tentacles that bound them. "They're going to irritate the beast and be completely crushed. I have to do [i]something[/i]."

It was a heavy thought on his mind, but it was as good as any. Hadou and Yuuki both began to spin at high speeds as he dove toward the Surface sister, in an attempt to free the trapped shinigami. "[i]What am I doing? I'm gonna get myself killed for the sake of three people I don't even know. Wonder what moms would say,[/i]" he thought silently. Hadou had begun spinning so fast, diving at such high speeds, he had become a missile with Yuuki in hand. Even if he couldn't kill the Paindrinker, he could at least--hopefully--injure it enough to free the hostages, and give the others some lasting support. "[i]If I live through this, I know the blessing is still with me. Hell, I may even get married. But that's a big if. For now, I'm gonna try and take off this b****'s head![/i] Whoo!" he cried as he continued to dive. He was an obvious distraction, and hopefully an opportunity to get one step closer to the Reaper.

[Umbra]

Hakyou stood by as Hadou dashed across the gap. [i]He's a bit too daring for his own good, but he's a good man.[/i] He turned to face the others, who were still weary from the Paindrinker's assault. They were a bit overwhelmed by the beast's sheer magnitude, he could tell.
"Comrades, don't fear. This beast isn't stronger than anything we've encountered before. However, its size makes it unruly, and hard to control; its mass becomes a weapon in itself. This may seem like a challenge that cannot be overcome, but do not fear. A muscle is nothing but a peace of meat without the mind that controls it." He nodded at the female Hollow that stood on the other side of the gap.
"That Hollow is our secondary target right now. Our primary target is to get those men out of the beast's grasp. Three of you go down there; the rest of us will handle the enemy on the surface. Don't lose faith, Shinigami. In this world, we are gods."

(TIME REGRESSION)

As Kuroyuri's robotic arms battled the tentacles, the fleshy masses slithered around the mechanical appendages, trapping her even further. When Deizua looked back at his comrades, noticing the trapped woman and Hyouketsu still beating fiercely with his bankai at another tentacle, the fallen tentacle rose again, visibly weakened but still blocking their most probable exit. Sensing Deizua's sudden burst of reiatsu from unleashing his Shikai, Hyouketsu turned around. The tentacle he had been beating at simply flickered and regenerated from most of its injuries.
"Woah! You can't get yourself stuck like that, Kuroyuri-chan! We're already trapped together, you don't want to get even more into this!" He looked at the mechanical arms.
"I suppose we could get you out, Deizua-kun and I, if you don't mind us breaking those things of yours."

The surface-sister grabbed hold of one of Yuuki's arms as Hadou came close, throwing the assault off. With weapon still in hand, Hadou landed beside her. She smiled.
"You decide to come to me, Shinigami? How foolish of you!"
She opened her mouth, revealing several rows of sharp teeth. In an instant, a Cero shot out from her jaws.

[Signosis]

Kuroyuri snarled at the tentacles that trapped her once again, and went to bite one, but thought better of it. She probably wouldn't get the taste out of her mouth for a year. She glared at Hyouketsu at the mention of breaking the mechanical arms, but nodded grudgingly -- she could easily fix them when they got back home.

"Keh, do it quickly," She growled, struggling against the slimy apendages. "They're annoying me."

She then lowered her eyelids to slits at Hyouketsu, wondering how he planned on getting them out of this mess.

[i]"You decide to come to me, Shinigami? How foolish of you!"[/i]

Her head shot up to the voice, the Surface-Sister, and Hadou. [i]Well, at least one of them decided to take action...,[/i] she thought grudgingly, frowning. [i]What the hell were the others doing, watching the show with a bag of popcorn in their hands? [/i]
Kuroyuri looked to the side to find tentacles blocking her sight, and she growled. When the cero shot out, she quickly looked back to the two to see the damage.

