[Bitp:R] Episode 8: Revenge of the training instructor

[Kuroimaken]

"You look like crap."

These were Rouga's first words when he got to the infirmary and looked down at a recovering Pico Kurazume. He wasn't carrying flowers or a get well card.

"Actually, I take that back. Crap looks like a hallmark for you to reach right now. I heard what happened."

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico looks up at Rouga from his slate table of a bed, one eye almost closed shut thanks to the absolute hell that was unleashed on his face. "You don't say." He says bitingly, giving away the fact that he hasn't lost his sarcasm.

He tries to shift himself back up, but he just barely gets up of the slab before he winces in pain and sinks back down. Of course, his painfully obvious lack of an arm didn't help matters. "Ugh."

"...So, you heard about the demotion, eh? What took you so long?"

[Kuroimaken]

"I was busy tearing people apart at the Primera's. Got a couple of bruises for it too, though that's not why I'm here."

Rouga sighed softly and pushed his hands into his pockets.

"My point is that I think of you as one of the people worth keeping in one piece. Sure, you may be lazy, alcoholic, completely devoid of common sense and, in your current state, almost as ugly as our reigning Princess..." At this point, Rouga stops with a small shudder, "...but I'm guessing you're still a better option than that crossdresser. I wanna see what Amada saw in you, and how you got to be Decima. I think you've lost your drive and ambition - and if you get those two things back, you just might make someone respectable.

In other words, I'm offering to train you to get your place back. And maybe go further, who knows.

What do you say?"

[InyutheBeatIs]

After Rouga made his offer, Pico did the only thing that would be inappropriate at the time.

He laughed.

Or at least he tried to, before the sharp intake of breath indicated that his chest disagreed with the notion. So, he just settled for what could pass as a grin for the moment. "Rouga, do you have any idea how long I've been Decima? A long time, I'll tell you that much. I'd say...about 200 years now. Maybe a little less. You think with all that time on my hands, I didn't even try to advance, to become greater? Every single time I've tried there's always something that cuts me off. What makes you think you can change that now? And speakin' of which, why do you even care? You barely know me, I don't owe you anything, you don't owe me anything, what's the deal here?"

[Kuroimaken]

"I'm using you as my instrument of visiting untold pain to Lalita. Did you know he tried to have Amada killed while you were sitting here?" He dropped that one like it was a package on fire. "Girl cares about you too much to tell you, of course, and asking her will naturally get you nowhere. But it happened. Apparently it was over her refusing the guy."

Rouga sighed softly.

"You say you've tried. The way I figure it, not hard enough for it to matter. So you just decided to sit on your ass and see how it went. Lost your edge. There's only so much a man can accomplish by himself - I had my own teachers. Ecchan probably had his, too.

Would you rather be that little smug bastard's inferior for the rest of your naturally incredibly long-lived life? And drag Amada down with you?"

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico seems rather interested as Rouga mentions Amada. "Really now." He looks off into the distance. "You talk about Amada like she's my frikkin' soulmate. She's not. Nowhere near that, in fact. She's just a good fraccion, that's all. She's loyal, she works hard enough not to tick me off, and she puts up with my crap. That's it."

He then looks back up at the ceiling. "Still, if that's what happened...Lalita will pay."

For a while, he remains silent. "...I had a teacher once. An Espada. Was my Espada when I was a Fraccion. Thing is, the Boss is gone now. Has been for some time."

He then looks Rouga dead in the eye. "You wanna train me? What'll it cost me in the end?"

[Kuroimaken]

"Why does it have to cost you anything? Like I said, I'm using you to visit pain on someone I don't like. Besides, I feel sorry for Amada for having to put up with Lalita's crap just because you lost a fight." Rouga offered with a shrug.

"If YOU choose to thank me later somehow, that's your prerogative, but I won't hold my breath. In fact, after your training, you might choose not to thank me at all. Just ask my legion.

I just don't wanna see you in the mud, kiddo. Doesn't seem right to stand by when a potential drinking buddy is in the dumps, don'tcha agree?"

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico tilted his head to the side, obviously questioning the apparent charity that Rouga is offering.

"So let me get this straight. You're willing to put me through training from hell, just to inflict ungodly pain on the sonuvab**** who did this to me, and expect nothing else in return? Pardon me if I don't buy what you're selling."

He grins rather a rather twisted grin, obviously seeing some hole in his logic...or at least he thinks he is. "Around here, nothing's free. Remember when I said I've been Decima for around 200 years? I've been around here for longer. I've gotten a bit jaded, if you will, so you'll forgive my hesitance when you suddenly come swooping down in my fragile state, offering to be my guiding light and guardian angel."

[Kuroimaken]

"What kinda pansy-assed talk is that? I ain't no light and I ain't no angel!

Tell ya what, then. If you're so hesitant because I'm not asking for anything in return, then you owe me a favor. I just don't have anything I'd like to ask ya right now.

Sides, who says I won't get my kicks outta putting you through my special brand of hellbound training?" Rouga offered with a large smirk.

"Remember what I said when we first met? I was bored, and tired of the Espada treating me like trash. So I decided to beat some sense into each of them. I just didn't expect to find someone I'd lose the mood for beating the crap out of."

[InyutheBeatIs]

"...You honestly think of me like that, huh? Glad to know."

Pico grins a bit less like he's mocking someone and more like he's happy. "Well, now that that's outta the way...why the hell not? I'm in."

[Kuroimaken]

"Good. I'll give you a couple more days to rest up, at least so you can move without feeling like you're being stabbed from the inside. Your regeneration should have gotten off its lazy ass by then.

Better enjoy it while you can, kiddo. Because by the time I'm done with you you're gonna wish there's time travel available for this time period of misery." Rouga smirks in a decidedly sadistic way.

"Try not to comment too much on this with Amada. I think she might try to talk you out of it."

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico nods his head. "I'd like to see what you can do."

He does get a questioning look on his face. "Although I'm pretty sure I need to eat something in order to not feel like I'm being opressed by my own ribs."

[Kuroimaken]

"I'll see if I can get you some food. Here's to hoping you can feed yourself, cuz otherwise you're screwed.

Oh yeah. First order of business: no booze whatsoever until your training's complete. If I find out about that, you'll regret it."

That oughta give the guy a little nudge.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico shrugs as best as he can given the circumstances. "Well, all of my booze is now officially Lalita's, so yeah, it's gonna be hard to get any more booze."

"And don't worry, I've still got enough pride and crap to eat by myself, thanks."

[Kuroimaken]

Rouga seemed actually surprised to learn that Pico could live without booze.

Huh. Might be hope for this one yet.

"Good to see that much. If you'd lost that pride, I'm guessing no amount of training would make you good again."

[InyutheBeatIs]

...Of course, given his state, he'd probably start saying rather stupid things right about now due to the pain, so when it gets to the training he'll probably whine with no end in sight. However, right now, he just doesn't give a crap.

"You sound like you doubted me, there. But eh, it makes sense. Like I said, you don't know me that much."

[Kuroimaken]

"Probably best that way, isn't it? The less I know, the harder it is to hurt you."

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico simply grunts and lets his head flop to the side. "...Well, 's that all you're here for, or are you gonna get outta here now?"

[Kuroimaken]

A smirk follows.

"Sleep well for now, kid."

[Two days later]

Pico received a note from Rouga and a map. It showed where their first training exercise would take place.

The large arrancar awaited for Pico at the foot of a truly MASSIVE mountain.

Rouga patiently awaited with his arms crossed over his chest and a large backpack at his feet.

[InyutheBeatIs]

[Top of the Mountain]

"GRRR! Frikkin' mountain, being a pain in the *** by God..."

That's what Rouga will hear before noticing Pico heaving his way up onto solid, relatively flat ground. At this point, he looks like he's only slightly been shoved face first into a cheese-grater, and also less like his ribs are trying to dissect him for further examination. However, the side of his face still has a nasty looking patch of red skin, the mask fragment on that side is chipped, and his arm still has a distinct lack of being there. However, he at least has a new set of clothes on, so he looks cleaned up.

