Clash-- A rivalry emerges

" Mom said; Wake up son, good mornin'... "
A semi-matured male voice rung out into the emptiness that were the wastelands, repeating words that hadn't been spoken for over three-hundred years.

" I rolled outta bed, greeted momma with a yawn and..."
His head bobbed-- moving only about an inch forwards and back from the up-right position in which it would normally be held. His poofy hair shushed-- no louder than the sound of a fly breathing, yet still it was audible to him.

" Paused to scratch and itch and went- down to the kitchen fixed a plate of eggs and bacon, glass of O.J. Simpson..."
His coffee colored eyes remained glued to the ground, which persisted in sending up tufts of the beige chalky residue with each step he took. Redd's arms swung at his side-- his skin appearing to become suddenly darker as they reached his wrists, but this wasn't the case.

" Just as I was about to dig in, thought jumped in my head, school was to be attended-- Shit...
Upon closer observation one would have realized that the browning of his hands was due to the chocolate colored gloves that were on his hands. The leather looking material clung to his tightly coiled fists. These digit-less gloves held four small blades on top of his knuckles, each of these glinting a silver-white. His black t-shirt swayed about his frame in his stuttering movement, hanging down loose on him-- his black to match pants doing the same.

"I paid my thoughts no attention cause I wasn't tryna kick it with this bitch who just ended it with me..."
The sky whispered night-- where it had previously been dusk, the lively baby blue turning into a red-laced black. The stars faded into view over head- the area around him being bathed in such a light that it might as well have been the middle of the day-- but with a different color.

"But momma wasn't havin' it. So I grabbed my bag, split out the door and saw the whore that I'd rather kick..."
The moonlit land around him appeared to be a small shade of white-- this overtaking-- the browns and yellows of the decrepit wild life around him.
There were no trees, no bushes, no buildings-- no, all that was left of this place was the occasional dieing patch of desert grass and uncomfortable heat. Others might think that you'd have to be a moron to like being in a place such as this yet it was where Redd felt most at home.

" It seems kinda rash, but thats the hash-- I mean the harsh truth. She runs shit, she's the jock I'm the horse, shoot..."
The place reminded him of his childhood home-- where he was at his happiest. Arizona-- one of the 48th states in America, and his favorite of the five he had been in.

" She's gorgeous, when niggas see her jaws hit the floor so-- when she left it didn't break my heart it broke my torso. Makin my eyes ache, stalkin her myspace, posted a new pic, I mean it when I say-- that I fuckin hate you....

Okay I have to ask, what are you expecting to see Andrew?

You remember that movie series called Mad Max?

Isn't that the movie where people fight for gas?

I'm half expecting those kinds of raiders in this place.

Do you honestly expect the Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla popping out of someplace?

A lot of things have changed here Tetsu, I wouldn't be surprised of anything.

Andrew had been walking through the wasteland as his dark brown eyes looked around the ruined land. He had remembered like it was almost yesterday with his most recent opening of a barbeque restaurant that he had been sharpening his blade and cooking skills. But it looks like there was barely any other signs of life or even the sign of technology in this vast wasteland. He knelt down on the ground casually, dusting the ground as he simply sighed. "Looks like there isn't even a single blade of grass in this whole area," he said softly. He then raised his head when he felt someone's presence nearby. It didn't feel like anything hostile, but he could swear that it felt familiar. However, he wasn't able to put his finger on it. To be honest he had thought it had been a desert mirage. Then again it wouldn't be the first time he had been in oppressive heat. In fact, he preferred this kind of dry heat over the humid heat that would follow the thunderstorms.

He stopped in his track not waiting for any reason. He wanted to see if his mind was playing any tricks on him. As he stood still, he squinted his eyes as he started to slowly recall where he had seen him from. It was the day in the market when he had ordered the grilled pineapple. He wanted to make sure that this was the same person. Taking a deep breath, he cupped his hands and shouted to the person in the distance,"Hey! What do you think of grilling fruit on the barbeque?" Hopefully he would hear what he heard back in the marketplace. Then he would be sure that he wasn't already getting even more insane in the heat.

" Bu- "
His quite fluent speed was halted by the sound of another voice-- and with that the spiritual pressure of their reiatsu. It was most definitely a shinigami, though of what caliber hadn't yet been revealed. Redd halted his movement as well, another small cloud of dust being cast up into the air by the front tip of his shoe as it awkwardly collided with the ground before him.

Grilled fruit ? What the hell ?
In truth Redd had absolutely no idea who this man was, and even less of an idea of why he would ask such a silly question such as that. Redd inhaled-- only half way filling his lungs with oxygen-- as well as a few other substances before tensing his legs and firing off in the direction of the distant shinigami before him.

He'd quickly covered the distance between them -- making use of his borderline mastery over shunpo. It'd only taken him about three seconds to close this gap-- and correspondingly three shunpo's. This wasn't to be taken lightly, anyone could tell this alone was a feat seeing as the two had been at a distance where the other appeared no larger than a speck. It wasn't Redd's intention to show off his abilities but just to make it easier on the both of them, after all thousands of feet away was no real way to conduct a conversation.

