For a bump-up in ranks. (Jackal VS the Quinta Espada)

You probably might wonder - if you were that desperate to feed your curiosity - why the man was just sitting alone in the desert, the gray cloak whipping in the wind and ignoring the night sky that was perpetual in Hueco Mundo. If you simply asked him that, and he didn't kill you, he would say that he was waiting for someone. If you questioned further and he didn't deem it necessary to devour your soul - as you'd most likely be a Hollow here, after all - then you'd find out that what good old Jackal was doing here was waiting on the Quinta Espada to get a little rank foul-up reorganized into something resembling the rank he'd been toting, or even farther than that. And why not? He'd earned it, so let's set the record straight. Not really doing anything else, except deciding how to handle him. He wouldn't even bother to move until something stronger than an Adjuchas showed up. But a battle in the desert...was all too perfect for him.

Chinou made his appearance, standing five meters away, behind the other Espada in the area - who was apparently challenging him for his rank. This brought back memories if his past. Perhaps, this Espada was too, trying to accomplish what Chinou hadn't in the past? Chinou didn't know for the time being, nor did he care. He cleared his throat before he spoke:

"Alrighty then. Let's begin, shall we?" his voice was loud and clear.

Do you know what Jackal has found really funny about the people in the world of today? They have no patience. What exactly was the hurry of a man who lives forever? That was a question the Arrancar behind him couldn't answer, no doubt. He wasn't interested in the idea of witty banter, clearly. When you consider that the gray cloaked Espada had been sitting here, waiting, for...who knows how long...you begin to understand that some people better-handle eternity than others. For instance, he didn't even more or flinch when he sensed the Quinta coming. Of course, once he got into the speaking part of things, it meant that now was the time to actually do something. The question was...do we do it while we're sitting here or stand up first? And why are we talking in the plural form? Seems silly. Nevermind.

Unfolding his legs, the man with the cloak stood and turned, regarding his opponent with his yellow eyes. You couldn't see his Zanpakuto on Jackal anywhere. The cloak allowed him to even keep a double-bladed pole-arm concealed. Hell of a thing to whip out, though. Of course, naturally, he had no idea what the Quinta was actually capable of...because it occurred to him...that he had never even MET this man! The yellow eyes blinked in that realization, then he shook his head slowly...chuckling to himself. How ever did he allow this oversight? No, actually, he could see it coming. All he did was send a messanger. Oh well. Let's clear up that little confusion now.

"Before we begin, there's something I realize I must have forgotten. That is...who are you? I'm sure I never caught your name. Not once. Would you...as they say it...fill in the blank?"

Chinou watched as the Espada got up. Yellow eyes? Yecch! He would begin the battle by placing both palms before him, both opened and aimed at the Espada. Rieatsu had begin working their way within his palms as the Espada spoke. Introductions? What a waste of precious, precious time! Bending his right middle finger, he dug into his left palm, blood dripping. Adjusting his middle finger, rieatsu could be visible emitting from both palm of his. They, at first, formed a small ball of cyan-colored rieatsu, before being immediately shot forward, aimed for the Espada. A simple Cero it was.

But it wasn't forlorn. Accompanied with that, was hardened rieatsu, released in multiple swift blast of spiritual energy. [Ten in number]. They were all parallel to each other, being in a horizontal line. They would blend with the Gran Ray Cero as the raced towards the Espada, and now becoming apparent just before the Cero reached its destination. All this was merely a distraction. Meanwhile, Chinou vanished, using the Sonido ability. Where he was headed, was unknown for the time being.

[All this occurred as you spoke. My actions were executed when you finished speaking.]

Well, if he wanted a fight, then Jackal had come to the right man. Instead of speaking even two words of identification, he decided to lash out first. Lovely. That was like music to the Espada's ears, both the human ones and the pointed canine ones atop his mask. This one would be fun whether he wanted it to or not. For instance, he had started out by immediately launching a cero his way. Nice. A bit premature and ill-conceived, but are we not men of action? Well, in Jackal's case, it was always the kind of action that he loved to deliberate on. He'd been wondering what the Quinta was like. The answer? Heh, this rank was too good for him.

Jackal smirked, and held out his hand. The reflex was so quick that it was like a natural instinct, the sort of thing you'd expect a man like him to do without looking. And he COULD do that too. What happened? Well, the Cero stopped, if that's what you mean. No, don't gimme that look. It was a technique of his, an ability that catches projectiles and redirects them called Razonar. All the Balas in the world weren't going to matter since the Quinta had pumped 'em into the Cero, into one force of energy. Of course, his target left visible sight as soon as he'd launched this behemoth. Pity. He would've liked to see the look on his face for that much. This Cero was effectively snug in a reiatsu membrane that would hold so long as the attack wasn't too strong for him. Of course, it couldn't stay that we forever.

"So, you won't talk, will you? That is a pity. The one whom I answer to would prefer that I had a name to send away, and...should I win...I couldn't just say 'This was the Quinta Espada'."