The hawk-like man takes a few breaths before standing back up to his normal height. "*breath* Yeesh. I'm here." He looks around. "Now where in the hell did you find this? Didn't know we had a mountain around here 'til you said so."

[Kuroimaken]

"It was always here, kiddo." He replies simply.

"Anyhoo, the first step of your training is gonna be improving your stamina. This mountain here is ten kilometers high. I want you to climb it, then go down the other side. In five days."

He's kidding, right? He has to be.

[InyutheBeatIs]

At that point, Pico stares at Rouga blankly for a couple of seconds, before looking towards the top of the mountain. He stares intently at it, narrowing his eyes at the top as if it will somehow shave it off. Then, he looks back down to Rouga with a look of sheer dumbfoundment.

"Okay, let me get this straight." He points to the mountain. "You want me to go all the way up there, then slide down that thing to the bottom, in five days? Right after you saw me have problems with getting here?"

He then looks back up at the mountain. "...I don't think anyone's ever told me to do this sort of thing. Ever."

[Kuroimaken]

"I do this every morning as a wake-up." He replies bluntly.

"I'm being generous with your time limit. I also got you supplies. You can redo your bandages every two kilometers. And by the time these five days are over, you're bound to have recovered, at least for the most part.

And you said it yourself: no one's ever had you do something like this before. What you see now is a limit you haven't tested yet. And I want to see if you'll break it."

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico shakes his head. "Two kilometers? I guess I'll guess when I reach that point."

After a while of staring back at the mountain, he speaks back up. "Frikkin' mountains. This'll be hell. How am I even supposed to climb the damn thing with one arm?!"

[Kuroimaken]

"Relax, the first stretch of the climb you can do by leaping from rock to rock. Just don't use Sonido - trust me on this one. Now go before I decide to set a couple of Adjuchas on your ass for encouragement!"

[nothingclever]

Just as Pico was about to begin his ascent, a carrier pigeon swooped in with Lalita's letter. It plucked the letter from its side and handed it to the former espada with its beak. "CAW! STOP BEING SO HARD TO FIND! CAW! YOU SUCK! CAW! The bird began to circle Pico's head. "CAW! CAW! CAW!

[Frozen_Feet]

To add injury to insult, the letter reads:


Hello, Icaros-kun

How you're doing? Just wanted you to know that I have no hard feelings towards you anymore, so could we forget about the last time? I hope you're recovering well. Say hello to Amada for me.

With love,

Tsundere-miko

[InyutheBeatIs]

When the carrier pigeon showed up, Pico let out a sigh of dissapoinment and frustration. "Dammit, Athos, what now?"

He takes the letter from the pigeon, about to open it when he noticed a couple of things. One, he can't open it in the conventional way, due to not having two arms, and two, there was an annoying bird flying around his head saying that "he sucked". So, after glaring at the bird for a few laps around his head, he unceremoniously thwaps the bird away with the letter. "Stupid bird." He then tears the envelope open with his teeth, spitting out the bits of paper that got in his mouth before letting the envelope fall to the floor.

Then he opened the letter and read it. As he read it, all he could do was stare at the letter for a bit in shock. Then he read it again, and again, and again, and again. Each and every time his grip got a bit tighter, his lips curled a bit more into a snarl, and that vein in his forehead got a bit more tense. By the time he finished reading it, the letter was practically crumpled up, an absolutely terrifying growl escaped between clenched teeth, and that vein looked like it was about to jump off and punch somebody.

Then, his fist started to crackle. Just a bit a first, but soon it became very, very noticable that his hand is actually crackling with energy. "...You stupid, invasive, crossdressing, condescending, two-faced son of a B****!!"

At that point, the energy in his hand flared up, a garish green electricity covering his hand and burning the piece of paper in it. After a few seconds of this, the electricity faded, revealing that what used to be the paper is now burning dust. Pico let this dust slip through his hand, before looking back at the mountain as though it insulted him somehow, and that he would drive it into the ground if it was the last thing he'd ever do.

"Rouga, get me that pack. I'm goin' mountain climbing."

[Kuroimaken]

Well DAMN. I didn't expect Lalita to dig his own grave that furiously. But better not get too excited - this kid's got a long way to go before I can get him a rematch.

"Here you go, Pico. Knock 'em dead. Make sure you pace yourself - climb too fast and you'll be half-dead with no place to rest at the top, climb too slow and your time limit's up. Do NOT try to airwalk or Sonido your way up, you'll just be wasting energy. And if you can, do NOT release your Ressurreccion."

With that, Rouga helped Pico with the large pack of supplies, then watched.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico slipped into the pack, a look of pure determination on his face. "Alright, then. I'll see you in four days, pal."

He then takes off as soon as the pack is secured onto him, leaping from ledge to ledge, intending to punish the mountain with every step. He doesn't even try to register the pain, instead his only thougts being a simple command of will. Get to the top. Get to the top. Get to the frikkin' top!

[Kuroimaken]

Wonder how long he'll last at that pace? He's too angry to realize he's wasting energy.

As Rouga predicted, the first two kilometers of ascent are relatively easy. As the climbing continues, however, Pico will find his strength rather slowly yet steadily decreasing. There's something odd about this mountain.

I should have probably warned him this mountain eats more Reiatsu the closer you get to the top...

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico practically powered through the first two kilometers, not even bothering to stop until around the third kilometer to realize he even had bandages. Right about then, though, he felt a somewhat sharp pain in his chest, noticing line of cloth suddenly dangling near the ground. He decides to prop himself against a rock and try and replace his bandages as best as he can. Of course, he manages, though not without a few curses, gouges and mutterings.

Eventually, he looks back up and starts climbing again. Pretty much the instant he takes a step forward, he notices the climb is more difficult than before. Eh, probably just a lack of wanting to punch that condescending piece of crap in the face.

So, he heads right back into it.

[Kuroimaken]

Rouga, of course, isn't doing much of anything that Pico can notice. Despite the man's rather intense Reiatsu signature, it was much like trying to look through a fog - if he bothered to do so.

Around half of kilometer 5, Pico can tell the temperature is dropping significantly. The exhaustion ought to be settling in by now. He needs a place to settle down, rest and let the regeneration work its magic.

The sun will be going down any minute now.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico's breath is heavy by the time he reaches the fifth kilometer. He takes one look at the setting sun and leans against the mountain, sliding down to what counts for a solid floor.

He was exhausted, and he knew it. There was something about this mountain that sapped the strength out of him. Or maybe it was just that he hadn't gone for that much of a jog before without using Sonido. Probably that.

He slowly undid his bandages again, taking the opportunity to replace them. After a few minutes of akwardly wrapping himself up, he looked off into the sky. He started thinking at that point, given he didn't have much else to do.

I wonder what the boys in the barracks will think of me now. Sharky's probably laughing any time he hears about me, along with the rest of the boys. Frikkin' sell-outs, they owe me for not killing them!

Bah, who cares. Right now, Athos is probably having my domain redecorated so that it doesn't look so "garish" and "appalling" and "oh dear god my eyes my eyes the goggles they do nothing". And Amada...Amada. I wonder what she's up to. Probably trying to pry Eddy off with a crowbar.

I hope she's okay...

...

...I mean, she still has to fill out that frikkin' paperwork.

And with that thought, his thoughts wander off, before closing his eyes and getting some rest against the cold mountain.

[Kuroimaken]

The morning after, Pico still felt like hell, but at least some of the pain and exhaustion had passed. As he started climbing again, he would hear a roaring sound from beneath. Looking down, he would notice there was a cloud of some sort (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhcTOGc_Tic) forming at the base of the mountain and OMGIT'SHEADEDTHISWAY!!!

A strong wind blows past him as the source of the cloud reveals itself - it's a very large wolf-like Hollow of some sort climbing at breakneck speeds. The wolf is about a dozen feet away from Pico, but still, some of the updraft it causes is easily felt.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico wakes up from a rather boring dream with a grunt and a moan, his vision blurry as he looks down at the cloud.

