Rubbing Me The Wrong Way (NOT DIRTY) [Lance, and then Open (No Death)]

Karakura Town; a center for various supernatural occurrences on any ordinary day, this day being no different. A Hollow, much like those that usually come around this area, lay in a tree, tail flickering down below, as it waited for the plus to come by that always did, to visit its mother's death-sight. A few seconds of waiting, and the large draconian-looking Hollow quickly slithered its way to the ground, quickly engulfing the plus in its maw, swallowing it whole. This plus in particular was one the Basilisk was looking forwards to, as there always seemed to be a Soul Reaper around when he went to go consume it, usually due to one of Basilisk's idiotic bretheren making itself known. Basilisk set to lavishly licking its claws, waiting for another plus to come around, though if a Captain-level Soul Reaper came from nowhere, The Basilisk was easily ready to disappear back to Hueco Mundo.

'Twas always him that was sent out for the silly little odd jobs, wasn't it? Oh no, it wasn't enough that he was made lieutenant of the squad quite possibly most looked down upon in all of Seireitei thanks to his zanpakuto that was absurdly unsuited to him, if anyone asked; no, he also had to go out and do their work for them.

"Miserable little..." Senzo Shinryuuji, Squad 4 Lieutenant, muttered, to no one in particular and trailing off to leave the choice insult open to the creativity of whoever might have possibly heard. Speaking of... one surefire way to find whoever or whatever they'd sent him after this time, as they could never apparently be bothered to be clear about it: shout. Who cared if it would likely attract a few hollows or errant spirits? Where the ones that had sent him out on this mission couldn't be bothered to tell him precisely what to look for, he couldn't be bothered to put much effort forth looking. That was just how it was.

A light breath, then, before the shout erupted.

"Alright, where's the brat that they sent me out here to find? Huh?"

So he shouted, and so he grumbled to himself as he waited, a single hand resting upon the hilt of his sword for caution's sake. Had he known the one in question had just been consumed, well... it might have been better that he didn't, but he began to walk toward where he felt a spiritual presence all the same. There was no response after a moment, after all, and he didn't have all day; there were things to get back to, of actual interest at that. The sooner he got all this over with, the better.

Not that one more shout would likely be entirely useless.

"Well? Hurry up and show yourself already, I haven't got all day!"

The Basilisk's eyes widened, as it felt the spiritual pressure of a Shinigami. It didn't feel like a Captain, but it was still fairly strong. With a murderous grin, the head slowly moved from its spot in the tree to get a better look. Then, it jumped to the ground, its off-center head rising to look down on the Shinigami. "Oh, was that little boy supposed to be yours?" He asked, in a taunting way. "Sorry, but he's a bit indisposed forever." He said, as the large Hollow looked at the man. "However, I'll be more than willing to play with you." He said, as it opened its mouth, a purple cero charging up, before being released at the man. It wasn't particularly fast, but it wasn't as slow as a normal Hollow's either. Around the base of the neck of the Hollow, Senzo might notice a rippling, as if there was something inside of it, and it even bulged a bit in four other places, the center being the most prominent. The Hollow was large, looking like a mixture between a dragon and a turtle, minus the legs, and plus a long, snake-like tail. The head was off-center, actually on the right, giving it enough room to be parallel with another head.

"Hrmph... so that's how it is, huh..." grumbled Senzo as a hollow made its presence, and more so intent, known. Naturally, things were always troublesome, and now there was this. Idly he scratched a little at the back of his head, not even seeming to pay mind to the cero being charged right in front of him; the fact was, his mind was simply elsewhere. Not for being easily distractable or anything of the sort, oh no; 'twas simply that he didn't want to be bothered with all this. It was a bit late to be thinking that, but think that he did.

"Well, whatever... right, bloom and grow, Kusatoku. And as for you, brat, well, hope ya don't mind having nature itself come after you," the lieutenant smirked slightly, even as the hastily-drawn long sword radically changed form into a fairly large shield, which itself was soon planted firmly into the ground.

