Night

A cool breeze blew through the night, the leaves of the trees whispering in the wind. It was dark, the occasional street light providing just enough light for a lost person to find their way home. Kimiko wasn't lost, however.

She was monster hunting.

The young girl was on high alert. She had next to no capacity to detect spiritual energy, so she relied on senses she could trust; her eyes, and her ears. Adjusting a pair of light gloves she often wore when in serious fights, she performed her weekly patrol of the park. Somehow, it feels like hollows are drawn to this location, or at least they seem to appear here more frequently. She doesn't really understand how they work, except that people who are killed by them gain no solace in death. She took a quick rest to sit down, stretch her legs, and eat a small meat bun to keep her energy up. She heard a shuffling beside her, bursting from her position, only to be crushed down by the weight of an inhuman appendage.

The hollow thought it had achieved an easy kill on such a deliciously rich morsel. However, it's expression changed, as it's arm began to slowly rise. Kimiko stood, legs buckled, her thin arms somehow managing to counter and repel the hollow's strength. "Don't screw with me...!" She muttered, her voice strained from the effort required to resist the large assailant's strength. With a burst of strength, she threw the monster's arm to the side, extending her legs and performing an almost impossible jump. Positioned right in front of the shocked creature's face, she spun around, building momentum before slamming her fist directly in the middle of the hollow's mask. The sound of cracking bone echoed through the park, and time almost seemed to stand still for a second, before the hollow was literally sent flying through the air. It crashed into a now-splintered tree, and the hollow quickly perished, it's mask cracked in twain. Kimiko landed on her feet, panting heavily. Performing these feats even for a short time wore her out considerably, even though the hollow was relatively weak.

"...That... should probably do it for tonight..."

"This presence that I sense, I know it, it is the presence of a hideous creature trying to pray upon the weak." Those words, although spoken out loud were sadly not heard by anyone but the man who spoke them, a middle aged man walking through the streets of Karakura right next to the park. This man did not care if nobody could hear his words, in fact he spoke such a thing out loud because of the fact that he could not be heard. The reason why he was here at this time of the night could easily be guessed by anyone based on the fact that this man carried a plastic back with the logo of a local supermarket that was not so far from his current location. Indeed, he just returned from a late night grocery shopping and now he detected something that required his immediate attention. This man, to those who knew him known as either Akira or Frankenstein, he was a rather nice guy who cared about others and always tended to do things in order to help them. He was not actually an exterminator of such monsters, but when they would attack the innocent he would be there to help.

Anyways, once he would utter those words, this middle aged man would suddenly vanish from where he once stud. It was a rather fancy trick, one moment he was there and the next he was gone, some would think he disappeared into thin air. However, this was just a simple technique which almost all spiritually aware creatures knew, one that was rather crucial due to the fact that it allowed a movement at a rather high speed. Universally it was known as Hoho, but each race had its own name for it. With it Akira would traverse the distance between his position and the position from which the spiritual pressure that he sensed a moment ago came. It didn't take him that much to reach the location of the monster, who at that moment seemed to engage himself in a battle with a young girl. Not sure who this girl was, the black haired male would pull a small silver cross which at that moment he carried around his neck. After easily taking it off his neck he would stretch his left arm, which held the cross, straight towards the monster and in a matter of seconds spiritual particles would gather around it and form a unique bow that was of a rather light blue color. This was his weapon, his dear Leviathan.

Although he came to help the girl, it did not seem as if she needed it. Just when he formed his weapon, the young girl managed to overpower the monster and then the whole thing turned into her advantage. She was a rather talented young girl, with ease she managed to defeat that monster known as Hollow. Witnessing her brute power made the black haired male lower his hand which held the bow and then he would make a few steps forward, entering the space that was under the lights of the park, unlike his cover under the darkness of the trees. Not wishing to startle the young girl Akira would say: "That was quite a performance Oujo-chan. Although said creature wasn't really that strong, I am still impressed with how you dealt with it. It would have been easier if you used your powers." Based on his tone one would deduct that he was giving her a compliment as he did speak those words with a kind and warm tone. However, it was more of a critique through which he gently told the female that she should be more careful when fighting Hollow as stronger ones could easily see through such simple attack.

Kimiko was still recovering from the earlier attack, when the older man had come into view. Panting heavily, her eyes slowly trained on his now-illuminated figure.

"That was quite a performance Oujo-chan. Although said creature wasn't really that strong, I am still impressed with how you dealt with it. It would have been easier if you used your powers."

He said it as though it was a compliment, though to her it felt demeaning. Perhaps that was just her attitude? From a critical standpoint, she was indeed weak for having been caught off-guard and having to exert so much effort just to defeat a minor enemy. That aspect probably infuriated her more than anything else, though it was an inward, self-punishing kind of hate. Admittedly that same emotion is what compelled her to become stronger in the first place, so perhaps it is a good emotion to have, after all.

Despite all this, his statement confused her. He mentioned 'powers'... She was aware that there were people with supernatural abilities... Indeed, it seemed the ability to see these monsters was in it's own some kind of power. In a way, she believed she had 'powers'... However, her true powers came from her own diligence and training, not some supernatural gift or special lineage.

