Hunting the Hunter [Closed/Geminae]

The patter of leather boots on concrete.

The roar of a beast.

The slam of an SUV sized fist striking the ground less than a meter away.

Ah, the sounds of the city at night.

When Geminae de Loure pledged to fulfill the promise she had apathetically put off, she had no idea the truth of what she had signed up for. Every bone in her body, every synapse in her brain, told her that none of those expectations mattered or should factor into her decision. She had been caught on her ass once and people died. Who she used to be made her gut turn and burble and that was good. Disgust. It was honest and it was necessary for her to evolve and evolve she might one day do but...for now...she was just angry.

Anger at her own apathy.

Anger at the preventable deaths of friends, of loved ones.

Anger at the sadness of the world that created these beasts.

'They are just a fact', her grandfather told her when he sat his granddaughter on his knee and showed him his Quincy Cross. 'Hollows are evidence of a higher order. Sin and virtue, they both lay within all men and as long as man chooses to sin, Hollows will exist. We can hate the sin but we must still love the sinner.'

As beautiful a piece of wisdom as it were, it was a much more comfortable philosophy to talk about at home in the comfort and care of the family.

She ran down the street, weaving between telephone poles and parked cars trying to circle around and stop herself from getting flanked. One Hollow was down but two more were still converging on her, hunger in their eyes and blood on their breath. Her bow held out and pointed down with an arrow at the ready, she needed time to find a shot. Things were happening somewhere around her, a signal on the horizon...not a Hollow but something else? This energy...she'd touched something like it with her senses before but it faded, hid, and played coy. This one was standing strong at least for now and it might provide just the distraction necessary for Geminae to create space.

Skidding to a halt, she turned a hard 90 degrees and cut through an alleyway. The second Hollow, this one every bit as big as the first, parked its heft over the alley and challenged her to defy its strength. The answer was simple; run under the dumb thing.

Using the loose gravel and dirt of the alleyway, she slid on her side between the beasts legs as it ripped at the ground behind her, confused that its paw held only dirt and rocks. Her victory was short-lived as both Hollows caught her scent easily enough and broke after.

This mysterious signal was a block away, maybe less.

Just in the knick of time.

The tension was peaking. Geminae crouched behind a car sitting low as she could out of sight, her chest heaving and her brow glistening with sweat. For the moment she had lost her two Hollow pursuers but like bloodhounds near the fox's den, they were both aware she was out there.

The other presence she had felt loomed somewhere nearby. She felt it in one direction, shifting slowly to the other in an non-distinct sort of...fog on her spiritual horizon but she had never managed to get close enough to grab onto it, to see who or what it was. At least this mystery came with the welcomed supposition that it wasn't another enemy. If she were more cynical she would worry it was some sort of ambush predator waiting to pick off the winner but she'd have to dwell on that later. First, there needed to be a winner.

Using the mirrors of the car she sat behind and the next one up the street, she waited until the big lumbering oaf that resembled a stag crept past her down the street. Breaking in the opposite direction she loaded an arrow into position and began drawing reishi into her hand; in this state she wouldn't be able to use the high-speed movement techniques she was only beginning to master. Her own basic fleetness of foot would need to be enough to keep her safe.

As predicted, her gathering of reishi caught the beast's attention as it roared, turned, and broke into pursuit.

The two raced, Geminae down the sidewalk and the Hollow down the street, the larger beast waiting for an opportunity to pounce on her. Unbeknowst to both, their chase culminating but a few dozen meters past Zenji's safe perch on the rooftop above!

Cutting laterally, the nimble Quincy cut between two parked cars and directly into the Hollow's path of rampage. As it roared and reared back for its strike, she leapt into the air and turned her torso, raising the bow for a clean shot as she put her fate wholly in the committed hands of this amateurish plan.

In her hand, white and blue and purple shards of reishi coalesced around the shaft and arrowhead, cloaking the simple weapon in an otherworldly power that seemed to grow by the second until it was practically a bright spear of fury. In an instant, the arrow was released and the two fell to the ground.

A thud.

Smoke.

The dust and debris cleared and the pained cough of a human woman cut through the silence as Geminae pulled herself up. The Hollow's vital fluids leaking into a horseshoe-shaped pool of blood around her in the mini-crater its impact made.

An arrow lodged in the mask with one long crack having split it height-wise.

Shards of bone splintered and fell. The Hollow burned up in purple and black flame rather than scattering into sand and spiritual particles.

Up the street, the third and final Hollow bellowed into the night.

"Ehhh, casse-toi!" she cursed into the streetlight as she drew another arrow from her quiver. No rest for the wicked, it seemed.