[Mugendramon]

Deizua watched in utter frustration as his effort was completely ignored and disappeared within a few moments of high-speed regeneration. [i]Hell open up and swallow me. How on Earth didn't I think of it. Now I'm exhausted and cannot really use any physical Combat. [/i]Lost in his laments, Deizua once again felt the bite on his shoulder. [i]What now, Hebimai. [b]You are not giving up just yet, are you? Remember, if you ever get trapped, you just have to call, and my arms will heed and help you.[/b] We cannot use Bankai while we are not standing. Until we reach ground, Bankai is out of the question. [b]Very well. We'll see.[/b] [/i]Interrupting his thought came Hyouketsu's voice whose sentence was not completely heard. The only words he could actually make out were '[i]Deizua-kun and I[/i]'. At that, he did not hesitate to head quickly towards Kuroyuri and his friend, and once again released his Danrio, ignoring his current physical condition. He separated his blades, then lashed with his whips at the four robotic arms.

But while striking the fourth appendage, a loud Cero blast forced him to turn, slightly altering the direction of the whip. This, even in the slightest of rubs, could actually mean trouble. As he heard Hebimai's hissing noise when she comes in contact with flesh, Deizua returned to face Kuroyuri. "Kuroyuri! look at your shoulder!" Deizua shouted, pointing at the place the whip stroke. "Do you see something!?"

[Shadow Zero]

Viral stood completely still for a few moments taking stock of the situation. While he was doing so, Hadou jumped off and went rocketing at the surface sister. [i]"That fool! Going on a full frontal assault? He doesn't stand a chance!"[/i] Unfortunately, Viral found that he was right as the surface sister caught Hadou in a Cero before he could finish his attack. [i]"That's it, no more mister nice guy."[/i] Viral caused one of the orbs of darkness energy to flatten into a platform to stand on and lowered it to a level where he coudl easily walk onto it. He then began slowly floating towards the surface sister as several more of the orbs of darkness energy broke off to attack. Quickly reaching where the surface sister was, they circled around her before rocketing at her from all sides. If they hit, they would ensnare the surface sister and completely cover her before causing an explosion that would deal significant damage. Furthermore, the surface sister would be poisoned, and would also have her movements hindered.

[Signosis]

Kuroyuri flinched at the when the whips hit the robotic legs, whimpering slightly when they snapped off and away from her -- and hissed when the whip came into contact with her skin. Upon being released, she jumped away from the tentacles, holding her shoulder, then took a peek at the new snake tattoo. Allowing her hand to fall back to her side, she shrugged to toward Deizua to show it to him while she reached back in her pack to retrieve her headphones with her other hand.

"How long does it stay, what are the effects?" She mumbled, clipping one headphone to her ear while her eyes stayed on him. She briefly looked at the tentacles, seeing that they weren't exactly going after them anymore, but blocked out any entry. [i]Maybe her attention is on our supposed savior...speaking of which --[/i] she looked up at Paindrinker, her head tilted to one side. "C'mon, if we're going to show off and get out alive, we need to do this quickly. Maybe if they distract the...Surface-Sister, we could attack Paindrinker. Or the other way around, either way."
She shrugged mildly, looking boredly back at them as she unsheathed her Zanpaktou.

“Omoikiru, Harakiri.” Kuroyuri whispered, stabbing herself in the chest, biting her bottom lip to keep any whimpers or cries in. She twisted Harakiri, and it started melding into her body, blood slowly flowing from her chest and down her stomach. Scythes ripped from her forearms, which she striked against eachother, creating sparks. Kuroyuri then grinned maliciously at the two as she tapped her scythes together, as if keeping beat.

"Now I think I understand/ How this world can overcome a man....Like a friend we saw it through/ In the end, I gave my life for you...." She sang softly, her grin wide.

(OoC: If anyone can figure out what song she just sang, I'll draw their character! XD This is for the sake of getting it goin' again -- the rp. o.o; Only after they post! XD)

[Dad]

AS the sister caught Hadou at the start, stopping him in his tracks, he muttered under his breath, before her, "you sneaky little brat". And only seconds later, the roaring whoosh of a powerful Cero being released at his face. With the luck of the draw however, Hadou managed to block the Cero. The force of the powerful impact of course, sent him flying backwards. From the knockback, Hadou hit his head against a block of cement, and uttered a cry. "Damnit! That hurt!" he said struggling to his feet. A minor headache, and a flash burn, but nothing that could slow him down. When he looked up again, Viral had unleashed a violent assault of dark purple orbs, similar to bombs, from his perspective. Observing, a quick thought came to him in the heat of the moment. If this attack was as powerful as it's appearance and technique, it could be a great opening for more physical Shinigami like himself. Afterall, Hakyou was right.