Flipping himself upward and upside down, he let the explosive power of the captured Cero blast the ground. It sent dust and sand everywhere, due to the explosion, and it would stay suspended in the air for a good bit of a while. Now then...if our esteemed guest would note, visibility is poor in this mess for now. Jackal was accustomed to desert combat. He was Egyptian and a killer. Hell, he was an embalmer, so that made death his business. If The Espada stood quiet and waited, patiently, could the opponent actually locate him? He wondered how good his other senses, the ones not sight or sound, could be...

A common innate ability it was, that this Espada possessed. This, Chinou had seen executed in many battles he had participated in. He knew now, that energy attacks were futile against the Espada. At least, while they were used as a frontal attack, or could the Espada also redirect energy related attacks from any part of his body? Now, that would surely be a unique ability. He would, of course, find out once he executed the action he had in mind.

This ability, Chinou had witnessed from his position, behind the Espada - the same distance he had been before the commencing of the battle. He spoke and Chinou disregarded his speech. He was in no mood for chit-chat. He licked the blood dripping of his palm as he focused on the Espada before him. Soon enough, the bleeding had ceased.

The Espada proceeded to perform an acrobatic move, redirecting the blast of Chinou's cero and bala into the ground. This, unfortunately for Chinou, concealed the position of the Espada with the dust clouding up the atmosphere. This battle would soon turn into a hide and seek game within a matter of seconds. Now, that was child play, and he wouldn't fall for it. He stood patiently, on guard... waiting.

No, that would be foolish of him. Fighting on soil wasn't a good idea, as Chinou could already tell. Perhaps, it was a time for a change of scenery? Yes, that was exactly what he was going to do. He used the Sonido technique once more, but this time, appearing above, up in the sky. He gained traction on air, by collecting and solidifying spiritual particles beneath his feet. His eyes had been focused at the spot at which the Espada was, the whole time. In case he used Sonido, he would notice. He kept his guard on, waiting.

This ability? Not so common. How many Arrancar can catch a big blast without getting burned even a little, do you think? I'll bet you can count 'em on one hand. Anyone barefist-catching a Cero needs to remember one thing. It'll hurt, it'll be reckless, and it'll probably explode on your face. Jackal-man? Not the case. This membrane of reiatsu was like a symbol of what he stood for. Jackal is balance. I know we tell you that alot, but it needs to be restated here and there, so we understand why he is the Well-Rounded Espada, the Jackal of all trades, master of none. Of course, once you live - or exist - long enough, you stop being master of none and start looking like a master of all. Does that sound like the description of an Arrancar thousands of years old? Oh yes. Of course, his opponent was also aged, but Jackal didn't know that. He hadn't volunteered any information, not even the common courtesy of a name. For shame.

Now, Jackal hadn't really moved from his spot. He let himself be motionless, which would probably clue his opponent that he was in there somewhere. But now was the time for mind-games. If the oh-so-respected Espada didn't want to allow himself the inconvenience of conversation, that was his own doing, but let it be known that Jackal had NOT Sonido'd precisely for the reason he smiled when the other Arrancar DID. Think about it. Here's our pointy-eared Espada, doing effectively nothing. What's that tell you? Possibly...that he's concentrating on his surroundings? Oh...always. So yeah, the other guy taking to air was a bit obvious. You didn't have to have the best Pesquisa to figure that out. The opponent gave himself away like a submarine going out of silent running. It's just a pity that Jackal didn't know what a submarine WAS.

Still, only an idiot would not assume that he was up to something, both literally and figuratively. He obviously didn't like the terrain that limited his ways to move. Hilarious. Jackal didn't run. He saved reaction time for when something actively happened. Meantime, let's have a little fun. His opponent wouldn't see this, but there was Jackal pulling out a pole-arm with both ends bladed. Animo Cochecama, his Zanpakuto. Smirking, he began to absent-mindedly twirl the thing. Maybe you ask why. Maybe there doesn't have to be a reason. Mhmm, no...there was a reason. It was just this. Within seconds of him doing it, Animo Cochecama spread a gray mist. Might seem passive to the untrained eye, and it would definitely obscure the vision better than the standard upheaval of detritus. What this could do - better than even the reiatsu-rich sand - was make make it a bit harder to follow his actions via Pesquisa. The mist was a manifestation of of his reiatsu, and it played a deadly part in his abilities.

He wasn't released yet, but he could do this sealed. Just one badass tornado, that's all. In seconds, you could forget about sand and worry about the big gray twister growing up like a giant snake at the Quinta Espada. Don't bother actually looking for Jackal. In that thing, you couldn't see him. Hell, HE couldn't see him, and he WAS him. Nevermind. The point was...that upon contact with that tornado, his opponent would find a rather unpleasant sensation of being drained. That's if it touched him. That was what these tornados did. They drained power, bringing others closer to that thing Jackal worshipped so fervently: Death.

