The Tension and the Spark(Liv Firestorm Tier-up)

There's nothing like a moonlight stroll to unwind. It was a crystal clear night on the quiet, peaceful beach in Tampa Bay, Florida. It was a mild night, not cold but pleasantly cool. A perfect night for a walk.The waves calmly raked up the beach, providing a slow, rhythmic ambiance to a tranquil landscape. All was quiet. Moving slowly through this scene was a youthful looking girl with long, blonde hair that fell in thick tresses resembling flames billowing out behind her, carrying a brown paper bag. The girl was surveying the area through her wide lilac eyes. The girl was Olivia Firestorm, Liv for short. Liv was dressed in her usual attire. She walked calmly across the beach until she found a spot that she liked, under a small palm tree. She sat down against it, resting her hands up behind her head and stretching her long legs out on the sand.

Liv sighed as she stared at the moon and sighed. Not for the first time, she wondered what it would be like if she was not an Arrancar. Due to her nature, she was usually mistrusted by most. She had very few friends, and this left her feeling lonely most of the time. This was one such time. She slowly removed her scarf from around her neck, revealing her Hollow Hole just below her neck. She put her hand through it and back out, sighing dejectedly. She put her scarf down on the sand, and opened the brown paper bag she had brought with her. The bag contained a Chinese take-away meal that Liv had received in exchange for beating up some thugs that were causing trouble. She open the containers, took out a pair of chopsticks, and began to tuck in.

To believe, humans have the nerve to bother the shinigami when many are still whining about the mass gathering in of homeless shinigami in karakura town. Jensen, who found himself in florida after a long distance journey to investigate hollow sightings, was very annoyed by all this. He really had better things to be doing. Why weren't the coalition pulling their own weight? He sighed.

And again, he sighed. There was no sign of trouble so far. He'd been here half a day, and seen no hollows. He was almost going to leave, when he sensed something. The captain started towards the energy, hoari fluttering in the wind behind himself. He reached the beach, where he spotted a lone person on the sand by a tree. He looked over her the first time, mistaking her for a human. But as he looked around, he noticed the energy source was coming from here. There was nothing else nearby.

He examined the girl, guessing she was an advent, but his eyes were drawn to a strange bone like bracelet on the her arm. That was interesting, it looked almost like hollow mask fragments. Was this girl an arrancar? It would explain the hollow sightings. Jensen was reluctant to engage her though, as she was very peaceful for an arrancar. She was even eating something besides souls, from the looks of things. Of course, she might not be an arrancar at all, so just to be sure he decided it was best to disturb her and ask if she'd seen any hollow.

Jensen approached casually, his sword was present at his hip but he kept his hands away. As he approached he circled around slightly, so he could get a better look at her from the front. Doing so allowed him to see the empty hole in her neck, a sure sign that she was an arrancar. "Excuse me miss, I dont suppose you've seen any hollow around lately? I've been dragged out here for no reason if not."

Liv made a mental note of the place where she had received the amazing food she was eating. Normally she loved all Chinese food, but this was fantastic! Many noms were happening at the moment, and Liv was very satisfied with herself. Good food.

But happens sometimes, her infatuation with her food acted as a screen to the surrounding area. Liv's sensing was poor to begin with, and her food reduced her detection ability to almost nothing. Therefore, she did not notice the visitor almost until he spoke. She looked up, startled, a large quantity of noodles hanging limply from her mouth. There was a tall, dark and handsome stranger beside her, wearing a Shinigami captain's haori. She slurped up the noodles noisily and stood up quickly, looking slightly embarassed and blushing slightly. She wiped her mouth with a napkin and scratched the back of her head nervously. "Sorry pal, I'm usually a bit more dignified than this."

Liv picked up her neckerchief and put it on hurriedly. "Nope, no hollow around here. I had to teach some thugs a lesson about stealing, but that's about it." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. There was no point trying to hide it anymore. The guy had probably seen the hollow hole, and even if he hadn't he had probably sensed her energy. "Before you ask, yes I am an arrancar. Unfortunately. And yes I am eating actual food rather than souls. Hard to believe? Trust me, I know."