"[i]In this world, we are gods,[/i]" he overheard.

Hadou whipped Yuuki back to his chest as it began to spin. "One more, eh my friend?"

[Umbra]

Hyouketsu took a deep breath, and held the hook-shaped edge steady in his right hand.
"Alright, let's do this. [b]Saishuuuuuuuuuuu Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantei![/b]"
His blade was surrounded by a black aura, emitting purple flames, as he swung the blade widely, connecting with his target. As the blade approached the gripping tentacles, the acid-coated flesh started to wither. Whatever the flames touched were burned away, and the black aura made sure that not a single piece of it remained for more than a few seconds. Cutting through flesh and steel equally easy, Hyouketsu managed to release Kuroyuri from her imprisonment in a matter of seconds - but that didn't stop him. He carried on with the cut, connecting with a larger tentacle that made up part of their cell's wall.
"[b]Shinu![/b]"
The flames melded with the aura for an instant. Then, the now black flames exploded over the wall, causing no less than three tentacles - or at least, part of them - to wither away, creating a large opening. He turned his head towards them.
"Now is the time, friends! To victory!"
Not sparing another second, he dashed out through the opening and onto the fleshy surface of the Paindrinker.
"Hakyou-sama! Hakyou-sama! We're here!"

Viral's attack connected just as Hadou took the blunt force of the Cero, knocking him out of the way. The female Hollow was attacked from all sides, sending intense pain throughout her body. She lost both vision and hearing as the orbs of darkness connected with her head, and all limbs but her left leg were rendered useless. Most, if not all, of her ribs broke, puncturing a lung. She coughed up a mouthful of blood almost instantly - and smiled.
"I didn't expect this... from you... of all people... Shinigami."
Her smile widened as her jaw had dislocated.
"To use the last of my strength... on something like this... I didn't expect..."
With a muffled, booming sound, she disappeared, and reappeared in mid-air between the rooftop and the hovering platform. As she smiled, she fell.
"I just wanted to... be with my sister..."

Beneath them, the Paindrinker saw the full extent of the fight. [i]Surface-Sister was... gone?[/i] She could still feel her, lying on top of her skin, no heavier than a fly. She could see her, lying no more than a few feet away from what remained of the Paindrinker's own phyiscal body. No, she wasn't gone yet, but she was barely alive.
"Let me help you, sister, as you helped me."
The Paindrinker's acid flesh separated beneath the Surface-Sister, whose blind eyes said nothing as her skin was burned. With the pain she felt but couldn't perceive, and the intense surge she had experienced earlier, the Paindrinker's newfound power was beyond her wildest imaginations. She looked up at the rooftop, the grain of sand that she had spared. Now, there was no reason to.

At the rooftop, Hadou and Viral could feel the Paindrinker move beneath them. They heard the sound of tentacles moving throughout the building, crushing walls and windows equally swiftly. There was little time.

Hyouketsu almost lost his footing as the fleshy surface moved. [i]No, it didn't move. It rose.[/i] With an apparent epicenter at the Paindrinker's human embodiment, the shape of the black-haired girl, the entire surface rose. There was now a slight slope up towards it, and the slope kept increasing. To Hyouketsu's right, hundreds - if not thousands - of tentacles shot up through the only remaining building in the area. He turned back.
"Hurry up! They need us!"

[Signosis]

Kuroyuri followed Hyouketsu to through the opening, snickering at his enthusiasm. She peeked over her shoulder at the Deizua to find him gone, then heard his scream. Fingering the new tattoo, she frowned wondering if she should go help him or not, but at Hyouketsu's yelling, she turned to find the man who sent them on the suicide mission. The question that nagged her the most was why the Paindrinker didn't kill them right away, and had her looking away from the man to the Surface-Sister -- [i]wait a tick, where the hell did she go?[/i]
She looked back to Hyouketsu to show and tell, grabbing on to his shoulder, but gave out a little squeak, and quickly let go to not stab him, as the surface below them began to rise.

[i]"Hurry up! They need us!"[/i]

"Right behind you!" She yelled back in his face, glaring at him a bit.

