Holy in Battle {Saria | Ended}

A laugh escaped from Saria's lips at Kiochi being distracted in the manner that he was. It was well known to her that her transformation was probably a bit on the unusual side but she couldn't help but be amused by the younger Quincy's reactions and interest to it. Her tail would even sway at him a bit as a big hint that she noticed though this wasn't really the time to mess with him too much. Most of her attention stayed on the Hollow.

The idea that the barrier was going down drew a little more of her attention however and cause her to let out a sigh. “I'd say that's one thing you should work on then. It was a good idea but its rather limited if you don't have a good way to create an opening. Still, I'll be able to manage one way or another.” When Kiochi finally ran off she'd focus all her attention towards the Hollow and throw another hammer each time it seemed like the Hollow was starting to recover. This was going to probably be a very tiring experience but she would just have to put up with it. It probably wasn't the worst thing that she'd have have to endured. It didn't help that Kiochi's suspicion was fairly accurate. She traded speed and endurance for sheer power with her hammers. It complicated matters if her fellow Quincy wasn't quick. At the same time however it did make her uniquely suited to keeping the Hollow restrained.

As for Saria's basement, the place was easy enough to find overall as it wasn't exactly well hidden. It was by far one of the least hidden places that sh regular visited and primarily served as a private workshop area. The entrance was a sliding door towards the back of the house though what was probably immediately noticeable was that the density of soul synthesized silver in the walls was higher as one went down the gray stone steps. The place was designed to be a spiritual bunker though that was partially because it was an area where some experiments took place. It was always a good idea to keep that kind of thing contained even if it was minor.

In particular this workshop contained a large table with large jars of sap from the reishi trees as well as canisters of dried medicinal herbs. There were also wood shavings on the ground and small ingots of soul-synthesized silver. As for what Kiochi was searching for, there was a mess of silver chains and large silver stakes. The stakes had a large set of hooks on them to loop the chains. The points of the stakes were like barb hooked arrows. They were very much designed to not be easy to pull out once they pierced something.

He really didn't have the time to explain. He could only hope that the servants and visitors assumed that when he raced past, it was on some kind of skateboard. That or that they didn't notice him at all. He was starting to reach those reckless speeds from earlier on his way down the mountain. He circled the whole of the temple and Saria's house while he specifically tuned his senses for the soul forged metal that quincy used in so many of their tools. Even then, he was so focused on maintaining his speed so that he used as little time as possible that he almost ran right past the basement when he sensed it.

Koichi hopped down off his reishi disk and almost went through the door in his haste. In any other sort of situation, he would take the time to marvel at the workshop that Saria had for herself. He would have loved to have one of these instead of the simple one bedroom apartment he found himself living in these days. Instead, he rushed right past the containers of sap and wood shavings. Right past the ingots of soul silver. His fist barely closed around the mass of chains and stakes before his feet carried him right past the tools, back up the stairs, and onto a new board of reishi to race back with the echoes of the slammed door to chase him.

The hollow still continued to stare at Saria from beneath the safety of it's arms. They were the most durable parts of its body and made for a great shield to make sure the head didn't get damaged. Until it noticed that Saria wasn't actually aiming to kill it. Instead she kept aiming for its side, and while that hurt, it wasn't likely to kill it. In the most perverse manner, the pain was a teacher for the hollow.

It forced it for the first time in years to truly use the mind it still possessed to figure out what was happening. The conclusion it reached was not one it liked. If they were not going to kill it, then they were just going to keep doing this. Torturing it until it gave up on life. The hollow could never fully get it's feet back under it, but it could limp. Each hammer had a creation time. Each hammer had a flight time. And it was with that time that the hollow started to limp and crawl towards Saria.

Koichi chastised himself for feeling a certain thrill, even now. He had the chains and stakes tucked under his arm, and he was racing fast down the path. "Just a little longer."

Word Count: 450
Total Word Count: 5909

An uneasy look appeared on Saria's face as the Hollow's behavior had begun to change. She didn't like that apparently the creature was learning from the experience. She had hoped that things would be simply a test of endurance while she waited for Kiochi to finish. However it seemed that things would not be quite that simple. A slight change in strategy was needed.

Unfortunately the best method that came to mind was going to be even more draining than what she initially had planned. Her right hand was pointed towards the Hollow while her left continued forming hammers. A wave of repelling force was pressed against the Hollow to try and keep it from approaching any closer.