Time went by; the Espada didn’t seem to have interest of coming after Chinou. What was he doing then? It was strange for one to stay concealed by dust, doing nothing at all. Perhaps, he was doing something after-all? Unfortunately, Chinou couldn’t tell. He hadn’t some super vision or anything like that. That though, would have been some pretty sick ability to posses. Being able to see what the ordinary eye couldn’t perceive. He took a deep breath, exhaling before he crouched. He looked down, staring at nothing in particular. He pondered when and if the cloud of dust would eventually clear. Well, it had to, unless of course, the ability of controlling sand was another specialty of the Espada down there. That was, if he had released his resurrection. Why not? He had enough time to. Or was this an ability he could use whilst in sealed form? It was quite possible. All this useless thoughts made Chinou ponder … should he use his ress’, or should he not? No. That was too much work. He would only do so, if the situation called for it. At the time being, the battle didn’t seem to be proceeding anywhere. Or at least, that was what he saw from his own perspective. The perspective of his opponent, he didn’t know nor care about.

His right palm dug into his hair, scratching. His eyes still trained on the spot where he assumed his opponent would be. He would twitch. Something else had caught his attention: the gray mist. Maybe, after all… the Espada had no ability what-so-ever to do with mist. But perhaps, had an ability to do with poison? That too was Possible. But his thoughts were merely assumptions. He groaned. He was irritated even more. The mist obscured his sight even better than the sand. This was just ridiculous. A mind game, Chinou was never good at. So he remained crouch, still watching. He was waiting for the Espada to show himself. Oh, who was he kidding? The Espada had just released mist, for the purpose of concealing himself even more. He didn’t seem to be ready to show himself. But what was he doing in that mist? Was he waiting? He could be… then again; Chinou had no intentions of going down there.

“Hmm... the air, it’s changing its course!” Chinou mumbled, looking around him. What was happening now? No one could change the direction of the air flow, just like that. Or else, they manipulated the air? Now he got it! But first of all… he stood up, leaping side-ways multiple times, to the left away from his then spot. He watched as the violent rotating column of air built up. ‘He is capable of creating … tornadoes? Hah.’ The Quinta Espada indicated mentally to himself. He pondered wondered if the Espada could also control the Tornado like a puppet? It was quite possible, he could. The ones he created that was. The funnel of air was in no time encircled by a cloud of dust. This battle was getting somewhere after all.

From his current position, five meters away from the Tornado, he glanced quickly back below. The narrow end of the tornado was connected to the gray mist. The Espada was still in there, somewhere. Perhaps, he was hiding himself within the Tornado. He grinned, as he calculated the time at which it would be best to blast off the hardened rieatsu focused around his now created fist(s). ‘Wait for it, wait for it!’ Waiting for what? Well, it was obvious to the Quinta. But was it, to the Espada down below? He would simply blast a couple of hardened heated energy, the size of his fist into the Tornado. This would overwhelm the cold downward current of air and thus having it dissipate. This was a direct attack, and though it would seem the Quinta Espada had let his guard down, he hadn’t.

The bala(s) blasted off, accelerating towards the Tornado. He had blasted twenty in total (Amount of bala), in a pair. (2 x 10 = 20) He didn’t wait to see the result of his actions. He placed both palms of his before him once more, dug into his right palm with his right middle finger, the wound to be exact. After a second or two, the bleeding began once more. A cyan-colored ball of rieatsu could be visible, building up. What was he doing? You would find out soon. He twirled his tongue around his mouth and bit it; his tongue began bleeding as well. ‘Ouch,’ he thought. His cheeks expanded, puffing out in size. The cause of this you may ponder? Simple… Rieatsu. He watched attentively, in-case his opponent was up to something new.

Naturally, if you're gonna spontaneously create a tornado out of nowhere, the wind is going to change. So, props to the yet-unnamed Espada for picking that up. Just so happened that this mist-filled tornado was anything but subtle, though it must've been at least a bit of a surprise to the intended target, who moved out of the way quickly. Did it seem like...it'd been attacking him? Reaching for him? We leave that for the observer to determine. Pity he'd missed the mechanics of it. You can't always teach an old dog new tricks. But then...if that were the case, then Jackal would be permanently stuck in Egyptian Mode and not ever understand the modern world. Don't worry, folks. He's learning.

Down there, amidst the funneling bottom of the tornado he'd made, Jackal stood on thin air. He hadn't moved. He was just doing what the Quinta was doing, but without having moved a single step. The tornado had, of course, grabbed and flung sand in every direction. It was natural. This area was being engulfed in sandstorm by proxy of the power at his command. In short, this was gonna get ugly real fast and it wasn't gonna get any better for a good while. Jackal found himself still not going anywhere just yet, though he was making plans for it. He was sort of looking around at his surroundings for the moment. If you need to ask why he didn't have sand in his eyes, then perhaps you miss the part where the storm is essentially his.

Anyway, this tornado business... Well, it seems the Quinta decided to blast Bala into it, alot of Bala. They broke through the sand being flung around and seemed to disappear for the moment. The other Espada, of course, didn't see what happened after that. Not without special vision. What he was not seeing was that his Bala dove into the tornado as planned, disrupted precisely nothing, and were flung out at different angles...sans some of their energy. That is, the tornado was indeed a wind-based attack in that it formed a tornado and did all the things vortexes DO. What isn't entirely explicit is that it's made of Jackal's mist, his energy-draining reiatsu stuff. It becomes a tornado because he makes it spin, not because of cold air fronts. The air and everything else naturally responds because it must. There had been a minor disruption of the surrounding torrent, but not actually Jackal's. It swallowed the Balas and shot them out the other end, their aim screwed up by the guiding forces of this somewhat-passive reiatsu-tornado.