[Shadow Zero]

Viral stood and watched as the surface sister fell. Such a pitiful sight, bloody, broken and also poisoned, soon to die from it as she fell. However, the surface sister merged with the hollow below, the one called Pain Drinker. [i]"This is going to be a little more difficult."[/i] Due to the sheer size of Pain Drinker, killing it would not be easy. Viral decided that the best way would be through poison, as it would spread throughout the body and kill Pain Drinker from the inside. Furthermore, in merging with Pain Drinker, Viral was certain that the poison of which had been inflicted upon the surface sister would then be transferred to Pain Drinker as well. "[i]Well then, let's not keep things at a slow pace. Let this be ended quickly so as to move on to the main objective of this mission."[/i]

Viral raised his arms from his sides and held them just slightly upwards of horizontal from the ground. The main mass of the darkness energy orbs merged and condensed until there were only about fifty or so highly condensed orbs surrounding him. With a single downwards motion of his arms, Viral sent the remaining fifty orbs that had moved outwards at the same time and whose size and density remained unchanged. Viral had sent the darkness energy orbs to hit Pain Drinker in areas wide apart from each other, and were well clear of the Shinigami that were still on Pain Drinker, and as they were about to hit Pain Drinker, Viral turned and glided through the air to rejoin the rest. "Well, it should be over soon, unless Pain Drinker is especially resilient to poison. That and the fact that the Surface Sister was already poisoned when she merged with Pain Drinker and it shouldn't be too long before we're able to get back to our mission."

[Umbra]

The heat of battle was interrupted by an unfamiliar sound. A [i]fwop-fwop-fwop[/i] that came closer and closer, seemingly approaching them from above. Hakyou turned around, and saw something most terrifying. It was one of the airbound vehicles that the humans these days seemed to favor; the kind with the large, rotating blades on top of them. He could never remember what they called them. What's more, it was coming closer and closer by the second.

Inside the helicopter, Gouto Asuka was preparing for tonight's special broadcast. The town of Karakura out in the countryside had been A-list material for the last couple of months; starting with what the media called "The Silent Slaughter", people had been murdered in plain sight on the streets, their killers seemingly going mad. Eventually, the town was overrun, and the death toll went into the thousands. Karakura Town these ways was a ghost town... and now, her latest tip would secure her place in the world. Apparently a bomb had gone off in the city, destroying most of the buildings of the central area and leaving only a large crater. Already having the station's helicopter reserved for another report, she got on it within a few minutes.She was shocked; her source had been correct, after all. All that remained of central Karakura Town was a single building, a three-floor apartment building that stood tall in the middle of an almost perfectly circular hole. The crater seemed very deep, too deep to even see the bottom. Her cameraman, Taiki, opened the side door and swung out the camera, which was attached to the inside by railing.
"Look at this, Gouto-san! This'll be some perfect pictures!"
He started taking pictures as they hovered across town, making excited noises - then, he stopped.
"Gouto-san! Look! There appears to be some sort of... floating rock?"

Beneath them, but invisible to their eyes, the Paindrinker was annoyed by the unfamiliar sound of the sky-machine. She recalled it having another name in a past life, but as with all such things, they weren't important. Nonetheless, it was annoying her, and it shouldn't be.
"[b]Quiet![/b]"
Her voice was a shriek that pierced the skies as she flicked a larger tentacle at the skymachine.

Gouto Asuka couldn't believe her eyes. A large chunk of the street - she could even see the sewage pipes bursting out from it - was now hovering mid-air. [i]This is way... way beyond what I could dream of![/i]
"Don't stop taking pictures, Taiki-kun! Whatever you do, don't sto-"
[i]KA-CHUNK.[/i]
Something slammed against the side of the helicopter. Asuka saw the windshield infront of her bend and break, sending thousands of glass shards flying through the helicopter, almost instantly killing their pilot. She heard the rotor-blades snap, and soon after, the left side bent inward, turning the entire thing on its side, She lost footing as the helicopter turned, with the open side-door now becoming a pitfall. Taiki was hanging onto the railing, with half of his body hanging out through the door. He shook his head.
"Sorry, Asuka-san."
A moment later, he was gone. Gouto Asuka had little time to mourn her cameraman as the helicopter now moved through the air as if held by a giant hand, heading directly for the hovering piece of rock.