As he gets up, the cloud fast approaches. Soon, it parts, soon showing the hollow in what used to be the cloud. Pico's eyes soon snap open. "Oh crap. Time to book it." Soon, he wheels around, grabs the pack on the ground, swings it onto him, and starts booking it up the mountain as fast as his newly awakened feet can take him.

[Kuroimaken]

Though it doesn't get any easier, the next three kilometers are relatively uneventful. At this point, Pico has probably realized a good enough pace to keep up without waste of energy. (Or he passed out. It's an option too.)

But it's from then on that the real challenge begins. The air was already scarce, and the temperatures were pretty low before, but Pico is positively going through Cocytus now. It becomes increasingly harder to breathe, and he needs to keep moving if he wants to avoid needing to spend another night on the mountain - at this height, it could possibly kill him.

Training from hell, indeed.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Well, he managed to keep up a relatively good pace after the wolf-hollow chased him up the mountain. However, he could've sworn he passed out for a few seconds there at kilometer 7.75.

Then he hits kilometer eight. Things pretty much went, for lack of a better term, down hill from there.

He hated it. He hated every minute of it. His lungs felt like they were about to collapse at every breath, his skin felt like it would freeze off, and there was always the fact that he was trying to outrun the sun.

So, he fought it off. He fought off the pain, the cold, the desire to pretty much die right then and there. He fought it off until finally, he reached the top.

The air was thin, but the view wasn't bad. The sunset colored the sand with a faint, ghastly glow. Pico clawed his way up, managing to get up just in time to see it. His attempt to stand up was stopped by pain, forcing him to stay hunched over. The sight of the sunset reminded him of a hundred different memories of sunsets in his being, both creating and destroying a sense of good feelings, hope, love.

He took a few steps forward, towards the other side of the mountain. However, the fatigue, the cold, the lack of air, and the sudden rush of emotion took their toll on Pico's weakened mind, frail body, and chaotic heart. So, he collapsed, falling down the peak of the mountain and landing on an edge. Thankfully, he survived, but he's still rather asleep.

[Kuroimaken]

The wolfen Hollow eventually passed him by rather than attacking. When he awoke, Pico realized he was partially buried in snow. Strangely, he felt no cold at all - perhaps unaware that the snow acted like an insulant, keeping him from freezing over. He'd fallen face-first too, which kept his face from being eaten away by frostbite.

The good news was, the descent would prove easier than the ascent. At least now Pico had the luxury of sliding against the cliff face rather than scaling it.

It was hard to tell how much time had passed - the former Decima only realized that whichever day this was, it was already past noon. On the way down, he could observe large wolf tracks. Strangely, they only marked a downward path.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico woke up, shooting up and causing the snow on him to fly off. He didn't register that he was actually warm for a few seconds, not giving much thought to it when he did. Right now, he was more concerned about the fact that he was out for an indeterminate amount of time.

He decided to slide his way down the hill, trying to make up for lost time. He does notice the tracks, remembering the scare he had with the hollow that most likely made those tracks.

[Kuroimaken]

The descent is uneventful compared to his rise. Pico ends up making much more swift progress - by the end of the day, he is at the base again. Rouga is sitting on a chair reading a comic book of some sort.

[InyutheBeatIs]

It may have been uneventful, but the whole thing still took a lot out of him. He won't die of exhaustion, but he's not going to be happy.

Nor is he, when he notices Rouga sitting there reading as if it were the most normal thing to do at the moment. "*huff, puff* What the hell were you thinking with that hollow back there?!" He stands there, breathing heavily for a while before walking up to Rouga, slowly but surely. Pico drops the pack by his own feet, almost tossing it. "And just what are you readin'?"

[Kuroimaken]

The magazine reads "Moe Moe Oppai".

In other words: you don't wanna know.

"What are you talking about? There was no other Hollow in that mountain. I checked when I did my morning climbing each of the four days you were out there."

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico shakes his head at noticing the cover. He mumbles something about perverts.

Then, he looks back at Rouga, practically glaring at him, clearly suspicious. "Your kiddin' me? That thing chasing me was you? What, you got a lightning bolt for a foot? You might just be faster than Eddy was."

[Kuroimaken]

"I wasn't chasing you, kiddo. I was just doing my daily climb. If you mistook that for chasing, well... Anyway, you did good, I guess.

And hey, thanks for the compliment. My Sonido is a bit sucky, I'll admit, but I've yet to find someone who could race me while I'm in Ressurreccion.

By the way, you have the rest of the day off. You're going to need your strength for tomorrow's training."

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico's face cracks into a one sided grin, the torn side of his face unresponsive. "Gee, thanks."

He slumps down, sitting down against a nearby rock. He then starts patting himself down, looking for something before shaking his head in disgust. "Crap, must've fallen out of my pockets..." He jerks his head towards Rouga. "Say, you have smokes on you? Mine must've fell out."

[Kuroimaken]

"Good to see you got your priorities straight. You can't move half your face, you still haven't recovered as far as your arm is concerned, and you've basically done in four days what you were SUPPOSED to have done in five. Remember what I said about pacing yourself?

Let me ask you one thing, Pico. What do you think was the purpose of this exercise?"

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico quirks an eyebrow at Rouga. "What are you talkin' about? Last time I checked, it was supposed to be about stamina. Overcoming obstacles, see how far I could go and all that."

He narrows his eyes at Rouga after he says this. "...You wanted to do something else didn't you?"

[Kuroimaken]

"You're not completely in the wrong. The idea of this training exercise was, yes, to improve your stamina and allow you to overcome your limits. But it was also about something more.

The reason I gave you five days was so you could learn the very important lesson of pacing. While there are multiple strategies to dealing with an opponent, the basics come down to three aspects: attack, defense and stamina.

The first two need no long explanation, but the third one is trickier. Stamina isn't just a measure of how long your opponent can keep at it, because different fighters take to different rhythms when fighting. Usually, the faster the pacing, the harder to keep up, but the more energy you burn. As far as training is concerned, increasing raw power is a lot more difficult than learning how to use it efficiently, and even the strongest fighters use what they have wisely so they don't end up half-dead in front of a still dangerous foe. As a rule, the more you deplete your foe's stamina, the less attack and defense power he has - but in order to induce that, you need to be efficient about your use of energy as well.

The basic reason Ecchan beat me was because he could keep wailing at my stamina while keeping his more or less intact for his efforts."

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico actually nodded his head at the end, "hm"-ing in appreciation. "Huh...whaddaya know? Stamina. Sounds useful."

He does sigh in disgust though. "Ugh, crap. I see a ruler, a whole lot of pain, and a whole lot of 'you're doin' it wrong' in my future." He rolls his eyes a bit. "Staaaaarting about now. So the hill is an indication that I'm too hasty and wasteful or somethin' like that?"

[Kuroimaken]

Rouga shrugged. "Eh. With my brand of training, you learn or you die. You came pretty close to the second one there, didn't ya? Might teach you to think more before you go doing things half-cocked... or at least toughen you up enough that it doesn't matter.

Anyway, we're done training for today. Come, we need to get you patched up. And we need to do something about your arm too - can't have you training single-handed all the time."

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico jerked his head upwards in agreement. "How 'm I supposed to do that though? Besides just sitting down and shoving a bunch of Hollows into my stomach?"

"Also, still no cigarettes?"

[Kuroimaken]

"I'm not a smoker. But you should check the false bottom of your pack." Rouga replied.

"Well, ideally, yeah. We gotta go hunting for something that'll fill your stomach. Which leads us to our next stop.

We're going into Menos Forest."

[InyutheBeatIs]

If Pico could somehow spittake, he'd do so right then and there. "Menos Forest?! Ain't that Apolinar's territory?! Good gods, and I was hopin' to not have to face that stuck-up sonuva..."

Pico lapses into mumbling as he fishes around his pack for the false bottom, opening it up to see what's inside.

[Kuroimaken]

It's two whole cartons of smokes. Good stuff.

"Well, I'm under his command, and right now I'm training you, aren't I? That makes you a part of my team, so I should be in the clear.

Besides, I've given Ringo-chan something else to busy himself with."

