Truth beyond the lies...

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Thread description: Plot related Specific users: None
Special conditions: Arrancar resu. Forme (permitted)
Special conditions2: Shinigami shikai (permitted)
Objectives: Investigate the ancient chamber / confirm the whereabouts of the hogyoku shard(s)

Somewhere in a deserted area in the middle of Hueco Mundo, a sand storm blew across a large dune which collapsed revealing a hidden ‘chamber’ leading underground. It’s been long deserted, and is now falling into ruin. Inside can be heard the far off sounds of water droplets falling into shallow pools, and well as the eerie whirling of the wind through the dimly lit halls and passages. Recently, a number of powerful hollows have been spotted wandering the chamber’s once deserted halls. There have also been reports of a hogyoku shard possibly being hidden deep within the chamber.

Tenchiru walks down the corridor, trying not to let Kurosawa drain her anymore emotionally. It was like he was whispering to her, however it appeared as if only she could hear him. "Destadi is one suspicious character. I wonder why he always favors to stride with Shrio?"

Tenchiru smiles widely. "He has his reasons... I can sense it." She keeps an open mind and decides to look at Altria... unaware that she said her whole sentence aloud. She tilts her head and smiles, trying to comfort her, "Don't worry, Altria-san. No harm will come to anybody here." She says. Trying to calm her seemingly calm body, into a less emotionally stressed state. The time was nearing.

Keeping down the corridor at a hurried pace as it begins to grow larger she turns her head to look down at Tenchiru,confused by strangely uttered sentence and at the same time unsettled by it,"P-pardon?Who has which reasons?And for what?" Understanding Tenchiru is trying to comfort her Altria smiles sadly,unable to dispel the urgent sense of something being terribly wrong pressing down on her." I wish that was true...but you never know what might happen.Thank you for those kind words though,Tenchiru." Uttering a sigh she runs a hand through her hair,"It just feels..as if something is about to break open over our heads..the feeling of wrongness here..and foreboding..I can't seem to shake it.My instincts are usually right about such things..last time I've felt this..something happened..I just can't seem to recall what it was at the moment.." Uttering another sigh she glances at Tsukiyomi at her side,"Perhaps it's just Tsuki and his ability..it was a full moon awhile ago..." Pausing as the corridor widens out into a chamber she raises her hand and the orb hovering above it high,illuminating the chamber.Cautiously walking the perimeter of it she looks around,noticing something sparkling in the middle,"Is that..???"

(In the far right corridor)

Shiro glances at Destadi with a questioning look, "What's with you? you're more hyper than usual..."

At the sound of the door closing behind him, and seals both him and Destadi in the corridor. "What?!?!" He goes over and pushes on the wall sealing them in. "Damnit! we're trapped in here!" he moves away from the wall and turns to Destadi, "what's going on here?!"

Destadi starts snickering, before it becomes full on maniacal laughter, "Ha ha ha... Oh Shiro.... You were so kind to play right into my hands." He turns and smiles maliciously, revealing long pointed fangs. "It's amazing how painfully trusting you are... to bad... you're friends won't be able to come to your aid... now, your foolishness shall cost you dearly... MY-sama.." he draws his Zanpakuto and lunges at Shiro.

Completely caught off guard by destadi's attack he barely manages to draw his zanpakuto and block. "D-Desta? What the hell are you d-doing?!" Bewildered at Destadi's words he throws him back and wall jumps to get avoid getting trapped against the wall. "Damnit!! Destadi! why are you doing this?!" he draws three kunai and prepares to throw them.

Destadi smirks and quickly jumps up and slashes at Shiro, knocking the kunai from his hand, while at the same time throwing him to the ground. "Why am I doing this? Why?" he lands near Shiro pointing one of his blades to his throat. "You don't remember? mm hm hm.... It's because... I'm the one who killed you.... back when you were human.... and now... I'm back to claim what I failed to all those centuries ago...." he smiles sweetly. "I'm back.. to claim your soul... Shinobimaru Asaka..."

Shiro freezes, his eyes widen in shock and horror. "you...." He lashes out with his Zanpakuto, knocking Desta's blade away. "you... You killed me...." He rolls away and jumps up this time getting behind Destadi and throwing four kunai at him. "Damn it......you.. I... You... you were my friend!! and now... Damn you!!" He slashes at Destadi in a storm of blows.