Everything happened too quickly for Hakyou to judge. The Paindrinker had moved with such exquisite speed that he barely had seen it, grabbing hold of the vehicle and flinging it toward them.
"Look out!"
Breaking his Kidou, he used Shunpo to get out of the attack's reach and get onto the crumbling rooftop. His three companions were not as fortunate. Still weakened from the Paindrinker's initial assault, they had no time to react. Looking back, Hakyou saw their spiritual bodies be crushed between the [i]helicopter, that's what they call them! [/i]and the risen platform. The floating stone collapsed in an inferno of flames and metal, falling onto the Paindrinker's flesh in a matter of minutes. Looking away, he heard their tormented screams as the acid and melting steel pierced through their skin and burned their bones.

Not waiting for their own actions, Hyouketsu's movements were swift. Grabbing hold of Kuroyuri's new form, careful not to touch the sharp spikes, he used Shunpo to get to the rooftop, landing just a few feet behind Hakyou.
"Hakyou-san, this is Sasaki Hyouketsu, reporting for duty! Our comrade Hirokaze Deizua is still down there, fending off that thing! We should be safe here, for now at least!"
As his last words escaped his lips, the building was rocked by another violent beating. Hakyou smiled as he shook his head.
"Maybe not, Hyouketsu-kun, but at least you can take care of yourself."

[Signosis]

Kuroyuri turned to the helicopter, letting out a soft coo at the flying vehicle, and then a shriek at being yanked along with Hyouketsu. She tried her best to not have Harakiri stab him, but it gave him a jab to the hand anyways.

"Sorry!" She said before he used the Shunpo. Kuroyuri stared at Hakyou for a moment, then glared at him, yanking her wrist from Hyouketsu's hand and folding her arms as she stared at the building where their comrades just died not too long ago. Sounded like one of them was still screaming.

[i]"Maybe not, Hyouketsu-kun, but at least you can take care of yourself." [/i]

"Pf, yeah right," Kuroyuri grumbled, scratching her chin lightly with her the tip of her scythe. "It'll take all of us to kill that...thing."
She paused, staring at Painkiller, shifting foot to foot as she tapped her fingers on her arms.
[i]We have two on the battlefield now, the leader and us two rookies up here...,[/i]Kuroyuri mused and then stared up at the bleak sky. [i]What are we going to do with just five Shinigamis?[/i]

She then looked crossly at Hakyou. "Do you even have a plan?"

[Mugendramon]

Deizua took his Robes off as fast as he could. The Paindrinker's poison was starting to affect him. As he walked outside, following Kuroyuri through the opening Hyouketsu had cut through the tentacles surrounding them, his eyes closed, Deizua cleared his mind in order to speak to his Zanpakuto. All sounds, sights, smell. In a matter of seconds, they were all gone. All that was left to Deizua was the image of his Zanpakuto Spirit, Hebimai.
[i]Hebimai, I've come. What is it you called me for earlier? [/i]The Gorgon twisted its whole body around, the scales covering the tail and arm hissing softly as it did. All the smaller snakes conforming its hair fixed their stare at the appeared Deizua. The reptile silently slithered up to the Shinigami. As soon as it was but a few feet from Deizua, it raised it head, and spoke; [i][b]I'm glad you came. There is an issue I'm not really sure about. [/b]I see. Which would that be? [b]Your skill Level for this mission is not the one we thought it would be. [/b]What is exactly your point, Hebimai. [b]You do not have enough power as to accomplish this mission. We should return to Soul Society as soon as possible. [/b]No. We are here already, and we are not disappointing Hakyou-san. Worst-case scenario, we use Bankai and get the hell out of here. [b]Understood. Now go back and fight on, Deizua.[/b] [/i]Hebimai raised one of its Snake arms and bit Deizua.
In a flash, he was back to reality. Looking up, he realized there was a tall column of smoke piercing through the clouded sky. Deizua jumped in the air, and vanished in a black mesh. He reappeared besides Hyoketsu. Bending his head over, he spoke a few words to Hakyou; "Hirokaze Deizua reporting, sir. My apologizes for our previous fail. It was only thanks to Hyoketsu-chan that we were able to escape with our lives. This thing seems to be really upset now. Should I use my Bankai to buy us some time, Hakyou-san?"