Although the beast would be bearing down on her shortly, Geminae still had ample time to calmly reach back for an arrow, adjust her hair out of the way, wipe a bit of sweat from her brow onto the arm of her bodysuit, and take a few long and calming breaths. Down the street, 300 meters, 250, 200, closing at its own angry and persistent pace the Hollow loomed. This one's arms were long and lanky, it body spindly and nimble. Tougher target. But at this range it didn't really matter.

She began to draw in reishi. More now, since she had time. It seeped out of the ground, from nearby bushes, out from the storm drain, from under the cars, everywhere. The iridescent blue natural mojo obeyed her command at a steady pace and streamed down her arm.

Just as things were coming together, a hot wind of spiritual energy erupted from a nearby roof. A few months earlier, less practiced in hunting as she was, that would have been enough for her to lose her arrow. But her control was refined enough, practiced enough now, to remain steady. Whoever this figure was, they were building energy up in front of them much like she was but this was much more different. More orderly, more of a 'construct' than the pure will she was formulating. Like they were following an incredibly powerful recipe. She could almost get lost in the intricate swirls and lines and turns of the Kido as the double-cast took shape.

The caster turned sidelong glances to her. Were they sizing her up? It didn't look like they were aiming their spell down at the street but rather up it. Toward the Hollow.

They yelled...something, she couldn't quite made it out over the tension of the arrow in front of her. Whatever it was, an orange light roared out in front of them racing toward the Hollow signifying she was already too late. If they were on the same side, there was no harm mutually assuring the destruction.

She turned her head, lined up her shot, and loosed the arrow.

Watching the thing blue ray of energy trail behind her arrow she furrowed her brow as the orange light bloomed and expanded and lifted upward. Her shot sailed long and far, eventually petering out and popping like a weak firework several hundred meters down the street.

A second blast, much stronger and more direct than the first, rocketed from the rooftop and evaporate the Hollow. Job's done.

'Quincy!' the rooftop sniper yelled out. How...how did he know? She reached out with her senses trying to understand who and what was atop that roof but it was a strange feeling. Unique, memorable, but unfamiliar. She's heard of Quincy who could manipulate spiritual materials to perform feats practically akin to magic but this was something...entirely different.

Geminae hopped up onto the roof of a car parked below the building this mysterious caster was perched atop. "A fellow hunter?" She asked in Japanese lilted by her French accent.

Strange and otherworldly as this figure was they cut a surprisingly 'real' presence in the world around them. The buildup of energy around their feet was slow enough, along with the accompanying flash step's sluggishness, that she was able to prepare herself for what was to come and not react hastily. Her fellow hunter having literally lowered himself to speak with her was worthy of meeting on 'common ground'. She climbed down from the car's roof.

"I didn't recognize your magic nor do I recognize your uniform. Are you some kind of shrine guardian? If so, charmed to make your acquaintance. I've heard many story from local families about the prowess and spiritual guidance of your order." She bowed her head to meet the well-intentioned if not ultimately dishonest greeting of 'Nagato'.

"Je m'appelle Geminae de Loure" she lilted in French, hopeful that the important part of her name got through the language barrier. "I certainly won't turn my nose up at your timely assistance. Truthfully things here are...a lot worse than I thought they would be. Most nights require my attention every few hours."

At that she sighed and looked up the street, expelling a cloud of regret for what she had resigned herself to do. Cleaning up Karakura was a messy business but it was one she knew she was obligated to carry out. Friendly faces made the burden feel lighter.

The conversation didn’t continue much longer, Zenji didn’t want to push his luck, despite every fibre of his being screaming at him to slay this abomination. Zenji was of Clan Hatayama and he had grown up in that pious household, with the beliefs of the Soul King and the importance of the divine Balance of Souls.

It was why he’d become a Shinigami. To defend the Balance. To fulfil his Clan’s Divine Mandate, to serve the most Holy Soul King, he had to destroy this Quincy.

Put then there was the ever present weight of his Zanpakuto on his mind, pushing against him, silently urging him to remain quiet. To keep his true identity a secret from the mortal. He had no idea how powerful she was and if she killed him then he was gone, gone from the cycle, a fate worse than any pain or death.

He had to get back and start gathering allies for the imminent threat that was coming, these monsters still existed and if the threat had not been purged all those years ago then who knew how many of them wandered the Earth now? Short lived mortals bred like rabbits after all. There could be hundreds, even thousands, by a low estimate if only just a single Quincy survived the purge a thousand years ago. If that many bow wielding men and women stepped out of the Shadows then the Gotei wouldn’t stand a chance, reality wouldn’t stand a chance, the sheer destruction of Souls in any war would wipe out the Balance. The Gotei needed to be prepared, the war had to be on their side so they could stop the Quincy without too many casualties on their side. A second Purge, a successful one, would take time to prepare.

Making his excuses the Shinigami escaped and once out of sight he opened the Senkaimon and followed the Black Butterfly back to the Soul Society.

He had work to do.

//Thread Closed due to inactivity with agreement from partner.