Chapter 17: A Different Heart-Beat

[Wilfora]

Time: Unbeknownst

Place: Hueco Mundo -- Turning Grounds

Stray took her eyes off the mortifying scene as the adjucha glowed brighter than ever and she was sure the change took place as reiatsu soared near him. Rather, she chose to look at a clash that was obstructing most of the main area.

There were nine total and it looked like two different clutches. Five of them held the shape of dragon- lizard and the like. While the other four were different from one another. One Stray barely made out as a cat mixed with some sort of other animal. It was quite oddly shaped to say the least.

Both groups began to circle one another, waiting for the other side to take their first move. It felt like eons but suddenly two from the first group surged towards the others. Their scale like flesh resonated off one another, a saturated rainbow broke and mixed between the two.

The other four ran at the two, as the two charged cero to fire. They last three that held back, looked at one another, then bared fang, in a toothy grin. Wings sprang from their back and they took to the sky. Their dash of red, teal and yellow made it hard for Stray to follow their movements.

What they did next though, made her pay special attention to this fight and not others starting to erupt around this main fight.

The three then pulled their wings in, driving at the four that were fighting off the two. Ceros has stopped firing by then and shortly after the younger two Gillian peeled away from the four. The three dragons’ wings snapped open.

Compressed air curled forward, irregular circles twisting, and when the air hit the ground around the targets, lit to flame. The two that had retreated, now came forward, hunched up, crawling on their bellies.

They crawled, seeming to step on air, as their long bodies became upright. To Stray’s delight, they began moving steadily forward on their tails. This way, with walking being taken care of by the tails, the creatures were able to use their hands and feet to shoot heirro at the four that were currently being bombarded with ignitions balla. A temperate fuego bolla, if Stray remembered correctly.

The heirro didn’t reach all of the adjuchas, as one disappeared underground, one leapt to the skies and the remaining two charged, taking the blunt of the blows. The ones firing heirro began ceasing power flow to their hands. No such action would be finished until the moment the creatures leapt at them. Knocked off balance, they went tumbling.

One of the pairs rolled away, the attacking one having bitten into the other’s shoulder. It thrashed against its attacker, as it grew weaker, trying desperately to remain alive. One of the clawed hands hooked into the beast’s side. The dying hollow smirked and ripped open the odd looking attacker. An odd shade of murky yellow blood left the beast, seeping down onto the attacking one. It pushed the weird hollow away roughly before taking in the structure of the bleeding thing.

It was bulky to say the least. It had a small head and short arms; with extra-long twig-like legs. There were scales and fins everywhere, protruding from the most random of places. It also contained member-like structures on the back of its head that traveled down the back a ways then stopped in a half circle. Almost like bone staples in its back.

The bleeding hollow then roared, charging forward to hook its claws into the fishy hollow. It was a gruesome sight, and Stray enjoyed every moment of it. Dismemberment of arms and legs followed shortly thereafter, as the remaining hollow chowed down on its succulent meal.

This red brown lizard like hollow crunched and chewed the arms and legs down, making sure the bones broke in the process. It was easier to absorb their power that way. Slowly the portion of the shoulder that was missing returned thanks to the small appetizer. In order to repay the deeds of the fishy hollow, there was much more to do, but not enough time. Ripping off the head would have to do. So that too went into the belly of the lizard as well.

Something knocked it off its feet. The now angered lizard turned and saw its companion. Only the companion portion wasn’t there. It looked like a red black lizard only spotted with blue. And to the brown lizard, it looked like a mirror.

The tail of the red brown reptile wrapped around the other lizard’s neck and pulled it up into the air. Off went the head, as the mighty jaws crunched and chewed the bones to bits. There was nothing to keep the body from deteriorating now, so it crumbled in on itself. More fresh sand for the desert floor. From the corner of the eye, the now full adjucha spotted the last of its prey. It was pink, almost a neon shade. Paws obstructed most if its frontal body. They were a slight singe of purple that seemed like it almost wasn’t there. A long tail was wrapped around its hind leg; this made that leg look black. The other back leg was the same way, though it looked like there was only one tail. The adjucha paid that one no mind thinking, there’s no way it has two tails.