That wasn't enough however. There was a good chance that the wolf gorilla would figure out a good way to get around her new tactic but it was not the only one that could think through the situation. Her attention focused on the beast's arms. The arms weren't taking much damage but that didn't mean that there wasn't a good way to deal with them. Her gaze quickly turned to her its right arm connected to its torso and soon threw a hammer for that spot in hopes of doing enough damage to make it useless.

Given the large amount of reishi she was having to gather however it didn't take long for sweat to start beading all across her body. Her muscles were rapidly beginning to get sore, especially her right arm from her half-baked blut arterie during the beginning of the fight. Despite the pain however the priestess would force herself to continue on as if nothing was wrong. It was a familiar pain to say the least. She had been through many fights in the past. Dealing with exhaustion and fighting it off for as long as possible was something one had to learn when battling for their lives.

The hollow wasn't done learning quite yet. It used its right arm to cover up its mask while using the left and it's feet to claw it's way forward, against the repulsive force. Its shielding arm shuddered with each strike to the shoulder, falling a little more as the limb lost more and more of the support it needed. Still, now that her efforts were focused on that limb, it could to her all the quicker. If it wasn't for the repulsive force, it might have even tried to make a leap at her. But then, something stopped it. Something familiar from before it's period of learning. Something that led to its current situation. It sensed...

"Made it!" Koichi couldn't help but be a little excited as he shot right into the little clearing they'd formed in their battle. He coasted around behind Saria and dropped the chains, then went back to making this a capture attempt instead of a fight for their lives. The hollow's right arm fell, it's shoulder mashed to a pulp, which meant all of it's focus had to go into just not being blown away. It couldn't lash out at Koichi as he skated around, setting up the four points of his barrier and activating it with the three of them inside. He finally stopped next to Saria and paused to catch his breath. "Sorry if I'm a little late. This place is hard to find again when you're too far to hear the explosions." And too worked up to properly use your sixth sense anymore.

Koichi summoned more arrows, and started to throw them at the beast with his punches. The remaining fist, the back legs, he was focused on the hollow's means of supporting itself. For reasons that became apparent a few moments later as it was thrown back against the wall of the barrier with Saria's power. Not that he was about to let up the pressure just because of that. He found a rhythm and fell into it, constantly launching arrows with only pauses coming to refresh his quiver. "I'm going to be visiting more often now that I've seen that workshop. Just thought I should give fair warning. Better than heading out to some clearing in the woods to train and work on projects. And, I can be used as a test subject for your sap." Sounded like a fair deal to him.

"I'll keep it pinned down. Once Raitsume-san stakes it, we can head back to the shrine for some more tea, yeah?"

Word Count: 424
Total Word Count: 6333

Relief filled Saria at Koichi's arrival. She wasn't sure how many more hammers she could have managed but she could definitely manage a bit more bursts of repelling force. A fact that she already had a good plan for making use of. Quickly Saria would grab the silver stakes and chains before mentally preparing herself. She had to figure out where the weakest points on the Hollow's body were.

The most difficult problem were those arms of course but one of them being disabled did make things quite a bit easier. Quickly the priestess would move around to each side of the Hollow and stick four of the stakes deep into the ground. Once those ones were nice and secure she took the last four stakes and jumped up. Her left arm held one of the stakes up while the right helped aim her throw. The moment the spear was released she would propel them far faster throw the use of repelling force from her aiming arm.

The first be aimed for the left side of its lower back. Immediately after she would jump again towards the right side. Finally then the left and right shoulders. She hoped to pierce through the Hollow and into the ground. Regardless of how initially successful these attempts were she would move on to the next step as there wasn't much time to make things perfect just yet.

Next came the chains. Given how long the process had already taken she focused on the injured arm first to wrap the chain around it and pull it behind its back before looping it around one of the stakes. She'd then wrap one of the chains around its neck and begin pulling hard to forcefully restrain its head. She'd focus her Blut Arterie during this process to make her efforts easier. In the end she would not be finished until she had the chains nice and wrapped around the Hollow.

She did have one final step however. Once more she would form a hammer though she would stumble a bit after its creation. Time was running out to get things done. Carefully she'd move to each stake and pound hard on the top of them to force them deeper into the Hollow and into the ground. Throughout the process she was alert for any actions the being would take to struggle. Once everything was done she would back away and fall onto her back while looking towards Koichi.

