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.

"I'm fine Loki,just a scratch." Maintaining the kido just in case she watches with some amazement as Loki's golden reiatsu spills out and he quickly takes care of the Hollow,causing it to disintegrate into disgusting ooze.'Sparky..when did he get so strong? It's amazing..' Dispelling the kido she turns to smile at Uriko," Have to protect my little sister. ^^I'm glad you're alright." Coming up to Loki just as Desta congratulates him she smiles teasingly,"You've gotten stronger,Loki-kun.All that training paying off,huh.And faster..the weights?" Glancing at Kyuri she sheathes Tsukiyomi,uttering a sigh."Kyuri..I doubt it.And this seems the only entrance.So please calm down.Rushing into things gets one killed."

Looking around Destadi perks up, looking into a distant direction. "mm.... it would appear that I sense a rather strong spiritual presence up ahead." he smiles merrily. "Lucky! perhaps there may yet be something here worth discovering after all!" ^^

Hollow vanquished Loki grins.Opening and closing his fist he stares at it,thinking. I have gotten stronger.And faster.Heeh...just a bit more. Knocked out of his thought by feel of clap on his back Loki scoots away realizing it's Destadi. Blergh..how did I end up standing this close to this Arrancar weirdo? Recalling how Destadi glomped Shiro before he grows further uncomfortable. "Eww..don't touch me,will ya." Looking disgusted and freaked he edges away some more, katana lifted little higher in defensive warning. Glad to see Altria he smirks. "Thanks.And yep.." Tapping Raijin against his shin,a metallic sound echoes. "Always wearing them. Told ya it was perfect way to increase your speed quickly.Should see me when they come off.You should try it too." Sheathing his zanpakutou he glances at Destadi suspiciously, staying wary,"What kind of presence? Something like that puddle of ooze on the floor or could it be a shard?What about you Altri-chan?Sense anything? Cause I don't but you know how my skills in that area are."

Looking in the same direction as Destadi she frowns,picking up a hazy presence at the edge of her senses,"Yes,I do know Loki-kun.It's because your own spiritual force drowns everything else out,like right now.You need to get a handle on it." Closing her eyes she concentrates on the dot of spiritual something further up ahead, puzzled why it seems familiar."Something is there...I don't think it's anything.. alive...??.." Bringing the pale flicker of the presence slowly into focus in her minds eye she utters a soft gasp,taking a stumbling step back.'This is..?..' Wincing as a quick stab of pain races up her spine and to the neck,accompanied by a quick flash of jumbled thoughts,images,sounds and echoes of feelings.Altria rubs the red tattoo on the right side of her neck,trying to diffuse the tingling sensation,confused by the fleeting images that just rose.'Nh...what was that?' Shaking her head to clear it she looks dazed,stumbling.

Shiro looks up in concern, "Altri-chan? are you alright?" he looks over at Destadi, ".... what are you picking up on-" suddenly sensing it for himself, he shivers slightly " ok... what do we do now then?"

With a faraway look in her eyes she quietly whispers,"It's a Hogyoku shard..." Immediately shaking her head Altria frowns,wondering why she knows that with a feeling of such certainty.Wincing once more she looks at Shiro,putting on a somewhat forced smile,"I'm fine.Just jolted a scratch.." Not really a lie,she did move in unfortunate way,straining the wound at her side,but not real truth for it was the shards presence bothering her still.Letting it's flickering dot slip away from her focus and become a hazy presence at the edges of her senses once more Altria feels the roused jumble of sensations fade away,letting out a relieved breath.'I see..it's fine as long as I don't focus in on it..but why?No one else seems affected so..' Straightening out she look in the direction of the shard,"We keep going,Shibu.Our mission was to investigate this place and if there's a shard. Well..there is. So we go get it..But better be careful,if a shard is here..something else would be attracted to it.."

Smiling happily, "Oh! Oh! There is a shard here after all!" he glances around and then focuses on one particular corridor, "hm.... Judging by where the signature of the energy is coming from... May we go down this corridor?" He seems eager and a bit to excited to go.

Giving Destadi a long,calm studying look she turns towards the corridor."That is the right way...You seem overly excited,Destadi.Like a kid in a candy store.Any particular reason?" Starting down the corridor she keeps on alert,cautious for any more Hollows and making sure to keep the shard's presence ahead unfocused. A strange foreboding unease creeps up,unsettling her. 'This place..suddenly I wish to leave.. why this irrational fear? My instinct never fails..better be careful. It must be the shard..it's strange powers..maybe we're walking towards something powerful..it will alright.We're all together.Nothing is going to happen..I don't sense anything we can't manage..just keep alert.'

My own force drowns everything else?But I can't control it well yet.. Concentrating as best as he can Loki pulls back in his spirit energy,golden sparks around him blinking out but faint golden glimmer remaining.Tch,nuts,I'm too worked up after that scuffle,it wont go down."Best I can do." Confused by Altrias reaction to what she says is a shard he tries sensing it out but ends up picking up only a faint,muted sensation.Destadi's eagerness puts him on guard,"What's with you,Arrancar? Why the excitement? That shard is coming back with us to Seireitei. " Trying to keep neutral it still comes out a warning.Altria going down the corridor he hurries after her,ready and eager to kill off more Hollows.

Shiro stares at destadi with an uneasy look, "You do seem way to happy about this... but... let's go..."