"I am not like other arrancar, honest. My name is Olivia, but you can call me Liv. What is your name mister?" Liv took a step forward and offered a handshake. She figured she would either receive a handshake, or a blade to the brain. She was hoping for the former.

Well, for an arrancar, she hadn't tried to stab him yet. Jensen was a little surprised. "Damn, I got dragged out here for nothing. Don't worry, better you dribbling chinese food down your front than blood. You should be a little more careful though." He said, shaking the offered hand. "Not everyone is as freindly, or would wait to see if your dangerous before they attack."

Jensen looked around. "I'm Jensen Reinhart, miss. And yes, a captain of the gotei." He had to think about it a few seconds, then said. "I can only assume someone sensed you, and called the gotei." Jensen said, sighing. "Do you feel like going on a rampage? give me something to do while i'm here?" He joked, laughing.

"Still, why are you here? Is it not safer to stay in hueco mundo? Or are you outcast maybe? Surprisingly you wouldn't be the first arrancar i met who'd been chased out, the great king likes to kill to much." He said bitterly.

Liv was slightly surprised. Jensen seemed to be disappointed that they were not in imminent danger. Either that or he was incredibly strong. She couldn't tell. "I appreciate the concern, Captain Jensen, but trust me, I can look after myself." She ran her fingers through her tousled hair, "And no, murderous rampages are not really my thing. Beating up bad guys, protecting innocents, eating copious amounts of Chinese food, those are my things to do."

Liv thought carefully about her next words. It was clear Jensen didn't know who she was, or that a certain No. 1 Espada was her father. I don't know if I should tell him everything, she thought, examining him for a moment, about who I am. Not yet. He seems nice enough, reasonable too. But who knows how he'll react if he should realize that she was the daughter of the man responsible for the downfall of the Soul Society. She chose her next words carefully. "Well as for why I'm not in that lovely and warm barren wasteland that is Hueco Mundo, well I'm here for the scenery." She grinned stupidly, then assumed a more professional appearance. "Seriously though, let's just say I don't share the same philosophy as the charming folk there. In particular the whole killing and eating people thing. And the fact that they are generally evil. Believe me, if there was a way to not be an Arrancar anymore, I would take it. Except for simply dying of course. Because at least I can still help people as an Arrancar. And the Chinese food, that's important too." She chuckled to herself.

Jensen listened to Olivia's responses, nodding occasionally. "Ah, I see. You are an interesting arrancar indeed. It makes a change, really, though I've come to notice most of your kind aren't as bad as those accursed sinners. " He said to her while thinking carefully about what she'd said. He knew of a way to release her from her self made chains, but he didn't know if he had the right to tell her about that. He did decide one thing though.

Jensen decided to challenge her to a spar, the short fight might give him some time to think, and then maybe tell her about soul purification, and the risks. "Well, I hate to find myself all the way out here with nothing to do. Tell me, Olivia, would you care do an old captain a favor and help him warm up with a spar?" He said, stretching himself a little.

Liv was flattered that Jensen thought she was interesting. She was also pleased that he at least believed that she was different to other Arrancar. She didn't dare become hopeful that she had made a friend, but she was softening towards him. She packed the remnants of her meal away and threw it into a garbage bin 50 yds away. She wasn't trying to show off, she was just lazy. Jensen finished speaking and seemed to become lost in thought for a second.

Liv was surprised when Jensen offered a sparring session. The captain started limbering up a bit. "Well, I don't have anything better to do, sure. Try not to kick my butt too badly, though. I'm just a girl after all." Liv winked at him and stretched a little herself. She decided that she would enter Resurreccion, due to the fact that a captain-class Shinigami is an extremely powerful entity. "Time to Blayze through the battlefield!" Liv's Hollow fragments changed into complex yellow gauntlets, and her hair changed into smoldering flames. Flicking her hair before raising her fists into a boxing stance, she called to Jensen, "Well Captain Jensen, let's dance!"