[InyutheBeatIs]

By then, Pico's managed to break open one of the cartons and putting one of the death sticks in his mouth. He then freezes at the mention of being on Apolinar's team. "...I'm on his team now?"

He then sighs, resigned to his fate. "Dammit. I guess I'm paying for that arena fight." He pulls out a match and strikes it against his mask fragment, lighting the cigarette. After a couple of puffs, he breaths out a plume of smoke. "Ahh, good smokes. Thanks for thinkin' about me."

"So, should I even ask what Apolinar is dealing with right now?"

[Kuroimaken]

"When you get back, ask him about Private Saltamontes and watch him fume." Rouga chuckled.

"Come on, it's a long walk."

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico grins on the side of his face that he could, and started walking with Rouga. "I'll be sure to do that."

He then sticks the cigarette back in his mouth and walks alongside Rouga.

[Kuroimaken]

Though a little on the long side, the walk is pretty uneventful. They halt shortly before reaching the border of the Menos Forest.

"I'm not spoon-feeding you. Let's get to work, hmmm?"

[InyutheBeatIs]

By then, the cigarette was little more than a stub of ash between Pico's fingers. He flicks it beneath his boot and stomps it out, making somehow look even more pathetic. He lets out one last pillar of smoke as he looks around, eyes wide and awake.

"Alright. So, what's the game plan? Just go in, find the biggest and baddest looking dude in there, pounce on him, rip him to shreds and scarf him down, or do you have something else in mind?"

[Kuroimaken]

"I SAID I'm not spoon-feeding you. Can YOU take down the biggest, baddest looking thing in there and tear it to shreds on your own? One-armed, to boot?"

[InyutheBeatIs]

""Juuuust checkin'." Pico drawls out, crouching for such a brief moment as to almost be unnoticed before launching into the forest, trying his best not to make a sound or track as he makes his loop.

Occasionally, he lets out Pesquisa, trying to find who would most likely become his lunch.

[Kuroimaken]

The 'trees' are Menos. He might as well snack on the forest itself.

Though there is the occasional pulse of Reiatsu flaring here and there. It's the same Reiatsu, but it seems to disappear from Pico's senses just as soon as he detects it.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico decided to break off a small tree nearby, chomping on it as he tried to follow the more fluctuating reiatsu signs. After a while, he sits a ways away from where he last sensed the sign, finishing off the small Menos tree, leaving only about the size of a tooth-pick.

At that point, he started to camp out and find the blips on the Pesquisa radar. The tooth-pick hung loosely from his lips as he stared out into the darkness, ready to chase anything that catches his attention.

[Kuroimaken]

For comedy purposes, the toothpick was the nose.

There don't appear to be other "blips" on the Radar, not that he can readily feel anyway. Just one intermittent "signal" that keeps jumping around for some reason. There is no distinct feel of Reiatsu to indicate whoever it was used Garganta or Sonido to get around, making things all the more confusing.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico seems completely ignorant about the nature of his toothpick.

Instead, he took particular attention to the constantly jumping signal. He decided to try and follow it, crouching down and shooting towards the signal with murderous intent.

[Kuroimaken]

Pico realizes, to his chagrin, that his opponent is simply not where he expects it to be. He does notice, however, a rapidly approaching enemy from above.

Insanely quick, in fact.

He has but a split moment to dodge the downwards charge of an ape-like, lean Hollow.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico barely has time to look up, let alone curse when he suddenly notices that something was about to fall right on top of him. So, out of instinct, he does what he's done pretty much all of his life.

When in doubt, attack.

He leaps up, his fist high in an uppercut, punching at and trying to get the Hollow off of him before it even latches on.

[Kuroimaken]

The woods seem to echo something that sounds vaguely like...

...this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7Pl8uVvR9w&feature=related)...

..and then fall silent as Pico damn near tears off the ape-like Hollow's head.

Apparently, for all its speed and sneakiness, it had a pretty glassy jaw.

But somehow it doesn't feel that way. There was definitely some resistance, it just didn't seem to matter.

Was the training working already?

[InyutheBeatIs]

Nah. He was pretty powerful before, and momentum did the rest, most likely.

At the moment, Pico didn't care about physics, or strength, or any of that. He was more concerned with whether or not the Hollow was dead because of that shot. That, and landing on his feet, but that wasn't the priority right now. So much so, that he has to land on both feet and his hand, frantically looking around trying to find him.

[Kuroimaken]

It just falls down at his feet.

If it's not dead, then it's unconscious. Which means it might as well be dead for Pico's needs.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico grins a savage grin, akwardly getting back up and looking at his new prey.

He takes the tooth-pick he had and gives it a fling into the woods, stalking over to the Hollow before him. He knew what to do next all too well. So, he got right to it.

So, he crouches and reaches down and grabs the Hollow by the shoulder, lifting it up to his mouth and digging in. He bites into the Hollow, ripping it to shreds with his teeth and nails. The onslaught of blood and flesh stopped only for the occasional look over his shoulders, making sure that no one else got any bright ideas about ambushing him.

[Kuroimaken]

He hears a strangled yelp coming from a side of the clearing he's in, and if he looks that way, he'll see Rouga crushing the throat of a critter not too different from the one he just took down.

"Want me to break out the catchup?"

[InyutheBeatIs]

As Pico shoots up, he looks more like a wild animal than any kind of humanoid. Blood and bits of Hollow meat soon fade into smoke around the corners of his lips and the shoulders of his coat as he spits out a mask fragment that got caught in his mouth. "Pfft, nah. I've eaten this stuff raw before." As if to emphasise his point, he rips off another piece, swallowing it practically whole.

"You really don't like leaving me alone much, do ya Rouga?"

[Kuroimaken]

"Actually, truth be told, I needed a snack too. Besides, the sooner you patch up the sooner we can get on with your training." Rouga shrugged.

[InyutheBeatIs]

"You got a point."

Pico then goes to finish ripping into the Hollow in his hands, soon swallowing the remains of it whole. After a particularly large gulp, Pico lets out a surprisingly silent belch as he pounds his chest with his hand.

He then looks around for another Menos tree to eat, noticing a few sprouting trees huddled around a rock. Pico grabs all of them, and they get pulled out of the ground with a single good yank. Soon, Pico starts chomping on them.

[Kuroimaken]

"Make it snappy, kid. You're behind schedule as it is, and we can't afford to waste much time here." Rouga sounded impatient for some reason.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico raised his eyebrows as best as he could, his mouth full of Menos tree bark. After a few crunchs, he swallows what he had in his mouth. "I'm not a machine, or a woodchipper or somethin'. I can only eat so fast. 'sides, what's the rush? Got someone on your tail?"

He does hasten his eating, however, blazing through the Menos saplings before finding a nearby tree and beginning to try and disprove his previous statement about not being a woodchipper.

[Kuroimaken]

"Not mine, actually. Remember those smokes I gave you?"

And then the earth begins to rumble.

[InyutheBeatIs]

At that point, Pico stops in mid-bite, his mouth hovering over a gap in the Menos tree. He then slowly rotates his head towards Rouga, his expression frozen in pure disbelief.

"You didn't."

"You couldn't."

More out of irritation than anything else, Pico soon cracked into the Menos's bark with his bare hand. "That was a signal?!" He then leaped off, a branch cracking off with him as he does so. He had half a mind to throw it right at Rouga, before deciding the more practical route would be to run.

And he'll run. Just as soon as Rouga finishes explaining...or not.

[Kuroimaken]

Rouga had enough of a second to open his mouth... and leap out of where he was standing. The ground erupted as a huge worm-like Hollow burst right out, howling viciously as it turned towards Pico.

Now, neither of them were mind-readers, but it didn't take one to imagine the creature staring at the former Decima imagining him roasted with an apple on his mouth.

And then it dove.

[InyutheBeatIs]

For a second, Pico looked at the worm and saw its intentions in its metaphorical eyes. To which, he had a simple, brief response.

"S***!"

Of course, he was smart enough to dive out of the way when the creature dove, just making it out of the way before the inevitable crash. It clipped his boot, but he made it. For now.

