German Hollow Quest 17

"Where are we?"
Alex asks, almost as confused as you are.

"I think this might be England actually..."
You say uncertainly.
The only reason you came to that conclusion was the old look of the surrounding buildings.
What little you knew about America was that they don't have many old fashioned cities there.

But luckily for you Ashers presence is much easier to detect now.
It's quite clear that he is in the vicinity at least.
You signal Alex to start ascending and when you get above the houses the full view of the surrounding are lies before you.
Beyond the city borders many green hills and plains can be seen, which further reinforces your idea that you are in fact in England.
As you follow the trail of reiatsu to the boys location Alex slowly starts to figure out your intentions.

"Is that where we are going?"
She points towards Ashers location.

You give her a sly grin.
"Yeap."

It doesn't take you too long to reach the place but when you do arrive you are honestly surprised.
The place appears to be a christian orphanage judging by the proximity of the local church and the cross on the front door.
You simply stare at the place, it appears to be quite a nice spot for children with a rather large area fenced off where the children could run around.
But you weren't expecting this at all.

"Okay, I admit it.
I'm lost."
Alex simply looks at you confused.
You try to collect yourself before you begin descending.
"Whatever, let's go and say hello."

When you land you can see a bunch of kids playing tag all over the place.
There is about two dozen of the little rascals and amongst them you can see Ashers older brother but Asher himself seems to be absent.
The trail of reiatsu he left behind leads to an old abandoned shack which seems to be on the verge of collapsing.
As you are getting closer to it however you feel something.

"Duck!"
Alex shouts and goes almost prone, dodging the incoming chain.
You on the other hand simply stand there and grab the flailing weapon.

...i made it?

...i actually made it in time?!

Yes!

As the black and green chains wiggle around in your hand you speak up.
"Is that how you greet me boy?
I can't decide whether to be angry or proud..."

At your words the small boy comes out from behind the shack.
When he sees you his eyes light up.
"KAIZAR!"

He runs towards you and gives you a hug.
You ruffle his hair and and start laughing a little.
"I could barely recognize you now that you have hair and some meat on your bones my boy!"

He lets go and takes a few steps back.
"You're one to talk!
I barely recognized you!"

But as he retracts his weapon Alex jumps up from the tall grass and starts shouting.
"Hey twerp!
Watch where you swing that thing!"

Both him and his serpent look bewildered.
He turns to you, completely ignoring her.
"Who is this?"

"THAT'S MY LINE DUMBASS!"
She turns to you as well.
"Who is this brat Kaizar?!"

"Alex meet Asher, Asher meet Alex!
He used to be my mascot before you."
You try to diffuse the situation to the best of your ability.

The two of them look at you pissed and speak up at the same time.
"MASCOT?!"

But when they realized what they did they look each other in the eye and headbutt one another.
"Just so you know, I've met him before you!"

"Oh yeah?
Well I was with him for longer!"

They growl at each other for a little more before you pull them apart.
"Now, now.
Be nice to each other!"
They turn their backs to the other and stubbornly refuse to talk.
"Come now, I'm sure you could have some fun together.
After all you are roughly the same age, right?"

Asher gives in and turns to Alex.
"D-do you want to play tag?"

You look at Alex who is still pouting a little.
"S-sure..."

"That's the spirit!
Now come on, don't let this old man drag you down.
Go on!"

And with that they partook in one of the fastest games of tag in history.
Both of them were so fast that even you had trouble following their movements.
At first they tried to compete with the other but the joy of running wild quickly overtook them and they started to laugh.

Now the question of whether Alex will look like a grown woman or a little girl when she goes Arrancar is very important. Because Asher gonna keep growing.

While they were busy with that you found a nice little spot to sit down and observe them.
When they worked out their frustration they came back to you, both of them are clearly exhausted.

"Not bad for a human."
Alex makes a snarky comment.

"Oh yeah?
Ready for round two then?"
Asher taunts her.

You laugh loudly as they both slowly walk up to you.
"You'll have plenty of time to play.
Now sit down and rest a little, because I'd like to chat."

"Sure."
They sit down in front of you.

"So, how did you get here my boy?
England isn't exactly close to Germany."

He looks down and frowns a little.
"After you left, I ran away with my brother.
It was tough but I managed to survive.
After walking so much we actually reached France where I found a smuggler who was willing to bring us here.
When we got here we asked the people at the orphanage to take us in.
They are very nice people, all things considered."

You whistle as he said that.
"Not bad.
I'm proud of you!"