“I think I'll need something stronger than tea. As for the rest... we'll have to talk about that.”

Koichi sat back and watched as the capture went on. He still provided support by firing an arrow at any part of the hollow that might have looked a little too lively, but the hollow was finally, truly done. The real problem for it was the beating it'd taken after being downed. It's body was too soft and weak from the constant abuse to stop the spears. There was a little resistance that Koichi could see, but soon enough each pillar of silver sank through the hollow's flesh and into the ground below. It roared in pain, but other than trying to heal itself, that was really all the hollow could do at this point. Its struggle to crawl towards Saria earlier used up every bit of true fighting strength it had left.

It did still struggle. It strained at the stakes to force them out, and at the chains to try to break them. Were it fresh, it would have been simple, but the stakes didn't move and the chains barely shifted. The hollow roared. In pain, in anger, in fear of not knowing what might come next. Even when the stakes were hammered in, it roared as though it might be able to contact a sibling who could pull them from this mess. But no one came.

Koichi covered his ears a little, as the roaring of the hollow was only getting louder. Finally, he walked up to the head, reared his fist back and delivered one final blow to the middle of its forehead. He had a pretty good idea of how durable it was from his efforts earlier, and this one finally had the effect he was looking for. The hollow's head bounced against the ground, and then the beast fell silent. Of course, it was a hollow. It didn't need to breathe, so all Koichi could do was watch and wait to see if it dispersed. A minute, then two, and still the hollow remained. Its flesh slowly knit back together around the stakes and chains, further cementing its capture.

The young man sighed and rubbed his face. "Who knew deliberately not trying to kill the hollow was hard? Still attacking, but trying to not go for the kill." he said, tapping the mask. Once more, his barrier was dropped, and he made his way back over to Saria's side. "Something stronger than tea you said? Yeah, I could go for that." He looked at his arms and his jacket. The small scratches on his arms had both opened back up, and been joined by a few more. His jacket wasn't looking in the best of shape either. Any more fighting and it probably would have just fallen off him. He was sore, now that the adrenaline was starting to wear off, and once his gauntlets were gone he noted his fists were a tiny bit numb from hitting that hollow.

Even so, he held a hand down to Saria. "I wouldn't lay there if I were you. Might be on top of an ant pile. And if you get settled there, it'll just hurt more when you eventually try to get up." The look in his eyes provided what his words would not. He wouldn't outright offer to carry her, but if she laid there any longer, he'd weather any struggles or complaints. Just so long as he didn't leave a weary ally so close to a hollow.

Word Count: 574
Total Word Count: 6907

Slowly Saria raised her arm and grasped onto Koichi's as he offered it to her. It was a bit difficult to pull herself to her feet but she already figured out what the other option was going to be. As much as she appreciated his help she did have some measure of pride that she needed to protect. It would be a bit of a struggle that ended up with her slumping up against Koichi for a moment before she'd push off him and to her feet, “Thanks.”

A glance was shot towards the now silent Hollow. Her thoughts went towards the biggest question of this whole situation. How was she going to get it from here to one of the underground room so that its fellow Hollows couldn't come rescue it nor would it attract further problems. It was one of the problems she was still working on before Kiochi came along. She had rushed things because she wasn't sure if an opportunity like this would have come up again in the near future.

She looked towards Kiochi again before letting out a sigh and began swaying a bit as she started moving towards the shrine. Sweat stained her outfit much to her own dissatisfaction as she looked herself over. It wasn't exactly how she wanted things to go today, “To be perfectly honest I knew it'd be difficult as I'd tried it once before. Of course I wasn't prepared. Honestly I'm still not perfectly prepared now. Getting that thing to somewhere more proper is not going to be easy. I still hadn't really worked out the details on that. Either way, too tired to figure it out right this moment.”

After a few moments she tilted her head to a side until a quiet cracking sound was heard. Her body was a bit stiff from it all. In fact without much a thought she would untie the top of her outfit and let it fall loosely around her waist. Underneath she wore a tight fitting black tank top it also revealed a soul silver maneki neko charm around her neck as well as a long soul silver chain wrapped all the way around her left arm and hooked to her tank top. Her “cross” was loosely hanging underneath her wrist. She also had fur in other places beyond what was immediately visible with her robes on. In particular what was no visible was a pair of tiger-stripe style fur patterns on her shoulders as well as along her forearms. Though soon after she would let the transformation dissipate. It was a little tiring to maintain in her current state even if she enjoyed the form.