He wasn't in the mood to celebrate right now, though. In between the sudden attack from a worm and the fact that he was essentially set up, he still had a hard time figuring out who to hit first. Rouga, for being the clever jerk to set this up in the first place, or the poor, innocent little worm Hollow who got caught up in a game he couldn't even begin to understand.

Yeah. It wasn't much of a choice, was it?

So, Pico decided to attack. He looked at the branch in his hand, and thought of something. He lifted the tip to his mouth and clamped down on it, breaking the tip into a crude spearhead and spitting out the splinters. "I hate you Rouga, you magnificent jack***!"

He then flipped the crude spear into a throwing position, ready and waiting for the creature to face him.

[Kuroimaken]

"If you don't hate me by day's end I'm not doing my job, kiddo!" Rouga offered with a laugh.

But Pico turned out to be a little more gutsy than he thought. He didn't even think about it, he just gritted his teeth and got ready to face the monster up.

And that would have been all nice and dandy, if the monster didn't decide to charge up a Cero.

Awww fiddlesticks.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico did not expect that, but then again he doesn't expect a lot of things. That's part of his problem.

So, he decided on a hastily made Plan B. He decided to run straight up to it, getting ready to dodge when the thing fires its Cero and shove the crude spear down its throat himself.

[Kuroimaken]

The worm-like creature demonstrates agility belying its size when Pico starts running up its body. It coils and contorts itself, arching its slithering body so that its "head" faces Pico directly, and then it dives for its newfound prey.

Its shifting form might well have swallowed the Arrancar whole after bouncing his body against the charged-up Cero, if Pico didn't happen to be pushed out of the way by... something.

The critter seems to slam its "head" against an invisible wall, its Cero detonating prematurely in its mouth, and delivering excrutiating pain as acidic blood and smoke erupt forth from it.

And if it could have expressions, it would look even MORE pissed.

"You idiot! Don't you know any other method for facing things except for head-on collision?!"

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico gets flung back, managing to right himself in the air and land on his feet. Of course, it splintered the spear in his hand in the process, but still, he landed on his feet.

He growled at Rouga at his shout. He decided to try something different, at least relatively. Namely, try and lead the Hollow on, then charge.

So, he opened his mouth and began to form a Bala. However, he only formed it enough to be able to hold cohesion until it hit the worm Hollow with enough force to grab its attention. He then shakes his fist, at the same time shaking what was left of the spear at it. "Hey ugly! SCREW YOU!!"

[Kuroimaken]

Now, this big worm was looking pretty horrible already - what with the acidic blood and smoke and whatnot - but when Pico starts taunting it, well.

Let's just say the shade of red it's turning (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TurnsRed) doesn't look healthy for anyone.

However, it does happen to fall for Pico's provocation as it lunges forward with ludicrous speed, digging its way through softened earth as its gaping maw reaches for the Arrancar.

Hey, did it get warm in here, or is it just me?

[InyutheBeatIs]

Before the Hollow reaches Pico, a low hum, followed by a medium-pitched electric whine cuts through the air. At the end of the electric whine, a burst of sound is the only other indicator that Pico has officially left the building, or at least the front of the Hollow's mouth.

He reappears occasionally, letting the worm know where he is just long enough to lead it onward. His spots seem rather random at first, but Rouga might soon be able to tell that Pico is trying to get the worm tied up, trapped amidst the Menos.

[Kuroimaken]

That might've worked better if this were a cartoon. As it is, the worm's writhing is actually strong enough to snap many of the Menos "trees" over and over.

It does, however, seem to slow down a bit as the "trunks" start getting in the way.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico looks back, and hisses in annoyance. His plan wasn't working quite as well as he wanted it to, and burst of energy he had was starting to leave him now that he was running around. He needed to think of something, and fast.

So, he decided to turn around while the Hollow was tripping over itself and attack.

He grabbed one of the khopeshes by his side, suddenly remembering their existence, and pulled it out, the bandages unfurling as he does so. Then, he makes a 180-degree turn, blasting off right towards the Hollow, aiming to rip it apart from the corner of its mouth as he charges it.

[Kuroimaken]

Pico manages to land a sizable gash with his fishhook-like idea, but it's hard to tell if that'll be enough to stop it. The creature is writhing more violently now, too. And it seems more determined to gobble him up.

As such, it lunges after Pico once again. It doesn't have quite as much coiling capacity as it did when he started the cartoon strategy, making it a little slower, but now it seemed --

--owait, it's charging up a Cero again.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico turns right around, and notices the Cero charging up. He lets out a howling roar of frustration, a barreling noise that could've made a good attempt at knocking over trees if the Hollow wasn't in the way at the moment. The next thing that the Hollow would be hit by was Pico himself, but not in a way it would've expected.

Pico lunged beneath the Hollow's mouth, his knee raised as he snaps a kick in order to snap the Hollow's mouth shut before the Cero fires off.

[Kuroimaken]

This actually proves fairly effective: the giant worm's reaction had been slowed down by the injuries sustained, its anger and Pico's weaving stratagem.

The end result is a classic head a splosion. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YourHeadASplode)

[InyutheBeatIs]

The force from the explosion actually knocks Pico back a bit, sending him careening through the air into a couple of Menos trees, breaking one of them. After the tree crashes, Pico picks himself up off the ground with more than a few mutterings. Thankfully, all the explosion (and resulting crash) did was aggravate his wounds, not add any new ones.

After a bit of muttering and gingerly feeling the newly aggravated injuries, Pico picks up his voice. "You can come out now!" He calls out into the forest, expecting Rouga to hear him and show up.

Then, he looked at the worm Hollow. Dead. The serious kind of dead, not the kind of dead where you stand back up and shuffle around. He grins, walking towards the Hollow like he were walking up to a table at a diner.

[Kuroimaken]

Turns out Rouga was on top of one of the menos trees all this time.

Reading a manga.

And chewing on something.

I guess it's not hard to be sneaky when you've got the background noise of a giant earthworm trying to get you killed.

"Not bad. Though I was actually hoping you'd realize, in your wounded state, that running away would have been a better option.

Well? Dig in. Plenty of nutrients for you on this one."

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico simply waves the khopesh in his hand as if to wave Rouga away, before concentrating on the Hollow. He didn't look like he was in the mood to respond to that statement. That's probably because he wasn't. So, he simply started to eat the Hollow carcass before him. He slices into it, carving large chunks off as he eats.

[Kuroimaken]

Rouga just watched as Pico dug in. He seemed nearly half oblivious to his disciple's anger.

"So, kiddo. Do you hate me just yet?"

[InyutheBeatIs]

Naw, it wasn't anger. It was more irritation at the constant "dissapointments" that Rouga has at Pico's actions, and also more displaying how much he doesn't really care about his expectations.

Pico looked up at Rouga, a small piece of meat left hanging out of the corner of his lip. After leaning his head back and swallowing the bite that he had in his mouth, he spoke up. "Hate ya? Nah. Getting annoyed at all the crap that's been happening to me since I started this whole thing? Do I really need to say that I am?" He plants the khopesh into the dead Hollow's flesh, jerking his thumb towards it afterwards. "I've had to deal with this thing after a smoke, I've had to go up a mountain that felt like it wanted to throw lead sandbags at my face...what's next, I have to punch a wall out of existence? What?"

[Kuroimaken]

"What'd that accomplish? Walls don't punch back. Speaking of back, how long till your arm heals anyway?" Rouga sounded slightly annoyed. "Feels like it's been forever since we entered this place."

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico doesn't exactly look pleased about the situation either. He looks over at where the stump was. It looks like it's growing back, just at a rather slow rate. At this point, it looks more like a well-healed stump. "Looks like it's growin' back, it's just takin' its sweet time to heal."

He then stops for a second, before touching his face. He does notice a bit more flesh around his jaw than before. Rouga would probably notice that the only bit of scar tissue left was more around the eye, although the mask fragment on that side was still cracked. "How's my face looking?"

[Kuroimaken]

"Well, you're still not in any shape to introduce to a girl's parents, but at least that sensation of disgust and nausea is gone. It's certainly a lot better than it was before." Rouga commented. "Maybe it's because cosmetic damage is easier to heal, but I find it a little weird how your body handles priorities."