The Quinta would see his weakened Bala exiting the sandstorm at fairly-random directions off their original course, and THEN the funny part would happen. Five Bala, full strength, would fly out of the sandstorm, directly in HIS direction, and the actual tornado would be seen going after him as though it had a mind of its own! Was that right? Was this storm doing not what nature told it to? Damn straight it was. It didn't have to. It was held together by Jackal's will, not the random forces of of weather patterns. Does Hueco Mundo even HAVE any natural wind? If it does, it belongs to Jackal's storms, a more empyrical force at large. That torrent was like a monster under the Espada's control, wreaking havoc wherever it manifested. Now, it was fast-pursuing the Quinta to wreak itself on HIM. And Jackal? Well, he was still out of sight, wasn't he? Lots of sand in the air now.

That was strange, wasn’t it? Now he knew for sure that the Tornado before him wasn’t natural. He just had to figure that out before he proceeded with any further actions. There were those capable of creating natural tornadoes. This Tornado though wasn’t at all natural. If It was, the force of the swirling air currents would have been decreasing rather than increasing. The more time that went by, the more powerful the force of the Tornado became. The strange thing though was the way the bala(s) he had fired off into the Tornado were deflected. The direction of the hollow bullet(s) had been altered, so that it came out the other side of the Tornado. Then, five hollow bullet(s) would burst out of the Tornado and head towards him. This weren’t the hollow bullets he had fired off…

The size of his cheeks had returned to its usual size. The building energy in his palm(s) was released, the force of the Grand Ray Cero overwhelming the Hollow bullets heading in his direction and thus fueling its power, but just by a pinch. The Grand Ray Cero headed towards the Tornado, which now seemed to be headed in Chinou’s direction. Just as he had assumed, the Tornado was being controlled. The Sexta Espada was it, had full control over the Tornado. ‘Gotta put a halt on the Cero blasting…’ he indicated mentally to himself. If he continued the battle with this method, he would be out of spiritual energy in no time. He also needed to change his choice of environment. The ground below hadn’t been working for him, nor was the air now. This battle wasn’t going to be fun as he had anticipated.

Chinou spun swiftly on his right feet, his back to the Tornado. He then darted forward with decent agility. Of course he was fast on his feet. For one to use the Sonido ability successfully, one first had to be quick on their feet. And this, he was. He didn’t look back. No, he focused on his thoughts. He focused on the thoughts that overwhelmed his mind, the strategies and tactics he was to use next. His previous battle tactics hadn’t been successful. The actions of the Sexta Espada had not been what he expected and thus, his attacks had been unsuccessful.

Now, speaking about this wind ability the Sexta Espada possessed. First he knew how to manipulate… mist was it? And now, wind? That was quite an odd combination of abilities he had there. Or was it…? He recalled the appearance of the Espada. He had … outlets was it? Some kind of armor, or so Chinou thought. Perhaps, that was the source of the mist? That was a fair assumption.

He used the Sonido technique once more to descend towards the ground. He kept running though. The Espada wanted a game of tag? Chinou would give him one. This wouldn’t tire out the Quinta Espada. It would actually be more of a … work-out. Though he was running in a desert, which ought to affect his pace, it didn’t. Being thousands of years old and originally being a hollow, he was accustomed to the sand of the desert. He unsheathed his resurrection and kept on running … running. He glanced behind him every few seconds to see what was happening...

[Apologies for the vague-ness?]

Here is an important bit of data to be known. Gran Rey Cero, the Espada-grade Cero, was probably a bit much for Jackal's tornado to manipulate much of. After all, it's usually espressed as a solid and rather powerful beam-blast of devastating proportions...which is why they forbid its use inside Las Noches. Simple and good reason, yes? In which case, it flowed into and out of the vortex, some percentage of the energy involved sucked away by it, and was only moved off course a little. Interestingly, this didn't dissipate the damn thing. Perhaps energy attacks just couldn't. Well...not unless you broke Jackal's concentration. But given that the big Cero-beam didn't hit him, we don't have to worry much about that. Oh, and if you're wondering where he is now, that will be explained very soon. Let's just say that when the Cero attack cleared the sand for a moment, the Quinta did not see him anywhere, and leave it at that until otherwise relavent.

Now, of course the tornado gave chase after the Quinta. You can expect no less. It was basically doing what it was told. And the Espada had done it such a turn by feeding it power from his attacks on top of the reiatsu from its energy-rich surroundings. Would you believe this was merely a distraction? Well, it was and it wasn't. You could do alot with this thing, after all. But...you gotta understand that it had the effect of keeping the Quinta on his toes while Jackal-boy was able to calmly prepare...anything. Like what? Well, here now is some incite on what the other Espada did not see him doing. He did not see him when he had been levitating over the sand blown every which way by the vortex, and he did not see what happened after, like sinking down into the sand with the ease of a light-but-potent object into a bog. It was so gentle that you couldn't hope to notice in any other manner. Equally, you wouldn't notice him following underground, because it was movement under alot of sand with no power surge involved.

