Playground Rules (Open to anyone in the 30 day challenge who wants to post)

Carter had decided it would be nice to escape the hum drum of life in the soul society by going to Earth for just a little bit. He had decided that Fuma Park was the perfect place to escape too. He moved long the many trails of the park, starting in the forest but eventually making his way to the populated areas of the park due to the sound of humans. He came through the clearing to see a playground with a bunch of little kids huddled around each other their backs to Carter.

There was a noise coming from the center of the ring of children, well two noises. The first was a childish grunting noise and the second a whimper. He walked forward and saw over the small heads that one boy was beating up another boy much smaller than himself. Carter moved through the small bodies, each kid moving out of his way until he reached the core of the ring. His right hand lacing around the back of the shirt of the larger child as he lifted him up with one hand and stared him in the eye. The boy began to cry out of fear before Carter put him down and smacked him on the rump, the kid running away holding his butt. All of the other children ran as well fearing the same punishment, the only one that was left was the one that had just been beaten up. Carter knelt down and helped the boy to his feet, "Stop the sobbing, you're all safe now" he said softly as he wiped tears o of the boy's face.

The little boy rushed forward and hugged him out of no where and Carter blinked in surprise. He returned the embrace then let him go, looking at him, "Next time he bullies you don't be afraid to stick up for yourself or he will keep beating you up." Carter instructed before rustling the boy's golden hair up a bit. "Now go home." He said, the boy smiling a bit before running off.

Carter stood up and sighed, his Zanpakutō appearing now that the children were gone. Nacuto hanging on his back with the handle coming to a little above his left shoulder blade.

Carmine had come to Earth as well, but his reason for doing so was much different. He'd come to get in some training in a different venue. The Soul Society was fine, but every once and awhile a nice change of scenery could be helpful. He sat at the top of a tree in in the park, completely invisible to normal humans, with his Zanpakutō unsheathed. Recently he'd felt like his Zanpakutō had been trying to speak to him. Occasionally, when his hand brushed his Zanpakutō's handle, he'd received a slight jolt up his arm. Nothing like that had ever happened before, and he'd quickly become obsessed with trying to speak to his Zanpakutō. He'd tried several different methods to commune and speak with his weapon, but to no avail. Eventually, he decided that maybe a more calming atmosphere would be more helpful, and he had never felt as calm as when he visited Earth. Without a moment to lose, he immediately set out for Earth.

He was now balancing near the top of a tree, his Zanpakutō placed blade first in the tree's branch, the hilt angled towards his forehead. He sat cross legged, his fists touching as he tried to go into th meditative state Jinzen. He'd sat there for several hours, with equal mixtures of hope and discouragement. He would eventually grow weary, and give up, but when he touched his Zanpakutō's hilt, he received a slight shock, and his hope was renewed for another hour. Eventually, he heaved a sigh, giving up the task as pointless. "I suppose nothing can be forced, no matter how bad you want it..." he said with a slight snort. He leaned his head forward, until his forehead touched the hilt. He felt the jolt, but it was dampened, possibly by the masks over his face. Either way, he knew when he was defeated. He opened his eyes and prepared to rise, but froze. What he saw wasn't the park. He wasn't even in the tree anymore. As he slowly stood to his feet, he looked at the area around him. The place was in ruins; it looked like a city that had been razed to the ground. Everything was broken, buildings and houses crumbled and blasted to pieces, some area's still smoldering gently.

The sky above him was riddled with black clouds, and he could hear the booming thunder that came with them. He silently wondered why some of the area was still smoldering, but his unasked question was soon answered. A stray bolt of lighting arced down from the clouds, striking one of the already crumbling buildings, ruining another section. The area seemed as though it were perpetually dark, yet despite the cloud cover, there was no rain. After taking another look around, Carmine realized he was on the tallest building in the area, which boded ill for his safety should a bolt of lightning stray this way. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Carmine jumped slightly, whirling around to face a man who gazed down at the city. The man was clad in a strange garb, a blue and white sleeveless shirt, with long white pants. He had long, silver hair that he'd pulled back in a ponytail, with bangs on either side of his face that hung below his chin. On either hand he had blue gloves, and his calves were wrapped tightly with bandages over the pants he wore. His eyes were sharp, powerful, as he swung them from the city towards Carmine.