[InyutheBeatIs]

"Hey, easy now!" Pico turns back around and pulls the khopesh out of the carcass, shrugging as he does so. "Dunno. I thought all Arrancar healed slowly. One of the things you give up when you become one." He then sliced off another large chunk of Hollow meat, and began eating it. "Besides," he says through a mouth full of food, "I've been a bit busy keeping myself alive to care about getting my arm back."

[Kuroimaken]

"Did it occur to you to tell your body you'd be less busy with your arm back?" Rouga noted with a hint of sarcasm. "Perhaps if you went into Ressurreccion?"

[InyutheBeatIs]

"Resurrección? But I thought that would be more draining than what I usually do? Plus it'll be a pain in the *** to get me back to where I am now. The only reason I'm in my current state is 'cause I ran out of energy and went into a coma for a couple of days!" Pico takes another huge bite of Hollow meat. At this rate, he might not need Resurrección.

[Kuroimaken]

"It was just a stray thought, Pico. It does tend to help with such things." Rouga noted. "Finish up your meal, we're going to the Desert of White Sands next."

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico's eyes widen a bit at that. "Oooookay." He then mows through the rest of the Hollow's carcass, eventually leaving only traces of blood and bits of meat behind to evaporate and dissipate in the air.

So, Pico soon walks back over to Rouga, licking his lips and trying to clean the khopesh of any stubborn bits of meat that stick around. "Alright, let's go."

[Kuroimaken]

Rouga is quite... task-masterish in the pace he imprints. He doesn't look like he's making a real effort though.

They stop just short of the edge.

"Your next task is simple. Cross the desert, on foot. I want you to arrive to the north-northeast oasis as soon as you can manage - though my expectations are sundown.

Two caveats though. You can't use Sonido. And you're leaving your weapon with me while you do this."

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico manages to keep up, feeling rather good about himself with the meal he just had and having recharged from climbing up a mountain. And falling down said mountain.

At this point, Pico knows better than to exclaim disbelief at the scope of this task. Although the weapon thing did cause Pico to look at Rouga oddly, as if to say "really now?". However, he just sighs and pulls out his khopeshes, both of which are wrapped up in white bandages. "Don't go wrecking them, now." Pico hands over the khopeshes to Rouga, and then turns to face the desert. He gets his bearings, prepared to head straight towards that corner. After he finds it, he lets out a sigh and starts walking. "I guess I'll see ya there, then. Later."

Surprisingly, he doesn't instantly take off into a run. Perhaps its all the running they did before, or perhaps he finally got what Rouga said about timing.

Or it could be that he just doesn't want to run right now. Let's go with that last one.

[Kuroimaken]

Son of a gun. He got the hint.

Or maybe he was just feeling lazy.

Yeah, that was probably it.

Rouga disappears in a blur of Sonido as Pico starts off on his assignment.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico simply shakes his head as Rouga zips past him.

After about an hour of walking, he picks up the pace a bit. After about half an hour of keeping that pace, he breaks out into a bit of a run. Then after about two hours of that, it was back to walking. He pretty much repeated that cycle for a while, with some variances in the time due to interest and the complete lack of a sun beating down on him. Although, he did lean more towards running after a while. He is trying to get there as fast as possible, after all.

[Kuroimaken]

It WOULD be an uneventful task, if only fate didn't like playing this game called "let's see how Pico handles this one".

After a couple of hours of walking, Pico can sense a faint vibration from the ground. At first, it's barely perceptible - then it grows in intensity as he keeps on walking.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico is all too paranoid about feeling something like that. At that, he becomes more than a bit exasperated, letting out a frustrated groan. "You have got to be kidding me!!"

At that point, Pico started running, looking behind him and waiting for the inevitable crack of earth followed by the screaming of some worm-like Hollow. Again.

[Kuroimaken]

"Some" is right. But there isn't just ONE in sight. We're talking multiple worms this time.

And hey, nice of Rouga to ask for Pico's weapons for the task, huh?

Anyways, in moments Pico finds himself in a high-speed chase with poster boys for radioactive manure biting and hissing and screaming and diving after him.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico started yelling in frustration, cursing at everything in sight from the moon to the sand to Rouga to those little points of light that are in the sky for no reason. After a minute of this, he decides to stop being chased by these worms and start doing something about it.

So, he turns on a dime, jumping towards one of the worms and trying to grab it, intending to piledrive it into the ground before swinging around like a giant chain.

[Kuroimaken]

It turns out that despite his best efforts, THESE worms have both mass and strength even beyond their natural size. So what ends up happening is that Pico gets to play cowboy with a 800-ton squirming monster. Let's see how long he can hold on, shall we?

[InyutheBeatIs]

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

That pretty much sums up the noise coming out of Pico's mouth for the next while that he hangs onto the worm for.

As the thing thrashes around and shoots off towards who-knows-where, Pico grips on for dear life, trying to find a way to get ahead of the Hollow and shoot it but oh wait, only one arm. So, he pretty much just hangs on for dear life, hoping the worm will do something stupid, like not dive into the ground. Or at least not stay in the ground.

[Kuroimaken]

But the world doesn't really like Pico that much.

The good news is that the worm decides to dive. This is good because it shakes Pico right off its back.

The bad news is that he's getting a high-speed faceful of sand for his troubles.

It is perhaps then that he has a vision of Rouga in his head...


"Not bad. Though I was actually hoping you'd realize, in your wounded state, that running away would have been a better option.

Better option.

Better option.

Better option.

Better option..."

[InyutheBeatIs]

After the face full of sand, Pico's hand shoots up and finds its way to the ground. He then pushes his way up, glaring at the air in front of him as if it just spat in his face. "...You've gotta be kidding me." He growls.

Then he realizes that that wasn't the only worm that was chasing him. It was right about then that he decides that it would probably be a good idea to actually take that advice. So, he scrambles up and takes off, running as fast as he can in the same direction that he should be going. At least, he thinks that's where he should be going.

[Kuroimaken]

Pico quickly learns to take his self-appointed master more seriously. His little stunt very nearly costs him a trip down one of the worms' gullets, as another critter dives after him shortly after he gets up. Luckily, he still has the time to leap out of the way.

In time, it becomes obvious that his best choice if he wants to run is to dodge efficiently. In doing so, he manages to slow the worms down somewhat as they dive into the sand and back out, each more eager than the last for their 'meal'. This allows Pico to outrun them at a brisk but manageable pace.

It might just occur to him that this actually feels a little easier than the climb did.

In any case, he eventually spots - and senses - Rouga ahead. He has a ball of Cero almost as large as himself accumulated on his right hand. His left hand is holding the number three. Then the number two...

[InyutheBeatIs]

As he weaves and bobs through the worm Hollows, Pico starts to grin, enjoying himself for the first time in what has felt like forever. Then he notices Rouga on the horizon, and his contentment soon turned into an odd and contradictory mess of frustration, anger, and relief.

Then he sees the Cero in his hand and the countdown.

Needless to say, Pico was much less conflicted when he put the two together.

So, before he got fried he decided he'd much rather get out of the way. So he did, by practically flying out from under the tangled mess of Hollows that he found himself in at the moment, practically crashing into the sand pretty much the instant he got out of the estimated blast radius.

[Kuroimaken]

The massive blast of Cero that follows blows more than a bit of sand every which direction. By the time the wind stops, there's a large, dome-like wall of sand in Rouga's location, which shakes loose and away almost immediately.

It seems safe enough to move... then one of the worms rises with a roar, bloodied and burning out of the smoldering mass, and launches itself at Rouga's form. To which he responds by raising an arm, his hand held in the classic "knife" position. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2ILUSVNNrg)

"GANZAN RYOUZAN HA!!"

And his arm descends.

The worm's lunge appears to carry through... but on closer inspection, it seems to have been bisected along the way, as each half of the carcass falls to one side of the Arrancar.

Rouga claps the dust off his palms before turning to Pico.