By the time the chase was actually on, Jackal was in position. The 'mouth' of the tornado arched forward to point in the Quinta's direction. It blasted sand at high pressure. Merely a further distraction besides the pursuit. It was something of a precaution. Soon as this was done, there was Sonida from underfoot. Jackal appeared directly ahead of the Quinta and made a swing with his Zanpakuto at the eyes! While this was going on, there was another thing happening. You might notice that Jackal blinked. When he did, a red ball formed in front of his right eye. That's right, you guessed it. His usual Cero method was to concentrate it from his eye, which could leave his hands free for other things! Jackal Cero-blasted a mere instant after the pole-arm swing. If the Zanpakuto managed to hit the eyes, the Quinta might not even see it coming. If he avoided such a swing, well...the Cero was there in case he missed. Covering the bases, as it were.

The 'pursuit' had been going on for quite a while. Chinou was getting exhausted. He mind was occupied with thoughts of how to stop the Tornado. No, he was thinking of how to defeat the Espada, he was thinking of how to stop the Tornado. Though, his efforts would prove to be useless if the Espada was making a similar Tornado. Now, that would be a problem. It would be a large obstacle in his path-way. It would be an obstacle that couldn’t be easily triumphed over.

He glanced at his back, just to glimpse the Tornado seemingly attempting to swallow him. The Tornado would then wretch sand at the Quinta Espada. He glanced back ahead of him and continued his sprinting. He still had a few seconds before the sand would reach the ground beneath him. On the other hand, the blast of sand heading in his direction was bound to miss, due to him advancing forward every second. He ponders what the purpose of such an attack was. Unknown to him, he would find out. He would find out soon.

Just a brief second or two after witnessing the Tornado wretch out the sand, aimed towards his direction, the unexpected happened. The Espada appeared before him, swinging at him! But how could he? This was incredulous! It was also amusing. The Espada seemed to be using the strategy Chinou had plotted prior, on Chinou, himself. He was going to blast a Cero at Chinou while at point-blank range. The Sexta Espada wasn’t that bad after-all. He was actually pretty darn good. He was a balanced combatant.

Chinou immediately came to a halt, getting into a crouching stance he spun swiftly on his right feet. This swift motion was possible despite the density of the sand due to Chinou already collecting and solidifying spiritual particles beneath his feet(s), once he witness the Tornado coming down at him. He was going to launch himself forward and into the air. That plan though was altered, as soon as this opponent stepped in front of him.

This swift movement of the Quinta Espada had unintentionally made the Quinta Espada swing his blade at the male now standing behind him with a Cero blasted off towards his Tornado. Now, his blade had sent a wind disk, two feet in length and width, smashing into the right leg of the Espada. This would inflict a cut on him. Now, this cut would be expanded, in width and length as Chinou’s blade strikes the wound just a second later. In fact, the blade of Chinou stroke the leg of the Espada the moment the wind disk had smashed into the Espada’s leg and dispersed. All this occurred within the duration of two seconds.

After Chinou’s evasion of his opponent’s attack, which was accompanied with the unintended attack, he performed the Sonido technique. He stood behind the Espada, a three meter distance between them both. His Zanpakutou was brought up before him. He wondered if the Tornado would stop once it reached the location of its master. He hadn’t noticed his hair had been skimmed over, but he could feel something peculiar.

A wind blade to his legs? Easily solved. Instantly solved. Move the legs. Quick and easy. Is that so hard? We couldn't exactly call Jackal easily distracted by things. Clearly, he was a multi-tasker. And before you ask, he does know the meaning of that term. Yes, the leg bent back and allowed Mr. Quinta's air-made blade whisk on by. Facinating. So, did that mean that his power also lay in something to do with wind? Seemed so. An interesting detail. The man actually smirked at this. Actually, he had alot to be smirking about, being of unsound mind and body. But let's not get into that. That way lies the madness...which is sort of the point.

So, the Cero had been avoided along with the cut. Had to be expected. The two were sort of in the same direction and all. Jackal's cero had gone towards his tornado and the other Espada was now behind him, separated by some ten feet, having drawn his Zanpakuto. Jackal looked ahead, smiled, and sonido'd upward, giving him...oh...twenty feet of altitude. That should be enough, as he turned to look down directly at the other high-powered Arrancar. It was a quick thing, carefully timed. Timed for what? Well, you'll see right about...

"You really can't win, you know."

...now. Give a man rope and he just might hang himself. Give him time and he might waste it. Give him something to look at and he might focus on the wrong details. Like what? Like...how about Cero? Oh, you don't follow? Well, here's what happened. Jackal's Cero from the compound sneak attack failed. He missed. Just so. The Cero went on towards the tornado. The tornado caught the tornado and swung it around, arching it around a bit. Energy attacks are the plaything of the vortex, and this one was 'friendly fire'. It came back at the same level of strength it was in the beginning, streaking towards the Quinta again! Would he be perhaps looking up at his opponent at the exact wrong moment? Good question. We leave that up to him.

