If you need an explanation

[soundfivebitch]

Things had been fucking weird since Orochimaru's death. The Palace had been a weird place to be; Tayuya answered to Kuja now, and that was weird enough. Kuja had always been the damned prettyboy she didn't have much to do with, except for mocking Kadaj for taking after him. Now she had to report to him, take instruction from him...

They'd had to clear out Orochimaru's labs, too. That had been really fucking weird. There'd been a few samples to terminate and dispose of, and lots of research notes to either move, or destroy. L had claimed some, Kuja had, of course, been given everything relevant to the Sound Five....

There'd been some stuff on the Arrancar. Orochimaru had kept some data records from his encounters with some, like Ulquiorra, and Nel, and lots of data on Wonderweiss. Tayuya hadn't told Kuja about that, she knew what politics in Khamja could be like. She'd considered destroying it, at first, but then.... There was only one person that really should have data on the Arrancar, and she knew that most of it probably wouldn't be new, but some of the stuff on Wonderweiss at least, and the procedure he'd been put through might be helpful.

She'd taken it to Aizen, quietly, and somewhat sullenly, telling him that she wouldn't want it to get into the wrong hands. Kuja wouldn't have any use for it anyway, not that she'd asked him, but whoever was taking over the labs, and it clearly wasn't Szayel because he'd bitched loudly about that fact when he'd found out, might have, and they probably shouldn't have it.

She wondered if it had influenced the later decision to allow her, Grimmjow, and Yylfordt out together. Kadaj's absence in their little party was still being felt, at least by her. It was odd just hanging about the Palace. The rest of the Sound Five, Four now, since Kimimaro had taken the peaceful out offered to him, had got over their anger with her for being friends with the Arrancar. It wasn't her fault Nnoitra had got involved, and anyway, it wasn't like she was friends with Nnoitra. Sleeping with him once didn't make them fucking buddies.

Yylfordt had used the excuse of wanting to stop by Rush Valley and pick up some supplies. It was as good an excuse as any, and clearing it with Kuja was easy enough for her once Grimmjow and Yylfordt had been given the okay. Apache wasn't allowed, though; maybe it was because she wasn't actually part of Skite, or maybe Aizen just didn't want too many of the hotheads going out together. Tayuya was hotheaded too, but Aizen hadn't seemed to make much grumble about her joining them. Of course, she was part of Skite, and wasn't under Aizen's control, but maybe handing over that data had got her in Aizen's good books for a couple of days.

She'd asked Kuja if she could get out of the Palace for a while. He probably knew, or at least suspected, that part of her reason for wanting to get out was to see if they could get in touch with Kadaj, even if he wasn't prepared to come back home yet, but she wasn't about to admit that to Kuja. Still, monkeyboy wasn't dumb.

Yylfordt had done his shopping in Rush Valley, and then they'd moved on to the desert around, killing time before heading back, and picking on some of the local wildlife. Tayuya, at least, was finally feeling a bit better, especially after she'd called on Ifrit to murder some really unfortunate things. Working with her Aeons made her feel better in general, and Ifrit was her first, so he was always special.

Killing things helped too.

She'd dismissed Ifrit and was wearing a wicked grin when the absence of the Aeon's reiatsu allowed another one to creep across her senses.

"You have gotta be fucking shitting me," she said, turning towards where it was coming from. She couldn't see anyone there yet, but she could feel it there. They weren't trying to hide their presence, so they were probably on a hunt, or doing the same as them and letting off steam by murdering things that didn't deserve it.

She'd felt the Ryoka berserker's reiatsu enough times to know it by now.

Comments

[gotitmemorised]

Axel looked between them and nodded.

He would have made a quip about them not needing to be worried, or not being his parents, but he was the one who suffered the most serious damage in the last fight and he'd needed to replace his Chakrams after the centaur girl broke one of them. He had, of course, been training himself to use a generated weapon like Saix and the rest of the ex-Nobodies, but he hadn't had as long to perfect the art as they had. He didn't much like the idea of them failing during a battle with a similar group of people to the ones he faced last time and leaving him open.

"Right, right," he said awkwardly. "Let's hit them before they hit us."

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya followed after Grimmjow's lead, trying to get a handle on their opponents from their reiatsu. Fire elemental meant that Ifrit was a bad plan, although if it came to a pinch, she could always whip him out to smash the healer, knowing that the fire elemental probably wouldn't be able to finish Ifrit before Ifrit finished the girl. Bismarck was a better bet for taking on Red himself, but Tayuya's own element was Fire and Bismarck was one that she was less confident with.

