Disclaimer: The ideas and concepts used in BLEACH belong to Tite Kubo, as well as any regular characters. Most of the characters in this story belong to me. Thank you.
Well, this is still pretty bad Suichi thought. The chains of Haganerensa had summoned themselves at Suichi's desperate, silent whim, and blocked both of the Hollow's blades. Even though the blades were ready to snip off Suichi's head, the Hollow didn't move. The pointed end of the chain had dug into the tender flesh inside the Hollow's chest hole, paralyzing it with uncertainty and pain. It was a stalemate, and both creatures knew what to do. They would disengage and back off, then reengage and fight, or they would both die. The Hollow glared down at his meal and threw his bladed arms away. Suichi jumped away and his sword followed, coiling around his left arm and ending in the pointed metal tip that extended from his middle finger as a dagger.
"Shin said no shikai" Suichi said. The Hollow didn't care, it just wanted to eat, but it waited for its prey to show weakness and acted like it was listening. "Now I've let him down and he'll very well want to kill me. I just can't get a lucky break today, can I?" He quickly raised his chained arm and started strafing the Hollow by walking backwards. The Hollow lurched to the side with its arms down and started walking sideways, crossing its thin, pointed legs over each other to keep pace with its prey. Suichi had to look down at his chain and silently thank it.
I'm not sure why Suichi said but you've saved me, Haganerensa. Thank you. Now, I need to kill this fiend and get back to Shin and Hoji. Suichi drew his arm back slowly, then stopped his circular pacing. The Hollow stopped as well, right at the edge of the stone-bordered spring, and took a step forward. Its foot pierced easily though a rock and split it in half. Suichi jumped up into the air. The Hollow looked around, unable to follow him at that speed, and eventually found him high above the trees.
"Shoot!" Suichi ordered. The Hollow took the points of its scythed arms to the ground and turned its legs around so the knee joint faced backwards. With all fours poised on the ground and ready it leaped away and dodged Suichi's chain. It landed in its animal state and started skittering around like some deranged insect. "Reload!" Suichi shouted. The chain returned and wrapped around his arm, ready to fire again. He took aim with his right hand, but the Hollow wouldn't remain foolishly static. It shuffled its way into the trees and lost Suichi. "Dammit" Suichi cursed. He shot his chain out anyway and used it as a pole to stay suspended in the air.
"This thing" he remarked "obviously isn't that smart. At least its not as smart as El Diablo seemed to be. This one's just an animal. However, judging from its form, it's just a normal Hollow, not a Gilian or an Adjuchas. I may still have a chance if I can separate its head or cut it down the middle, but that's all I can do..." The Hollow, meanwhile, started silently contemplating its situation. It thought with the mental prowess of a starving animal and observed its quarry carefully. Suichi was still high up in the air, using his rigid chain as a stilt to stay away from the Hollow's reach. The Hollow quickly formulated two very simple plans. It could either climb up the chain using its pointed legs that could easily fit between each link, or it could try to shake Suichi off the chain and kill him when he reaches the ground. Both plans had inherent risks, but the second one would almost guarantee the Hollow a meal with little fight.
"GRAAAAAAHHHHH!" The Hollow roared. It rushed out with its arms drawn far back and made a mighty swipe at the chain.
"Gotcha" Suichi said. "Snare!" The chain, under his triggered command, snapped loose and entwined the Hollow from all sides. Its arms were bound down against its body and its legs were wrapped together at its rotating knee joints, bringing them forcibly together. In the last second it sank its feet down and opened its mouth to give itself grounding and to make it easier to breath. Suichi fell down gracefully and landed with his chain floating in the air where it traveled, ignorant of gravity and moving on its own will.
"You may be powerful" Suichi said "but you're not smart. You should realize that shinigami have precautions set against anything a Hollow could do."
"Grrrrr...." The Hollow growled. It didn't understand what its prey said but the condescending tone rang familiar and stirred up hate within the Hollow's ghostly belly.