He gives a mile wide grin.
"Thanks!
I also got a lot better with my fullbring too!
Since then many hollows tried to attack me, so I got a lot of practice."

"Yeah, I noticed.
That was not a bad ambush."
You nod.

"Well, sometimes I get carried away.
At first the older kids bullied us but I shut them down quickly."
He starts to scratch his nose as he says this.
"But no one suspects a thing!"

"Let me ask one thing.
Why a christian orphanage?
Wouldn't you be happier with your people?"

He shrugs.
"It makes no difference to me nor to my bro.
They are nice to us.
Besides people want to help us now that the war is over, so we get many nice gifts."

That one sentence froze you.
"What?"

He looks at you confused.
"You didn't know?
The war is finally over Kaizar.
The germans lost!"

You don't know what to say.
>"Go ahead and play kids."
>"Let's play together, shall we?"
>"I-I need a moment."
>Other? (write-in)

>>/qst/

>>"Let's play together, shall we?"
Ah well, makes sense after the bombs went off anyways.

>"Go ahead and play kids."
>"I-I need a moment."

>>Other? (write-in)
>Recall the men we used to command. Try to imagine they are fine. Doubt. Try not to cry.

>"Let's play together, shall we?"
Distraction!

Seconded! We are mentally strong.

>>"Let's play together, shall we?"
Makes sense considering the Japanese, Germany's ally had city destroying bombs dropped on them.

>Other? (write-in)
Realized that we didn't just witness a slaughter we witnessed the end of the war.
>"Let's play together, shall we?"

This

>>"Go ahead and play kids."
>>"I-I need a moment."

Distracting yourself with childrens games win

>Writing

"The germans lost"
These words ring in your ears as if an explosion went off next to you.

You shamble backwards towards the crumbling shack, trying to grab it with your hand for leverage.
You slowly fall down as your legs give in.
In moments wild images begin flashing in front of you.
Krieger as he kept insisting you leave him as you were trying to amputate his leg and carry him away from the battlefield.
Rudolf as he kept talking about the family that is waiting for him back home.
The faces of all the men that were under you.
That monstrous explosives that were dropped on the japanese.

Such memories assaulted you at once.
And the crowning moment, the realization that your life and the lives of all those people who died fighting for their country was pointless.
You thought back then that you were on the right, that the righteous Germany won't lose as long as everyone gave it their all.
All the atrocities that were committed for the greater good...
The death of all the innocents, including your wife...
There was no point to any of it.

You simply look up at the cloudy sky and give an awkward and very quiet laugh.
The children are looking at you concerned.

"Is everything alright?"
They ask.

This question snaps you back to reality.
You hold your aching head for a moment.
"Y-yeah.
S-sorry about that."
You stand up after you managed to gather yourself.
"How about playing a game, huh?"

They look at each other, then back at you.
"Game?
What game?"
They ask.

"Isn't it obvious?"
You reach forward and flick Alex on her nose.
"Tag!"

And with that you make a mad dash for it.
The young adjuchas gets angry at you and reaches for Asher who quickly gets away from her, laughing all the way.
"Curse you!"
She roars as she accelerates herself toward you, shooting off like a cannon.

>[Mad World plays softly in the distance]

>PTSD initiated

>It's raining out today, they said it would be sunny.

...

youtube.com/watch?v=4fRaWZji_Co

With the special ability of Alex to accelerate herself she is quite a challenge to run away from.
But luckily for you you know the full extent of her skills.
So when she dashes for you, you simply take a step to the side and she flies past you.
When she sees that it's almost pointless to go after you she makes for Asher.

Watching the two of them enjoying themselves brings a smile to your face while you are still trying your damnedest to distract yourself.
Every time you don't occupy yourself your thoughts drift to your past life.
You can feel your chest getting heavy, as if a giant orb of molten steel wedged itself into your heart.
Blood starts to flow from your fist as you are clenching it as hard as you can.
With every ounce of your being you are concentrating on keeping it together.

But the memories are too vivid.
The faces and the names of all the people you've watched die appear again and again.
You can feel a sharp pain in your throat getting worse every time you swallow.

In one of your weaker moments Asher manages to touch you with Anguis while he keeps bouncing around the air.
"You're it Kaizar!"

"You cheating little bastard.
Come here!"
You pursue him and as you take off the small amount of water that was swelling on your eye falls off in fragments.

After about half an hour Asher gets completely exhausted and asks for a time out.
The nuns start calling for him when you descend.
You ruffle his hair once more and let him go.
"I'll have to eat dinner or the nuns will get mad at me.
Will you stay until then?"

"Sure.
Now go, before they start worrying about you."