"I said, it's beautiful, isn't it?" the man repeated. Carmine was speechless for a moment, but he quickly composed himself. "I...Yes. It is very beautiful. Do you-" "Liar!" the man snapped. Carmine frowned as the man continued. "This place is anything but beautiful. Constant storms. The land is barren, and life is completely unsustainable. I can never, and will never see the sky. What part of this is beautiful?!" A single bolt of lighting arced down from above, striking something Carmine could not see with a resounding crash. The man's eyes never strayed from Carmine's, and for a brief moment, Carmine felt extremely uncomfortable. Turning away, the man shrugged. "But it's irrelevant. It's not your fault. Besides, I've come to love this world for what it is. You cannot be weak here, or death is the only outcome. There is something to admire in strength..." He paused, and Carmine felt comfortable enough to speak. "Um...This world?"

The silver haired man turned, a smirk on his face. "That's right. Welcome to the world of ***** ******. I live here, naturally." Carmine frowned slightly. "What?" "I said, I live here," he said with exasperation. "Hard to think that your the king of this world. Depressing, really." "No on, I just didn't hear...Wait, King of this world?" Carmine's expression went blank as he stared at the man. Rolling his eyes, the man shook his head as he stepped towards Carmine. "God, you really are stupid. Yes, you are King here. And as King, it is my job to lend you my power, if I think you're fit to wield it." Carmine had been in a daze up to that point, but he snapped back to attention. "Fit to wield it?" "That's right. Defend yourself!" The man's fist darted out so fast, Carmine had no time to retaliate. He took it cleanly on the nose, and staggering back, he felt the man's fist in his gut. Doubling over, he took an uppercut to the chin that sat him down hard.

Standing over him, the man adjusted a gloved hand before offering it to Carmine. "You'll have to be quicker than that if you want to earn some of my power. It's my understanding that you were a grappler in your former life, when you were alive. Well show me what you can do!" Shoving Carmine back, the man raised his fists up again. "Defend yourself!" This time, Carmine was prepared. He raised his hands up, but before he could take the initiative, the man was upon him, raining a salvo of blows. Carmine could do nothing but block, as he felt each stinging blow on his bare arms. When he thought he felt a lag in the attacks, he swung out with his left. It had been a ruse however, and the moment his left side was unguarded, the man hopped to his side and caught him with a right hook across his jaw. Straightening up, Carmine took a shaky step back, and saw, almost in slow motion, the man peg him with a straight left. His eyes seemed to cross, and Carmine slumped back down to the ground. After a few seconds, his eyes finally readjusted, and glancing up, the man stood over him, his arms crossed, with a look of disappointment. "Weak. Way too weak. This'll be a long day..."

He walked on the mulch on the playground, it was a nice summer day so the earthen smells of the mulch came out with each foot step. Carter felt the sun basking his face in warmth as he moved to a near by swing set. It was a nice day and he had done his good deed so now he wanted to just enjoy the warmth of the sun and the nice winds that came as well.

He wrapped his hands around a swing's chains before planting himself int he seat and rocking back and forth slowly. He liked days like today, days that reminded him that life had more than one purpose to it, more than just blood shed and fighting. His eyes scanned the area around the playground, it was surrounded by forests with trails leading in many directions. He could feel spirit pressure near by but it wasn't that high and it felt like a shinigami. His mind quickly told him that the person was probably enjoying the day just as he was and would make themselves known when the time came. Still though he kept his eyes sharp as he enjoyed the day, not wanting to get flanked or surprised by anything.

"Come on, come on. If you can't keep up with me now, then there's no hope for you at all. Defend yourself!" Carmine had grown tired of hearing those words; Defend yourself. It felt like he'd been getting knocked around by the silver haired man for days, but it had really only been a few hours. He could feel like his sense of time was useless, and the only thing that was constant was the man before him, pummeling him with his fists. Shortly after they'd begun to fight in earnest, Carmine noticed for the first time that his face was completely bare. Where he normally had his face covered with several masks, at some point during his 'arrival', his mask simply disappeared. Making his face that much more of a target. The man moved to Carmine with a practiced ease, fists raised slightly, his mouth a grim slash as he rained a hailstorm of blows towards Carmine's upper body. Managing to parry the majority, Carmine dealt out several of his own punches during the barrage, but none hit home. The man nimbly dodged them, stepping up during Carmine's slight lapse in defense.