"I can't pity you" Suichi said. "I have no mercy for anything, especially Hollows." Although he continued silently this is the first time I've gotten a Hollow in my advantage. I was pretty sure he killed me earlier and my neck still hurts like hell from getting pressed so hard... The Hollow started struggling against the tight bind Suichi had him in and Suichi backed off a bit. The pure physical strength of this Hollow may in fact be enough to force his chains to give way, unlikely as that was. Just as Suichi was prepared to make his final attack and approach, the Hollow opened its jaw wide and chomped down on the chains in its mouth. Suichi could feel the breaking from where he was and decided to play it safe. He would disengage his sword.
"RAAAAGGGHHH!!!" The Hollow roared. Another chomp and, surely, the chains shattered. As Suichi saw the metal shrapnel float in the air and fall to the ground, he could only summon the willpower to utter a simple phrase.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me..." he lowed.
"HHHRAAAGGGGHH!!!" The Hollow roared. It presented its scythed arms, glaring over them analytically as if they had occurred some kind of damage, and then eyed Suichi standing between them. In its mad panic the Hollow dashed forward and started swinging wildly once it was at Suichi's position. The shinigami vanished and reappeared in the middle of the spring standing on the toes of his left leg with his right hand in front of his face and his chained arm pointed downward. He breathed out calmly and looked back at the mad Hollow glaring at him at the edge of the spring.
"Jump on in" Suichi welcomed, moving both his hands and arms in circles and spreading his legs apart until his left arm was extended forward and his right arm was drawn back at the elbow so the hand was behind the chain. "The water's fine." The Hollow grunted out some breaths and started walking around, looking at the water with confusion and a sense of and intimidation through its masked face. Suichi stepped lightly and turned to keep the Hollow in front of him, steadily breathing the whole time. This technique is hard for me to keep up Suichi thought but it seems to be buying me time. This Hollow seems to be afraid of water. The Hollow lowered itself to the water level and stared at its reflection curiously. With a poke it forced its mirror image to disappeared and backed away with fright.
"This may be too easy" Suichi said. The Hollow looked at Suichi again and roared. It was determined to eat. It observed its surroundings and found, among other things, a rock. It pierced it with its spike foot and kicked it at Suichi. It was easily dodged. The Hollow continued with its impromptu range attack, throwing everything it could find at Suichi who just slid away with barely any effort. "At least it can't attack me seriously" Suichi remarked. As he said that, as if on cue, the Hollow stomped its way over to a huge rock and stabbed into it with its arms. With the boulder over head it turned around to see that Suichi was gone, leaving a splash in his place.
"???" The Hollow curiously grunted. Suichi was behind it now, and it took only a second for the spiritual displacement to register with the Hollow. It immediately spun around on its spike foot to throw the rock at Suichi, but Suichi was ready. He had already wrapped Haganerensa around the Hollow's elbow joints and prepared to cut its own arms off at the source. Animal instinct interjected. "HHHRAAAAAAAGGHHHH!!!!" the Hollow roared viciously. It knelt down suddenly and slammed the rock to the ground, severing Suichi's attack and returning his chain to his arm. The Hollow was alright but the boulder it held was shattered and its elbow joints were cut from the sudden removal of Suichi's chain. Suichi sailed through the air for a moment before coming back to the ground on the opposite side of the spring. The Hollow looked at him with the intolerable hate it had newly developed for this, its uncooperative food.
"You should realize by now" Suichi said "that this fight is pointless. I'll win. I'm smarter, I'm faster, and although I'm weaker my weapon is more flexible than yours. Literally! I call the shots now!" Suichi then blinked. A fatal mistake, he discovered just a flash of a moment later. He learned as he opened his eyes that he was not faster at all when he saw the Hollow coming at him in the air, mouth open and arms reeled up above its shoulders. In just a flash-second Suichi would be cut apart and eaten all at once. Haganerensa was spent and mostly broken. All he could do now...was run.