With that he goes off and with him gone Alex gives up on her facade and starts heaving.
"The air ish sho dry here Kaizhar.
No reishi..."

"Yeah, it's annoying.
We can go home after we say goodbye to him."

"Okhay."

Danke user.

They went to the good place, not got ate right?

So... any of you guys wanna try to find the graves of our fallen friends? It sounds sketchy but it seems we need closure.

While you wait for him to return the two of you sit down near the entrance of the church.
You let the massive wall to support your back and as you are sitting Alex curls up right next to you and looks at you with her puppy eyes.
"What's wrong Kaizar?"
She asks.

You instead of answering just stroke her head and say.
"Nothing."
She gets up closer to you and rests beside you.

When Asher returns he already looks much better.
"Man, I was starving."
He looks at the two of you in bewilderment, at Alex in particular.

"You can stroke her if you want to."
You say.

"Hey!
That's not for you to decide asshole!"
She replies angrily.

"Oh?
You object?"

"N-no..."

With that Asher gets close and strokes her behind her ear.

When he is done he looks at you.
"Are you going to leave again?"

"Yes.
We really shouldn't stay here for too long.
It might attract danger."
You tell him the truth.

He looks sad.
You sigh at this and say this:
"But Alex can come visit you anytime she wishes.
And by the way, so can I."

His eyes shine once more and gives you a tight hug.
"Promise me that you'll come back!"

"I promise."

With that the two of you stand up and you begin opening the garganta.
You catch a glimpse of the two youngsters awkwardly parting ways as well.

The road back was long but otherwise uneventful.
When you step outside you can breathe properly once more as the reishi heavy air fills your lungs.
The party is still going albeit with much less steam than before.

"Well, I'm beat.
See you later Kaizar."
And with that Alex goes off to her treehouse.

What do you do now?
>I need a rest.
>The thieves still need to be punished.
>Join the fun.
>Chat with Neliel.
>Other? (write-in)

Good idea, though we shouldn't keep too long out of our little garden. Some dicks might come while we're away.

>Chat with Neliel.

>>The thieves still need to be punished.

>>The thieves still need to be punished.

>The thieves still need to be punished.

Well we have Neliel and our pig dude to help out if it comes to that.

>"Promise me that you'll come back!"
>"I promise."

>worry.jpg

>Join the fun.

We need a fucking drink.

>Thieves still need to be punished.

>Chat with Neliel

So when is the sorrow filled training montage so he'll never have to see that which he cherishes be hurt again?

>Writing

>Chat with Neliel

We kind of need to tell our shit to somebody or we'll have a mental breakdown at some point.

I mean, Kaizar's foundation was just ripped apart and spat on.

Man, Nel is fucking smashed right now.

call me dull but what was the next part of the hollow evolution path again?

Vasto is after Adjuchas. We are Adjuchas.

Vasto Lorde
The ones no bigger than a human and humanoid in appearance, but can take on weak captains and win.

Ahhaha, even better.

We still have one more Canon? Path before we start doing voodoo stuff.

we do not need a drunk clingly Nel remembering ANYTHING.

She`s not clingy just very physical.

Wonder how far she`ll go to make us feel better.

She's a half-horse and we are a giant axolotl.

There won't be any sex you psycho. We don't even have reproductive organs.

Forgetting about how in the next stage we become human like again, A shame on you user.

They both have mouths and hands and, as Alex head pats show, Hollows can get pleasure from physical contact.

>Horse
>Neliel
>Half Horse
She's half Antelope ya dingus. Granted I agree with you but get your animals right.

Sexual intercourse isn't the only way to please and comfort each other, silly.

Ram butt tickler.

Actually, the only consensus with Vasto is that they become human sized. Not explicitly humanoid. Even though the only examples given are pretty much all humanoid.

They're still hollows. Arrancar is the one you want if you want to be more "human". Especially since they canonically have internal organs, and knowing kubo they could probably fuck, too.

She's half ram you dip

Knowing Kubo, Anything in his show can fuck anything and produce a bastard offspring.

The primary difference between a vasto lorde hollow and a vasto lorde arrancar is that while both are human sized and shaped, one is still fully clad in solidified spiritual matter, while the other only has a mask fragment remaining.

Her Release is literally antelope knight.

While on the topic of this are vasto lordes the more powerfull of the 2?

The guilty must be punished.
There is just no way around it.
And you have a very good idea about who it might have been.

So you take off into the remaining crowd and start looking for the culprit.
It doesn't take you too long to arrive at your destination.
You can see one of the hollows holding a barrel above himself while drinking the whole thing.
Around him are other adjuchas who keep chanting "chug".

