How Shikaze hated questions. Right now, the only thing he desired was to grow stronger, but how was he to accomplish this? He had little to go on, as he was but an infant in terms of the Hollow race. Granted, he knew of his abilities and how to employ them but to become strong? To reach the level of an Arrancar? Alas, he had no such clues or ideas, and as his frustration quickly reached a boiling point, he shouted at the top of his lungs, disturbing and probably annoying any other Hollow within earshot.

"HOW THE HELL DO I BECOME STRONG? HOW!?!" He roared in frustration, snarling and slamming his arms down into the dune below him, crushing it underneath his arms. "How can I avenge myself if I remain weak?"

Alas, if only he could have the answers...

While Shikaze was posed with the dilemma of obtaining strength, Presta, who was sprawled against the granular surface of sand, was ultimately obscured by the variety of quartz tree peaks surrounding her; not to mention the slight slope of sand creating a perfect angle for slumber. Regretfully, if one saw her current condition and posture, some might even consider it 'cute'. Curled up as tightly as could be, so that her knees snuggled close to her chest, as her arms defensively hovered over her frame and tucked into the backside of the knee areas of her legs, the reptilian adjuchas rested comfortably in a safe, yet also daring slumber. Even a mound of sand acted as a pillow for that raptor-like head of hers, and tail coiled around her frame all smug-like!

Sleeping beauty, until...

""HOW THE HELL DO I BECOME STRONG? HOW!?! How can I avenge myself if I remain weak?!"

Quickly flickering her eyes open at the thunderous yelling, Presta uncoiled from her comfortable ball, rolling entirely onto her back so that her head could rotate completely around her; eyes shifting to her left, right, straight ahead, above, and behind with a cock of her head backward and arch of her frame. "What the-?!" She mused, eyes widening. Her head turned in each aforementioned direction so a wide scan of her surrounding was possible, only then realizing that someone was around, but not in her general vicinity.

The creature's 'intuition' came speedily, stomach establishing an anxious, unpleasing feeling in response to her trivial reiatsu sensing. She could only sense a mere presence, but general location, power, and rank was still a mystery. Though, a basic conclusion was that the creature was behind and on the opposing side of the mound of sand she was currently laying upon.

Seemed familiar, too...

Grumbling, angered due to the obvious disturbance in her nap, Presta shouted right back at the proverbial creature, snarling slightly. "AVENGE YOURSELF BY SHUTTING THE FUCK UP, PIECE OF SHIT!!!"

Presta didn't move slightly. Whomever was behind the wall wouldn't deter her from resting; unless of course she was blatantly attacked... but who would have the balls to do that?

Usually no one expected their questions to be returned so rudely, especially if they thought they were alone for just one minute. Either way, things were already interesting!

"AVENGE YOURSELF BY SHUTTING THE FUCK UP, PIECE OF SHIT!!!"

Normally the young Hollow would avoid the sound, normally that is. But currently in his frustration, such a thought was absent from his mind. Piece of shit was he? Who in the hell was talking to him? What demon desired to be attacked? These were the new questions that swept over his mind as he inhaled deeply, drawing reiatsu into his throat as he snarled angrily. Someone was in the mood to be attacked, and this furious little Hollow was going to do so, even if it was in a tantrum of sorts.

"WHO SAID THAT?" How quickly frustration grew to rage and fury for Sylph, who was already rather touchy. And his scream was aided by his Shi Kyo that would blow some of the sand near him away, but not very much. Though the sheer volume of his roar and the power of his Shi Kyo, in a manner of speaking, it would be enough to certainly wake anyone up that was around.

Not to mention aggravate them and piss them off, to put it in cruder terms.

The once snoozing adjuchas was well unaware of the feelings the lesser hollow was currently struggling with, though assumed his or her response would not be a happy one; not a happy one, no sirree!

"WHO SAID THAT?"

Grumbling, and muttering to herself, it was as if, supposedly, a human being nagged provokingly to rise out of bed. In this instance, Presta was being awoken more and more by the shouts of this other presence, not to mention the disturbing gust of sand that lightly covered her features; sprinkled on her face, causing her to squint, and scrunch. Sadly, she had actually inhaled some of the 'dust' particles, causing her to sneeze; the expulsion of the 'foreign invaders' and air combined causing a little sand cloud of her own, though it was miniscule in size compared to the attacker's move.

