Hollow in the Meadow of Gold Flowers (OPEN)

The Garganta opened wide and Colin stepped through it with a yawn. He stretched slightly and looked around him, marveling at how much Soul Society resembled the human world. Was it a comfort thing for the sake of the deceased? What a worthless attitude. It wasn’t the human world and looking like it would only keep the pain ever-present. Unless a soul didn’t remember its life on earth once it died. That would make things easier, he supposed. He remembered his human life all too well and it was frustrating sometimes, to think that he would never see his family again. “Bah. I am not here to speculate on why Soul Society is stupid.” He stepped out of the path of the still-open Garganta and gestured towards the open meadow of golden flowers before him. Several waves of Hollows spilled out of the portal. “You know what to do. Meet back here in thirty minutes. Do not displease me,” the Espada said as the Garganta closed behind the last Hollow. There was a low rumble from the gathered mass before the Hollows suddenly dispersed.

Colin, having no interest in doing anything more, hopped up into a tree and completely muted the flow of his reiatsu so that he would not be easily detected. He figured some shinigami might head this way, but he was confident that he would be able to handle any threats. He started to doze again, paying just enough attention to notice when a shinigami did in fact enter the golden meadow. The Espada didn’t open his eyes or give any indication he was present. The shinigami was just oozing tasty reiatsu and Colin briefly wondered what it would be like to eat one. But he wasn’t here to feed. So he didn’t react as the Hollows he had let loose quickly returned and surrounded the meadow. It wasn’t until he heard the distinct sound of a sword being drawn that he opened his eyes. There was the shinigami fighting with his Hollows. It was a male, fairly tall with short cropped blonde hair and very peculiar yellow eyes – rather like the flowers in the field. Weren’t shinigami supposed to look like regular humans?

He watched the shinigami kill some birdish Hollow and sighed when the circle began to shrink as the rest moved in closer. It was a fairly sensible tactic, to overwhelm the enemy with sheer number, but Colin suspected that this particular shinigami might be able to handle that problem neatly. He sighed. “Step back, morons.” The Hollows all perked up slightly and withdrew back to the very edges of the meadow while Colin dropped down from his perch in the tree. He stretched nonchalantly as he passed between two brutish Hollows that dwarfed even his 6’9 frame, stepping out into plain view of the shinigami. He continued a little further into the meadow until he was about halfway between the edge of it and the shinigami. He gave a three-finger wave to the shinigami. “Yo. You mind not killing the peons so quickly?” His voice was crisp, clear and musical as he addressed the shorter man. “I know they are all weaklings, but I do not have an infinite supply of them.”

Colin sneered at the shinigami’s statement. Spring Hollows out of their asses? What kind of asinine idiot was he dealing with here? Perhaps he should have let his troops swarm the fool. It sounded so cocky and arrogant, but its reiatsu was not in the last bit intimidating to him. His hand drifted down to the bullwhip that was coiled on a small clip at his hip. He watched the shinigami shift itself into what looked like an attack pose. It wasn’t anything the Espada hadn’t expected, but that didn’t mean he wanted to seriously fight the fool. It was beneath him and he didn’t like taking out weaklings. They weren’t as satisfying to eat afterwards. “You are so very vulgar,” he said coolly. “And worse, so arrogant. I see no reason why I should tell you anything. You are not exactly in a position to argue.” His hand now stroked the handle of his bullwhip lovingly. His sneer became a smug smirk as he stared down the shinigami. “Maybe you can force the answer from me, hm?” He tilted his head to one side, his smirk broadening as his tone became condescending. “Or does the wee wittle baby shinigami want to wun away instead? Poor baby.” He raised his arms and gestured to his Hollows, his eyes never straying from the shinigami. “Should we let him?” They didn’t answer him, remaining eerily silent as the Espada mocked the shinigami. Colin lowered his arms. “Guess not.”

Colin scoffed as the shinigami replied slowly. Did it think that because he wasn’t letting his own reiatsu flow out that it could stand up to him? This would barely serve as a warm up. Still, he would rather handle it personally than let the shinigami kill of too many of his Hollows. They were here to poke around a bit, not be senselessly slaughtered before things had even begun.