"...I did use my powers..." She stated this in a tone that emphasized doubt, more than confidence. Were these 'powers' really so common? In an almost counter-intuitive way, was she the 'weird' one for not having an 'abnormal' ability?

OOC: I meant to type power and not powers, whoops. Either way I will be leaving you as I have real life issues and starting from today I am on a leave. So sorry about this, hope we could RP after I come back, I just don't want to leave you topic stuck. Short exit post coming up.

Just from spending these few moments observing the young female Akira realized that a careful approach was not needed as regardless of what he did she seemed to be too tired to attack him. If he was here to harm her she would be in a lot of trouble right now, but luckily for her he was not the type to do so. However, that was not something to be happy about, a lot of Arrancar tended to visit Karakura and if they noticed her they would probably not be nice as he was. This fact made Akira a tad worried as this sort of activity could get this young lady killed and perhaps if he watched out for her, he could keep her safe. But, he was the Emperor of Quincy so doing something like that would not be appropriate. Not that he cared about that, the life of humans was too precious to be wasted. As for her reply, she considered her natural abilities as her actual powers, so she probably hasn't awakened her Fullbring and wasn't aware of her true latent potential.

To that he had a simple way of replying. Keeping the same tone he would say: "Ah, I see. I would advise you to search for an organization called Xcution or something. It is a place for humans who can see these spirits such as yourself. They will help you to realize what your powers really are." After that the black haired male would simply turn around and he would start to walk away. However, after returning into the darkness of the trees he would stop for a moment. He did consider sending her to that place a good thing, so the reason of him stopping was not because of his doubts, he just forgot to say something. It was something that he should have done right away, but didn't. "Oh and my name is Akira Toriumi, when you learn about the Quincy, do remember me." How odd for him to forget about introducing himself, this had never happened before. Oh well, now that he was done with it, he could leave. Using his Hoho he would once again vanish, leaving the girl alone with her thoughts.

Why was Maria located in Karakura town? Her reasoning was quite simple; Snack Restock. Her stockpile of snacks was beginning to run low, so she opened a Garganta portal to traverse through. It was a rather selfish reason for Maria to travel, and she knew it. Though the girl figured she could do a little scouting while she was here so it was less pointless to anyone but herself to avoid any particular trouble for wasting time when she returned to Hueco Mundo. Even believing she might just find something useful to report back to Armonia upon her return, though that was being optimistic. The swirling vortex of darkness, the Dark Void, between realms is something that was rather difficult to cross to anyone who was new to doing so. But once one garners experience, it becomes a relatively simple matter to navigate to atleast the Material World, though still a complicated task to reach the Soul Society. Maria had some experience by this point in time, so traversing this rip in the dimensional fabric was not an issue. A piece of pocky hanging from her mouth, her red eyes narrowed in some focus to form the discernible path she traveled.

Just how much could I do scouting on my own? was a thought that plagued her since she'd come up with the idea of using it as an additional excuse for her travel. She did remain fairly optimistic; hoping to maybe find at least some information or better. But her first priority was snacks, as it was her primary reason for this visit.

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(OOC: Because I was unsure on Garganta travel at the time, the above is a 264 word add-on at the beginning of this, to make up for any error in being here instead of hueco mundo for my first post or something, with travel, feel free to correct me in a PM or something, so not to break any flow of RP posts? I don't know. didn't plan on being here long, so for how I should use it for returning to Hueco Mundo would be appreciated too. The following will also meet the minimum word requirement for a post, but there is no need to count them as separate.)
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After having passed through Garganta to arrive in Karakura Town, she made quick for getting her first task out of the way. Surely there was an easier location to get her snacks. But at the moment she planned to make use of this trip anyway; Besides she saw it as good to pay a small visit once in a while to the human world, personally. Bag of snacks in hand, she made use of her pesquisa as she made her way to the Park; sensing a Hollow among other things. She repressed her Riatsu as much as she could, though not as skilled with it as others as she arrived; spotting the strange scene of what seemed to be a normal human sending a Hollow flying. Unsurprising for it to have been defeated, it was rather weak. But the girl seemed human. Another presence caught her attention shortly after, leading to her keeping a distance and hiding in the dark of the night; a Quincy. Though he was only present for a short time before vanishing once more.

Perhaps scouting might pay off, the redheaded arrancar thought, moving closer. That hollow may have been weak, but it had been defeated in a single blow by a human. That human, had caught her interest. After the Quincy had left, she made use of the Arrancar's form of how he traveled; Sonido. Seeming to vanish from where she once stood, leaving a brief sound of static, dashing at an extreme speed for a short period, and re-appearing once again with the brief static under a light within the park."It's not often to find a human with such raw talent and strength..," she spoke addressing the young girl who yet remained in the park.

Kimiko was confused, at the man's statements. 'Xcution'...? What kind of organization was that? She really wasn't interested in pursuing something like joining an organization or gang. She wanted to protect the people around her, but she wasn't going to go out of her way to some strange group of empowered individuals to help her. He also mentioned 'Quincy', which she assumed was another gang of people in a similar light. So, they formed these sorts of groups? She assumed they were mainly for fighting hollows, but she couldn't help but get the feeling that they, along with the 'Shinigami' she knew about, all had other agendas. Whatever political or military undertones these groups had, she really didn't want to be a part of it. She didn't have much time to think about the conversation, however.

