Tempting Fate (Open to 1)

It seemed that he was struggling a little to answer her question and Chizuru wondered if perhaps it would be better if she tried to keep her curiosity to herself. She was eager to learn more about her new friend but if it was going to cause an issue then the Vizard was willing to let things go for now. From the way he was, she was starting to ponder if perhaps he’d been worked on, so to speak. There were many rumours that had come out about what the Arrancar had been up to during Aizen’s time, after all and while Chizuru had still been just a student then, her eyes had been opened during that period.

His demeanour suddenly changed all of a sudden though and as he suddenly picked up the pace and zoomed off, Chizuru sighed in an almost comedic fashion, before setting off after him. He was fast alright but once she tapped into her own powers, Chizuru was anything but slow and soon enough managed to find a steady pace beside him.

Chizuru had no idea what she was getting herself into here but she felt no fear. Having been through so much over the past century or so, she felt prepared for whatever she and Auerbach were about to run into.

Seeing the building before them, rapidly becoming closer due to their speed, the Vizard would say aloud in an amused tone. “Let’s hope that no one’s home.”

Auerbach was happy the woman kept pace with him. Few could, even fewer bothered. Somewhere, his heart would've skipped a beat, if it could. They made good time approaching the building, the shadow it cast consuming them in their approach.

The building was old; or at least, it looked it. Ramshackle, constructed from various materials of ill conceived means, no two parts looked the same. It scraped towards the sky, several meters taller than either of the duo, but where there should be a door was nothing. Cavernous, the opening loomed at them, what was inside decipherable only by the vague outlines of shadow.

Something beat down the core of Auerbach's zanpakuto. A pulse, sickened, but alive. Not so much pain as it was discomfort - whatever they were close to, he could feel it was important. Though, it was still far away; the sensation had only begun. Whatever was inside... "It's scary." the arrancar mewled, heels pushing backwards into the sand. Eyes darted across the odd pattern of construction, struggling to peer deeper into the mess of shapes within. "Something lives here."

His voice muted, Auerbach turned to Chizuru, eyes wide. "But not here. I can't sense anyone, can you?"

The Vizard didn’t like the opening either, feeling a chill up her spine as she watched it. There was a sense of menace coming from it that Chizuru couldn’t shake off. It looked like a portal of some kind although it wasn;t the same construction as a garganta. A curiosity indeed and while Auerbach might have been rather reluctant to approach, the redheaded woman would move close enough to get a proper look. She didn’t touch the emptiness nor enter naturally but her interest was piqued somewhat. Just who or what had created such an opening?

“I can’t sense anyone either but it gives me the creeps as well.” She answered honestly, a frown crossing her face as she peered a little more.

There was definitely something going on within the darkness, as her keen sight could pick up on various shadows moving about within but for all she knew, it was simply a trick of the light or in this case, lack of it. She was somewhat at a crossroads as to what to do. If her new friend's partition was in there then they probably should go after it but who knew what was…

“SHIT!” Chizuru suddenly shouted, as a large arm lunged towards her from the opening, forcing the Vizard to have to move pretty quickly to get out of the way. It was massive enough that it probably could have wrapped around her own body with ease and definitely took her by surprise. The limb continued to wave about, attempting to grab hold of either her or the Arrancar if he got close.

“Well, I guess that someone definitely is home.” She’d say in a deadpan tone, breathing slightly heavier at the shock of it all as she turned to look at the Arrancar.

Hair stood on the back of Auerbach's neck, however sparse. Chizuru's reinforcement of his fear had little positive effect, not that either's suspicion was unwarranted. The shapes in the shadow shifted with their observation, and faster than the arrancar could react shot forward. A yelp was silenced as the wildly swinging limb knocked into Auerbach, cartwheeling over himself into the dunes multiple times.

As he flew head over heel, making plumes of sand with each momentary contact, his body struggled back into shape. Flattened at first, he looked like a cutout, paper in the shape of a person. First his hands, then legs resumed shape, allowing the arrancar to wobble back onto his feet. With vision swimming, he groaned, reaching up to his flattened face to forcibly pull it back out. The shape fought him, returning to form with an audible pop, even across the distance he had been sent.

Resentment filled the back of his throat, fear curdling in response to his injuries; temporary as they were, it hurt! "MEAN!"

Hunching forward, Auerbach launched himself off all fours back at the building, back at the flailing limb. The dune exploded behind him, and for a moment, he scratched the sky. Landing onto the arm, his fingers dug in, feet kicking for some degree of purchase. Like an infant's tantrum, a spark of anger with no direction or purpose, the arrancar chomped down.

The eyes of the Vizard widened with shock at the damage that her Arrancar friend took from the blow but what was even more surprising was what happened next. It was the most unusual form of regeneration that she’d ever seen, with his body almost moving around as though it was one of those child’s toys that always ended up back in its original shape. That was certainly a unique form of regeneration and again brought the question as to just what he’d been through and more than that, what monster had been behind it. Chizuru couldn’t help but think that he was almost like an experimental Arrancar, just like her inner Hollow. It was unlike the norm too.