Destadi dodges 3 of the kunai, but one stabs him in the arm. He pulls it out without even acting as if it hurt. He parries Shiro swipes, only a few get through causing red lines to appear along his sides. "Friend? ...." He smiles evilly, "sure.. maybe with Shiro Asaka.... Mi-sama.... The 7th Espada.... but never with Shinobimaru Asaka... the Shinigami..." He laughs and stabs Shiro in the lower left side. "to me.... you're nothing more than another prey to hunt and devour."

_____In Middle Corridor_________
Unaware of situation progressing in parallel corridor Loki continues down the path in measured steps to allow Kyuri and mostly Uriko to keep up.With his spirit energy detecting skills sucky as always he doesn't pick up anything wrong going on right under his nose and only thing that could alert him to it,his goggles,is resting on top of his head switched to battery saving mode for when they find the shard. Keeping Raijin raised so they can see better in the dim half darkness that's getting thicker Loki stops abruptly after a long time of walking, groaning,"Frack it!!" Swinging Raijin he slashes at the wall blocking their way. "It's a damn dead end!All that walking and for nothing..this sucks.Altri and Shiro probably found the shard by now..not fair. T.T " Sulking Loki simply drops to the hard packed ground,leaning against less damp wall. "Do ya ladies mind if we rest a little? My feet are killing me.I was on patrol all night before this mission." Sticking Raijin into the ground and teasing him about being converted to a lamp he pulls up hakama to his knees,heavy weights he uses to train showing strapped to both legs at the shin.Grumbling it would have been wiser this time to leave them off he tries to rub some feeling back into his feet.

~With Altria and Tenchiru~
Frowning at the sudden feeling of something changing she glances around, shivering uneasily. Approaching the glinting fragment of the shard Altria winces at sudden throb running through her left side momentarily."What the..?" Unsure of what it was she shrugs it off,concentrating instead on the shard.Having no wish to touch it she wonders how to get it while inspecting the room more closely. "Strange..it feels as if..there are traces of a familiar presence left.."

(In the far right Corridor)

Shiro winces painfully when Destadi stabs him in the lower left side. *cough* "you... bastard.." He throws a flash seal and a bunch of kunai in all directions. Shiro jumps away and runs farther down the corridor until he comes to a large room with various ledges along the walls, with deep pools of dark water under them. "hurf...... Damn.... this... Damn... it... all...." he tries desperatly to stay standing, and quickly bandages his side to stop the bleeding. "it won't hold..... but.... it's fine.... for the moment."

Blinded momentarily by the flash bomb, and feeling a tingling pain in various places, Destadi looks down. "Uhg... damn.... got me good.." He pulls out the kunai lodged in his right arm, along with the ones lodged in his sides, chest, and right left leg. He tosses them aside then chases after shiro. "You're not getting away..." He brings his blade down across shiro's back leaving a long bloody wound.

"Gahhh!!" the force of Destadi's attack forces Shiro to step forward to maintain his balance. He whips around slashing Destadi's left shoulder all the way down to his right side, and then kicks him away. *cough* 'this isn't good..... I don't know how long I can keep this up....... no... I have to.... I must!' Shiro lamely tries to make a stance, obviously on the edge of exhaustion.

~With Tenchiru and Altria~
Unable to quite figure out why the left over traces of a spiritual presence feel so familiar and finding nothing else about the room she returns back to the shard. Pulling out a handkerchief she carefully wraps it around the shard,picking it up. Examining the clear fragment with pale blue fire dancing inside she gets a strange sense of deja vu,a slide of images flickering through her mind quickly. Wincing Altria quickly wraps the shard up,shivering slightly,and hides it away.About to ask Tenchiru if she's ready to head back her words die out as sharp pain races up her back."Ah..what..is..this?!" Turning around to make sure she wasn't just attacked her confusion only deepens.'What is going on?I'm not wounded..so why does it hurt as if I am?..This..happened before too...but it was much fainter..'

(In the center corridor)

Uriko pauses and sits down next to loki, feeling awfully tired herself. "..... um... n-no.... I don't mind.... resting a bit........" she pauses and blushes slightly with embarrassment, "... I-I mean.... w-we have been walking for... sometime now....." she begins twidling her index fingers, while at the same time feeling a bit nervous.