And so commenced yet another exchange, the silver haired man yet again getting the better of him. It seemed like every time Carmine had begun to get used to his speed and power, it suddenly increased, yet again putting him on the defensive. But he was getting to the point where he felt he could do some significant damage, if he timed it right. Waiting for the straight right that the man seemed to favor, as soon as he saw the punch coming, he ducked down, stepping underneath the punch. Twisting his body at the same time the silver haired man stepped back, he threw a hard right to his face. Unfortunately, he'd once again underestimated his opponent's speed. In the blink of an eye, the man threw out a left, both punches connecting at the same time. For Carmine, it wasn't unexpected, but the silver haired man reared back, more from surprise than the damage, but it was enough for Carmine to press his advantage. Powering forward, he threw a steady combination of lefts and rights, which the silver haired man didn't bother blocking. Instead, he swayed his head from side to side, avoiding each punch by a paper's breadth. His expression was one of annoyance, as he made his next move.

When Carmine stepped in to throw a left, the man stepped in as well, throwing a right over his own punch, a cross counter, which connected cleanly to Carmine's jaw. The blow was enough to rattle his brain, and Carmine lost consciousness. When he came to, the man was standing over him, the same look of annoyance still plastered on his face. "You got too full of yourself. You landed one punch, and thought you could do some real damage. Naive!" A bolt of lightning struck abnormally close to the building they were standing on, but the man continued as if he didn't hear it. "If you think I was being serious, you're wrong. I fought in a style that you were familiar with, a style of less discipline, more pure instinct than actual technique. It's how you used to fight when you were human? Surprised? Don't be, I know more about you than you do." Another bolt of lightning landed dangerously close to the building, but the man seemed unperturbed as he continued. "I have yet to get serious. But believe you me, when I do-" A bolt arced directly toward the man, but he turned on his heel and with a powerful right, punched the lighting away from them.

It arced a ways, before heading back down and absolutely demolishing the remains of a small house. "When I do, you'll know," he finished, turning back around. Carmine had spent the majority of the 'lecture' trying to breath through his mouth, as he was bleeding rather profusely from the nose. Rolling his eyes, the man held out a hand to him. Taking it, he pulled Carmine to his feet. "Not that I mind or anything, but um...Why hand to hand?" Carmine asked, dabbing gently at his nose. The man snorted, gesturing to himself. "You're nowhere near ready for me to use a weapon. I'd kill you too fast. Besides, it's achieved the desired result." Without turning, the man threw out a straight left towards Carmine's face. Instinctively, Carmine swayed to avoid the blow and threw out a punch of his own. Casually evading the punch, the man nodded. "You're reflexes are much sharper. And they'll have to be if you want to utilize my real power. But you're still nowhere NEAR where you need to be. I haven't even brought out a a fifth of my power yet...no...a sixth of my power yet. We'll need to do much more training before we can use weapons. In the meantime, beat it."

The sudden dismissal caught Carmine off guard. Lowering his fists, he gave the man a puzzled look. "What?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "You heard me, beat it. If I work you much harder now, I'll break you. Or overexert you. So for now, scram. Relax for the time being. I'll let you know when you're ready for more training." "Right. Ah, how long have we been training exactly?" The man shrugged. "Time works differently here than in your world. We've been here for a few hours, but I believe in your time, it's been a half hour. Now stop asking questions and scram." Turning towards him, the man raised his hand to Carmine's forehead, holding his middle finger back with his thumb, and flicking him sharply between the eyes. Carmine's head snapped back and bumped into something. Opening his eyes, he was back where he had started, sitting on the outstretched tree limb. Raising a tentative hand to the Zanpakutō hilt that dangled in between his eyes, he felt the same shock as he had before, but this time it was subdued. Pulling it free with a short tug, he pushed himself from the branch towards the ground.

Landing the short distance, he stagger forward slightly. His body felt like he'd been through the ringer. It seemed that some of the damage that he'd acquired while in his Zanpakutō had carried over to his body. He could still move pretty freely, but he could definitely feel some of the pain. Straightening up, he noticed for the first time a spiritual pressure nearby. It wasn't particularly large, nor was it an enemy. After several seconds of inspection, he determined it belonged to another Shinigami, though why they were here, he couldn't say. Carefully sheathing his Zanpakutō, he decided to head towards the source of energy.

