My Town, My City [Alex, Sola]

Tch. Seemed like things down here in Africa still weren't exactly calming down. Wasn't nearly as bad as the last shitshow, sure, but there were plenty of stragglers here and there who got a little cocky about the fact that most of those bigass Hollows'd been able to get the jump. Whatever. Alex didn't mind helping keep things under control. If anything, he was glad to keep things stable. Wasn't exactly altruistic of him, but he kept it in mind that he didn't really need to pretend it was.

"Hey, buddy. Whatcha doin' around here?"

There was an immediate hostility to Alex's voice as he noted what didn't seem like a shinigami or a member of the Vandenreich out here. He wasn't the type who looked for trouble, but he was at least smart enough to know that the situation around here right now didn't quite allow much wiggle room.

He had opted to hang back, he still had a keen direction of the way that she had gone and it was good practice with his whole tracking to keep up with Rafaela. Actually, it wasn't that hard. Just follow trail of beat up guys and he'd find the little shortstack of trouble. The arrancar's eyes were fixed on one of the guys that were laying on the ground, no fun to really pick on the weak when he hadn't actually done this himself. They were just some regular schmucks until the appearance of another guy brought the attention back to reality.

"Huh?"

How the hell was this guy he wondered while turning back to face the redhead, letting the wind on the plains blow his hood off and meet his gaze.

"I'm fishing, duh."

There wasn't a waterhole in sight. Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer right? This guy looked interesting through a real tough guy to be out here all by himself. Sola had to wonder what he was doing out here. This place went to shit after all, shouldn't he be running the other way? Maybe he was just looking for some fun as well.

"Hey, what're the odds. Me too."

Alex wasn't the fastest guy around, so he wasn't confident he could just catch this guy in one step like a lot of those shinigami and quincy might've been able to. He'd really need to work on that, huh? Oh well. For now, he'd do what he knew best, his body tensing only for a brief moment before his fist shot forward, the shockwave from the blow shooting past Sola rather than directly into him.

"Take it you're not Gotei or Vandenreich, huh? You with those hollows who caused this little mess?"

"Not really, just trying beat up the shortstack that did all this but I guess until then I'm with her... and uh, she's probably with them."

He explained in a round about way, coming back to the point that as far as Alex should be concerned. Yeah, he was in fact with the guys that did this but Sola wasn't going to allow himself to be grouped up with these bozos. He was a free spirit that did what he wanted, when he wanted while climbing to improve.

"Cool trick, man. Guess that means you're pretty tough."

A grin came to his lips while the hair settled from the shockwave.

"Well, hate to break it to you bud, but I used to live here."

Nel's words still remained squarely at the forefront of Alex's thoughts, and had for most of his time here. It was alright to fight for something he actually cared about, if he wasn't just out for a throwdown. No, Alex didn't care about anything like that. This wasn't something fun for him, it was just fixing a problem in a place that had meant so much to him. He cracked his knuckles, and then threw himself toward the arrancar in front of him, his leg shooting forward to drive his heel straight into Sola's stomach. He knew a lot of arrancar were faster than him, though, so he wasn't gonna be surprised if this missed.

"People do say I'm pretty tough. Normally I don't try and get into fights with little guys, but hey. Guess you get to say you're special."

"The h-"

His eyes shot open, this guy was indeed a real powerhouse and caught him straight in the gut. Enough so that he flew away from the hand a good distance. He could've flown like a rag doll in the wind like he was known to do so except a few broken ribs and the air forced out of his lungs wasn't a new experience. His hands dug into the ground as a momentary hand hold to turn it into a flip and land on his feet, slouching over while he tried to catch his breath.

"Crap. Nice punch, I guess."

"Thanks."

There was no actual sense of thanks in Alex's voice, however, and his voice carried only a dull disgust, a desire not so much to beat up the guy in front of him, but rather just to crush him underfoot if necessary. This guy wasn't bad, that had been a good recovery. Unfortunately, staying close to Alex in a fight was anyone's worst decision, and he stepped closer to his opponent, a little more force behind his step now as he went to slam Sola into the ground with a crushing arm bar.

"You can just get outta here, you know. Won't stop you if you smarten up and ditch these fucking guys."

Of course, he knew he'd want to. Anyone would, given the circumstances. But he was pretty sure it'd be bad form to just rip a fleeing opponent to shreds, and Alex was still doing his best to grow as a person. His inclinations toward violence, answering things with his fists, that wasn't really how someone should live their whole life.

Man, this guy was retarded. They were retarded, that's why he was getting better so he wasn't as retarded as he was now in more ways than just one. He thought to himself while the stars flew around his dazed head. Man, this ground felt kinda soft didn't it?

"No can do. Not until I beat the little bitch first, then I guess I'll just move up the food chain and beat up the rest of her squad of goons as well."

He muttered to the looming giant. Time to try and old trick he thought to himself as a wise idea by grabbing at Alex's ankle to try and twist him over.

"If I can beat you, then I bet I can definitely kick her ass."

They both wanted the same goal and yet Sola was too stupid to see it that way. Why work together when he could try and beat the bigger fish instead? Now that was way harder to do.

Alex's gaze only hardened all the more as this guy refused to run, and he glowered down toward the arrancar as he felt a hand latch onto his ankle. Unlike Sola's prior opponents, Alex wasn't someone who was so able to simply be tossed around like a ragdoll. His stance was resolute in the extreme, but that alone wasn't what made it so difficult to actually get a hold on him.

"You can't beat me, buddy. Let's get that straight."

No, what made it hard was the fact that his body itself had already gotten to the point it could easily boil water, and he'd barely reached anything close to his upper limit. Rather than even try to shake the guy off, Alex just raised his free leg upward, a heel quickly moving to stomp downward onto Sola. He wasn't someone who cared about fancy martial techniques, and he had no interest in learning. Fighting wasn't something to put any special care into, it wasn't something respectable and artful.

It was just violence, at the end of the day. You did what you had to do to win.

The hot ankle in his hand was the least of his problems, he wasn't by any means unable to withstand hot temperatures but if it got much hotter it might be a problem. It was the least of his issues because the redhead stomped down on him and left the audible sound of a crunch sound between them from the sound of his shoulder being crushed into bonemeal under the heel.

"Ain't... gonna stop me from trying."

He muttered through grit teeth at the guy.

"Heh, you're pretty tough big guy."

The pain in his body making him try to stall a little bit, if he was stuck under the weight and in so much pain he might as well just say what came to his head.