Regardless, Jackal let out a sinister madman laugh and reacted directly AFTER the redirected Cero affair, using his free hand to launch multiple Bala. He did so rapidly and with some technique, alternating between forward-jab and whipping-backhand to create the speedy projectiles. In the meantime, the tornado that had been created...sank into the sand suddenly, as though it had burrowed. This defied normal understanding, of course, but being a force unto itself allowed that sort of thing to happen. It did so at the cost of heavy ground-disruption as it continued to stalk after the Quinta Espada. Was this the point? Or was there another plan in the works? One could not say just yet, but hey. At least now your opponent is in plain view again. Hopefully, that in of itself is not the trap...

[OOC: If you're quite finished, get your head back in the game.]

The Espada vanished, appearing up above in the air. Now he finally decided to fight? It was about time he did. Meanwhile, the Cero which he thought would typically dissipate when in contact with the Tornado was hurled back at him. He did not need to take his away from the Espada to notice it. After all, the Espada was up in the air, whilst still infront of him, just like the Tornado and Cero was. But this wasn’t all that was hurled at him. The Espada blasted multiple hollow bullets in his direction. This game was beginning to get silly.

“Ugh,” he expressed his repugnance. Rising up his left arm, he would strike downwards with it. This movement would appear odd to an observer – take the Sexta Espada for an example. Chinou held his resurrection in his right palm, correct? Yes. What about his left palm? Did he have anything within its grasp? No. He did not. That was his free hand. Was there an explanation for such bizarre movement? Yes, there was. He might have simply been stretching it out – was what an observer would assume.

That assumption though was false. In his sealed form, he had complete control and manipulation of wind. He was capable of creating wind barriers that would act as a shield to protect against attacks. The shields vary greatly in size, ranging from large shields that protect his entire body to small shields that are mostly for use in hand-to-hand combat. The density of these shields though remained the same. They were capable of withstanding the force of two gran ray cero’s. Yes, Gran Ray Cero’s. The attacks launched at him had inferior to a Gran Ray Cero. And so, with ease, would be easily deflected as you guessed. The size of the particular shield Chinou just created? Well, it was one of ‘em large shields that protected his entire body.

As his arm returned back to his side, he noticed the Tornado shortening in height. What was happening now? The Cero you might wonder, should have affected his sight. And with his focus on the Espada, it would have been difficult to detect it. But no, that wasn’t the case. With a freaking tall-ass Tornado before you, it wouldn’t be difficult to notice it shortening down. But his focus was still on the Espada – one might wonder. Well, here’s the scene:

An Espada is standing in the air, and behind him is a Tornado. Even if Chinou’s focus was on him, he could still see the Tornado behind him. That was how he noticed it. It was as simple as that. What about the Cero? It was quite easy to detect. The distance between them both played a factor in this.

As this happened, he vanished from his current spot. Yes, he was going to fall prey to the Espada’s allurement once more. But the outcome wasn’t going to be identical to the last time he fell prey to the Espada’s lure.

He appeared above the ground, in the air – the same height as the Sexta, from the ground. His blade was placed horizontally before him. Around his left hand, lightning seemed to begin swirling. This would give his opponent a red herring. He wasn’t aware of Chinou’s ability to manipulate wind – and thus, the lightning would prove to be a false clue – pertaining to his abilities that was. He was sure of this. His blade was radiant – beaming. This would have the Espada assuming Chinou’s ability was related to either light or lightning abilities. Those two elements tended to glow when in use.

What about the little trick he performed below? Well, that was simple. The wind shield wasn’t visible from the spot at which the Espada stood at. It was also going to be perceivable by the eyes at close range, that being a meter to two away. And so, the Espada might make an assumption of that being Chinou’s Innate ability.

The source of this lightning one might wonder? Well that was easy. He could manipulate wind, couldn’t he? Wind simply consisted of bulk movement of air, and so in order to produce wind, he would have to be capable of manipulating air – which was how the lightning came about; Or in more simple terms, high-speed wind-friction. This was natural lightning – infused with his rieatsu of course - and thus, had the accuracy of lightning: this speed being that off 5,000 m/s, and the temperature approaching, 2000 °C. Then how come Chinou wasn’t getting burned? It was simple. He used rieatsu to conceal his left hand.

Without hesitation, the lightning went bolting towards the Espada. It was fast. A rapid attack – one could say an instantaneous attack. It was aimed at the midsection of the Espada. The Tornado was still a concern...

[If there is a problem with my post, you know what to do. Or you can simply pull a technicality and turn my error against me, like most do.]

OOC: When you do something that doesn't immediately make sense, I'll let you know.

IC>>>>>

Gee, he was starting to get the feeling the Quinta didn't like him. After all, he never talks, he never smiled, and he wouldn't even give even the small courtesy of his name. What a shame. As he watched, the other Espada seemed to erect...ah yes. Protection. Yes, the Balas and the Ceros impacted and exploded against some form of barrier. Yes, you'd have to be blind not to be aware of the attacks not getting through. He wouldn't just be standing there if he had nothing in mind. So, let's see... What could it be that he used to block the Cero and the Balas? Reiatsu was involved, naturally. You can't take a piss in Hueco Mundo without involving reiatsu. But the kind? Well, what'd he use before? Aha... You don't exist this long without picking up a few things. Let's run with that theory for now, shall we?