Saria would smile and grab a sleeve to wipe the sweat off her face, “In any case thank you for the help. I think it'll be very helpful.” When they finally arrived back at the shrine she'd immediately head in and open up a cupboard that was right in the entryway and grab her red jar full of sake.

He waited as patiently as he could for Saria to pull herself up. He really was trying to be as considerate as possible. It was already clear she was a pretty prideful person, so hauling her up into his arms was not going to win him any points. He even remained silent while she used him for support. Considering how he needed to slightly spread his stance to support her, picking her up might not have been the best idea after all. He would have gotten them back to the shrine, probably, but once there he might be as worn out as her from the effort of keeping his balance. "No problem."

He looked towards the hollow when it was mentioned and took a step towards it before just turning away. "This area probably stinks of Quincy power. If we leave it for now, it will probably seem like a trap. After we've both rested up, we can just come back and restrain it further before dragging it to your basement." He looked at the hollow again and considered the size of it compared to the size of the door he'd come through. "If we can get it in. Might just have to leave it chained up outside. At least you'll be..." He lost his train of thought for a moment when Saria let the top of her robes fall. And not for the more obvious reasons one might expect. Her transformation was fascinating. Farm from what he expected out of a quincy after all the training with his dad. Stuff like the sap and his tattoos still at least used the main principles of what it was to be a quincy, but fur? Stripped patterns? Ears and a tail?

He did his best to not look too disappointed when the cat-like state was turned off.

"Ahem, right, yes. I mean, was I supposed to just let you take on a hollow on your own? Don't think I'd be able to call myself a quincy after that." He fell silent and focused on other things, like how he was going to explain how torn up his clothes were this time. His neighbors were getting suspicious, and if he didn't come up with something good or sneak back in, he might get reported as some sort of thug. "Maybe I'll just stay at the shrine and patch up my jacket." he said to himself.

He couldn't make it much further than the entryway. Well, not so much couldn't as didn't want to. It just occurred to him he'd rushed out without pulling his shoes back on, and with the adrenaline finally flushed from his system, walking any further with grit under his soles was out of the question. He leaned against the doorway and slowly started to catalogue the new aches and pains he'd accrued. "So, what do we toast to? A successful capture? A threat neutralized? Discovery of unexpected colleagues?"

Word Count: 490
Total Word Count: 7397

Saria moved further into her home and sat the jar of sake onto the table before moving to grab her water bucket from earlier. She would fill the bucket with water again and grab two fresh towels then head back out to the room with a smile on her face. It was always a highlight of her day when she could set out the sake. It had been a long day to say the least.

The priestess would pour out a cup for each of them and then move to grab a pitcher of water along with two other glasses. Satisfied with the setup it was finally time to sit down and relax. It took a few moments before she collected her thoughts about everything that happened and remembered everything she had observed from Koichi but didn't initially comment on. The thought amused her about how distracted he was and she was able to catch on to the moment that he began acting the most awkward.

“I think the 'discovery of unexpected colleagues' is the one I like best. So to the discovery of unexpected colleagues it is then. You've been a good ally and I think we may even be able to be good friends.”

Saria would raise her cup towards Koichi before taking a sip of her sake. This time it was sake from her best stock. The variety that she had the habit of drinking the most and she figured it was likely a good way to satisfy his earlier complaints when she was treating Koichi's wounds. Regardless she intended on giving him some new things to complain about just to mess with him a bit. What was the point of a friend if you couldn't tease them from time to time?

“So... I noticed you took an interest in something.”

The priestess would stare at Kiochi for a few moments with a very serious look on her face. In fact she would make a point to look a little angry for a few moments. She couldn't really hold it for very long however before breaking out laughing. As she laughed she would grab the maneki neko necklace and trigger her transformation again. Just to add to the whole situation she would tilt her head to the side and raise her hand up like a cat's paw.

“Nya nya! Does Koichi-san like kitty cats?”

Once more she would begin laughing. She was mostly just guessing but she had noticed a slight change in his behavior when she transformed and when she let the transformation fade. It didn't seem like a big deal to have some fun with it especially as the reishi concentration in the shrine made things easier. Still after a few moments she would sway a bit and grab her glass and pour herself some water.