Genjutsu was a distinct possibility. There was the added bonus that her skills with it were conveyed by sound, so she could stay out of the way and let Yylfordt take centre stage while she did it. Maybe let their opponents think she was just buffing Yylfordt and Grimmjow so they weren't paying much attention, and then proceed to fucking them up in their heads.

Would Ryoka know the trick to beating Genjutsu? They hung out with Akatsuki, by all accounts, but Uchiha was infamous for his Genjutsu skills. Would he give away the trick to nullifying them to Ryoka?

The Berserker was easy to pick out. Non-Elemental meant he was raw power, and that was what he felt like. She could pick Red out too, even though she'd never met him. His reiatsu was all about his element. The girl felt like Nel, except where Nel had a hard edge hidden in the undertones, this one lacked that. Not a natural fighter, from the feel of it.

Good.

"Try and keep the fire elemental busy without giving him the impression he needs to hurry up and kill you, all right, Moocow?" Her expression was worryingly intent as she thought. "Try not to piss him off too much," She said with a smirk.

[palehornedprince]

Yylfordt looked at Tayuya, vaguely perplexed. "You mean try not to piss him off too much even though we're trying to kill him, his buddy, and his chick? Might be a tall order, bro."

Although Yylfordt didn't expect that he'd be taken too seriously as a threat anyway. He wasn't on Ulquiorra's level, so he'd seem like easy street to this guy.

Try not to make him hurry to kill you, however, well that was something Yylfordt was going to do anyway. He'd prefer if Grimmjow got the chance to finish off the berserker and then help out killing Red.

He shrugged. "No worries, I'll try not to get killed quick." Szayel would only request his mangled ass be handed over so he could collect the data anyway, and Yylfordt wouldn't wanna make Szayel's day like that.

[innatelunacy]

Saix was about to respond, quip that if Axel got hurt again, Saix would make Aerith heal him just so that he could hit Axel himself, but something else caught his attention.

"They're moving," he said. He could feel the reiatsu drawing nearer. It seemed the Arrancar party had given up waiting for them to make the first move. He forced his chocobo to face the direction of the coming attack, and it warked unhappily, but closing some of the distance on the chocobos was better than dismounting and leaving them here, potentially for a chocobo eater to get them.

That would be inconvenient.

[hearstheplanet]

Aerith frowned, looking distinctly unhappy, and began casting Shell to go with the Protect. She didn't enjoy fighting, and the way that Saix, and Lea, both did was a little bit scary.

"Saix needs to learn some better ways to make friends," she said, quietly, and then gave Lea a weak smile. "I'll look out for you both, okay?"

[jawmask]

Grimmjow snorted at Tayuya's instructions to Yylfordt. If the situation wasn't just about to burst into a storm of blades and magic, it would have almost been funny that a ninja was instructing an Espada about how to act on the battlefield.

He kept his sword out and released as it was. Blood and ichor from the Worgen he'd killed still clung to his blade and tainted the air with an unpleasant coppery smell. The fight was going to be an awkward one. Deserts were bad places to battle due to the loose ground alone, but the winds that picked up and swirled every so often always carried loose sand with them. If that happened, visibility would be less than optimal.

Grimmjow found himself nearly wishing that Yylfordt had asked Apache along. Without Kadaj they were underpowered for this type of opponent. The usual party wouldn't have been as dangerous, but Grimmjow was wary of anyone who could go head to head with Ulquiorra and not die. Apache was no Kadaj, but she was nonetheless a vicious fighter. Fast, too.

[gotitmemorised]

Axel nodded at Aerith's reassurance and gave her a smile. If things went bad, he'd have no problem calling for a retreat. Saix would be less likely to flee from a fight, but Axel had no issue with running away and living to fight another day. He didn't care if he had to drag Saix with him to do it.

"Stay out of the line of fire and we'll keep you safe," he said quietly. "Got it memorised?"

[hearstheplanet]

Aerith broke into a genuine smile. "Hey," she said, "I can look after myself, too." After all, she was the one capable of healing magic. "Don't worry about me, I'll be all right so long as you two are."

Of course, she'd mostly be all right by staying back, trying not to get hit, and making sure Axel and Saix didn't succumb to the attacks launched against them. She could bop a mugger in the slums on the head and get away fine, but the sort of people these two tangled with were a bit beyond her physical abilities.

[innatelunacy]

Saix summoned Lunatic to his hand as the two parties approached each other, and only then did he jump down off the chocobo, which took a hasty few steps back out of the way.