Out of this group you grab the target out of there by the mouth.
Both of them in fact.

The two try to scream as hard as they can while you drag them away from prying eyes.
You slam the two of them down who immediately kneel and start begging for mercy.

Pesche is the first to plead while tears keep running down his mask.
"P-p-p-please Kaizar don't hurt us!
We didn't mean any harm, w-w-we just thought everyone could use some fun."

"D-d-don'tcha know?"

Both of them look completely sober.
It's clear that they only did it for shits and giggles.

You look Pesche straight in the eye to which he reacts by practically freezing.
It appears he's too scared to even breathe.

"I have only one question to you..."

"Yes?"

"Why?"

"W-well..."

But saying that word was the last straw for you.
Something inside of you has finally snapped.
You place both hands on Pesches shoulders as tears begin to pour from your eyes.

"WHY?!"
You scream while sobbing uncontrollably.

The two of them are completely silent.
You get on your knees as your legs give out.
While looking down on the ground you begin bawling.
"WHY DID YOU TAKE IT FROM ME?!"

You punch the ground so hard the sound can be heard from anywhere within the forest.
The hollows that were too busy drinking up until now turn their heads towards you.
But there is something blocking their view.
Pesche is standing between you and the crowd, arms spread wide.

"There is nothing to see here!
Party is over!
All of you, go home and get some sleep!"

The crowd disperses leaving only you and the two adjuchas remaining.

Vasto lorde don't explicitly have to be shaped like people, though. It's just that kubo is a hack and could only draw a few non-humanoid hollows.

Or that he thought they'd be more relatable if they had normal proportions, fuck if I know.

Arrancar are universally more powerful than what they were before removing their masks.

It's a powerboost is all it is. Changes what they look like and makes then stronger.

However we have a stage beyond Vasto that didn't exist in canon as confirmed by Spooky.

I don't care what we choose to pursue, but I am very curious about his next stage.

Ah, Fuck we didn't hold it together at all.

Twenty bucks says someone important felt the ground shake from that.

God damit why did we go with
>Thieves still need to be punished
I mean really why.

Pretty sure there's a whole thing with the more human a hollow appears, the stronger they get. Hence why average ones are weird monsters and vastos are the most humanoid. Something about humanity and hollow holes and THE HEART or some shit

I missed the vote, otherwise I'd've voted to go chill with yata. He's probably the only one who knows what we're going through right now

I expected us to beat the living shit out of the thieves and then storm off in all honesty. We had to set an example because we're the boss and rules exist for a reason.... but then we became a little bitch.

I expected us to breakdown in the middle of beating them to death

That makes sense but do we really need mess up the party.

"Dondochakka, go and make sure Lady Neliel is occupied.
I'll take care of him."

"Right!"
He dashes off to wherever Nel is.

Meanwhile Pesche kneels down next to you and simply puts a hand on your shoulder while you keep crying.
He simply watches as you keep punching the ground and scream all the while.
When you've worked out your aggression you simply keep crying.

Pesche grabs a hold of your arm and gets under your armpit to lift you up.
He is carrying you on his shoulders to your home.

Somehow you manage to string together a proper sentence in between howls.
"You don't have to do this..."

"I do Kaizar.
Don't worry, just let it all out."

He personally takes you to your treehouse and carefully puts you down at the pile of leaves you use as a bed.
After you curl up you keep uncontrollably sobbing.
Pesche doesn't leave you for a second and only takes off after you've cried yourself to sleep.

He leaves your house and makes it to his friend Dondochakka who is currently paying attention to a passed out Neliel.
"Was she hard to handle?"

"A lil' bit.
But she's fine now.
Might get a headache though."

"I see."

Dondochakka looks up at Pesche.
"What happened to him?"

"No idea.
What I made out was incoherent at best.
Poor guy had a breakdown from something.
Not asking about the details was for the best."

"I see."

The two of them slowly drifted to sleep as well.

Yet vasto are the most inhuman by behavior. Hollows are just trying to survive. Sure, they eat people's souls to do it, but we eat other things too, typically this means whatever it is dies.

Vasto just exist without any purpose or reason. They appear more human but they have less in common with humans than other hollows do.

Yes, because what if something had happened? There are no look outs, nobody is guarding, ect. Everybody could've died because of this stupid fucking reason.

Technically, they're actually more human in nature. Lower hollows concern themselves with literally nothing more than their next mean, typically. Whereas vastos are just like barragan and arrogantly cruel at worst, or like Harribel and fairly human at best.

