You Guys Didn't Try to Eat Me?

As I open my eyes, I take a moment to stare at the sand dancing in the moonlight. For a moment, the rough particles irritate my eyes, and for a moment I consider closing them.

"Hey, don't you ignore me!"

Before I can drift off once again, Camila starts violently shaking me. For a moment, I forget where I am as I bolt up, and for a moment I'm surprised.

'You guys didn't try to eat me?'

"Don't flatter yourself; with your tiny body, you wouldn't even make a good snack. Joseph laughs, but for a moment I swear I can hear him mumble under his breath, "Damn near broke a tooth trying though."

'Wait, what was that last part?'

"Don't worry about it, pipsqueak."

Camila lays back down on the ground, annoyed, and I scramble to my feet.

'So what do you want to do?'

"Well, I don't sense any other hollows in the area, so we have three choices. Either we wander aimlessly through this irritating sand, we go back down to the forest and try to find some prey, or we have ourselves some fun. "

'Fun? I like fun. Tell me more.'

"There's only one thing a hollow does for fun, and that's fight. You're pretty strong, so how about you leave your sword and face us mano el mano? "

'You don't even have hand-'

Before I can finish, Joseph dashes towards me on all four legs. Out of instinct, I reach for my sword, but before I can grab it, he is already upon me. I jump back, but as I sniff the air, I dodge forwards and turn to see Camila already behind me. The two circle me, and for a moment, I consider simply giving up.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you don't love this."

I smile as I jump into the air, pulling on the particles to force them onto a platform beneath my feet. The two attempt to pounce on me, but just before they reach, I slam their jaws with my hands, sending them back onto the ground. I taunt them.

"Nyeh neh Nyeh Nyeh Nya"

"Oh, you cannot be serious right now. This is a fight, not a game! "

'What, are you saying you can't fly?'

"Shut up and watch Shortie."

For a moment, Camila launches herself into the air, and for a moment she is able to force the spiritual particles beneath her to form a platform. The next moment, this unstable platform shatters and she falls to the ground. In frustration, she then starts to charge up a cero.

'Let's see how you like this, Cero!'

As a concentrated beam of spirit particles flies towards me, I smirk and pull on the world around me. The once concentrated beam is scattered into a cloud under my will, and I gather it around my mouth and take a bite out of it.

It's not my favorite, but it'll suffice.

The next instant, I feel a weight crashing into me, and to my surprise, I see that Joseph managed to sneak up behind me. I fell to the ground, with Joseph perched victoriously on top of me.

"You let your guard down, kid. Next time, make sure you never turn your back on an enemy. Also, Camila, you really need to work on your spiritual particle control. That was pathetic."

"Oh, shut up. I know. But the dam things are so slippery, it's like I'm trying to balance on the blade of a leaf. "

Annoyed, I pushed Joseph off of me and scrambled back onto my feet.

'This wouldn't have happened if I had my Zanpakotu.'

"Seriously? Which part wouldn't have happened? Was it the part where Camila snuck up on you? Or was it the part when I snuck up on you? "

"That's not what I meant, and you know, i-"

"I know what you meant, and what I meant is that, sword or not, you let your guard down. I don't know how you've managed to get this strong, I'm not even entirely sure what you are, but what I do know is that you lack basic awareness in the heat of battle. You need to know where everyone is and what they are doing. When you are capable of that, then we'll be able to have some real fun. "

Alright, alright I got it. How about we go for round two?

During the second round, I focused my vision to a point and made sure to keep both my opponents in my vision. However, the moment I blinked, one of them was missing and the other was charging towards me. As I blocked, I desperately scanned the surroundings for Joseph, but no matter where I looked, I simply couldn't find him. The next thing I knew, I was laying on the ground with a large wolf-like creature standing on my stomach.

'Again.'

This time I kept my eyes on Joseph at all times, I made sure to keep him in my sight, and I lasted a little longer this time. A little longer was the time it took for Camila to sneak up and knock me over.

'Again!'

This time I split my vision, one on each opponent, and for a while I managed to keep track of both of them. Until Joseph kicked up some sand and blinded me for a moment. This time I was crushed under the weight of two hollows.

"Look, while this is fun in its own way, this clearly isn't working. How about you try something new?"

'I've been trying new things, and you've seen how that's worked out for me.'

"Oh really, because to me it looks like you just tried to do the same thing over and over again in slightly different ways."

"How about this? This round, keep your eyes closed and focus on your nose. Since you were able to smell hollows all the way through the sand, your dainty little nose has to be good for something. "

I wanted to complain, but this time I decided to listen and closed my eyes as the two circled around me for the tenth time. For a few moments, I couldn't sense anything, I was surrounded by nothing but the sight of darkness, the sound of the wind carrying the sound, and the smell of my friends. A claw crashes into me, and for the first time today, they actually manage to cut into my skin. The scent of my blood fills the air, and for a moment, all I can smell is that rich, acrid smell covering the ground. Another claw slashes through the air, but this time something is different.

The smell of my blood draws a line through the air, and as it draws closer and closer, I try to move slightly to the left. To my surprise, I didn't feel any impact, and when I opened my eyes, I saw Joseph smiling at me.

"If you can do that again, then we can start for real."