"Not bad, you're here earlier than I expected. Seems your stamina IS improving." He tosses a pack of smokes in Pico's direction. "Here, no prey scent this time."

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico gets up out of his own little mound of sand, dusting himself off as best as he can before Rouga throws him the pack of cigarettes. He cracks open the pack and draws a cigarette out, lighting it with a snap of his fingers.

After what seems like forever of taking a long drag, Pico puts the burning death stick in between his fingers and lets out a plume of smoke that would put most chimneys to shame. He then points directly towards Rouga, his eyes locked with his in stone cold seriousness.

"Stop. Throwing. Worms at me. Seriously, what the hell?"

[Kuroimaken]

"Hey, it'd help if I didn't have to teach you the basics all over. Both your incident in the forest and this little jog wouldn't have happened if you'd learned the first lesson right, kiddo.

And that simple lesson is: you don't burn the candle at both ends on everything you do. With the mountain, I gave you five days to climb and you insisted on doing it in four; it nearly got you killed. In the forest, I told you to be quick, and you got that worm on your tail. Here on the desert, you ALMOST became lunch before you realized running was the best friggin' option. If you do things right, I reward you, if you don't, I up the ante. That's how my training method works, and that's why with me, you get stronger or you FREAKING DIE.

You're tough enough that you won't die from something like that, but not strong enough that you can take it in stride.

We're also not getting the next lesson started until you feel like kicking me in the face. You're going to need that anger."

[InyutheBeatIs]

"Good, 'cause I'm getting there!" Pico then takes another drag from his cigarette. After a few angry puffs of smoke, he shakes his head and ruffles his own hair. "But seriously," he says, the cigarette hanging from a corner of his lips and smoke trailing out the other, "why worms? I mean seriously, where's every other Hollow out there? I mean, you've got raptors, eagles, those creepy insect looking things that you wouldn't be able to see without a microscope..."

[Kuroimaken]

"Do you know how hard it is to find giant Hollows that aren't worms out there, specially ones that I can trick into attacking you? You'd think Hueco Mundo was overcompensating or something."

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico growls. "...Yeah. You've got a point."

At that point, he takes another drag, finishing off the cigarette. This is possibly the fastest Rouga's seen him ever finish a cigarette. He lets out a plume of smoke as he pulls out another one from the pack. "So, what's next?"

[Kuroimaken]

"Well aren't YOU eager. That sounds to me like the kind of thing that would let down your cute little Fraccion between the sheets."

Dude, what the hell?

[InyutheBeatIs]

"WwwwwWHAT?!" The cigarette that was about to be lit flew from Pico's mouth as he lets out a shout. At that point, Pico get's in Rouga's face and points towards his chin. "I. Do not. Sleep with Amada!!" At this point, he starts walking around, clearly going into ranting tangent mode.

"Why does everyone have to think that I do crap with Amada other than have her file paperwork and make sure my drunk *** doesn't do anything completely and utterly stupid?! I don't even like her that much! Did Mei start this rumor, I mean what? What? Seriously, guys, I DON'T SLEEP WITH HER!! NEVER DID, NEVER WILL!!"

[Kuroimaken]

"Methinks loverboy doth protest too much." Rouga jabbed. "Or do you not sleep with Amada for another reason? Oh, I know! Your 'little Espada' can't do 'ressurreccion', am I right? I'm sure she understands completely, however. That's the kind of girl she is.

Are you sure you've never so much as gave her a smoochie or a grope in a drunken stupor?

And when you say you don't like her that much... that means you like her after all."

Rouga seemed to be having too much fun teasing Pico. His insults were juvenile at best, but he had to make sure Pico could understand them.

[InyutheBeatIs]

At that point, Pico was facing away from Rouga. He froze, a vein practically shooting out of the back of his head. His head shaking a bit like an old piece of clockwork, he turns his head towards Rouga. His eyes are practically flashing in anger at the insults.

"Pal." He intones dangerously. "It. Works. FINE!!" At that point, Pico had practically lept at Rouga, roaring, fully intending to punch him in the face with everything he's got.

Only, for some reason, he stops just before he makes contact. It's like he froze in time for a second. Suddenly, his momentary mask of rage dissappearing into an expression of thought. "...Although now that you mention it, it isn't impossible that I could've hit on her while I was wasted at one point."

He simply stares off for a second, considering this, before locking eyes with Rouga again. "Never goes anywhere though. Her boot makes sure of that."

[Kuroimaken]

Damn you, logic! Always getting in the way of perfectly good training. I have no choice... guess I'll have to use THAT...!

"In that case, I suppose you gotta wonder what she looks like disrobed..." At this point, Rouga pulls what looks like a number of photos off his inner breast pocket. "Shame you'll never get that far. You DID know she sleeps in the buff, right?"

Should Pico show any signs of anger, he'd suddenly find a rapidly expanding invisible wall headed in his direction.

[InyutheBeatIs]

At that point, Pico looks only more confused. "Wait, what? NO!! No, I've never wondered that!! And no, I don't know how she sleeps or any stupid crap like that."

Then he realizes the fact that Rouga has pictures in his hand for no apparent reason. "Wait, you got what?! How did you get pictures in the first place? You spyin' on me and my fraccion, ya frikkin' pervert?!"

At that point, Pico should be hit in the face by an invisible brick wall, the force of the blow sending him flying back into the sand, causing a nice little trail behind him, or should I say in front of him, as he does so.

[Kuroimaken]

At that point, Pico looks only more confused. "Wait, what? NO!! No, I've never wondered that!! And no, I don't know how she sleeps or any stupid crap like that."

Then he realizes the fact that Rouga has pictures in his hand for no apparent reason. "Wait, you got what?! How did you get pictures in the first place? You spyin' on me and my fraccion, ya frikkin' pervert?!"

At that point, Pico should be hit in the face by an invisible brick wall, the force of the blow sending him flying back into the sand, causing a nice little trail behind him, or should I say in front of him, as he does so.

"Nope, just her. Why would I wanna spy on you?" Rouga shrugged as he looked at the pictures with an expression that most closely resembled 'hubba hubba'.

"If you think you can do anything about it, be my guest. I'll just be admiring these over here."

He sits down on the sand, but the "wall" is still there.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico just crosses his arm in front of his chest, before remembering he only has one arm. He settles for planting his hand on his hip, tapping it as though he were expecting a weapon to just suddenly show up out of nowhere. "Seriously man, you have no taste. I mean, she can't possibly look that good."

His eyes simply rest on the sight of Rouga sitting there. At first, he just stares for a while. After a while, he starts getting more and more irritated, his foot getting antsy. After what seems like forever, his foot starts to look like it could power a car long enough to go on a cross-country trip, before Pico finally spits out a sigh and statement of exasperation all at once. "Forget this. This is stupid."

Pico then strides on over to the wall, his entire existence pretty much screaming "I'm tired of this crap". He then jumps up to try and grab the top of it and hoist himself up over it.

[Kuroimaken]

It's not a literal wall - Pico will find out it's actually shaped more like a dome. Either way, he doesn't find a way around it.

"You want in, you gotta punch a hole in. I'll just be over here, reading her fanfic."

[InyutheBeatIs]

Of course, Pico only found out that it was a dome when he practically scraped himself off of the top of it, the disastrous aftermath of a running jump he attempted.

After a short thump as he landed on the ground, Pico picked himself up and glared back at Rouga. Then, he starts walking away from it. And keeps walking away from it for a while.

In fact, Rouga might get the impression that he's just given up, before all of a sudden Pico turns around. Then, he dissappears, a cloud of sand kicked up as he runs directly towards the dome. Then, a little bit before he reaches it, he jumps into the air and extends his leg, aiming to kick a hole straight through the dome. The whole time, this is the sound Pico's making.

"eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEYAAAAAAH!!"

[Kuroimaken]

Between the solidity of the dome itself and the way Pico hurled himself at it, there is only one possible outcome.

See, no matter how fast you hurl something at something else, one has to consider the density of the 'projectile' versus the density of the 'target'.