Redd remembered hearing about Australians grilling bananas so that the insides were caramelized-- but had only actually ever tried it once. He didn't really have an opinion but he would humor his unidentifiable counter-part. Being the second highest ranking officer of the second division Redd had an extensive knowledge of those related to the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, yet this individual failed to pass through his minds eye as he tried to match him with anyone he'd seen or heard about before-- weather it was in file or in person. After all noone truly leaves the thirteen court guard squads -- and all of those who had tried resigning their positions were placed in captivity inside of the maggots nest, which Redd was ACUTELY aware of, seeing as he'd been the officer to over see this area Just before his promotion.

"They're alright I gue- "
It seemed that yet again this person had caused him to stop speaking, the memories that they'd shared, while miniscule, came rushing back into Redd's head as more words were ripped from his thoughts but with a louder and more cheerful tone.

" HOT PINEAPPLE GUUUUY ! How are ya man? Y'know that pineapple wasn't half bad. "

Redd's words were a tiny bit jumbled -- completely robbing Andrew of a chance to interject in the conversation his scentences -- while complete and audibly punctuated, ran together to form an over-bearing string of words.

"I-, hold on a minute whats someone like you doing out here? "
It was only at this time that Redd waited for him to speak, he hadn't known until this time that the shinigami before him was a shinigami at all-- he seemed to not pay much attention at his leisure which was his own fatal flaw. Even now-- had he really been paying attention he would have been able to tell that this individual was a vizard -- due to his prolonged expierience and observing of the different look and feel of another spiritual pressure, Redd's skill was close to unmatched when it came to detecting and assessing another reiatsu type.

Oh thank god, he's not a mirage.

Though he had been glad that he was not a mirage, in the back of his mind he had thought he could have been one considering how fast he had been able to move. For Andrew speed wasn't much his thing but what he had lacked in speed he had had up for being able to stand his ground and use his strength to his advantage. None the less, he had been relieved that there was a friendly face. However, he knew better to not broadcast that he was a vizard. He had gotten lucky only once when it came to a shinigami named Zetsurin. She had been pretty cool with him being a vizard and she had warned him that there would have been others (albeit it would have been a given) that would not be as kind about him wielding a hollow's mask. So as long as he didn't need to go to the mask, he should be okay. "Well, I've been okay. I've just been exploring a lot of locations. It's a damn shame about what happened to this place though. I remembered a long time ago that there was this barbeque place that I used to frequent whenever I had the chance. They had these burnt ends that would blow your mind." He sighed softly, remembering all too well though that the restaurant in question was the one he created.

"But there were a lot of interesting places I did go to though. Which is why I am actually here. I have been exploring different locations to see what is going on. I recently went to Sukai Karakura and I have to say being on a city that flies is pretty impressive." He had an exuberance about him as he was pretty thrilled about encountering such a location. He then looked up at the sky, speaking with a curious tone of voice. "Even though this place looks devoid, I can't help but look at the sky. It kind of looks like it can be torn apart easily." Taking a moment, he then looked at the shinigami and smiled again. "I don't think though I didn't introduce myself though. My name is Andrew Takahashi, it's nice to meet you," he said happily.

Redd's cheerful demeanor had died down-- he'd been sizing Andrew up this entire time-- unconsciously at first though there was a growing pang of difference between the two's spiritual pressures and it hadn't taken him long to figure out exactly what it was. The fact of the matter was that vizards had a different energy fluctuation all together-- it was a shinigami's yes but with a certain twist to it that anyone-- especially someone like Redd would notice if they'd payed attention.

Incidentally Redd felt no need to prosecute this individual-- it was a deep desire of his own to become a Vizard, and now an opportunity has presented itself. After all what better way to test what abilities he'd have in the future than with the person who'd level of superiority he hoped to reach someday?

Redd Tseuken-- What division did you say you were in ?
Redd took in a breath that you might have been able to tell was for speaking.
He tilted his head to the right and forwards only a small bit, squinting his eyes Redd's pupils aligning themselves just below his eye-lashes. A small smile played at his lips in a "happily eager for information" type expression. Redd was a great liar he'd always been since he was smaller-- in fact most of his day to day activities.

"Well in any case-- how bout a quick spar ?"

"I actually started off in the fifth division, but then I spent some time in the tenth division for a little bit to improve my elemental knowledge before going back to the fifth division to sharpen my Kidō."

Andrew had given Redd an honest answer, but what he didn't say was the reasons why he needed to arrange such a thing. Though he had been skilled in Kidō, when he found out he had elemental powers he needed to persuade his captain that it was to help develop his ability without explaining in detail that he was not ready to return to the division. There were a lot of emotions he needed to sort out before he could even think about coming back to improve his Kidō. In his youth the fifth division brought back a lot of memories, and many of them not good as he thought about Yumi. But as he smiled happily, he still continued to think intently on the lieutenant. Could he truly know what he was? He didn't want to assume anything and though there was the talk of a friendly spar, he was always expecting the unexpected. Nodding his head, Andrew smiled happily as he looked at him. "Sure, just a friendly spar okay? I'm not looking for any killing strikes." As he said that, he unsheathed his zanpaktou as he looked into his coffee colored eyes. If anything he wanted to avoid using his mask unless there was an immediate cause for concern. As always he tried his best to keep a misunderstanding from evolving and what would start as a friendly one on one spar could quickly degenerate into a bloody fight.