I mean, compare, say, barragan to someone like Grand Fisher or any other hollow menos grande and below. Sure, he's inhuman, but he's still more human that lesser ones. Just a really cruel and pragmatic version of humanity

Oh my god you are right.

We literally have a army of aduchas class hollows, we'd most likely have people watching the perimeter as a job.

I'd rather go off information which we know, Everybody was getting shit faced. If OP says otherwises, then I admit I made a mistake but until then I stand firm that we could've lost everything.

The reason vasto aren't like humans is because they place existential conflict above survival. Baraggan doesn't have to worry about starving, so he instead lords himself over lesser hollows like a king.

Halibel "adopted" hollows because she couldn't get over the fact she lost her child in life or whatever.

Vasto seek out situations that are meaningless to anyone but themselves and serve no purpose even to themselves other than peace of mind.

That's basically being an old man on your death bed, they can give up on survival which is contrary to their entire existence up until that point.

Fuckin' ideals and shit. Meta shit.

The morning comes late for you, having slept for much longer than you normally do.
But even after you woke up you don't get up and do your chores.
Instead you keep turning around on your bed for at least an hour, staring blankly into space.

What forces you to get out of bed was the fact that you were getting hungry.
You get up and make your way to the fields where you are planning on taking a piece of fruit and just nibble on it for a while.

On the way there however someone stops you.
It's Neliel whom is grabbing her own head, probably struggling with a headache.

"Hey..."
She greets you.

"Hey...
So...
What was the deal with you yesterday?"

*sigh*
"Pesche and Dondochakka convinced me that I'm way to stressed out and that I need to relax for a while.
I am always on edge so they thought it would do some good to me.
Now I have this damn headache.
How about you?"

"I don't want to talk about it..."

"So I can spill my story but you refuse to tell yours?
I thought you trust me."

"I do...
But I won't tell this stuff to you for the same reason I won't tell Pesci or Alex.
It's none of your business."

"You don't have to spare me.
I am probably more capable than you are anyway."

"DON'T START THIS SHIT WITH ME!
It's your god damn ego!
That's the problem with you!
Neliel the oh so mighty, looking down at us simple peasants!"

"AND YOU ARE AN INSENSITIVE ASSHOLE!
You refuse to accept help from others with the excuse of "sparing them" while all you care about is yourself!
You are so blind that you can't see how worried your friends are about you!"

But as the two of you keep screaming at each other a nervous little hollow approaches the two of you.
"Erm...
Excuse me..."

"WHAT?!"
Both of you explode at him.

"We have a problem.
The scouts said we have shinigami incoming!"

>shinigami

EVERYBODY GET TO THE BATTLESTATIONS.

>shinigami incoming!
Oh shit wat.

>shinigami

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

That's never good.

Place your bets, people.

>inb4 it's ikkaku wondering whats up

>inb4 Aizen making us an offer

inb4 pic related.

You can't believe what you've just heard.
Shinigami? Here?

"That's just fucking excellent!
As if I didn't have enough problems already!"
You burst out.

"OH, I'M A PROBLEM NOW?!"
Neliel replies angrily.

But as you were about to open your mouth Pesci punches you in the face with a loud crash and Pesche slaps Neliel.
"Get yourself together!"
The duo speaks up at the same time.

Of course, you have no time for bickering right now.
If the reports are true then you are in trouble.
How would you like to handle this situation?
>Let them come here
>We'll go and meet them. (Who?)
>Other? (write-in)

I fucking hope its him, His a bro that bald fucking man.

Go away Aizen. We aren't here to taste your plans.

>We'll go and meet them. (Just us, Neliel will focus on getting the others out or bringing in reinforcements depending on how it goes.)

>We'll go and meet them. (Who?)
Us, Pesci, and Alex. Just us three should be able to handle anything serious, and If it's ikkaku we can always invite him back for some Hollow Brew

We'll need to leave Nel home though, considering we shouldn't leave this place without a proper leader while we're gone

>We'll go and meet them. (Us and Neliel)
>Everyone get ready

>implying it is not Aizen.

>We'll go and meet them. (Us and Neliel)
Pesci can fortify our base in the mean time.

It won't be Aizen, it'll be some of his cronies.

...

but I want his plans!

Kaizer + Neliel wins

>Writing

We'll just tell him that we still have plenty of growth we want to do before we become an arrancar. Make the offer later. In the meantime, there probably are some mook Adjucas who've maxed out. All of Grimjow's fraccon stopped improving around 1000 kills divided between all of them.