It looked like there wasn't going to be any mercy for him. There he was in the middle of the entryway, just trying to settle into a position that wouldn't upset all his aches too much, and she had to take the sake further into the house. "Give me a break Raitsume-san. You should know how worn out I am." he mostly mumbled to himself. Nevertheless, he pulled himself up to his feet and followed her into the other room so that he could enjoy the post-battle celebration. If he didn't, then she was just going to start drinking without him.

"Really? Well glad I was able to improve on what must have been a horrible first impression." He nodded back to her and took a sip of his own sake. He didn't need to see the jar to know this was the 'good stuff' she'd referred to earlier. They were drinking it after all. Now that he thought about it, it would be horrible to use something like this for treating wounds. He took another sip, and looked at Saria with a raised brow when she mentioned him taking an interest in something.

His mind slowly started to look for something she might have been able to pick up on, and picked up speed as it seemed like she was growing angrier. The sap? Her clan's research? Her hammers? Her workshop? He took yet another sip to give off the appearance that her stare wasn't getting to him, but his finger was steadily tapping on the table. She was supposed to be his friend now, so what could he have done to make her...laugh? He set down his cup, his look of confusion only magnified as Saria laughed at some joke she'd just reached the punchline of. "What's so-"

He fell silent again as it finally became clear just what she was getting at. He turned away and rubbed his face. Both in relief, and to make sure she didn't have the satisfaction of seeing that her little scheme had gotten to him. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with liking cats. They're cute, and amusing. Though they can be rather capricious. Purring one minute and batting you around the next." he declared with a huff. A wholly heartless huff because he currently lacked the capacity to stay mad at a worn out friend who looked like a cat.

"You probably shouldn't hold that for too long. What will your family do to me if they find me here with you passed out and alcohol on the table? I'd probably be happy to trade places with that hollow." He scooted his chair out from the table and took one of the towels. He looked at his barely functional jacket again and finally pulled the thing off and set it down by his feet. Koichi dipped one corner of the towel in the bucket and started to tend to his scrapes. "So, looks like you get more practice with the sap. Barring any other disturbances, I'll make sure to take it easy this time. Just, let me clean my own wounds this time. Getting the full clinic treatment twice in one day is more than my pride will allow."

And he didn't want to admit he feared her 'bedside manner'.

Word Count: 550
Total Word Count: 7947

Mercy simply wasn't really a word in Saria's vocabulary. There was simply too much fun in being merciless. You could always draw out the most interesting reactions from people when you made an effort to keep them on their toes. It often revealed sides to them that they wouldn't dare show under normal circumstances.

Despite Saria's amusement however she was really feeling her fatigue. Quickly she would drink down the glass of water all in one gulp. Thirst was hitting her relatively hard in addition to her exhaustion. Once she was done drinking however she almost immediately back to smiling and stifling bits of laughter as she spoke, “Ahh, your face really was priceless. Having someone around here will really liven up the place.”

She'd rest her chin on her hands as she leaned up against the table. Her tail would sway from side to side as she continued staring at Koichi for a few moments longer. Despite Koichi's attempts at hiding his reactions she was able to see right through them. In fact she had the sneaking suspicion that he wasn't just talking about cats when he responded to her comment. It was fairly certain to her even. So much so that she planned on capitalizing on this at a later date.

What she would not wait on was taking advantage of what Koichi was insinuating with his comment about her passing out. Her voice would turn a little bit sly, “Heh, wouldn't that be quite the sight? It almost sounds like you would enjoy it. At least if you didn't have family to worry about.” For a few moments she would look thoughtful before she continued, “Funny though... I think the only family I have left is my brother. He hasn't visited for a good while though. So we would be all alone.”

That was enough to leave her new friend with she figured. Slowly Saria stood up and began heading towards the bathroom while her tail swayed behind her. When she reached the door she would look back to Koichi, “I'm going to wash up and get some rest. You're welcome to stay as long as you like and do the same if you want. I especially could use some help getting that Hollow into one of the hidden workshops under the shrine if you're willing tonight. Can even show you around a bit, maybe even talk about some of the things I do here.”

Saria's expression would turn very serious afterwards, “However as fun as this has been, if I catch you peeping, I WILL smash your face in with my hammer. Just a fair warning.” While it was fun to mess with Koichi she didn't want him acting on it too much. With that warning done with she'd smile at him again, “As long as you know that and don't draw in too much trouble from now on, you're always welcome.” Finally with that she'd head to get washed up.