Kyuri walks past Loki and Uriko who just sat down, and turned to say something when she realized that she had gone ahead of them. "Ah-.... oh what? you're taking a break? mmmm.." she bounces in her quirky way before continuing, "... fine fine... I guess we can take a break." she sits down and stares at the weights on Loki's legs. "damn... those must be heavy.... no wonder you're tired!" she giggles with obvious amusement.

[in the far right corridor]
Destadi winces as Shiro's kunai slashes across his left shoulder to his right side, leaving a diagonal cut. He flies backward from Shiro's kick, and barely manages to regain his balance. Blood pours from his wound, small puddles slowly begin to form on the ground near his feet. "hurf.... That... had some bite to it Shinobimaru... rather impressive for someone so weak.." he smiles coldly, "but... as I stated before... your soul is mine..." he snickers menacingly, while at the same time flicking the hair concealing his left eye out of his face. (note: Destadi's left eye is pupil less, and strikes paralyzing fear into anyone he makes eye contact with.)

Shiro grits his teeth as a searing pain shoots up his back, "Sh-shut up..." he teeters from side to side for a moment before steadying himself, 'damnit... the room is spinning...' He looks up just as Destadi throws him a taunting complement and freezes, his gaze becoming completely transfixed on Destadi's left eye. 'ahh.... wh-why.... why can't I move? .... his eye... damn it.... gotta look... away...... gotta ..... look... away...!' Shiro tries to break eye contact but finds himself unable to do so, as his body seems to have become paraylized out of fear.

Gasping as sudden wave of pain races up her back she stumbles,clutching her fists tightly."Nh..what?" Growing even more confused with the situation she tries sensing if there's some invisible enemy hiding but only picks up on strange muted reiatsu."Something is wrong here..Tenchiru,maybe we should head back..we have the shard.." Trailing off she shivers,glancing around,a heavy feeling of dread weighting down on her.'Something..is happening..but what..what am I missing..?'

(In the far right corridor)
Seeing Shiro freeze, Destadi rushes up and grabs him by the throat. He smiles devilishly while lifting him into the air. "finally.... right where I want you...." Destadi raises his right hand and places his middle and index fingers to the middle of Shiro's color bone. "...... rei-ken'in...." (lit. soul pull) Destadi's hand begins to illuminate pale blue as he begins to draw out shiro's soul.

Pain explodes through Shiro's body, he febliy attempts to squirm but is unable to do to the imense pain surging through him. "Ah... gah...." He slowly begins to feel his conciousness begin to fade, 'no.... gotta... stop... him... can't.... let..... this...... ha....ppen....!' he grips Fenikkusu and slowly attempts to raise the blade.

Feeling sudden wave of pain washing over her Altria sways,collapsing to her knees."Ahhhh!!" Trembling she wraps her arms around herself,fighting to get a breath in.'Ah..what..is..hap-pening?..w-why..' Eyes widening as realization slowly begins dawning on her Altria slowly pulls herself up,using her zanpakuto as support by digging it into the ground."Shiro..something's wrong with Shiro..must get to him.." Taking a step her legs give out again as another wave of pain washes over. Biting her lower lip she tries pushing against it,surprised when it dulls down to a manageable level.Stumbling up once more Altria steadies herself,taking a deep breath.'Ok..can do this..just ignore the pain..concentrate on Shiro..right.' Moving back to the corridor she turns to Tenchiru,worried look in her eyes,"Let's head back and reunite with everyone..I..something's wrong..I'm..worried about Shiro..let's hurry." Unable to explain it clearly she says no more,hurriedly moving down the corridor as fast as she can with the muted waves of pain washing over.

Smirking Loki laughs,"Nooo,they ain't that heavy..bout sixty kg.Sides',it's perfect way to increase speed.I was just on patrol all night before." Laughing he ruffles his hair,"Admittedly maybe I should have left them off this time." Feeling better he gets up,pulling Raijin from the ground."Ok,let's return.No reason to stick around this place." Going back down the corridor , after a while he comes out at the intersection,running into Altria And Tenchiru."Heey,how did it go?We run into a dead end.Eh..you ok,Altri-chan?You look pale."