Both would become aware of a perticularly strong energy compared to both of them. One that had tried its best to stay hidden till it wanted to be noticed. Though a particular shinigami would be closer to the energy. Carter would feel the energy of something like a hollow but slightly different to his right hidden under the shadow of a tree. A large metal hand would reach out from under the shadow as if feeling the sun. The energy was from a certain angry Arrancar. Lala Vega, the aspect of rage, had been in the park. Though it was a tad out of character to not be smashing her way through the forest. This might be one of the few times she actually showed that she used to be human and not just some hollow monster.

“You should have let them fight.” Lala said as she stayed in the trees shadow. She sat there trying to feel the warmth of the sun with her metal hand. “That kid will only stay weak if he doesn't get into any fights, weak people are a waste of time and I hate wasting my time.” She then pulled her hand back in content that she wouldn't feel the sun's warmth on her hand.

“Just like Hollows and Shinigami. Human's can't become strong unless they fight. If they aren't willing to fight and become stronger there's no point in them existing.” She said sounding annoyed. “You should think about that before you barge into fights like that.”

Suddenly her voice turned cold.“Or else somebody stronger then you will step up and take you out.”

"This brings me back from a long time ago."

Andrew had been watching each man from a distance, comparing each of them when he had been in his younger days as both a shinigami and as a resident of the rukongai. From all of the way back as he could remember, he recalled how he usually was within ear shot to the door and was able to hear the children outside. When he needed to, he stepped out of the kitchen and simply watched them to see if there were any that needed any help. Though his mentor didn't say much about it, he did respect him with helping whenever he could. That is why even today he still was able to keep the wooden sign that was given to him that had the ink painting of a pineapple. The pineapple was always the sign of hospitality and he was if anything hospitable.

On the other hand there was the other one that seemed to have been through his fair share of fights. He knew that all too well when he had taken a masochistic streak for a few assignments, throwing himself mission after mission to help understand himself and how to evolve his abilities before Tetsu finally let him in on how his zanpaktou was actually an elemental type weapon infused with fire. But he still watched them curiously, keeping a safe distance and his reiatsu low since he had not been looking for a fight. If anything it was more like a fleeting curiosity that he wanted to see these two. That was at least until he had felt the presence of the arrancar. He had appeared silently, his reiatsu still appearing like a low flame but appeared ready to defend. He might not have been a shinigami anymore, but he didn't care.

Sherri had been hiding in some bushes, watching what was happening around the park. She had been focusing on the shinigami that had separated the fighting children, and the arrancar who had spoken to him. It had excited her battle lust, and as she tried to control herself, she stopped thinking about hiding her spiritual pressure, anybody who could sense reiatsu would surely notice her now. Despite her attempts to control it, she was quickly lose ground to her desires, and she started to rise, grinning as her hand slowly went towards her zanpaktou. She waited, half crouched in the bushes, for someone to notice her, and as she did, the words kept playing in her head.

Kill them, make them bleed, slice them up, cut them, burn them.

On and on, the same sort of thoughts filled her mind. A soft giggle escaped her lips, and she started moving slowly, still half crouched, towards the two she had taken an interest in. It didn't matter if what she was doing was stupid, crazy, insane, or suicidal, she was caught up in her own emotions, not seeing anything beyond them.

Carter could help but smile when the demon woman spoke to him, her words were clipped and full of anger. She wanted to come off as the stronger of the two of them and Carter was forced to admit to himself that she was quite a bit higher up than him but it was no bother, he always fought people stronger than him.

He yawned a bit before standing up and speaking, "I suppose you think you're going to put me in line or maybe even kill me?" His tone mocking. He was no aware of of the other shinigami again as well as another force that he couldn't really make out from the distance but it felt quite strong compared to the lot of them, and finally another energy that was making its way towards him and the arrancar. He didn't really mind, his left hand sliding coolly to the handle of his Zanpakutō Nacuto. His eyes cold and calculated, his white hair swaying in the warm summer breeze. He looked back to the woman and noticed one if not both of her hands were metallic, something to watch out for.