"GRAH!" The Hollow shouted. It hit the ground hard with its bladed arms and speared it with its pointed legs. Suichi was gone, again, and a moment later the Hollow knew where to go. Suichi was racing desperately with his sword sheathed through the woods. If he had a chance it was here, amidst the many trees and rocks of the forest. The Hollow didn't know how disadvantaged it would be and it didn't care. It was hungry, and no meal it would find now would be as satisfying as the one that was getting away! With a huff and a growl it started sprinting on its own, using its thick, bladed forearms to make swimming motions through the air. It would find Suichi using his scent and kill him!
I need a definite plan Suichi thought. If I can trap it for just a second I can win! Suichi pulled out his damaged sword and examined it. The broad side was chipped and slightly frayed, but the damage would not break it upon use. He could still use it to kill the Hollow, but he couldn't use it to fight. This needs to be a clean kill. Sever the mask straight down the middle and walk away... Now that Suichi had a goal, he began planning his path on reaching that goal based on his surroundings. There were trees, rocks, and sticks all around, but no water. Suichi smiled as if there were no problem and disappeared.
The Hollow continued to chase Suichi based on the scent it knew but that trail started to die. The Hollow had to slow down and eventually stop, as the trail had completely ended. This made the starving Hollow furious. "Grrrrrr..." it growled. "Hragsh!" it snarled. It started pacing impatiently around the base of a tree, searching for Suichi wherever he was. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Suichi had taken to the branches of the tree and hid among the leafs. The Hollow could tell Suichi was close based on his scent but it hadn't the common sense to look up to find him. It thought Suichi was circling around the opposite side of the tree as it searched around.
I've got it trapped now Suichi told himself. He silently examined the ground around the Hollow and waited. The Hollow continued pacing around, making a long scratch in the tree's bark with its scythed arm as a mark. Suichi was not here, by some arcane magic, and the Hollow would search elsewhere. Just as it was ready to leave, the Hollow noticed a bright shining from the ground. A reflection of the light from the sky had been cast in a pool of water that circled the tree. Suddenly the Hollow found itself in a panic. It backed against the tree in terror as it watched the liquid come up from beneath the dirt and grass of the forest floor.
When I was dodging rocks Suichi recounted I took its fear into account and froze some water as balls of ice. I hid those balls all around here with a timed dispel limit. Now my freezing aura has worn off and the ice has melted into water. This thing won't move far, if at all. The Hollow stood shock-still against the tree, but Suichi didn't act. He knew when to strike from years of experience. The Hollow finally let go of the tree and slowly approached the water stream. It was still flowing out from the dense balls of ice Suichi had stolen and filled the small area of footsteps the Hollow had traced.
"...???" The Hollow grunted inquisitively. It moved down onto its knees and kept its balance by sticking its arms into the ground away from the water. Its elbows were pointed backwards to accommodate its arms and the scythes were stuck up to their middle in dirt. Suichi knew it was time now and dropped. The Hollow took a careful, studious glance into the water as the ripples stopped and saw itself...as well as another shadow appearing behind it. Before it knew, before there was time, before he was discovered Suichi made a sweeping strike that sliced the Hollow's skull-face straight down the middle. The Hollow moaned with sadness and pain, still so hungry and yet defeated by its own food. Suichi's swipe made a stylish arc of blood that started when he was airborne and ended now with his legs straight and back arched slightly. He held his sword arm up in the air, blade parallel to the ground below it.
Suichi just looked back at the whining Hollow and almost pitied it. Almost. "I'm late" Suichi said as he sheathed his sword. "Thanks for the training." With that said Suichi dashed off and let the Hollow fall into the puddle of cool water. The last sensation of the Spirit World it felt was the soothing calm of the fresh spring water on its bleeding, dying face. Now it died, destined to go wherever Hollows go when they die...