Seemingly ruffling her scales and spikes, she removed the remaining sand upon her lying frame as she simultaneously rose, creeping her way up on the hill. She would try and remain stealthy with her approach, where eyes would peer about and over the hill to witness as to who was nearby. Someone she met before, perhaps?

Someone was around, but he couldn't tell who. He had only the bare minimum of ability when it came to sensing reiatsu, and he quickly began to amble after the small cloud of sand his Shi Kyo kicked up. His vocal chords and throat were burning a little, considering the enraged roar he had used. One more use and he would be tapped of his primal attack, not that it mattered much. He was more akin to a beast when he got angry, and it would only take a little more to bring out his silent fury.

"Show yourself! Who are you calling a piece of shit?" He demanded, growling angrily and drawing reiryoku to his right palm, preparing a Shi-Ba-suto in case his question was answered with an attack. Such a stark contrast from his usual self, but that was the effect of anger on this young Hollow.

Slowly, the adjuchas crept up toward the tip of the mound of sand, chocolate eyes then gaining sight at the hollow ahead of her field of vision. Of course, this made her head stick out slightly, being that the tip of her head had spikes aligned at the center and trailed the remainder of her body, so it could have been possible the lesser hollow caught onto her little 'appendage'. Though the sand hill obscured the remainder of her skull -- being below the eyes and all -- her lips curled deviously into a sinister smirk; ends of her lips reaching the edge of her mask. A truly callous Cheshire grin for the realization of who the little hollow was: Shikaze, the slow, bony-gargoyle hollow!

"Show yourself! Who are you calling a piece of shit?"

Presta snorted in retort to his little sense of bravery, causing more sand to blow up in the air. Her oculars then trailed the reiryoku forming at the hollow's palm, and her eyes squinted into a glare, as her right adjacent brow lowered and swirled slightly, surprised at the outright offensive demeanor this creature was expressing; however, if one was angry, who the hell knew what they would do, right?

Snickering lowly and almost inaudibly, Presta made her way out from behind the hill, shouting rather boisterously, "Here I am, shit!" She asserted her presence, awaiting a response. She stood proudly upon the hill of sand, standing as if superior to the lesser hollow. Well, in actuality, she was!

"So, uh... what the fuck are you going on about?!"

Carefully, the young hollow checked his surrounding. His amethyst eyes flickered from one sand dune to the next, glowing with rage and irritation. Who the hell insulted him? He wasn't prideful by any stretch, just irritated and looking to strike the Hollow who told him to shut up. In other words, instincts and rage were fueling his actions right now. And he would sadly miss catching a glimpse of Presta's head as he looked around, finishing charging up his Shi-Ba-Suto for us.

As soon as he heard her speak, he whipped around as fast as his heavy body could manage, allowing him to hone in on Presta. He recognized her of course, as one of the few Hollows he knew of. Ah, that little title she had for him, shit. He was not in a happy mood as he slowly approached her, trying to mask his charged attack. "How in the hell do I get strong like you? How do I achieve power? Tell me!" He demanded, snarling.

That was the reason for his fit; the desire for power. The true fact was that he needed it to regain his memories, but alas, he was having no such luck becoming stronger.

Presta expelled a short chuckle as the bigger, bulkier lesser hollow advanced on her position, taking careful note of his actions prior. First, was the gathering of reiryoku she witnessed around the palm of his hand. Was it some sort of nifty trick he knew? Perhaps a unique ability? Even still, she figured as much; but could not actually decipher what it was in all actuality. However, she debated that it was best not to 'touch' that adjacent arm, unless she wanted to feel some pain. Would she, though, make him aware of her knowledge?

"How in the hell do I get strong like you? How do I achieve power? Tell me!"

As he attempted to force her to tell, her own control center would be working it's 'fairy-tale' magic; electrical impulses would spark at her brain and stretch to the very ends of her frame, being the hands and feet, invisible as far as the naked eye could see. In fact, this acupuncture start-up was underneath the thick layers of scaly skin she possessed, so like him, she too, obscured the ability within; but hers was far more subtle and could go without the usage of reiryoku.