His eyes widened slightly, then snapped shut in response to the flash caused when some hidden explosives on the shinigami’s arms went off. That was actually rather clever, if dangerous. It could have blown its arms off if it had miscalculated. So reckless. His eyes immediately cracked open enough to see that smoke now filled the meadow. He clicked his tongue in irritation. This was such a textbook strategy. The opponent could literally attack from anywhere right now, due to the obscuring smoke. Worse, his Hollows were now moving restlessly and he was concerned they might disobey his order if they were upset enough – worthless creatures.

He listened very carefully for the quiet sound of a sword slash. He was not disappointed when that sweet sound occurred in front of him – though he was disappointed by the lack of creativity in the strike. He leaned back as he stepped to his left, spinning out of the blade’s path so that it cut nothing but air. “Your style is a joke, shinigami.” He gathered some reiatsu in his hand – not enough to cause serious damage – and jumped back as he fired a bala at the earth near where he was guessing the shinigami’s feet would be. There was a satisfying crack-boom as the bala struck the earth, sending up a small plume of earth.

A pleased hum escaped Colin as the shinigami tried to mock him. Of course he seemed slothful. He was just having a bit of fun right now. Angelis would probably be pissed at him for messing around like this, but it wasn’t every day he got to fight a shinigami. He wanted to make the most of it for now. The smoke seemed to be clearing a little bit, though, which was fortunate because Colin hated having to try and sense out his targets. It was a lot of work for little reward. He had to find a way to clear the meadow completely or this fight was going to get annoying very quickly. As he pondered how to achieve this he felt the shinigami flash-step to his left and shifted to avoid the blow aimed at his arm. Unfortunately, the shinigami switched the direction of its blow at the last minute and Colin hissed as the blade sliced through his leather pants, leaving a thin shallow cut on the side of his knee. Damn it all, this was his favorite pair of pants!

He cursed himself for letting his guard down, but the regret was short-lived as he heard “Hado #31: Shakkaho.” He didn’t even bother turning around. With a burst of sonido, he threw himself to the left of the crimson energy that blasted through where he had just been standing. He was closer to the center of the meadow now, but slightly further away from the shinigami. That had been too damn close for comfort. This thing seemed to know what it was doing – what a shocker. He gritted his teeth in a snarl before he sonido’d to a mere three feet behind the shinigami. Lifting his hand again, he said, “I would let you sense my strength, but that would end our fun a little too quickly.” As he spoke, he rapidly fired three bala at the shinigami’s back before sonidoing in front of it and to its left to fire another three just as rapidly right at it. He used one last burst of sonido to put some distance between himself and the shinigami, thankful that the concussive force from his bala was clearing the smoke bit by bit. “You really are arrogant,” he said scornfully.

The brief howl of pain was music to Colin’s ears. He hadn’t caused any serious damage with those weak bala, but the shinigami was apparently already wounded. If it hadn’t set off those explosives on its arm it would have been just fine. The concussive force shouldn’t have done more than maybe cause some bruising. He decided to give the shinigami a moment to recover – and perhaps come up with some creative way to get out of this disadvantageous position it was in. It would probably try to take out his Hollows while avoiding him as much as possible. That would be the sensible thing to do, though Colin had to wonder if this particular shinigami was sensible. There was not a lot of evidence to support the assumption.

Oh, look. It really was sensible. It quickly decapitated one Hollow and was already moving to dispatch a second one. “Your pets are very fun to kill. Hollows like you are scum to this earth and should be eradicated.” Colin quirked an eyebrow as it killed its second target. He wouldn’t argue that other Hollows could be fun to kill. But not small fry like the ones he had brought along. The fun ones were all Menos like he had been – Gillians and Adjuchas mostly, since he had never seen a Vasto Lorde. Some creatures were so simple-minded, though, that they just didn’t know the difference. Ah well.

Colin let the shinigami kill one more Hollow before deciding to step in again. The other Hollows were clearly gearing up for a group attack, in spite of his clear orders. He once again used sonido, throwing himself directly into the path of the shinigami’s sword as it arced towards a fourth Hollow. His hand reached out and the blade stopped in its path when it hit. As the sword bit into the palm of his hand, he wrapped his hand around the blade and jerked it towards him. He twisted his body slightly and aimed a powerful kick at the shinigami.

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