The adjuchas moved quickly toward the cat-like creature, not sensing any fight coming from it. It just stood there, cocking its head to the side.

The lizard neared, and looked up at its prey. It was as if it had grown twice its size. What where those things on its back? They hadn’t been there before!

Stray snickered, and then laughed. Some of the hollows below her looked up and gave her strange looks. She didn’t care for this and evaporated them with a few puño destructiva. Then she turned back to see what was going on with the little ones.

The oversized cat was batting the lizard back and forth between its paws. It had found a worthy toy and now the tail around one leg released itself. It was followed by another. The lizard hollow stared blankly at the scene it was faced with. Managing to dodge the next swipe of a paw, it gathered itself up and ran.

It wanted distance, distance to put between them. Cat-like hollow tails were not going to allow that. There was nothing the lizard could have done. It was dead. The tails darted forward and seized the lizard by the neck and brought it back to its master’s mouth, which happily opened. Careful and deliberate chewing occurred, letting the hollow feel the pain before it died forever.

Colorful lights emitted from the neon cat. Stripes began to form on the outer body. They flashed brightly a few times before wrapping around the entirety of the cat. After a while they pulled away and settled onto the new body. The new arrancar was hunched over halfway, as if it were ready to pounce. Tails flickered momentarily in the air before they twisted around the legs, creating a fur coating. The lower torso was also covered in a fur bright pink, like the original adjucha’s had been. Arms and chest were left bare so there was room for clothing. The unmistakable stripes were all over the body, making it easy to tell what he was. Yes, it was a he. He continued to be content at where he was, as if he was inviting others to attack him; and fail of course.

Stray grinned, and then turned to the other fight that was happening a bit away. The one that had driven below ground had emerged and was combatting the remaining two ground lizards. It had a long nose, and a narrow body. There was nothing really weird about it besides the deformed body that twisted oddly as it fought.

And odd it was. It managed to twist itself out of everything, dodging every attack that was sent its way, surviving as its foe grew steadily weaker and more worn down. The spine dodger sprang at the weak opponent and engaged it openly, keeping it tucked tightly to the ground, as it sunk its teeth into the succulent meat. The hollow beneath it crumbled, and Mr. Spinie slowly got up from his crouch, still partially huddled over.

A winged hollow now took the chance to swoop down. It grabbed the spine deformed hollow by its scrawny shoulders and wretched it into the sky. The one in flight allowed its prey to struggle and wiggle around for a good while before bringing the hollow to its mouth. Crunching and grinding of bones could be heard. A dust trail followed the hollow that soared high into the sky, as it joined the small flock he always flew with.

That left one ground hollow; a small meek thing that danced just below the surface of the sand. Of course the birdlike or really dragon-like, knew this but made no real attempts to deal with it. They would just swoop at it from above, as it would pop its head out of the ground. After a while, this became boring, and they all took to the ground, furling their wings. As the digging hollow would appear aboveground, they would peck at it, going frantically after the prey.

Slowly the hollow below ground gained confidence and began pulling the hollows below ground, inch by measly painfully staked long inch. Stray watched from above as slowly the sand began to spin. Eventually it picked up enough speed that the dragon hollow figured out what was going on; a bit too late. The vortex sucked them down, to the center where the digger hollow waited, jaw unhinged and ready for the meal of three fresh hollows.

Each turned to dust and the ground hollow crawled out as it glowed dimly before shadows encased it for a fraction of a second. They revealed a small thing, almost the size of a human child, certainly looking like one. Its skin was plated with cuero, tight around the legs and lower body but it was an open jerkin that was loose on him. Maroon hair was pulled to one side of the face while the rest on the more empty side had been shaved off during the transformation. The eyes, Stray noted, burned a golden blue. An interesting match.

As for what happened to it next, Stray didn’t pay it mind. Her eyes had recognized something from the past; something that had occurred to her years prior.

A young hollow was backed up against a crumbling wall. Above it, by some meters, was a semi-humanoid print, concaved into the surface. It was nothing new; something Stray recognized in a heart-beat. It was her imprint, from back then. She watched idly as the stars shifted suddenly. She felt a small pain as her head hit the ground. Her eyes closed slowly, finally going back to that mind-plaguing day.