2 The Monkey

" You're going to have to forgive me, but I want to fight you. I don't know why, but this body is telling me to keep going." Bikou told Leone. ' Cero is a technique that concentrates spiritual energy into a single point before expending it into a beam of energy. But what if I didn't fire it as a beam?'

Bikou fired his cero and Leone opened his mouth to fire one of his own.

" Hngr! This is going nowhere!" Leone shouted. " All of you, stay close."

The cero once again crashed and exploded together once again, forming a giant plume of smoke covering Hueco Mundo's sand dunes. A perfect smoke screen. 

Bikou jumped into the air and began charging a cero right in the center of his palm. The bright red energy began building up in his hand, and coalesced into a ball when it was ready to be fired. However, Bikou didn't fire it. He continued pouring energy into his cero and the ball of energy began growing bigger. Bigger. BIGGER!

Every second, Bikou held on to the ball of energy it became harder and harder to control. So, much so it felt like one wrong move could cause the explosive to blowup right in his face.

Bikou felt like he was being ripped apart simply trying to contain so much energy, but despite the pain, he followed through until the small ball of energy which is normally supposed to be fired as a beam, transformed itself into a massive ball of swirling red energy. But he wasn't done just yet.

Now came the truly hard part.

"GRRRR!" Bikou growled as he began compressing that large ball of energy. He placed both hands on the ball of energy and started pushing it inwards, compressing as much of it in as he could before his cover vanished. 

The glowing red ball, compressed in on itself. Every bone in Bikou's body began to creak from the strain. But still he pressed through and just as the smoke began to clear away, Bikou finally finished compressing his attack.

When the smoke cleared, Leone and his men could see clearly once more. Bikou was floating in the air above them, holding a cero in his hands.

" This again?" Leone asked.

" Well... It's not the exact same thing... Honestly, even I don't know how this is going to go." Bikou told the Hollow. " But oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained." Bikou threw the ball of energy down at Leone.

The cero left his hand at somewhat slowish speeds, slower than a normal cero at least.

Leone opened his mouth and fired another cero, however, when the beam collided with Bikou's ball of energy, the miniature ball of spirit energy expanded rapidly to its original massive size.

Leone and his gang were vastly surprised by the sheer size of the of the cero. Its weight almost immediately began bearing down on Leone as he struggled to push against the ball with his cero.

" It's something new! I'm gonna call it my Cero Grande." Bikou exclaimed. " Enjoy it!"

" What are we standing around for, we have to help!"

" Right!"

" Yeah!"

The other three Hollows, gathered around Leone and all fired a cero of their own, to try and help Leone repel the oncoming ball of energy.

" Sink into the depths of crimson purgatory!" Bikou shouted. He raised a finger and fired another cero into his Cero Grande, pushing down on it from his side and forcing it closer to the ground. 

Realizing that the " It's no good! All of you... Run!" Leone shouted.

" No way! We ain't running just cuz things are getting hard."

" Yeah, no way in hell."

" We're in this together." 

" Till the end!"

Leone looked at his men, and for a moment felt a bit of pride and happiness.

" Alright then. Let's do it!" Leone fired another cero right at the great big ball and pushed against it with all his might. However, despite his best efforts the Cero Grande finally touched the sands of Hueco Mundo and, the moment it did, all that energy that composed the Great ball of energy exploded outwards. Releasing its full power and engulfing all four hollows at once. 

Hollows had seen the sudden explosion from miles away, and they all wondered what was strong enough to produce a blast of that size. The wind in Hueco Mundo started swirling and twisted like a vicious storm had just torn through the area.

When the dust cleared away Leone was lying in a puddle of blood, along with the remains of his three followers. 

Leone coughed heavily, unable to move. 

" Guh!" He gasped.

" Ho, still alive?" Bikou muttered. " Impressive!" He exclaimed. 

Leone lifted his head, just barely, off the ground and glared at Bikou. " What are you waiting for? Just finish me already." He told the Monkey.

Bikou looked down at Leone, and just stared at him silently. Thinking to himself, before speaking again. " Nah." Bikou exclaimed. 

Leone's eyes shot wide open. The both of them were beating red with blood. " WHAT?!" He yelled. " You have bested me in battle! And now that I am defenseless, you are going to just leave?!"

" Well, yeah." Bikou answered. " Hey, look you guys attacked me, first. Besides, I enjoyed fighting you. Had to think smart to beat ya. I couldn't get close with all of your friends around you, and we were pretty much even in firepower. So, I used that last explosion as a smoke screen to execute my next attack."

" Do you think, I'll just let you live after what you've done? If I survive this, I'll chase you to the end of time."

Bikou sneered at Leone's threat. " I'm counting on it. Now, heal your injuries. And when you're ready come find me. We'll have another battle and get stronger together! HAHahahaha!" Bikou laughed in Leone's face, insulting the prideful Hollow to no ends, before disappearing into the dusty wasteland of Hueco Mundo.

Though he wandered off a great distance, Bikou found himself struggling to walk straight. The toll of using that last attack put a great pressure on his body.

" That was fun. Too bad it ended so soon. But I don't think I could have won that without taking the risk." Bikou muttered. He recognized the potential danger he faced. And yet... It excited him. " There's so much I can do. I can feel it. This body was made to fight! HAhahahahaha!"

Bikou looked out over the vast desert and realized now more than ever, if he was going to survive, he'd have to get stronger. And there was only one way to do that....

Hunt or be Hunted!