"You haven't figured it out yet, have you?!" The reptilian adjuchas inquired with the utmost amusement, still standing proudly amongst the tip of the mound of sand, feeling like a truly fitted king. Well, queen, but the point was given across nicely.

Well, what he would do next, she would gleefully await for!

Shikaze narrowed his eyes, watching Presta as he continued to slowly approach her. Sadly the young Hollow had little else in terms of offensive abilities aside from his Shi Ba-Suto, with the exception of his Shi Kyo, which sadly could only be used once more. He waited for her answer, impatience and irritation readying the powder-keg within his mind. And for some reason, when he heard her answer, he felt his blood boil in his body as he glared at her.

The Shi Ba-Suto was fully charged by now, and it wouldn't take much for him to lash out and unleash it. But he was not close enough for such, his bulk and bone armor slowed him down considerably of course. He was completely unaware of his opponent to be's own preparations for an attack, as the young Hollow could only see what his eyes allowed him to and nothing what was hidden to him. "Give me the answer, Presta!" He demanded.

Such an impatient child of a hollow, and alas, without the true memories of his human past there was little that would be done to reign in his anger.

The hollow's irritation was apparent with how Presta was handling the situation, ultimately; obvious with his tone, demeanor, and attempting-to-be-callous stare. She could only smirk and snort at his overall response, still finding this predicament to be in her favor. Height advantage was given to her, and being as he slowly approached, it would take less of a distance for her to assault him, rather than him having to lug his bulky ass up the sand hill and probably tire himself out just from doing that. Not only that, but she was already aware of what the creature was holding in his hand, the observed energy she witnessed having gathered and collected there, apparently. He didn't know she already had her own ability streaming through her body for her, and with the short waiting time, Presta was ready. Well, her hands and feet, adorned with conducting claws attached to fingers and toes, collected the electrical impulses ready to immobilize Shikaze's body should she strike a limb of his or something of that sort.

Impatient he may have been, but Presta was truly a wicked, destructive bitch. "Fight me for your answer, dick." She cackled, body lazily shifting into a defensive stance.

How would one go about inquiring power, and not choose to obtain it with experience, as Presta was so graciously providing him now? In retrospect, Shikaze's spar with the reptilian adjuchas would be his answer, with a little more icing on the cake if he gave her a good run for her money.

She had a lot of knowledge up in that sadistic noggin, after all. Perhaps for the right price, he could be rewarded?

"Fight me for your answer, dick,"

If he had his medical mind and knowledge still with him, he would obviously wonder what the point of mentioning male reproductive organs was. But alas, Shikaze did not have such information, otherwise, he would have probably just simply stared at her in confusion. As it was, he was simply a beast of rage now, growing completely silent as he channeled reiryoku to his left palm, preparing a second Shi Ba-Suto. It wouldn't be at the strength of his first one right now, but given him enough time, it would definitely be strong enough to pack one hell of an explosion.

If she wanted a fight, then she would get one! What Shikaze lacked in speed, he made up for with incredible strength, and considering he had to walk around in a suit of armor made out of steel like bones, he had a considerable amount built up. Flexing his muscles, he suddenly hopped like a frog, aiming to slam into Presta, head and back spikes first. Oh yes, his rather sharp back spikes that for once, he was intending to use as a weapon instead of a defensive measure.

He would be damned if this higher Hollow was going to get away with pissing him off!

Anticipation at it's all time high, Presta grinned wildly at the sight ahead of her as the fickle creature charged energy into his opposing arm. She could only assume he was preparing something nasty for her, and she made a mental note to avoid his hands at all costs, depending on what that ability actually was. Since she was in a defensive position, with her knees slightly bent for possible movement, the next maneuver would easily allow her to overcome the opposition.

Upon the instant he visibly flexed his muscles, and initiated movement, Presta twitched slightly, tail pointed toward the ground; and with purpose, too. As he suddenly hopped like a slow frog upward toward her inclined stature, with his head and back spikes first. Whilst he began his charge, speed and reaction time was luckily in her favor. With a bent stature, she jumped, tail simultaneously extending as it slightly dug to firm it's hold in the sand, shooting herself high into the air. Whilst being flung like a catapult to stones, her tail began to retract to as if to avoid the incoming charge. As she flew in the air, she would contort her frame with the torque of the returning tail, causing her to face the hollow below.