Of course, there are several other factors involved, such as air resistance, angle of impact, and whatnot... but the bottom line is, if one wants to punch a hole into something else with a solid object rather than raw 'force', one has to use a harder object to crack it.

"So," Murphy asked Pico's leg, "are you REALLY harder than that guy's Hierro?"

You can guess the answer.

Pico's own Hierro prevents his leg from shattering, of course. But it hurts like hell.

"See, if you used your head, that might've worked. But your leg just don't cut it."

[InyutheBeatIs]

Of course, Pico rather comedically falls to the ground, holding his leg, rolling around and howling like you wouldn't believe. "OWW!! Dammit!! Why did that have to happen, WHY?!"

After a few more moments of this, he gingerly gets up, practically glaring swords at Rouga. That's right, not daggers, swords!

At that point, he remembered something. He remembered one of his abilities. So, he raised his fist behind him, focusing on hardening it to the point of steel, before swinging it down on the dome as hard as he can. Probably repeatedly.

[Kuroimaken]

"Getting a little warmer. Your hand will still hurt like hell by the time you manage to get through, though. That's not the smart way to go. I'm gonna give you a hint of how to do this."

And with that, a pulsing sphere of purpleish energy gathered on Rouga's hand before he unceremoniously tossed it Pico's way.

Cero.

"You look like you need some motivation, too. So I'll get you what I have in good authority is 'training music' in the mortal world."

Cue awesome. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIgx3iJh-NA)

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico sidestepped the incoming Cero. At first, he was going to yell at Rouga, but then, he heard the music. After a bit of tapping his foot, he starts walking around the dome, his hand glowing with a rather repulsive green energy. Then, his mouth starts to glow with the same energy.

Risin' up, back on the street.
Took my time, took my chances.

At that point, he opens fire, two beams of energy hitting the dome.

[Kuroimaken]

"Nice hit! Little wasteful though.

You'll have to repeat this, many times. Until you find just the right combination of strength invested and impact. You need to refine your Cero.

Eye of the tiger, Pico.

Eye of the tiger."

[InyutheBeatIs]

At that point, Pico keeps firing Ceros, each one slightly stronger than the last.

He keeps doing this for half a minute, before he eventually starts backing up.

Face to face, out in the heat.
Hangin' tough, stayin' hungry.
They stack the odds 'til we take to the street
For we kill with the skill to survive.

At that point, Pico starts rushing at the dome, charging it up in his hand as he does so.

It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight.
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival.

At that point, Pico raises his hand, palm facing towards the dome. He fast approaches it, the green orb in his palm gaining more and more mass and energy.

And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the eye...

At that point, Pico collides with the dome palm first, Cero discharging at point blank range, full blast. Pico lets out a roar as he does so.

[Kuroimaken]

"REALLY good! You're starting to get the hang of it. A little closer and you'd have pierced it.

Come on, Pico! Same strength, less waste! I know you can cause more destruction with just a little more focus!!"

[InyutheBeatIs]

...of the tiger.

At that point, Pico charges up a Cero again. He heard something about how the top of a dome is the weakest part, so he decided to go after that. He dissappeared in an electric whine, reappearing above the dome and firing the Cero.

[Kuroimaken]

In this case it's not exactly true. Rouga's ability is not dependent on structure, but rather his Reiatsu and focus. The result is that Pico forces him to one knee as he reacts, throwing a hand up as he focuses his defense on that point to keep himself from being point-blank incinerated. It works, to a degree - by the time the smoke clears, Rouga's hand is a seared mess, some muscle tissue and bone visible. Already it begins to regenerate, but it's clear Pico did SOME damage.

"Well done, Pico. Remember that feeling. That focus. That drive. It will move you forward; it will become your strength.

This... is your eye of the tiger.

Again!"

The rest of that day was spent having Pico repeat that Cero at the exact same intensity and focus. Naturally, Rouga actually concentrated on defense more so he wasn't actually scathed in the process. He also occasionally threw some Bala and ranged attacks with his Hierro aura without warning, so that Pico would learn to keep the focus under pressure.

The next week or so was spent in repetition of this training, and the addition of other exercises. For one, Pico was forced to climb the mountain at the same pace as his master everyday. Then, he was forced to race Rouga to the top, and finally, he was forced to race Rouga with both of them able to attack each other. They hunted those giant worms for sustenance, and Rouga began to stipulate how many blows Pico was allowed to use in order to bring them down. The "race in the desert" had Pico racing Rouga with the worms after them, then a race with them able to shoot at each other, and finally, racing with a massive weight attached to his body. The results of each "race" were actually pretty even - many of them came to a draw, while some resulted in Pico's victory, and others in Rouga's. Whenever Pico won, Rouga would reward him by NOT making fun of his relationship with Amada, as well as giving him some booze or smokes. Whenever he lost, not only were the jokes doubled, he had to face a harder regimen on the next exercise. Complaints of any sort were met with a solid bi-atch slap to the face. The rhythm Rouga pushed Pico into was nothing short of brutal, but at this point, the former Decima had begun to develop such a drive that he managed to ignore the pain and tiredness in favor of his goals. He now had focus.

The eye of the tiger...

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico was panting. It had been a long week of blood, sweat, and relentless teasing, but he survived. In fact, he felt fantastic. He felt alive, determined, like he could get into a fist fight with a mountain and not only win, but knock out the other mountain behind it somehow. He felt better than he had felt in a long time.

By know, he had both of his arms back, although the arm that was missing still could use a bit of work. He was staring at Rouga, standing there, a grin on his face. "Well now. What next?"

[Kuroimaken]

Pico was panting. It had been a long week of blood, sweat, and relentless teasing, but he survived. In fact, he felt fantastic. He felt alive, determined, like he could get into a fist fight with a mountain and not only win, but knock out the other mountain behind it somehow. He felt better than he had felt in a long time.

By know, he had both of his arms back, although the arm that was missing still could use a bit of work. He was staring at Rouga, standing there, a grin on his face. "Well now. What next?"

"As of right now, nothing. It's not that I have nothing left to teach you, but what I do have would take years. You've successfully completed the basic training I had ready for you. And you got through it with a bare minimum of moaning. That's more than I can say for my troops - some of them died doing half of what you did over the past few weeks.

How do you feel, Pico?"

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico couldn't help but feel relieved at the news. His ego got a nice boost as well, thanks to Rouga's compliment. Pico looks at his hands, grinning. "I feel...fantastic. Alive, more like it. Like I could take on half of Hueco Mundo by myself. Like I...like I could take on the world."

By that point, his teeth were practically sharpening themselves, his visage like that of a raptor's. "Like I've got some old scores to settle. Heh. Heheh. HehehehahahahaHAHA!" At that point, he looked like a deranged madman. There was a gleam in his eyes that could probably frighten any sane man.

Perhaps Rouga may have been tougher on Pico than he thought.

[Kuroimaken]

Rouga made sure to contain his student's maniac glee with a quick, slightly painful karate chop to the head.

"Don't get cocky, kid! You can't even take ME on just yet."

At this point, Rouga stood on a mound of white sand, looking at the horizon. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0l1zlxdC3I)

"You've gotten significantly better, though. You've paved the road ahead, now all that's left is for you to walk it. I can't promise you it will be an easy one; but now you're better armed to take on your choice of opponent.

HOWEVER! Should you lose again, I'll make sure you experience TRUE hell on earth! If you think these past few weeks have been torture, you'll wish you were never even BORN after that!

Let's go! Las Noches awaits."

[InyutheBeatIs]

Pico recoiled at Rouga's karate chop. "OW! Dammit, man! You killed the mood!"

He listens to the rest of Rouga's speech, rubbing the top of his head as he does so. After Rouga was done talking, Pico nodded his head. "Alright then. I gotcha. Let's head on over there!" He actually sounded genuinely excited about it. He was, as well as eager to get back. He thought of his furniture and bed, sitting there in his Palacio, most likely unused. All he had to do was take it all back. Looking towards the future, he heads off towards Las Noches.

[Kuroimaken]

"Oh yeah. You're taking the Novena Espada spot when we get there. You can just requisition Von Geister to switch dominions later."