Falling of the Curtains

Vasquez walks through the corridors of Las Noches searching for Kadaj so that he could question him about his recent activites concerning Shinigami Kiyen Mishima. He wasn't going to let there selfish goals interfere with his own plans, he simply couldn't have a fellow Espada running around causing unecessary trouble. He made a left down the Hall, Las Noches was large and all the corridors looked just alike but if you could pick on on any trace of reiatsu it wouldn't be that hard tracking someone down. Vasquez stayed on high alert, he didn't want to be caught off guard by anything or anyone suspicious.

Rikku Mononoke had become bored in the soul society as she had ran out of experiments to carry out there for the time being. What intrested her in Las Noches was the erratic movements of the Togabito she had encountered in the soul society not that long ago, so gathering up some equipment she had opened a garganua to take her to Las Noches to investigate what had been happening with this rouge of hell

Hearing foot steps coming from the hallway she was examining she sighs and gets to her feet opening one of the pouches around her waist pulling out a vile of her exploding poison to have ready and keeping her outher hand placed on her zanpakuto.

She pushes her hair out of the way of her face and fixes her bakini top with the hand containing the vile as a familiar looking figure comes into view, as he does her eyes widen and she grins displaying a crazed look and she mumbles to herself "not quite who i was hoping to find but im intrested in him as well." She then moves into the frame of a closed door waiting for Vasquez to walk past so she could get the poison on him without being noticed... although excitement of other potential experiments is almost getting the better of her

Vasquez stopped walking any further and looked dead ahead as if he had sensed something odd, it wasn't Kadaj, it was a Shinigami. The simple thought that a Shinigami was within the walls of Las Noches angered him even more. Vasquez's sword instantly phased out of his hand, he gripped very tightly as a crimson cero formed at the tip of the blade. Using pesquisa he located the source of the reiatsu and swung the sword at that direction launching the cero at the same time. Vasquez was intending to injure and draw out whoever it was.

" ...................... "

He stared intently at the direction he fired the cero in to see who it was.

Rikku see's the cero being launched, as she does she imediatly shunpo's out of the cero's path. As she does she un-sheaths her zanpakuto and clutches it in one hand "So we meet again espada" she says to him looking innocent.

"Im investigating that togabito from before so dont worry i will be leaving your relm soon" she says as she flicks the air with her finger. Uppon doing this a garguanda opens where she flicked the air but as she hadnt finished her research it closed again. keeping herself ready to use shunpo incase Vasquez decided to attack her

Vasquez seemed puzzled as to why she would be searching for a Togabito in the World of Hollows. Yes the Togabito had been by here earlier but Vasquez himself wasn't so sure if he was even still here. He remembered how she said she wanted a sample of his bones so he knew that the Togabito wasn't the only reason she appeared here.

" If you wanted something from me then unfortunately you won't be getting it....I have no intention of sharing any data about myself to you... "

Vasquez's sword was still in his hand, he kept a close eye on Rikku to make sure she wouldn't try anything unwise. He was also slightly wary since she was a scientist, a 'mad scientist' at that.

Rikku looked at Vasquez and lilted her head to the side then held her zanpakuto at eye level. She then says to him "Data... my my a man after my own heart usaing words like that... but anyway yes your bone ability intrests me but im here to collect reshi information about the togabito" she then giggles slightly "there is more than one way to get a sample though" she says with the crazed look on her face

Suddenly without warning she shunpo's behing him swinging her blade down towards his arm with all her force to obtain a sample of the bone she so desires

" Now I wonder what you would hope to accomplish by learning the secret of my technique...a way to defeat me possibly? "

Vasquez's eyes turned out the corner of the socket to see the direction that Rikku was in. Vasquez shifted his body to the side at the same time dodging the sword. He held his right arm up and brought it down approaching Rikku's back, he was intending to make the slash deep almost to the point of slicing her in half. He didn't feel very comfortable fighting a Captain of Squad 12. All Captains of that Squad regardless of who they were seemed to have a mental disorder, they were all psychotic.

Rikku Shunpo's away from the slash, returning to the spot she had origionally been at, holding her zanpakuto out infront of her she says "melt Kazan" on this command her zanpakuto extends forming the double ended weapon with black blades and the flames being produced from the tip of the blades both oozing poison.

