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spira_rp2012-08-02 08:27 pm
joinmyreunion) wrote in spira_rp2012-08-02 08:27 pm
Entry tags:
If he wants a fight, well now he's got one
The Palace felt quiet. A number of the Arrancar were out on a mission with Aizen; only the weak, or the unpredictable, had been made to stay behind, but that number had not, apparently, included Grimmjow. Kadaj and Tayuya had been left to their own devices without him and Yylfordt around.
Three days ago, they'd had a quiet conversation. Kadaj hadn't done much talking, just nodded, and then later in the day had crept into the laboratories down the wing of the Palace that Orochimaru had made his own. Kadaj used to go down there a lot, three years ago. He'd stopped just after the Arrancar arrived. He'd fallen out with Orochimaru once and for all shortly after that.
He emerged from the labs a couple of hours later, showered, and then went into the underground training facility. He didn't come up again for a couple of days, although there weren't really people around to notice, except Tayuya, who went down to check on him a few times.
He'd slept when he came back up, and then went to look for Nnoitra, one of the Arrancar who had been judged too unpredictable to head off to a freshly made Necrohol. He found him in the kitchen.
Kadaj made his way over; an unusual intent certainty in his expression, and spoke quietly. "Want to let off some steam?" His manner was all wrong to be an invitation to spar, but that was what it sounded like, at first.
Three days ago, they'd had a quiet conversation. Kadaj hadn't done much talking, just nodded, and then later in the day had crept into the laboratories down the wing of the Palace that Orochimaru had made his own. Kadaj used to go down there a lot, three years ago. He'd stopped just after the Arrancar arrived. He'd fallen out with Orochimaru once and for all shortly after that.
He emerged from the labs a couple of hours later, showered, and then went into the underground training facility. He didn't come up again for a couple of days, although there weren't really people around to notice, except Tayuya, who went down to check on him a few times.
He'd slept when he came back up, and then went to look for Nnoitra, one of the Arrancar who had been judged too unpredictable to head off to a freshly made Necrohol. He found him in the kitchen.
Kadaj made his way over; an unusual intent certainty in his expression, and spoke quietly. "Want to let off some steam?" His manner was all wrong to be an invitation to spar, but that was what it sounded like, at first.
no subject
He held his weapon ready and watched the proceedings until he saw an opening. Usually he wouldn't care about injuring a so-called ally, but they needed to be a team, if not necessarily a cohesive one, to win this fight. This wasn't a battle to prove himself the strongest, this was a long overdue extermination. Most of the reason he had signed up for the Arrancar Project was for this and he was damned if he was going to let the chance slip by him by playing foolishly.
When Orochimaru got away from Kadaj's attack he took the opportunity to hurl Santa Teresa at him with monstrous force.
"You think you have a chance?" He snarled as he threw it, his lips twisted into a grin as he revelled in Orochimaru's discomfort. It was a miss -- it was a guaranteed miss at that -- but it was enough to make Orochimaru to keep moving or be bisected. "The only way you're leaving this room is by a Sending!"
The chain clinked as he tightened his grip on it. With a sharp flick of the wrist and a jingle of bangles, he pulled on the chain to retrieve his axe-sword after the initial strike. He caught it effortlessly.
Once it was back in his hands he hung back to allow Kadaj to get a strike in, waiting for an opportunity to get up close on his next attack. Wearing him down like a tag team seemed like the way to go for the first leg of the fight.
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He suspected that was what Kadaj was counting on.
He neatly avoided Nnoitra's weapon, both coming and going, and leapt back to put some space between them again so that this time they wouldn't be able to interrupt him. Not even Nnoitra with that blasted sonido.
He completed the jutsu, and sent an army of black mamba forth. Their fangs probably wouldn't bother Nnoitra, but they'd keep Kadaj busy while Orochimaru dealt with his partner. He needed to split them, and deal with one at a time.
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"Keep him busy," he said, charging a quake spell and aiming for the snakes, "but don't let him think he needs to step up the game yet." If he did that too early, they were screwed. Orochimaru needed a false sense of security that he could deal with this without resorting to the upper ends of his own power, and Kadaj needed him to think that for long enough for Geostigma to do its job.
He dove forward and slashed the heads off a couple of the snakes. At least it wouldn't take him long to deal with them, so long as he didn't get bitten.
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Furthermore, it was just creepy.
He turned his head to the sound of Kadaj's voice and nodded. That would be easy enough. His weapon was big and unwieldy and he could falsify being slower with it than he needed to be. He could more than make up for it in terms of strength, but he didn't need to let Orochimaru know that. He was, after all, a mere minion of Aizen. There was no reason to let him think that most of the Espada could feasibly bring something to Khamja on their own merit.
Kadaj's use of the Quake spell didn't affect him when it hit -- his Chakra was of the Air Element and, as such, he was immune. Unfortunately, so was his uncle.
No matter.
He used Sonido to get in close to Orochimaru, but not so much that he had trouble swinging Santa Teresa. He swung at him, and slashed, keeping him backing up, swerving and otherwise ducking to avoid being hacked in two.
no subject
Nnoitra really did use an ugly, unwieldy weapon. It was to Orochimaru's advantage at the moment, of course, and he smirked as he evaded strikes with relative ease, knowing that it stood a chance of aggravating Nnoitra. "You're not really making an effort," he commented, "for someone who claims to wish to kill me."
In a flurry of movement he performed a hand seal and then slipped inside the range of Nnoitra's weapon, trying to strike him with the outstretched fingers of one hand. It was a technique which, if successfully applied, sealed off five of the chakra elements.
Including air, and earth. It would bring things to a neat end.
no subject
It wasn't difficult.