As this happened, Maria appeared infront of her. 'It's not often to find a human with such raw talent and strength...', she said. She seemed to appear from nowhere, so Kimiko came to the easiest conclusion that she could, at the time. This girl was also part of an organization, one full of people with abilities. Perhaps it was the 'Xcution' the other man had spoken of? Perhaps there were even more factions than that. "...Are you part of one of these groups, then...? The ones full of people with special powers. I'm not interested in joining some weird gang, if that's what you're trying to rope me into!" Kimiko stared down the arrancar, though she probably wasn't in such a great position to threaten the girl, given how exhausted she was. She was just in a battle, it was late, and she was ready to head home; the last thing she needed was another fight. Despite this, after all she'd gone through, the girl was more than a bit edgy.

She stood up, her legs shaking a bit, as she faced Maria.

The arrancar tilted her head as she watched the human girl, Kimiko, stand. Her words seemed so rather filled with bite, but this girl definitely didn't seem to have much energy left. She's.. easily a potential threat, if not much of one right now. But.. maybe we could make use of her? The arrancar began thinking of possibilities. Things she could do with this girl, if left alive. She took a few slow steps forward, towards Kimiko. "That's one way you could put it.."She looked the girl up and down. "But I'm going to be upfront. That beast you just destroyed was nothing but a weakling of a Hollow. Completely mindless, acting solely on instinct. I on the other hand; am something on a whole different level. An 'evolution' of them.. an Arrancar." Her eyes narrowed and a smirk spread across her face.. Kimiko was in no condition to fight; so a plan of abduction to see how the others liked the idea of using her as a tool to help with their plans. "Normally I wouldn't give a damn, but you have some potential.." there was a brief static as Maria vanished once again, with the use of Sonido.

Maria reappeared behind the human girl, moving to grab her arms and restrain them behind her back, gripped by the wrists with one hand, the other grabbing her by the back of her shirt's collar; bag of snacks recently aquired hanging on her arm, to give her use of both hands. "but -not- just as a threat..!"

Should she be able to pull off restraining Maria, she'd continue what she had to say; "My superiors on the other hand might not feel the same..you'd best hope they agree you have some use."

Kimiko grit her teeth, as Maria spoke. It couldn't be... This girl is what those creatures can become? The girl always assumed that those monsters simply grew in size, until the possibly became the sizr of skyscrapers or worse. It seemed counter-intuitive for some massive beast to become something small and intelligent, like her. She wanted to think about it deeper, but at the moment, she had other thoughts on her mind. She wasn't sure if she should feel relieved that hollows can develop a sense of intelligence, horrified that they can become as quick, powerful and as cunning as the girl claimed to be, or angry that such a thing is related to the things that murdered her entire family.

Before the girl could even react, she was pinned into place. The... 'arrancar', as she claimed to be, was far faster than any hollow or person she had even seen, before. It was almost as if, in an instant, she had teleported behind the girl. Unable to effectively used her strength in such a grip, all she was really capable of doing was struggling feebly in Maria's grasp. It almost took her a while to realise that she was probably about to be killed, tortured or otherwise held against her will. "N-No! Let go of me!" she yelled, though it's usefulness was doubtful at best. Her only ability was her strength, and while she was bound in such a way, her strength was useless. Her raw power did her well in combat against large enemies, where she could fight strength with overwhelming strength, but she had never fought against a similarly-sized opponent who could perform grapples, before.

Unable to move, she had little that she could do but struggle in the arrancar's grip, attempting to break free from the hold. Though Maria's arms may eventually tire, it was unlikely she was going to break free on her own.

The redhead laughed almost mockingly at Kimiko's attempts to escape. In comparison of strength, Maria was a fair degree more powerful, and she had much more energy to spare. She'd hold out for far longer then the point where Maria would run out of energy to resist. For the time the redhead released her grip on the back of Kimiko's shirt collar. "Relax; You're perfectly safe. For now anyway.. This will be much easier, if you cooperate, okay?" her grip with the hand that still held the human's wrists behind her back, she turned herself to the side. There was no reason for them to stick around, lest someone get in their way of leaving. She reached into her bag of snacks, pulling a box of pocky and used her teeth to rip the seal that kept it from being opened in the store; promptly flicking the box open and picking out a piece of the snack with her teeth before replacing it in the bag.

she flipped the piece of pocky she had around once her hand was freed from putting the box back, and proceeded in the process of opening of a Garganta portal, forming a rip in the fabric between realms for a short period. Maria began to focus on the hole into the dark void; focusing on creating a path as she pulled Kimiko around to face the portal. "This is probably rather confusing to you; I'll explain a bit later." And with those words, she moved to push the human girl along, keeping her focus on the path through the void, and exit the Material Realm.

Her aim was to take this human with quite a large degree of potential, to the Espada, namely the Cero, and propose her ideas of how to use the girl to some advantage; the first step being to get her to side with them.