He wasted no further time, brandishing his weapon and concentrating his chakra to swing it forward, and aim a blast at the blue haired fighter, kicking up sand along the blast's pathway in the process.

The girl he recognised, and the blond with them was a little more vague in his memory, but Axel should be strong and fast enough to handle them both.

[palehornedprince]

Yylfordt eyed up his intended opponent. He was a lanky streak of piss that was for sure. Ulquiorra's memory of the guy hadn't quite conveyed that, probably because, to Ulquiorra at least, everyone looked like a lanky bastard.

Yylfordt shielded his eyes as the berserker used a ranged attack, muttering, "Yccruma."

He already had his mask fragment on, and held his sword in a vague salute to Red. "Looks like it's us, bro."

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya sized up all three of their opponents, but hung back, behind Yylfordt, giving Grimmjow space to fight. Much like their white mage was doing with Red, she noticed.

Yylfordt, at least, was doing his job in this one and attracting Red's attention. Tayuya raised her flute to her mouth, and began playing the Valour Minuet. A little boost for Grimmjow and Yylfordt, while she sized up their mage, and Red. She didn't want to end up Red's priority target right now.

[gotitmemorised]

Axel dismounted his Chocobo.

"Looks that way," he replied casually, eyeing up his opponent.

The Al Bhed in front of him looked built for speed rather than strength, but he knew better than to underestimate or make snap-judgements about any associates of Saix's blue-haired friend. The Mistant he'd battled last time had looked speed based and sure, he'd been fast, but he'd also been a lot stronger than he'd looked. This guy didn't have that one's reiatsu, not by a long shot, but it didn't mean that he was too be taken lightly, either. There was nothing to suggest that he wasn't simply suppressing it.

Axel pulled Chakrams free of their belt clips and gripped them tightly in each hand. He wasted no time in igniting them and sending a flash of heat across the battlefield. For a non-Fire Elemental, that rise in temperature combined with the normal desert heat was bound to be uncomfortable, even for an Al Bhed born on Bikanel.

[jawmask]

Grimmjow saw Saix's strike and knew what would happen if that came at him in the middle of a desert. With Yylfordt and Tayuya with him, he couldn't afford to be put at a disadvantage this early in the game, especially if he was to end it quickly. With a low burst of static, he used Sonido to get out of the way of the blast and get behind Saix.

He didn't waste any time in attacking. Taking advantage of Saix's swing leaving him open, if only for a second, he aimed a roundhouse kick to the side of his head.

[innatelunacy]

Saix heard the movement rather than saw it, and was caught off his guard when a foot made contact with the side of his head, knocking him off balance so he had to spin and back up to stay on his feet.

Someone wasn't playing this time.

The ground shifted under him as he moved, which was irritating because he could feel it slowing him down, and even compensating with chakra didn't entirely eliminate the problem. Saix was used to hunting in deserts, but he was used to slower, weaker opponents in them, when the differences mattered less.

He swung his claymore around and charged, swinging as he came. If his opponent wasn't playing around this time, Saix didn't intend to waste time either.

[palehornedprince]

Yylfordt scowled as he felt the temperature rise. The problem with fire elementals, he knew. Worse still, he was aero element himself which was a pain in the ass for visibility under these circumstances. Useful, too, if it came to it, but right now Yylfordt would rather keep Red where he could see him.

"Aww, come on," he said, "that's not fighting fair." He let his sword drop a bit, "Means I have to level the field, bro."

He ran in, having none of the problems moving on sand that Saix was having, and grinned as he swung. When he was sure Red was ready for him, he used Sonido, and changed the angle of his attack.

Tayuya said not to make it look like Red needed to hurry up to kill him, but he needed to try and keep his attention. He wasn't sure what Tayuya was up to right now, but he was pretty sure it was tactical.

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya continued playing, boosting Grimmjow and Yylfordt's strength from the background. Echo would keep the effect going once she was done, and in the meantime, she could take the time to observe their two opponents.

Red was strong. A skinny streak of piss, but his chakra levels were up there with the berserker's; he'd be an asshole in a back-against-the-wall fight. Very comfortable with his element, too. That was the funny thing about the Ryoka, they really utilised their elements. It was their most easily identifiable strength, and probably their biggest and most easily identified weakness, too.

Bismarck, then, if she needed to take this guy down for a bit.

The berserker was causing his usual problems, she noticed, but Grimmjow was on top of it. Now he needed to take that asshole down before he broke his limit.