Maw moving so that it became agape, Presta gathered what reiatsu was coursing through her body to that exact point. Mending, shifting, hardening, Presta toyed with the foreshadowing cero at her mouth, whilst she descended closer to the ground; but thankfully, the height would give her enough space, right?

Once charging and concentration was complete, the destined beam of torrential energy was fired, aimed to incinerate and injure the sluggish lesser hollow below; a wild, sadistic grin sprawled upon her reptilian masked face.

Shikaze fully hoped to impact with the Adjuchas, full force and considering his bulk and size, it would have surely stunned her. Only, he impacted with sand, not flesh and he immediately knew that she had moved. He didn't know where as he drew his body into a crouch, realizing he had to move quickly. If she had moved, then she was no doubt going to attack him even though he didn't know where from exactly.

He had but a few seconds to think, his intelligent mind was not hindered very much by fractured memories, as he realized that it would be best to attack from the back of an opponent. Best chance to deal maximum damage and of course, get in a stunning blow as well. Shikaze growled and glanced behind himself, turning his head slightly as he caught sight of what looked to be Presta. He couldn't tell what she was doing but he saw something that made his bones shiver, a Cero.

Without much time to waste, Shikaze pushed off with all of his strength, aiming to hop out of range. He would still be caught in the cero's detonation, sending him flying a little faster than he would have liked. It also would singe his bone armor, and would require a bit of focus to repair the damage as he shifted his body to awkwardly land on his feet in a long skid. A narrow escape, though he wasn't unharmed as he had felt the concussive force of the Cero. It was only due to his bone armor and strength that he hadn't suffered a direct hit. Last time a Cero had cut his back spikes clean off, a direct hit would more than likely blow a large hole in his armor. No, scratch that, it would blow it off and would require who knows how long to repair.

SPOILER: Click to show

Sorry for late reply.

Crazed, gleamingly wild eyes gazed down at the gargantuan lesser menos whilst the cero's beam was in motion; while she couldn't quite see the fight unfolding out in front of her, given such a bright ruby-scarlet red of torrential energy, Presta could, however, feel the shrills of excitement beginning to hit her reptilian body. In those widened, chocolate oculars, if one could glance nearly, the shimmering glazed coat of belligerence over the pearly white sclera. Oh, was she going to let the rage and turmoil of her existent rain down upon the pitiful creature dubbed Shikaze! Yes, he was but a perfect case to educate, punish, and release all her despair, wrath and sadism upon!

In fact, maybe it would make her a little less crazy.

While this may have appeared as a life and death situation, the only growths of strength Presta could recall were obvious: the hunt in conjunction with the brawl. To thrive in the merciless desert, one had to excel in the instinctive drive to survive, as well as 'train', so to speak, to overcome the possibility of losing one's life to the 'meal' destined to make or break one's existence. She would be Shikaze's force to spring him into action; to shred that fragment of humanity holding him back. If he wanted revenge, supposedly, unbeknownst to her, but she would fuel his cause to ascension so his soul could be avenged. Not like she blatantly or bluntly admitted being the 'good-guy', in a sense, but Presta enjoyed being the devil's advocate to instil rage to want to grow stronger. If all this infusion made sense, then so be it!

As the cero impacted and enveloped the area into a cloud of debris and smoke, Presta descended from her elevated position in the air; kicking her legs with just enough force to cause the falling frame to appear standing upright in air, whilst her arms tucked in and her hands shielded her eyes [without touching] from any intruding particles. Her tail coiled and retracted to it's average length, and with a slant, Presta landed; feet firmly sticking into the detached, loose granular surface below whilst her soul succumbed to the obscurity of the 'mist' around her.

Bent low at first, due to the safe land, Presta soon stood erect with her limbs now positioned by her sides, a small gust of wind plowing through the desert, causing a ripple and tear between the smoke; primarily in her vicinity, so that her frame became visible to where Shikaze stationed himself, and she could recognize him through the smoke. As she no doubtfully caught a glimpse of his bulky mass, she would speak in a moderate volume tone, a sheer hint of amusement in her femininely-estranged voice. "Fighting... eating... they're all one in the same to establish power." She smiled and chortled as the smoke consumed her, allowing the creature to 'reclaim advantages in the shadows'.