She says to him "oh no im a scientist i couldnt care less how to defeat you... although im just curious about her abilities" she takes a defencive stance and readies herself to use shunpo incase of an oncoming attack

Vasquez looks blank and also takes a defensive stance, he analyzes her Zanpakuto. He remembered Mara and Kiyen both stating that Zanpakuto's that could transform had a wide variety of abilities. He looked at the flames and the strange liquid oozing from the sword, he wasn't sure if it was poison because he had never heard of a poison/fire type Zanpakuto. But then again he couldn't be sure if her Zanpakuto could only use fire or poison. Vasquez got out of his defens stance and held out his fist, it began to glow crimson red, the same color as his cero. Immediately following this a Bala blast was fired from his fist. A Bala blast was the bullet version of a cero, it was smaller, denser, and 20x's faster so a direct hit would've been almost certain. The blast was aimed at Rikku's shoulder

Rikku taking a blast from a Bala holds her shoulder then shunpo's from the line of fire , cutting into the ground as she moved leaving a slash infront of herselfappearing some what away from her origional position. she then hold out her zanpakuto, pointing one of the blades at Vaszuez

"show me your ressurrection and i shall show you my bankai espada" she taunts at Vasquez "you can learn mine as i learn yours" she giggles pointing the flaming blade at him still ready to use shunpo if needed

Vasquez seemed pleased that she was creating distance in between them. That was a sign that she felt the attack very well. He pointed his blade directly at her and blankly stared at her blade and the amount of fire coming from it.

" There is no need for me to show you my ressurrection...plus in order for me to do that we would need to be outside the Dome of Las Noches, something I don't intend to do. Feel free to show me more power than what you've shown me right now "

One would be able to tell Vasquez was about to make a move again because the heel of his foot slightly raised itself from the floor indicating he was about to use Sonido.

Rikku simply smirks at Vasquez "oh now thats no fun" he says with her zanpakuto still held out. Looking at his positioning she says "fireball" a huge fire ball forms and is fired off in Vasquez's direction, she creates annother three of these filling the hallway with with fire.

While she is out of view she slashes at the ground making as may gashes on the floor and walls as possible.

Vasquez impales his sword into the ground and holds out both of his hands, he was going to halt the fireballs and probably end up burning himself in the process. As the 4 fireballs approached him the first one slammed into both of his hands as the other 3 got closer. As they made contact they all exploded at a point blank range where Vasquez was. He was swallowed by the flames.

Rikku, her hair blowing from the after math of the explosion, looks at the smoky area where the fire balls had exploded and raises an eyebrow thinking to herself that that attack wouldnt of done much damage considering her opponent was an espada.

Calling to the smoky area she aims to taunt Vasquez "Oh come on you held your own against a togabito... dont tell me that little attack actualy stopped you" all the while maintaining a defencive stance glaring at the smoke

Rushing out from the smoke Vasquez came with his sword aiming for Rikku's forehead. His clothes were badly burned. His hands and arms appeared to be cracked and emitting a strange glow, sort of like reiatsu. If Rikku were to continue the battle after Vasquez's shell had fallen off, it would no longer go without cost on Rikku's part. Vasquez's Bone Mask ability acted as a lock on a large portion of his power while he was in his unreleased form so now that it began to fall apart it would means all of Vasquez's natural abilites as a Vasto Lorde would be increased greatly compared to how they were previously.

As the blade comes swingind down to Rikku's head she swiftly moves to the side avoiding a fatal blow and instead receiving a gash on her arm. She counters with the blade swinging upwards at Vasquez aiming to even simply cut him anywere. As she swings the blade she giggles "thats more like it"

The back blade also leaving a gash in the ground, since they were surrounded by all the cuts from her zanpakuto she thought that they may be to her advantage soon to keep him in close proximity but would test the waters further before hand

Vasquez is cut which even further causes the deterioration of his Mask, he jumps back as it soon begins to fall off in small masses and then after that even larger masses. As it fell off it revealed Vasquez..the actual way he would look without it on, which was the same. The burns and cracks he received were gone, his clothes were undamaged and he looked like a brand new Espada. The Mask was now gone, all that kept Vasquez's power in check was now gone which now meant the battle would soon heat up even more. He didn't show it but he was very upset that a Shinigami caused his ability to fall apart. The pieces of the Mask that fell off of his body layed on the floor and then turned white and then turned into a white liquid.