Now, the Quinta suddenly moved - Sonido - to behind him somewhere. Figure Jackal glanced back there, as though he had taken a mild interest in what he was doing there. A certain glint of light would grab his attention. Understand, of course, that this next bit was actually happening quite fast. You can expect no less of Espada. They work fast, so alot gets compressed into a little bit of time. Now then, the opponent Arrancar created lightning. That was interesting. And here was Jackal, his pole-arm Zanpakuto akin to a lightning rod. That was problematic, wasn't it? Heh, or not. We'll worry about how he's doing it later, as he continued to play into Jackal's hand. The lightning blasted, and there was this blur of motion... Lightning IS fast, but so are all the energy blasts, the slices, the opponents themselves... Hands moving at Sonido speeds...

Lightning struck, but it did not contact. You see, there was this hand-thing going on that intercepted projectiles related to reiatsu and otherwise energy, and it...well...just didn't seem very put out by lightning. Never actually touched the hand, really. Couldn't. It was as though Jackal had an invisible safety-net for that stuff. In any case, the Quinta Espada would find the bolt arching back his way, right at his face. Don't you just love our Espada's catch-and-release plan? He certainly did. Cue the wicked grin of the man with the pointed ears on his mask, and then the unexpected fall. Yes, he just let himself fall from his lofty position, down towards the sand again. About five feet from hitting, the ground exploded and something massive and glowing flew out with a vengeance.

It flowed past Jackal, not harming him in the slightest, went straight for the other Espada. Yeah, you guessed it. The glowing mass of whatever was indeed the tornado. Of course, naturally he'd been up to something with it. That was obvious. The mist particles soaked up power and power and even more power, and then when the time was right and it was full...the results were nasty. Jackal lay pleasantly in the sand as he watched the vortex go up to meet his discourteous opponent. You can guess what happens next. It's sort of obvious. The tornado goes up to meet our friend at a frightening speed - as though a spring had been released on a gigantic scale - and then Jackal wills it...exploded. The entire lot, a tornado-made total-conversion bomb, using all that lovely energy to light up the sky above with a brilliant blast, the likes of which would contrast the eternal night of Hueco Mundo. Jackal stated, either to himself or to his opponent if he could hear it, the following...

"I hope you brought something big to the party, because I can do that alot."

[Okay. No more long posts. Let's go with direct posts, 'kay? Till I settle, 'kay? And uh, pardon my abusive use of Sonido. I don't know if there is a limit on it, but it's just the fastest way to get around. Sooooo, here you go. Plain, simple, short and sweet.]

Yes. That was expected. And so, he was going to make an explosion on the Espada, when he attempted to change the direction at which the lightning blast had been heading. But you see, he hadn't. That would have most-likely had him lose sight of the Espada once more, which he didn't want to. And so, he watched, waiting patiently for the right moment to move. And so he did, the moment the lightning vanished, or so it seemed from the Sexta's palm, as the lightning was redirected back at Chinou. He used the Sonido technique once more, appearing at the location, at which his opponent had been standing at. His opponent, who was now descending towards the ground. And without hesitation, he crouched, THEN dove towards the Espada. Its Boshi was and Kisaki were aimed at him. And because of some Aerodynamic facts concerning the way at which he descended towards the ground, he descended rather rapidly -- and also due to his manipulation of air-wind, he did it in a way so that he descended hastily towards the Espada. While he descended, he swung downwards with different combination, towards the Espada -multiple- times, thus having wind disks (5 in total) making their way towards him. Now, this wind disks weren't in any way an energy related attack, and so, couldn't have their course altered in any way. Or so he thought.

Then the ground exploded, something 'massive and glowing' making its way upwards. It was obviously a Tornado. It flew past him, the same way it did to Jackal. But in his case, he spun - while still having his eyes glued on the Espada. An attempt to avoid the Tornado it would seem. And by now, you would notice the cyan-colored outline of Rieatsu around him. His eyes beamed like that of the suns' glow.

[OOC: Even direct, I couldn't possibly be short on a transformation sequence post.]

Dealing with a tornado, or something like a tornado, is never a narrow thing. A human being close to a real tornado is bound to notice the power of nature in a helluva hurry. Now, if your tornado-that-isn't-a-regular-tornado is strong enough to create a massive disturbance of the area, up to and including destructive force, as a side-effect, it's even less of a narrow thing and more like something you give a wide berth Fortunately for some, the powers of an Espada can compensate for this in some way. Not actually being physically touched by the thing makes life easier...until it explodes, that is. Therein lies the tricky part. In order for the Quinta not to feel the explosion of a giant force that had soaked up the energy of the surrounding area, he would've had to be quite some distance from it, as it was exploded on Jackal's command when it was close. Heh, oops. The power that can move Ceros is superior to them, and never a thing narrowly avoided. And don't bother with wind-discs. If they were not reiatsu-directed, then the elemental chaos swept them up, never reaching their target. A slap on the wrist versus groin-kick with a steel-toed boot is what that was.