Brain conjured that unique eyesight, processing impulses to activate the electrical-impulse 'seeker', and those chocolate orbs found his frame quite easily, given that the slightest motion signaled electrical impulses, and even in general the metabolic processes fueled that detection. Quietly, now, she'd approach him while the thick 'smog' surrounded her; hands still containing the charged immobilizer.

Fighting was eating. Eating was fighting . All to obtain power, no, to establish it, according to Presta. That did not sit right with Shikaze, who desired, no, needed power in order to destroy that which plagued his mind. The witch, whose face he could not see because of his broken memories and painful past as a human which he was spared from. He knew naught of how his human life had suffered at her hands, and how she had tortured him, even when he had separated from his body in death.

Shikaze growled, all thoughts of speaking lost from his mind as he was already fully entering his berserker-like rage. If that was the case, then who did he need to eat? Not just any other demon would do, he needed that power soon, and he was not going to wait either. Each hand held a single Shi-Ba-Suto in them, fully charged and awaiting impact to unleash their power and destruction upon some poor unfortunate demon. Using them both of them at once was stupid, but using them consecutively, one after the other would be pure destruction incarnate if he could manage. Even so, it carried the risk of leaving him drained more than just using one at a time would, and being unable to charge his attack for twice as long, more than likely.

He narrowed his eyes, staying still in the sand cloud that had been kicked up and the smoke. The young Hollow could at least sense reiatsu, and though he couldn't tell where it was exactly he knew that with the attack coming from above and at his back, that Presta had likely moved behind him. Why not? It seemed to be instinct to strike at the weakest point of the opponent, and a vicious blow to the spine would render all movement into a dream. The buried knowledge of a young boy aspiring to be a doctor would have told him that; as a beast of instinct, Shikaze knew that it was a common tactic, as he had been attacked from the back before.

He was a big mass of bones and brute strength after all, speed was his weakness. But his mind made up for that as he narrowed his eyes, waiting to see a figure in the shadow. He wasn't going to strike first, not again; patience was required, and the chance and opportunity to unleash a vicious one-two combo was what he desired. And so, Shikaze remained motionless except for of course, the need to breath, eyes fixed ahead of him to detect movement. And as soon as he saw it, he would have to stand his ground and wait for her to get close enough to be caught off guard by his attack. And of course, avoid being surprised, himself

SPOILER: Click to show

I'm really sorry, Shikaze. If you want, just exit if you feel like this is taking forever. ><;

As the reptilian creature neared, Presta could visibly see an outline of his bulky shape; which appeared as a dark blue shade. The clouds around her resembled a more lighter shade, but the lightest of all, provided, was the electrical impulses moving to and fro from Shikaze's body, taking a sort of electrical azure. Thankfully, her vision allowed her to distinguish still what part of his body was presumed what. So, as she was near, but not within visual due to the smoke, the creature shifted more to his left side in a curved direction around him, so that she was to his side. As she saw him in a side view, the adjuchas quickly charged forth with all her might; arms extended firstly outward as opposed to her entire body so that she could defend and attack, if need be.

As she rushed forward in a low prowl, per se, she'd be in the position so that her right arm's hand would aim to throttle or prod his left elbow, meaning that the remainder of her other half was more aligned with his shoulder. Being in that position, it would make it difficult for him to fire whatever he had in his arsenal off. She didn't know how slow he'd be, in this case, but she was prepared to combat the situation she put herself in. Should she be successful, the female adjuchas would render the elbow down of Shikaze's left arm useless and immobile. If that missed, or hit another spot, Presta still had another electrical impulse ready to fire on her right.

SPOILER: Click to show

It's fine, I am in no real rush on this spar to be honest.

Shikaze waited, and listened. There was nothing he could really do, his senses were not very well trained per say. The most he could do with the best of his senses was sense reiatsu and that was it; he was not blessed with an abundance of enhanced senses. However, what he lacked in senses he made up for with intelligence for a lowly and young Hollow such as himself. In this case, he was attempting to figure out where he would attack from if he were Presta.