He was back in action soon enough though and as the arm started to writhe around as Auerbach bit it, Chizuru leapt into action too, charging her fists with spiritual energy before smashing the limb with powerful punches. The Vizard was by no means weak and she unleashed a horrible barrage on the arm, causing it to start acting more aggressively, swinging around in an attempt to both dislodge the Arrancar and fight Chizuru off at the same time.

The arm was made of strong stuff though and no matter how hard she struck it, Chizuru couldn’t break through the tendons.

Just what was on the other end of the arm was what was bothering her most though.

Up and down, a bucking bronco. Auerbach held on surprisingly well, kicking the entire time as his jaw held down tight, fingers firm in their placement. Words formed at the back of his throat, impossible to hear against the arm's flesh.

And words turned into something more as his toes dug into skin. From his gut to his throat, spiritual energy mounted. Glowing white from the inside, Auerbach illuminated the sands as he reared back, open mouth removing from the arm as a cero formed. A glowing red sphere, nothing more than a spec, inflating in size as the arrancar's throat expanded, ballooning with power.

A yell sounded, blinding light overtaking his features as the explosion released at the gigantic arm.

It was a powerful cero and the whole arm shuddered as the attack struck, causing the massive limb to increase in movement even more. The damage was rather clear though and where once the arm had seemed invulnerable to attack, it was now clearly not the case. It definitely gave Chizuru’s morale a boost and she decided to follow suit, leaping into the air and pulling her mask over her face, increasing her power considerably. As she came down, she’d channel her cero and release it from her hand, sending it down towards the massive creation to add to the pain.

Between the two attacks, the limb began to completely spasm out of control, its skin burnt and rotten due to the force of the Arrancar’s attacks. It was most certainly starting to lose its fighting spirit and as Chizuru removed her mask again, deciding to play it safe, she would come down upon it and deliver another few powerful blows to the reeling arm.

“I think we got it where we want it now.” She’d shout towards her friend, rather more cheery now they had the edge.

Smoke furled out of Auerbach's mouth, his mouth and throat having shrunk down. An overstretched rubber band, brought back to shape. It stung, a smell of gasoline lingering. His head was cloudy, dizzy as he'd continue trying to hold on. Black spots swam at the edge of his vision, the majority of his spiritual pressure having been put into the attack. Whatever was on the other end of the arm was far out of his range, but that was okay - he had someone to help, after all.

Disoriented as he was, Auerbach turned his head to Chizuru, a hand releasing to give her a thumbs up - "Al-YEEEE-" as he was flung off once again, the last of his grip failing him. This time he bucked upwards, slamming into the structure high above. For a moment, he stuck to it, flattened, and it seemed nothing would happen. Then it shook, a panel of its siding landing with a plume of sand.

And like a house of cards, the rest started to follow.

It looked like an awfully nasty crash and as Chizuru saw the building start to collapse, she instinctively used her shunpo to quickly move upwards, attempting to retrieve her new friend before he ended up getting buried along with the rest of the building. It wasn’t an easy job but she was eventually able to manoeuvre around the falling debris in order to fetch him, before using shunpo again to get safely out of the firing line.

The arm, however, was not so lucky and was soon being pummelled by the falling pieces of building work, until it was utterly pinned beneath it all, unable to move at all. Black, bruised and now pinned down, the limb couldn’t do anything but uselessly lie there, defeated. No doubt whatever was on the other end would be overcome with rage but Chizuru wasn’t sure she wanted to know just what was on the other end.

Putting Auerbach down, she’d ask the Arrancar, looking concerned. “Are you alright? I know you’re made of tough stuff but that was a nasty smash there.”

Body crumpled in a half dozen different ways, Auerbach looked like balled up paper. His skin itched something mad as it started to re-inflate, rounding and poping to it's natural shape. Eyes stayed open the entire time, blinking at the pain before his attention returned to his new friend, his savior (of sorts). In no danger of dying, Auerbach was elated regardless. No one had ever helped him like this, or even come close to attempting it. The cage of emotions in his head was frazzled, having jumped back and forth between anger and sudden joy; but today would not be one he forgot.

That he was sure of.

"Mmm." Auerbach's voice struggled to form, the opening of his mouth revealing teeth jutting back into place, gums opening back to accept them. His tongue finally rebounded, and with a weak cough, he nodded to Chizuru. "Y-yes. I'm okay." He struggled to pull himself out of her arms, attempting to look past her at the now ruined building. There was no looking forward to finding out whatever was inside, but every instinct told him to. Something of his was in there, after all.

"Why attack?" the arrancar thought out loud, an arm looping over the woman's shoulder to steady himself. "Why isn't attacking now?"