The girl was trickier. Tayuya wasn't sure what to make of her yet; she hadn't done much, but she didn't seem the typically combatant type.

[hearstheplanet]

Aerith was busy casting Regen on Saix. Whoever these people were, they'd come in to hurt; there was none of the posturing and exchange of words like last time. Even Saix hadn't bothered this time.

She let the Regen go before she went to use haste on Lea. His opponent was quick, and it would give him the edge.

She just hoped this one didn't have that move the other one had used which dispelled it all in one go.

[jawmask]

Grimmjow watched Saix as he attacked. His weapon was huge but that did little to slow him down. Grimmjow had experience of his fighting style, his weapon and his speed and he brought Pantera up in front of him to block the hacking swing.

He bolstered his position with Chakra at his feet, knowing that that the connection of their weapons and the strength of his opponent's swing would be enough to sink him a little way into the sand, otherwise.

When the blow came, his Chakra, both his own and Pantera's, flared around him from the floor up, tainting the already dry and crisp air with crackles of electricity and a light rain of displaced sand.

[gotitmemorised]

Axel waited for the Al Bhed's attack and faltered briefly as he disappeared from view. With him gone from sight, he felt for traces of his Chakra to give him at least a rough idea of what direction he could expect him to come from.

He barely had time to defend against the attack that followed. He raised his Chakram just in time to catch the cutting edge of Yylfordt's sword and deflect it ... for the most part. His last opponent had been stronger and faster, but the terrain had been easier to deal with. There had been a wider playing field and solid ground underfoot.

This guy needed slowing down.

He blasted his Chakra outwards, a burning haze of flames and heat that left the air shimmering. It was intended to drive his enemy away, if only for a moment. When there was enough distance between them, he focussed his Chakra and concentrated it into his weapon.

With a surprising amount of speed for someone incapable of using Sonido or Shunpo, he launched his attack on him. Venomtouch was a skill he seldom needed to employ, but he wasn't above using it in this case.

[innatelunacy]

Saix felt a Regen spell kick in; a paltry thing, but useful over the long haul, as the claymore clashed with his opponents sword and was halted.

He had to shy away from the sand kicked up as a result. He could appreciate their terrain's tactical advantages, but he was less fond of them being used against him. The crackles of electricity were a more minor concern; this man was no Larxene, but they made the hair on his arms tingle anyway.

He replied with another strike at his opponent, trying to start a combo so he could get a few good hits in. The more they exchanged blows, the harder it became to see.

[palehornedprince]

Cred this bro was fast, Yylfordt caught himself thinking as he tried to block and evade Red's attack. He didn't have Sonido, but he barely needed it. Yylfordt beat a hasty retreat, trying to stay out of range, and groaned internally when he saw their mage cast haste.

Yeah, that was what this asshole needed. Another dose of speed.

He debated whether this guy would be familiar with Al Bhed yet; a few of the Ryoka were. Would he be fluent enough to speak it?

"Yho desa veja sehidac yku fuimt pa yfacusa," he said, in a sing-song undertone, when he was nearer Tayuya.

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya narrowed her eyes and played the last few notes before she snapped, "Hold your fucking chocobos, asshole."

Moocow seemed to have Red's attention though, which was good, because it gave her an opportunity to try Lullaby.

It wasn't a favourite; she didn't use it often, but if she could take their mage out of the picture....

She put her flute back to her lips and started to play.

[hearstheplanet]

Aerith recognised a Bard when she saw one, of course, but she hadn't worried too much about that because she seemed concerned with buffing her own side than afflicting status effects.

She was readying vigilance for Lea, since his opponent was speedy and evasive, when she started to feel a touch drowsy.

[jawmask]

Grimmjow fended off Saix's attacks and gave him a few of his own, but all the movement and Chakra in the air made things worse for them both. Saix wasn't the only one struggling with the visibility and Grimmjow swore as their attacks sent more and more sand swirling up around them.

Annoyed, he pulled back and out of Saix's reach and got himself into a defensive position, holding his sword one-handed. With the other, he charged a Cero.

[gotitmemorised]

Axel narrowed his eyes and closed the distance between himself and Yylfordt, aiming a slash at his arm with one of his Chakram's razor-sharp tines.

He didn't intend it to be a deep cut, just enough for Venomtouch to take effect. It would make him slow and weak and all the more likely turn tail and run. He didn't want to kill anyone, not even this guy. He knew Aerith wouldn't approve and ending a battle wasn't the same as killing your opponent.