"Of course you don't look too strong seeing as how you lost your real hands, do your worst." He taunted, turning away from her slightly, inviting her to strike.

"Eh?" Carmine paused a moment, cocking his head to the side. He became aware of another spiritual pressure, this one close to the other shinigami. It wasn't a familiar power, but it was strong, that much was clear. He lengthened his stride as he made his way towards the two powers, but as he drew nearer he became aware of a third, this one as equally close as the newest power, and almost as strong. Frowning slightly, he rested his left hand on the hilt of the Zanpakutō on his hip as he strode into a clearing. The first thing that he noticed was the shinigami across from him, facing down an enemy he couldn't see well from this distance. It seemed like they were in the midst of a playground, with the shinigami and the other unknown opponent on one side of it. The shinigami had his hand on his Zanpakutō with his back facing Carmine, as he weaved his way in between the playground's many accessories. Stepping around a see saw, Carmine looked over his shoulder. He could still feel the other power, but he couldn't exactly pin down it's whereabouts. It was strong, but his first goal was to regroup with the other shinigami and give him any aid that he could.

Drawing nearer, he finally got a good look at shinigami's opponent. Eyeing the bone fragments on her head, he deduced that she was an arrancar, though what drew his attention was the large metallic hands she had. They were abnormally large, and looked as if they had been welded together with an assortment of materials, which could only mean that the hands probably had more underlying abilities. Moving to the shinigami's right side, he stopped just short of passing him, keeping his gaze on the arrancar. "Yo. Clayton Carmine, fourth seat of squad three. You look like you're taking on a big one. All by yourself too? Bit of a risky endeavor. Hope you don't mind if I hang here to keep you company." His voice was slightly muffled by the mask that adorned his face, but his tone was calm. Breaking down into a fighting stance, he shuffled slightly further to the right to make sure that his ally didn't end up within his sword range. Confident that he had enough space, he condensed his pressure around his body, til he had a thick sphere of it encircling him at his maximum weapon range.

His right hand strayed to the Zanpakutō at his side, his left hand gripping the base of his sheath, his right hovering over the hilt, ready to draw. He remained motionless, waiting for the arrancar to make a move. A single spark of electricity jumped from the base of the hilt to it's tip, and for a brief moment, Carmine glanced at it, before looking back up. "Interesting..."

Lala gave a slight smile. As the shinigami offered himself up to her. “Na. I didn't come here to fight this quickly. Your not even strong enough to get me to use my sword on you.” She spoke as her smile vanished. She looked to the side. 'Hmm. Another energy. Somebody about as strong as her. I might need to make quick escape.' She thought in her head before looking back at the shinigami. It was a good thing she was in the shadow of the tree. It hid the slight worry she had. Out numbered by the two weak shinigami didn't bother her. It was this third power that had her worried. All three together might be a bit of a problem. Though she had fought groups before. Lala could probably handle all three. It would just be harder, which was an annoyance. Annoyances pissed her off.

Lala looked back at the shinigami. Remarking that she was weak because of her hands. She gave a slight chuckle. How little shinigami knew about Hueco Mundo and the hollows. Eh probably because they didn't care enough to find out. Though one day the shinigami would be dead and she wouldn't need to worry. Lala let out a small laugh.

“Heh heh. Not too strong eh,” She said looking at her hand as she raised it up a bit moving it. “It has been a while since I had real hands. I didn't lose them though. I was born with these when I became an adjuches.” She let him stew in that. A lot of low level shinigami got scared off when she started talking about how her adjuches hollow days were so long ago. “Miss Ashlei actually gave me these when she removed my mask. Besides, we can't fight yet. Your buddy isn't here to make sure I don't kill you too fast.” She spoke as Carmine came into view.

“Two of you verses me. Think ya can live long enough to burn some of my anger off.” She said looking at the pair. “I think that's closer to fair. Hell you probably don't know the names of your blades yet.” Still that other power did worry her a bit she would have to watch her back. She thought as her fists started to glow yellow charging up a pair of ceros for an interruption or these two were stronger then she thought. She liked having ceros charged before hand. Made it easier to kill with. No charge time required when she wanted to use them. She always liked how the sudden unexpected shot would throw them off not being able to react when they are expecting the charge of the cero.