Package Deal

Mizu frowned at the head mook's praise. To say such things with her friend and mission partner bleeding out, apparently a result of this man's machinations, disgusted her. It took every fiber of her being to restrain herself from trying to slaughter the whole mob of freaks trying to run them down. The only real reason she did not immediately resort to deadly Kidō spells was because she still could not ascertain whether these people were simply innocent puppets being used by something in the shadows or if they were truly irredeemable.

Erring on the side of caution, Mizu reluctantly opted for a spell she knew wouldn't cause any permanent damage to these people. "Gekiryū Kanketsusen!" After tracing a foot wide circle in the air in front of her, Mizu's spell created a porthole through which a gushing torrent of water exited and sprayed a section of the people running at her. The torrent, wider than and as strong as that of a fire hose, would hopefully knock them off their feet and cover the ground around them, making it harder to run. She kept the spell going and aimed it at anybody running at her, being careful all the while to avoid making Ira's fight any more difficult.

Gushing water and awesome martial prowess holding them back, the strange army of citizens seemed less than equipped to react. However, numbers still against the two, as one fell, another took their place. It seemed almost an endless army of these warped individuals, crowding and enrapturing the two lone women. The only way out of this conundrum isn't forward, for there exists no way to truly create such an opening. To make matters worse, things began to fly. Random objects like rocks, hammers, and even trashcans began to soar over the crowd. Maybe nothing more than an annoyance for most, but an annoyance is still enough to leave one at a disadvantage, allowing for something to, say, grab them, tear clothing, maybe land a hit or two, leaving a scratch. It's simply obviously clear that trying to hold back the crowd would leave them disheveled and exhausted after not too long.

This definitely wasn't a good situation to be in, and staying here was obviously only going to get worse. Ira knew his way around a fight pretty damn well, and part of combat was getting out of a lost cause as soon as you could.

"Hey, little lady! We're gonna need to get out of here, stat! 'Fraid I can't fly like you folks can, so if ya don't mind givin' me a lift, that'd be great!"

Obviously, that was only a short term solution, but Ira hardly wanted to do any strategizing when they were getting overwhelmed like this. A few wheelkicks certainly kept their enemies here at bay for now, but the reality of the situation was that he simply didn't have the ability to handle this indefinitely. It was up to the tiny shinigami about now.

The endless horde of enemies seemed to always have a replacement for each one Mizu and Ira knocked down. Though proficient with Kidō, Mizu was not well-equipped to handle an army of fodder without being sure if she could kill them or not. She acknowledged Ira's concerns with a head nod and responded, her voice full of annoyance with the situation "Hai! I can get us out of here then, Ira-san. Grab on!" After racing over to them, Kumagaya already thrown over her shoulder, Mizu reached to Ira with an outstretched arm before Flash Stepping vertically.

Having barely made it out of the town street mostly unscathed, Mizu took a moment to breath a sigh of relief as they hovered a few dozen feet above the horde. Not wanting to give the creep in charge of them any time to regroup and attack again the blond Shinigami Flash Stepped again, this time to the roof of a building some half a dozen streets away. At minimum she figured this would give them an opportunity to catch their breath and come up with a plan of some kind. Mizu gently let Ira down before descending herself, and then laid Kumagaya's body onto the cold roof surface.

With a quick check for any signs of life from the man, Mizu was met with the truth she'd suspected since picking him up: He was gone. She considered how they had not known each other well, but had grown friendly over the few missions they had worked together. He was a hard worker like her, and always felt like he had something to prove. Kumagaya-san, you were a good soldier she thought to herself. With a shake of her head Mizu stood back up from her kneeling position beside her compatriot's body and turned to Ira, anger flaring in her golden eyes like two suns ready to burn this whole town down "Ira-san. I am sorry you were pulled into this situation. Now would be a good time for you to flee to safety. I must stay and complete my mission, as an Officer of the Gotei United, and as a friend to a fallen comrade."

"Running, soon? Poor play Shinigami, but hunt fun!"

Sitting on the other side of the building, a black splotch existed, its many empty eyes focused on the two women and the dead Shinigami male. Shaped like a dog, yet seemingly to bulky to match the general appearance of one exactly, the creature merely spied the two from its spot like a gargoyle statue. Only the slow blinking of its eyes, out of rhythm with one another, proved that it existed beyond their mere imagination. However, one thing remained clear, the Hollow stench wafting from its body was unmistakable.