'Twas hard to miss, quite shortly after, the thin, dark green vines steadily creeping out from the ground near the shield's current resting place. And further, and further still, until they seemed to be arriving nearly everywhere within a decent radius from their presumed caller.

"I guess I should probably warn you that these things can be pretty... itchy if they touch you. Poisonous, even. Normally I wouldn't be bothered about something like this, but maybe I can convince those higher-ups to do something about the position they gave me if I get some work done here. Now try and see if you can break through my shield when we're in a place like this... I dare you."

The Basilisk let the cero fly, charging straight at the shield, disappointed when it didn't break, but somewhat not surprised. The first attack was always the test, and as Basilisk had just found out, this man knew what he was doing. He nodded, as if acknowledging the power this man possessed, before its head came back up, staring at the man. "Very well. I'll play your game." It said, as its neck turned to the side, cracking, the way a brawny man might crack his neck and muscles before he fought. A shudder at the base of its neck, and another head came from the Basilisk's body, exactly like the first, except instead of a neutral-looking face, this one looked sorrowful, the corners of its mouth down-turned, and what looked like brows rising up in the middle. It turned to the angry-looking head, before speaking. "We should just finish him off. There's no need for any of us to suffer. We don't need to take things slowly." It said, before the other one growled and bit at it, causing it to whimper. They then both looked at the man, opening their mouths to fire another cero, both charging one up, stronger this time, before releasing them at the shield again.

A light cut as a rebounded part of the cero blast ripped through a slight amount of cloth and skin... but what else would the lieutenant expect, standing a bit over a foot higher than the shield itself? 'Twas often this way, as much as it annoyed him so. If he could simply have a zanpakuto he actually wanted... but no, he was stuck with this one. And he knew well how to at least make do with it.

"Finish me? Hahahaha! I'd love to see you try, brat," Senzo scoffed lightly. "Might want to watch your feet, though... wouldn't want yourself to get tangled up in something bad, would you?" he went on to suggest... and indeed, some of the thin vines emerging from the ground were creeping inexorably toward the hollow's legs to surround them. Worse still was the warned poison within them, akin to poison ivy but plainly stronger; partly for the fact that they weren't natural plants, strictly speaking, instead goaded into life by spiritual power fed into them. Much the same was what went into the shield itself's hardening when afforded such close contact with nature, thereby affording Senzo plenty of faith in ducking down behind it in the knowledge that it would stir when hit with the force of that dual cero blast, but not break.

"Better start doing better than that pretty quickly, or these plants of mine are definitely going to make you suffer. That is, unless you want to cough up the soul you ate and walk away now; maybe I'll even do you a favor and say you died when I make my report!"

Anything, within a certain amount of reason, to try and earn a chance for more recognition and a more reputable position, after all.

The large Hollow seemed to stop and consider, before lowering its head. "Very well. I'll try one last time. If I cannot break through the shield, then I will spit up the soul, and we will both be on our way. If you end up failing, however, and get away, before I can get you, then bring up the name The Basilisk, Shinigami. I like you, and if they are told that's who you fought, they would most definitely understand. " He said. He was almost tempted to cough it up now so he could be reported as dead. While he wasn't as well-known as The Grand Fisher, if he were labeled as deceased, then he would be able to haunt Karakura more, without the need to either run away from Shinigami, or to devour them. However, he wanted one more chance at the man, as this had become a game to him. If he could destroy the shield, he would get the prize. Another shudder of his body, and three more heads came from the necks, giving it a grand total of five heads, this time, all of them with different facial expressions. From left to right, they are as follows; a rather evil-looking, grinning head, the sorrowful head from before, a stern head with its eyes closed, an angry-looking head, and the blank head from before. The stern head, the one with its eyes closed, seemed to be higher than the others, so it was most likely the one that controlled the others.

"And since you have, or are giving, me a fair chance, I will give you, too, a fair chance to save yourself pain. Now look away, child." He said, as his eyes opened. If the Shinigami looked the center head in the eyes, his whole body would be overcome with pain of the most extreme magnitude, akin to your skin being set on fire then ripped off.