Problem was, he didn't know much about her. So he had to quickly think; she was built like a reptile, and if he was correct she seemed to be built for speed. His antithesis really, which meant he would have to rely on his bone armor for protection and his strength. Speed was not his forte; but demonic strength and bone armor was thankfully, as well as a nasty habit of being quite explosive when he was consumed by his fury. Much like right now in fact.

Something was moving, he was sure of it. Where, he could not tell but it was close. He had to pay close attention to his senses, namely, his hearing and his reiatsu somewhat. Right as he was attacked; from his side. He felt something impact with his left arm, though Presta would be best off if she didn't put too much weight into the blow. For while he was a big target, he was a big armored target that had bone arm that was not only calcified and dried out, but also enriched with reiatsu. Dried out bones made for rather crude but effective weapons, and in his case it also served to protect him greatly.

His first instinct was to lash out with his arm, but he felt something odd as he tried to curl his left wrist. Emphasis on try; there was no response from his arm. What had happened? Why was his arm not moving? Last he checked, she had not even scratched his armor nor penetrated it. That meant she must be using something else, perhaps an ability or attack like his Shi-Ba-suto. He had to assume that it was some kind of paralytic ability of some sort, which meant taking hits was foolish if the paralysis did not leave him. Concentrating, he quickly drew reiatsu to his throat and simply went with his last resort and last shot; his second Shi no Kyou as he cocked his head to open his mouth right at her.

This one was far different from the first Shi no Kyou; it was actually high pitched, even for a male and combined with his reiatsu turned it into a sort of short range concussive shriek. It would be murder on his ears as well as hers, but at this range with her having just struck his arm it was bound to also feel like someone hurled a door of glass right into her, assuming she remained in the direct path of his scream. It wasn't by any means powerful in terms of brute force, but it was highly irritating and could stun someone for a few seconds. Long enough to get him to move away and think of a counter-attack or a way to turn her move against her.

SPOILER: Click to show

Sorry, that last sentence of my previous post should have mentioned her left hand still having an electrical pulse. My bad.

Success!

Presta was a little reckless at times, to say at the very least, so the reptile hadn't expected the arm of Shikaze that she had apparently immobilized to be calcified and dried up like a bare bone; so when she throttled her hand into his elbow, she accidentally jammed her fingers slightly, despite giving a forceful jab against his frame; whether this would aid her in injuring him further, she didn't know. Still, it was a minor injury, in this case, and gave her the experience she needed so that if she was ever pitted in serious combat with Shikaze, she would know next time to be more careful with the way she approached her strike.

Still, she was mildly amused with the hit! If she could easily get away with something like that, then fighting Shikaze would be a walk in the park, right?! She was the type who jumped in at the thrill of battle, despite the possible disadvantages that it would bring. Although, the female hollow was calculative when required to survive, but reckless was usually a fun way to go! What was wrong in testing the waters with one she's never sparred before? T'was a great way to distinguish one's abilities over the other, anyway!

So, as he tried to strike her after the hit, Presta assumed he realized he was unable to move his affected limb; in which those dastardly, scaly lips curved into a wicked smile of sadistic and belligerent proportions. In fact, she had allowed her cockiness to show, causing those lips to part and expose the large carnivorous teeth, which she grinned wildly as she began to laugh -- laughter increasing in volume and intensity as time progressed.

As the beast turned his head to face her, the free hand rose to attempt to try and shock him in the skull, however, the attack he initiated would definitely startle her. She thrusts her left hand upward, curled as it to mask his agape maw. At first, she had wondered if that, since her hand was extended and lunging toward his mouth, that it would somehow block or cause the pitch to bounce back more toward him, perhaps muffling the pitch slightly due to her position of her incoming hand? No doubtfully it was unbearable, the pitch and scream against her ears, causing her face to wince, eyes to momentarily widen and close in a scrunched manner. Then, she felt the impact, being pushed back by sound itself as he inadvertently created distance between the two. She fell back into the sand, ears currently buzzing and incapable of hearing sound, ringing painfully as the vibrations tampered with her skull. This was surely something she wasn't used to, as her left hand's impulse turned to null when she lost focus.

My oh my!

SPOILER: Click to show

It's been over a month without any activity in this spar, so you guys need to resume posting or end it as per the rules.