"Play. Fetch?"

"Flee? Sorry, little lady, but I'm not exactly in the business of lettin' a young lady handle a problem like this all by herself. Sure, I know you're a plenty strong shinigami n' all that, but it wouldn't be very gentlemanly of me to just run, now would it?"

Turning his attention to the dog-shaped hollow, Ira once again readied for combat, a weariness in his face that seemed more exasperated than earnestly tired. He wasn't necessarily worried about whatever happened in this place, though he was good-natured enough that he couldn't say he was thrilled at the idea it might be going badly for the people here. Right now, his chief concern was mostly just surviving so they could let other more qualified folks know.

"Sorry, don't quite have time for any games, sport. How about you get out of here and go lay down or somethin'?"

Even in this extremely serious and dangerous situation, Ira's mannerisms, irreconcilably different from their appearance, kept Mizu on her toes. Still, she could not allow herself to be distracted by something like that. Especially not with the apparent arrival of another adversary, this time a Hollow in the shape of a many-eyed hound.

With a nod of her head, Mizu acknowledged Ira's intent to stick around before stepping past her in the Hollow's direction. She held her Zanpakuto in front of her with both hands as her fiery gaze remained trained on the beast. She had to consider her actions carefully given the town was still populated by humans as far as she could tell, but luckily Mizu didn't sense anyone else in their near vicinity. Seeing this as good an opportunity as she'd get, Mizu raised her Zanpakuto above her head and summoned a red orb of energy around its blade Fetch this! "Hadō #31: Shakkahō!" By slashing her weapon downwards Mizu was able to send the flaming red orb directly at the dog Hollow, hoping its on-contact explosion would envelop and destroy the beast.

The human girl is way more sociable than the Shinigami girl, but prey, whether lively or not, is still prey. However, that red orb of energy resembled a delicious ball, and the Hollow couldn't refuse the game of fetch. So, with a giddy hop, it opened its maw and bit down on that tasty fiery ball, and it found itself exploding. It was a magnificent gruesome death with the Hollow's body convulsing and bulging out before flames and energy cracked its skin and popped it like a balloon. For a second, the scene with quiet with the death of the creature.

"Play? My turn!"

From behind the women, another familiar guttural growl ranged out. The jovial howl of another dog-like Hollow filled the air, its multitude of eyes focusing on the two as its tail wagged. Drool began dripping from its jaws, sizzling spit burning away at the roof beneath its paws.

"Tasty snack for fetching!" It sang before its voice grew into a high pitch, a chorus of howls from all over joining its song. Suddenly, the air filled with the stench of corrupted Reiatsu, Mizu's device going haywire as the truth of the situation dawned. They're surrounded, but they don't have time to think about that as the Hollow mutt before them jumped from its perch, its giant maw opening to bite down on the brunette.

Ah this was bad. This was real bad. If it'd just been one of these things, they could have managed it no problem. With no time to think, Ira tensed his whole body, dodging to the side as his foot whipped around to swing into the hollow's body as it fell. If they didn't fight these, then things would only be worse.

"What's the plan, little lady? Ain't gonna be easy, but it seems like they're not out of our league."

Of course, maybe they were, and only that first one had been weak enough to die to Mizu's spell. Maybe the rest of these hollows were about to chomp down on them like a bunch of biscuits. But Ira certainly wasn't going to be giving up any time soon, and he simply kept up a defensive stance, ready for the next attack.

Gah! There's always more freaks in this town! Mizu observed Ira slam her foot into the second Hollow before quickly approaching him so they wouldn't be separated. "Right! Plan, need a plan..." She had to consider her options carefully. Wildly slinging spells willy nilly might be effective at defeating swaths of these beasts, but it would cause significant damage to their surroundings as well. Not to mention how quickly it would drain her.

"Only one thing to do! Crystallize, Shousenmaru!" As Mizu said this her Zanpakuto's blade shattered into hundreds of crystalline fragments, all razor sharp and scattered around her and Ira. Her power surged as she whipped her weapon's handle with a flourish, causing all the glass-like crystal shards to begin swirling around herself and Ira like a tiny violet tornado. Mizu intermittently extended a group of shards to cut and slash at the hoard of Hollow mutts, and though she knew this could also quickly exhaust her she was willing to take that risk.