But the Quinta was still there, of course, looking down at the Jackal who lay in the sand. Obviously, he enjoyed it. Hueco Mundo in its entirety agreed with him, a second Egypt. Now then...let's have some fun, shall we? Somersaulting backwards, the Espada came to his feet and held out his Zanpakuto, smiling. This was just a warm-up, an exercise to get the muscles into a good fighting mood.

"Cacareo...Amino Cochecama."

Now, let the real fight begin! There was a large explosion of gray mist out from Jackal, obscuring him again. You couldn't even see what was happening, that he was now growing armor out from his chest, hands, and feet like something internalized had been forcing its way out. The mist cleared somewhat and there was a significant change in Jackal. A completed mask, the interwoven torso armor, and the ends of his limbs. Gauntlets ending in articulate and deadly claws, boots of jackal-like feet which were also clawed... All of this let out a steady trickle of mist and obviously reflected both the strength and versatility of his zanpakuto. He looked up at the Quinta Espada with his glowing yellow eyes.

"Everything is going according to plan, so you won't mind if I step it up, right? Have fun!"

They formed in an instant, no delay this time. Mist spewed from the holes of the gauntlets and boots, and were full-fledged vortexes in seconds. This is the Espada who takes the map and wipes it clean, down to the last grain of sand. The four tornados of gray converged on the opponent Espada at an accelerated rate like fingers of a giant hand. This hand had no thumb yet, but let's not worry over that. Behold! Sonido during this extravagant attack juat now as Jackal appeared on the left side of his enemy. The aim? To put himself into a sort of spin and let his claws do the dancing. Deadly mist-covered claws attempting to rip their intended target apart, while cackling.

(My head is pounding. I'll get to posting tomorrow.)

[OOC: Yeah well, don't worry about it, because you read the 48 hour rule wrong. That was for the one challenged and only their initial response. I've found nothing anywhere that indicates otherwise.]

''Mother fucker..." he trailed off as he helped himself onto his feet, his Zanpakutou still in his grip. Then the mist appeared again. ''Tut!'' he made a dental clicking sound as he mumbled some words. Those words would be responsible for the occurrence about to happen. The outline of cyan-colored rieatsu that overwhelmed him? It was gone and replaced with a blast of rieatsu exploding in all direction. As the rieatsu cleared, it would reveal the Quinta. The form of his resurrection was now changed, but only visible at close range. On his back, was a shield with spikes sticking out. This too wouldn't be visible till one viewed it at close range. Then Tornadoes came approaching him. Not one, four. The Sexta appeared beside him, spinning - an attempt to distract him Chinou assumed. He did not move, but rather ... placed his blade in a Horizontal position, with a firm grip to it. His blade was capable of slicing through the skin of an Espada with ease... and so, with each strike the Quinta blocked, he was sure he inflicted damage as well. But the Tornadoes... he wouldn't want to be caught in an explosion of 'em four! And so, the snakes attached to the hilt of his Zanpakutou crawled around the Sexta's body in a swift movement, attempting to bind his legs and arms. The number of snakes amounted to a total of two. As this happened, a powerful whirlwind surrounded the two. The cheeks of the Quinta expanded once more... rieatsu working their way within.

Hmmm... No, his hands appeared not to be taking damage. Because they were claws, the claws formed by his release. Striking the torso, feet, face, and hands was essentially like hitting the Zanpakuto. It was not his Hierro, but the thing on top of one's Hierro. It was armor and weapon. Still, the rest was certainly a definite threat to be had as the whirlwinds closed in on them. Jackal had to retract his feet into a crossed-legged position and essentially hop a couple feet opward of his current standpoint in order to avoid being snaked. As a result, he had to spot spinning and attacking. And when that happened, the Quinta's own whirlwind had formed. One cannot say for what, because Jackal didn't know the subtle nuances of THIS form of attack. However, the idea that his opponent had not left the danger-zone meant he planned to do some nastiness right here and now. No thanks.

"Goodbye."

Oh crap. The Quinta had been doing...some sort of preparation for an attack, probably, when Jackal simply went for the point-blank annihilation move. This is used to described ginormous booms unleashed in close-quarters. In his case, it was Cero and the force of the blast would fling him out. Up and out, that is. Take it from a man who makes tornadoes. There is no spherical whirlwind. Yes, Jackal could sense danger in the winds that were not his. Hence, the ousting-by-Cero over the top, where he was met by the comforting embrace of his own tornados, striking the Quinta's whirlwind from all sides to drain what can be drained and just work on collapsing it with their considerable force.

"Now that I am thinking outside the box a bit, I wonder what that discourteous hard-headed Hierro will do now."

Snap! The seamless Anubial face of Jackal's hollow-mask formed a crack suddenly, giving him some sort of jaw-line. This was normal, however, so think nothing of it. For all you know, it happened because he was grinning.

[I sent you a PM a while ago. You haven't replied...]

[OOC: Never received any such PM. Must've been a board error. Send it again.]