Soldiers Long Forgotten, Opponents Long Remembered: Ggio and Soifon, Survivors of the Winter War

Hueco Mundo; Silent Combatants
Fate's a bitch.

Soifon was walking through Hueco Mundo, her new partner, and apprentice, Katta Dorobo was behind her. Soifon's own cloths were of similiar proportions, but had lost the long since overused Captain's Haori, things having changed since the days of the Gotei 13. Katta herself wore a simple black mini-dress with shinobi styling pants, boots covering some of the pants to a degree. Walking further out, they were on a mission to hunt and destroy Hollows or Arrancars through the show of tactics and training. To learn. And to master.

''Especially in times of war, there are occasions where you are expecting the things you fought against to be non-existant, to fall apart under the lack of violence and hatred. One could easily let their guard down in the aftermath of destruction, where reconstruction could take place, and peace once again reigned the area. However, the remnants of war could easily be sought out to come back for each other...there will never be complete escape.''

The sky was that of day.... and surprisingly, quite peaceful. It was nicely warm out, not too hot or too cold for anything to walk through the atmosphere. Had there been any water, it would've resembled a beach. But, as it was, there was nothing but sand and tumbleweeds; a perfect setting for the desert that was Hueco Mundo. Besides the usual Gillian and Adjuchas wandering around, there was also two sophisticated Arrancar - one small and one large - duking it out with their own unique blades.

Ggio Vega.

Nnoitra Jiruga.

On the sidelines, besides the random curious Adjuchas who stopped by to look on, there was Senkaku himself, acting as a judge. As their blades clashed, he noticed Ggio struggling against Nnoitra's strength, but managing to hold up against him. On the other hand, Nnoitra himself seemed to have difficulty coping with Ggio's skillful speed. Immediately, he barked out a yell of "HOLD!" and the two immediately stopped, stepping away from each other. Senkaku stepped between him, glancing between each fighter as he spoke the words.

"Ggio, you're getting too close for comfort in order to keep up with Nnoitra's strength. If you want to counter him, try to keep yourself out of his extensive weapon's range for as long as possible. Nnoitra..." He thought for a moment. "Try to use your senses other than your eyes to counter his speed. Also, what you're sure you can't block, avoid... and vice-versa. Got it?"

"Tch..." Nnoitra scowled, but nodded.

"Hai..." Ggio muttered, nodding as well.

"Good. Ready.... FIGHT!"

Then, the blades clashed once more, as Senkaku stepped away.

Soifon stepped forward in the sand, looking at a particular target. A low-class Gillian Hollow on all it's lonesome in the dark desert. "Watch closely Katta..." her voice keen, Katta payed attention as she always did with her master. Placing her Zanpakuto close to her body, Soifon called out the names, '''"Sting All My Enemies To Death, Suzumebachi." '''taking an offensive and ready position, in a blur, she leaped to the Gillian's face, her Shikai now out, black and gold finger-blade extended with it's dangling chain. She yelled out the next command just as the dim-witted Hollow turned it's gaze to her, and stopped it's motions. Foolish...

'''"Nigeki Kessatsu." '''the glow on her ring-blade glew a dark-red, and she stabbed her Shikai into the Gillian's head. It howled as the symbol of it's immenant demise was signaled. The symbol occured on it's fore-head, and it blasted a Cero towards Soifon; but her Shunpo only revealed a destroyed after-image. It looked around for a good two seconds before her image reappeared, and her Shikai stabbed yet again into the symbol. Landing on her knee in a reflex as she hit the ground, her back was turned to the Gillian as it's body was distentergrated by the red colored technique... two hits; one death.

"What was the lesson in that display?" Her body motion asking Katta clearly, Katta responded with a clap, adding first in her own cheery display. "You did good Soifon-Sama!" Soifon raised her brow; waiting for an answer, but glad to have a thankful apprentice. "The lesson was to use your own speed against the enemy if they are... larger or stronger then you are." Unknowingly, this was the same thing that Team Ningensei was being taught.

CLANG!

Ggio and Nnoitra began to go at it a bit more fiercely. Their sword movements began to pick up in speed and power, and their eyes were concentrated in their attacks and nothing alone. Parries were common, the two knocking each others' weapons away. It seemed more and more as Ggio was picking up and adapting to Nnoitra's ferocious strength. Upon a clash of weaponry, Ggio did the unthinkable - he raised his blade in the air as if preparing an overhead attack - but then to Nnoitra's and Senkaku's surprise - he blasted a sudden Cero.... right from his chest. Its red light tore through the very air as it did so.

Nnoitra appeared to the side of Ggio, the side of his left arm slightly scorched. He glared down on it in irritation briefly, before fixing it back onto a rather smug Ggio. Senkaku raised his hands to clap. "Nicely done! Even I couldn't fire my Cero like that..." He commented, his tone expressing his surprise. "Who taught you?" Ggio leveled his sword to his own chest, looking over at Senkaku with a neutral expression.

"No one taught me, Boss." He stated calmly. "I taught myself, after watching Starrk-sama perform it. Since it's fast, I thought a little practice of it would be evident."

Sensing the signature immediately, that of a brief rise in spiritual Soifon perked up. Sealing her Shikai once more, no energy wasted, she glanced to the direction; pointing towards it. "Next target... that way." Katta nodded, and both used Sonido to seemingly fade from existance as their images shifted from the area. Blinding speed both master and apprentice...

"All right..." Senkaku closed his eyes, sighing. "I think that's it for today..." He began to brief them on what they had did for today, as well as the issues they should still correct. Ggio closed his eyes, folding his arms across his chest as he listened in an absent-minded manner... he had really heard it all before, and he personally knew what he had done and needed to do... his mind began to drift a little, thinking of his old master. If Nnoitra survived, was Barragan still alive? It would've brought him a bit of peace within his heart to think so.

Baraggan-sama....

However, his thoughts were sharply interrupted, when a tick came through his head. A foreign presence.... spiritual energy.... coming with immense speed... His eyes widened slightly, as they shot towards his two teammates. Senkaku and Nnoitra didn't seem to notice, too embroiled in a conversation (Nnoitra was complaining a bit) about their performance. Those morons... they were going to get themselves killed! Squinting his eyes, he used a Sonido to vanish.

This time, Senkaku turned towards Ggio in surprise. "Huh--"

"We've got trouble coming!"

That was all that both Jiruga and Ningensei decided in order to ready themselves. Abruptly, Senkaku turned around, all three of them facing the direction in which the two Shinigami were coming.

The two reappaered. Bodies vanishing then gathering, both a good distance from one another. Soifon's eyes opened wide, ''Espada?! ''her instincts kicked in; to take out her foe immediately, they looked ready.. but they also looked worn. Soifon's body tensed, and she unsheathed her Zanpakuto; as did Katta. Then Soifon's gaze went to... Ggio. ''What... but... he's dead. ''Evaluating the entire situation, she wanted to figure out what was going on. Katta glanced to them all, stating and counting with a intellect high. "Three targets... all Arrancars. two Vasto-Lorde... one Adjuchas." pondering their signatures once more she stated to a keen detail. "One is capable of Segunda Etapa..." Soifon grimaced as she stepped back a step; her arm infront of Katta to show not to engage.

This wasn't good... but this didn't make any sense!