The Hollow then opened each of the five mouths, charging up cero's. The two heads on the ends shot first, rays going directly next to the shield, landing on either side of it, only about an inch away. As the center head fired, a cero which was much stronger than the two before it, the two cero's that were on either side expanded. If a person had been standing next to one of these cero's, the force would have blown them off to the side, due to the cero expanding at such a quick speed. And if they had been hit and pierced with the cero, their body would have been ripped apart. It was almost as if the cero was made of physical matter, rather than spiritual matter.

So it was simply that easy, was it? Interesting... an easy hollow to deal with, for once. Perhaps even something that could be used in the future if all of this went well. That was for then, however; for now, he'd but to survive that little challenge of the hollow's.

Or... perhaps not quite so little, considering how many heads were apparently going into it... yes, this could be a bit of a problem, in all honesty. Still! He hadn't gotten this far doing something silly like cowering under uncertain circumstances, and however much he disliked his power, Senzo knew well how to use it after spending so many years with it. So he gripped the handle forcefully, careful to keep at least part of the hollow in his view so he knew where it was; it didn't seem likely that it would actually move, but one could never be too careful, could they? Down the scattered rising vines withered, to instead be replaced by a number of them sprouting just in front of the shield, thicker than their earlier brethren. Behind the shield as well they rose from the ground, acting as further support and a still further line of defense should the worst happen to occur.

Fortunately enough, and perhaps to be expected by the lieutenant, it didn't. Sure, the plants that had formed in front of the shield were blown away, and there was a notable crack or two left behind upon it, but still it stood strong. Only because of the current territory, Senzo knew well (a large part of why he so disliked Kusatoku with how situational its usefulness was), but such was how things went.

"Hmph... careful who you're calling 'child.' It'll take more than that to bring a guy like me down," Senzo spoke, allowing one shoulder a slight flex and himself a slight stretch as he stood up properly, bringing to light still another annoyance: that the shield was as much shorter than him as it was. "Now, looks like you've got a bargain to make good on."

The Hollow snorted, nodding. It realized it could have probably sauntered forward, and due to its sheer size, put a head on either side of the shield and above it, and just released cero's on the man, but he was a monster of his word. The man had done him a favor, and it was his turn to make good on it. The main head closed its eyes once more, before opening its mouth. A disgusting sound of regurgitation was produced from its throat, before a small bulge made its way to his mouth, where a young boy was spewed, covered his acids and slobber, his spirit chain nearly all the way gone. "I call you Child not as disrespect, but as truth." The Hollow said, turning. "I've lived for multiple centuries, I've seen and participated in the rise and fall of multiple shinigami lieutenants, and even a few unlucky Captain's." He said, as he turned, and his front legs began dragging the body, while the tail's slithering made it move at a steady pace. "I can't say things will turn out the same next time, however." he said, from over his shoulder, as he began finding his way to somewhere else, to find another meal, or something else to amuse him.

In truth, he liked this Shinigami. Like the Basilisk himself, he preferred to make things easier on the both of them, rather than going through the trouble to combat each other, and that was something the Basilisk respected. Whether it was laziness or not, didn't matter; it's just that the Basilisk preferred to do things the easiest way possible for convenience. He was busy. Hollows to eat, pluses to terrorize, that sort of stuff.

"Hmph... probably not, but we'll see. I get the feeling we're not too different," replied Senzo, forcibly extricating his zanpakuto in shield form from its grassy resting place. A simple thought sent through small force of spiritual power returned the annoyance to the long sword that he might have enjoyed far more had it any actual power to use in such a form. This he returned to his sheath, though not before resting the base of the hilt upon the regurgitated spirit's forehead for a moment or two. "Get going to the other side," spoke the lieutenant, even as the spirit faded away to go to precisely that other side; Rukongai, specifically, to be arbitrarily moved to a new home. Another little thing Senzo wasn't sure he cared for, but if they were complacent there as they generally were, then what was the problem, really? A kingdom like the Seireitei needed subjects to occasionally draw potentially useful people from, after all.

Maybe one day he'd be on top of it all, as he so desired. For now, he'd simply do his job and make himself stronger. 'Twas not a task he could do alone, though... someday...

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