Tenchiru smiles and decides to sit down on the floor. Calmly and collectively, she waits for the rest of the group response. This.... she thinks, should be interesting.

Quite so indeed. Her sword starts to throb in her hand, as if silently muttering something.

Stopping at the three way split she studies each of the three corridors in turn, shivering slightly.'Ugh,sooo creepy.Why did it have to turn out this creepy.I want to go home.' Jolting at the sudden gust of wind she takes a step back,looking at corridors wearily."Tsk..can't even see anything well in this dim light," raising left hand Altria gathers spirit energy to it until it flares to life in a bright silver orb that hurts to look at, illuminating surroundings.Pulling some of the energy back until it no longer hurts the eyes the orb flickers in reaction to her unease.Taking another look at the three paths she frowns,"I can't tell which one goes to the shard...we'll have to explore each in turn.."

Uriko follows everyone down the dark corridor, and looks around nervously. She quickens her pace, trying to keep up with Altria and Loki. "........ This place.... has an eerie quality to it.... I..... don't like it." Looking up ahead she sees the three way split, and stops, standing close to Loki. "............" 'I don't like this...... something just isn't right..... like a sense of forboding.... it's scary.....'

Kyuri bounds down the corridor in a completely relaxed, carefree sort of way. She inspects the three passageways, and shivers at the slight gust of wind. "Brrrrr! That's cold! mmmm.... Judging by the wind, I guess that there's an alternate entrance in here.... or exit..." She trots from the entrance to the far right corridor to the center corridor's entrance and turns to face the group, "Soooooooooooo, what should we do? There's three passageways.... and I'm detecting two different spiritual signatures from these two corridors," she points between the center and far left tunnels, "what do we do now?"

Shiro eyes the passages with a scrutinizing look, he picks up on the spiritual signatures when his uniform is ruffled slightly by the wind. ".... hm..." he crosses his arms and has a thoughtful expression. 'This seems a bit odd..... the mission only discribed one shard... yet I'm sensing multiple signatures....' He looks over to the rest of the group, "Anyone got any suggestions about what we should do?"

Destadi's eyes drift between the passages and the group looking thoughtful, while pondering the questions. "mm? Perhaps we should split up into smaller groups?" He smiles merily but slyly at the same time, "that way we could perhaps cover more ground... no?" He wanders over to the far right passage in a leisurely manner, while yawning at the same time. "mmmmmmm.... it does sound alright with you, yes?" he grins in a cheery way while thinking to himself, 'mm hm hm... oh if they only knew..... the REAL fun.... is just about to begin.... mm hm hm hm..'

'No..I don't want to split up..something is..wrong here..' Torn between desire to get the shard quickly,leaving,and keep together as a group she looks over each passage once more.Glancing at Destadi,his overly cheery manner serves to unsettle her more."It would be nice to get this done quickly..but..I'm not sure splitting is such a wise idea in this strange place..." Shifting uneasily the pale orb of energy floating above her palm flickers unevenly,reflecting her uncertainty. 'Why..do I have such a bad feeling?..And it's so..familiar too..Maybe I'm just spooking myself..'

Looking at Uriko he grins confidently,"Don't worry Uriko-chan,I'll protect ya.If any big baddy shows up I'll just beat their head into the ground.Like that puddle of ooze we left behind." Staring at the corridors Loki pulls down his ever present goggles,performing quick scans."There are two different signatures down middle and right but I'm not picking out anything that could be a threat down either of the three ways... Weird..there are..faint traces of a signature down the right too..but so faint I can't tell from what.Must be old." Feeling Altria's worry he nudges her shoulder,"It'll be ok.Let's split into groups,no one will be alone.If anything happens, raise your reiatsu and everyone comes running.You saw how easy that Hollow was,scanner didn't pick anything stronger..or at all.If we get this done quick enough you can start enjoying that vacation today." Coming to the middle corridor he draws Raijin,golden katana beginning to glow enough to illuminate the way."I'll check out this road.You and Shiro outta take different ones,no point two strongest members of the group going together." Glancing at Destadi his eyes narrow,blunt as ever,"And someone should watch the Arrancar we have here.Cause you are behaving very suspiciously."

Bouncing up, "Oh Oh!!! i'm going with Loki too!!" She chases after loki while tugging Uriko along as well.

Suddenly getting tugged by Kyuri, Uriko barely has time to respond, "Ah... Ah... o-okay..... see you Altri, and shiro... " follows after Loki and Kyuri down the center corridor.

Shiro turns to loki, ".... I guess I understad what you're saying...." looks over to altria looking kind sad then turns to Destadi, "I'll go with Destadi..... Altria.... you go with Tenchiru... ok?" He turns to Destadi. " Let's go..."

"I guess..you right..let's go,Tenchiru." Helping Tenchiru up she moves for the left corridor,pausing at the entrance."Shibu..be careful ok.I have this feeling..just be careful.See you soon." Smiling she moves into the corridor,raising the orb higher to light the way.

Shiro nods to Altria, smiling slightly, "I will... see you soon." he heads down the corridor
to the right as another gust of wind blows past.

Smiling Destadi follows after Shiro in a cheerful manner. "Yay! I get to go with Shiro-sama!" he takes the lead, smiling to himself. He glances back to look at Shiro, ' hm hm hm hm.... everything is going according to plan..... now...... just a bit farther....'