Unfortunately for Orochimaru, it was just an act. He was in his element on the field of battle. He enjoyed every aspect of it, whether that involved dealing damage to the enemy or getting hurt himself. Sadistic and near-masochistic when it came to bloodshed, he knew how to fight and he did it well. Keeping himself alert was one of the things, other than a monstrous amount of strength and a relentlessly aggressive nature, that had kept him alive until now.
"Hah!" He laughed, the sound sudden and mocking. "Have you never considered that I might wanna savour this?"
He didn't miss the hand-seals that Orochimaru performed. He didn't know what they were for -- he didn't know a great deal of Jutsu -- but he knew that if Orochimaru was making them, it was going to be something debilitating. He couldn't have that.
The low static buzz of high-speed Arrancar movement sounded at the onset of that flurry of motion. He drew back a couple of steps, putting himself out of striking range. He smirked at him from a safe distance and held out his own hand. He, unlike Orochimaru, didn't need to touch him for the attack to hit its mark.
The low thrum of a bala blast filled the air.
no subject
He avoided the bala blast deftly. It came from a distance, and he'd seen Nnoitra move to use it, which made it significantly easier. He had to admit, it was a useful little technique for someone who hadn't been disciplined enough to learn ninja skills.
A check on Kadaj's position revealed the boy had finished with the snakes, too, and was already on his way to occupy the opening left by Nnoitra.
How intriguing. There was some degree of teamwork nearly at play. He readied himself to avoid the incoming sword, and land the prepared seal on Kadaj instead.
no subject
Kadaj had to block with his off hand, keeping Orochimaru's outstretched fingers from making contact. He saw and felt the glow of gathered chakra at the tips, but didn't recognise the technique. He didn't need to in order to know he didn't want to find out what it did.
With an effort, he ducked Orochimaru, making the other man move as he aimed a couple of fast kicks and swung for the offending hand with his sword, hoping to remove it.
He failed, but pulled away sharply, landing near Nnoitra and telling him, "He's getting slower."
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Kadaj's initial attack was certainly having an effect on Orochimaru. His speed was decreasing, even if his accuracy and tenacity remained unaffected. Even so, Nnoitra knew that he couldn't get complacent. Even half immobilised Orochimaru would be a formidable opponent and he was nowhere near that point yet. Nevertheless...
"My turn," he growled, keeping his voice low.
He moved in, augmenting his speed to give him an edge, and swung his weapon at him.
no subject
There was a small cloud of smoke as it was revealed to be nothing more than a small log, which bore an explosive tag which activated as soon as it was revealed.
The substitution jutsu was an extremely basic technique, but effective. As the tag exploded, Orochimaru took the opportunity to attack unseen, extending his neck and snaking in to land a bite on Nnoitra.
Ordinarily, such a technique would allow him to place a seal on the victim, but he ran into a snag when he couldn't pierce Nnoitra's skin.
Arrancar hide, he thought. Only one thing would get through that.
He retreated quickly.
no subject
When he saw him, he raced in, sword ready, but Orochimaru was faster, pulling away and evading Kadaj's attack before he'd even reeled his neck in.
Kadaj hoped Nnoitra wasn't going to lose it after having Orochimaru try and bite him. It might bring back memories. It sure as hell made Kadaj uncomfortable.
He struck with sword and foot, and then backed off sharply after Orochimaru successfully blocked, not wanting to be within easy range of a counter attack.
no subject
Cold fury flooded through him as a wave of nausea made his stomach lurch. It almost completely destroyed the relative calm and concentration that he was using towards the intended outcome of the battle. Years of hatred, resentment and the desire for revenge hit him at once with the resurgence of memories he'd hoped to forget. He snarled wordlessly, swinging for him with his usual unrestrained speed as Orochimaru retreated.
He swore as he evaded the attack.
Nnoitra didn't move as Kadaj swept in after him to take advantage of the opening he'd left. Instead he stood there, almost doubled over and panting, his teeth gritted and his weapon clutched so tightly in his hands that his knuckles were white. He had to struggle to come to his senses and not give in to the anger. That's what he wanted.
Bastard.
no subject
He gathered himself, taking a moment and adjusting his grip on souba. He really hoped geostigma wouldn't take too much longer to wear him down enough.
"Did he break the skin?" He asked, checking. He knew Grimmjow was pretty tough where that was concerned, but he wasn't sure where Nnoitra stood on that scale of things. Kadaj knew what that bite was designed to do, anyway, aside from aggravate.
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A sword came up, and Orochimaru reached in and took it, removing it completely. Kusanagi would make short work of even Nnoitra's defences. A sword wasn't his preferred method of battle, ordinarily, but it was a useful thing to have.
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There was no way that Orochimaru's teeth would have been able to penetrate his skin. It wasn't compared to iron for nothing. He took a few deep breaths to compose himself after that bout of unpleasantness and kept his eye on Orochimaru. He struggled to resist the urge to wipe where Orochimaru had tried to bite him.
In the seconds they had spent on their exchange, Nnoitra saw Orochimaru perform his jutsu and regurgitate a sword. He didn't know what the sword was. He'd never seen him perform that and draw it before. The only thought he had was that it was a good thing if it kept Orochimaru at a blade's distance from them.
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The really fortunate thing about pushing him to use Kusanagi was that Kadaj was probably a better swordsman than Orochimaru. He hoped so, anyway, because Kusanagi was dangerous enough on its own.
Geostigma, hopefully, would help.
Kadaj darted to Orochimaru's right, and used sparkstrike to boost its effect. He wasn't too interested in hitting hard, yet, but it would help wear Orochimaru down.
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He parried Kadaj's attempt, and quirked an eyebrow at the fact he'd used sparkstrike. "Using your intelligence," he commented, "it's about time." He swung as Kadaj pulled back again, but failed to make contact. He always had been a speedy little thing.