" Well it seems you've accomplished pushing me to some extent while not in my Ressureccion...just what i'd expect from a Captain-class Shinigami...but I can't allow this battle to continue any further "

Vasquez's crimson colored reiatsu fled from his body and ran across the ceiling in the hallway like a fume of gas. He pointed his sword at Rikku and began to slowly walk towards her with his wave of reiatsu following behind him.

Rikku watches as Vasques begins to show more power as hewalks towards her she smirks "well this has caught my attention" she says pointing the bade at him firing off the same sequence of fire balls as before.

Once the hall had filled with the fire she she slashes at the air caising the slashed ground to rise creating walls of earth and rock. "Catch me if you can" she calls as she begins to shunpo up the hall

Now she aims to wait for the poison to take effect so she can cllect a bone sample from him. or at least force him into his ressurrection form so that she can witness his ablities first hand

(Poison count - 1)

Vasquez looked at the liquid from his Mask that lied on the floor, it had somewhat of a purple color to it, Vasquez assumed that she must've thought she made contact when she got a slash on him. A much larger cero forms on the tip of Vasquez's sword, he swings it down launching the cero at the fire causing all of the fireballs to explode and send the force of the explosion down the direction of the hall that Rikku was moving obliterating anything that would be in the path of the explosion. Vasquez's reiatsu was denser and much more frightening that it had ever been before.

Rikku looks behind as her fireballs explode due to the cero. he orce traveling down the hallway. As she slides to a stop she slashes the ground this time alot thicker than usual, then making a sweeping motion with her zanpakuto she forms a barrier of earth and stone, very dence and just large enough to protect herself. Shielding herself as the flames and cero pase she takes a defencive position expecting Vasquez to come after her after sending off the cero

All the while she thinks to herself that she may have to release her bankai sooner rather than later

*Sonido*

Vasquez appeared behind Rikku, his Sonido was much faster than before and his strikes were also faster. Vasquez swung his sword at a blinding speed at the back of Rikku's legs to stop most of her movements. He had to admit that her combination of 3 elements were troublesome. Vasquez remembered the poison it was time to play along. During the slashing motion at the back of her legs Vasquez suddenly stopped his blade before it reached her and dropped his sword on the floor and kneeled down holding his chest.

" W-What did yo-you do? "

Vasquez was breathing heavily as he looked up at her.

Rikku looks at him maintaining her defencive position, suddenly she vanishes and reappears a good distance away from him. "dont take me for a fool... i am the captain of squad 12 after all, and my poison has differing effects to that." She points a blade at him and a giant hand made of earth errupts from the tip aiming to grab him to imobilise his movements

Vasquez jumps back but is still grabbed by the hand of earth. He looks at Rikku no longer panting heavily, he wasn't too pleased in her reaction however. He thought his fake out would work.

" I should've expected that from you Sqaud 12 Captain...well...now that you've caught me what do you intend to do with me? If you wish to still try and take a sample of my own bones there would simply be no point to it now...what you seek has now turned to liquid and mixed with your poison, it's of no use to you now "

Vasquez's reiatsu was still glowing harshly red but it had seemed to be dimmering, it was a sign that Vasquez's reiatsu was taming itself once more.

Rikku smiles in her little mad scientist way. "oh thanks i can just neutralise the poison and examine the remains... or just take from your skellinton" she gigges at the thought. Although now she knew that she had other things on her mind.

"I may have caught you but one thing i do want... release your ressurrection espada then i shall be on my merry way" She maintains a crazed look on her face and readies herself for bankai.this causes the ground to sink bellow her die to the reiatsu she is putting out, even though it is only a fraction of her power

Vasquez had considered it at one point and then decided that he wouldn't simply because he didn't need to, it wasn't neccessary. He turned his head and looked back at Rikku.

" I'm through with this fight, I no longer have any interest in fighting a Shinigami...you've sidetrack me from what I originally planned to do from the start anyway...if you say yu can neutralize the poison from the remains of my Mask then go ahead. I no longer have any point in keeping my abilities a secret from you or anyone else for that matter... "

Vasquez returned to his calm self, Kadaj was still on his mind but for now he decided to let it go. It seems that the Shinigami did have their purposes for Vasquez, as long as they lived they would give him something to do.