"Brilliant." Jensen said. He drew his sword as Liv entered Ressurection, and ran a hand along the blade, sheathing it in reiatsu. He held the sword slightly raised above in a two handed grip, and waited for live to prepare. He smiled, and stepped in, slashing down towards Liv's closest shoulder, using minimum force, so as to avoid harming her overly.

He raised the blade, weather hit or miss, and kicked forward, following this with another downward slice that went back into a rising cut. He was just testing the waters though, taking it very easy on her until he couls see what she could do.

Liv entered Resurreccion and gained her beloved yellow battle gauntlets. She saw Jensen sheath his sword in reiatsu. Probably a precaution, she guessed. He didn't seem the type to open a friendly spar with a powerful move. He slashed down at her shoulder. She side-stepped that slash and jumped the kick he came around with. Now in mid-air roughly 4ft off the ground, she parried the next down slash with the outside of her left boot and followed it with a roundhouse from her right.

Liv dropped then, raising her fists again. She activated her "Cero of the Intercepting Fist", channeling reiatsu to her gauntlets and causing them to glow bright white. Liv then threw a right hook which she spun with, hit or miss, and once she had her back to Jensen, she fired her left gauntlet sending her elbow back at Jensen with extreme velocity. She then back-flipped over Jensen to land behind him, arms raised to defend.

`Jensen back stepped the round house kick admiring the speed at which it was preformed. Obviously she wasn't faster than him, but she had allot of potential. He chuckled, thinking Grainne and Elayne might like this one. She followed up the round  house with a powerful cero punch that Jensen parried away with his sword, and as he did brought the blade back to slash. Instead his sword bounced off her elbow as she was propelled back at him with some force. His sword knocked away, he blocked the elbow with his hand and attempted to grab her arm and throw her past him.

Succeed or fail, he backed off quickly, and as he did he heard a faint sound behind him. He spun to see a relatively small hollow smiling stupidly. And then, a power close to his own appeared, as a vasto lorde strode from the shadows. "Ah, a shinigami and the child of Arngrim. An interesting couple to find play fighting on the beach." Jensen glanced at liv questioningly. "Child of Arngrim?" He asked her.

"Oh, you didn't know that? Me and my big mouth. Well, seeing as the cats out of the bag, why don't you step aside, and let me kill her? I don't have any business with you." The vasto lorde said. Jensen shook his head. "Sorry, you and your little buddy are going to have to go through me first. And that won't be-" The little hollow lunged, and he side stepped, but it managed to touch him, and suddenly Jensen was no longer on the beach, but instead found himself standing in snowy mountains.


Sen laughed as the little hollow, a very useful pet he was unhappy to loose, grabbed the shinigami and they vanished. Still, it left him a clear path to Arngrim's beloved daughter. He laughed a little. "So, how do you wan't to die? quickly, or would you rather resist?"

Jensen dodged the kick but seemed to have been taken by surprise by the elbow which knocked his sword away. Still, he managed to block Liv's elbow with his hand and grabbed her arm, throwing her over his shoulder where she flipped and landed on her feet. This fight was getting interesting.

Suddenly, they were interrupted by the appearance of two hollow. One of them was quite small, and was smiling stupidly. The other was roughly 6-7ft tall. He was also, Liv was horrified to see that he was  clearly a Vasto Lorde. Liv couldn't sense reiatsu, but the strength of Vasto Lorde's was legendary. Somehow the hollow knew that she was Arngrim's daughter. She heard Jensen's question and turned to him. "I was going to tell you, but I didn't know if I could trust you. Or if you would trust me," she said pleadingly, "I'm sorry."

Liv didn't expect Jensen to forgive her, or to understand. However, when the Vasto Lorde threatened to kill her, the shinigami captain unexpectedly stepped in to protect her. Liv was surprised, but not ungrateful. A hollow of Vasto Lorde strength was beyond her abilities for the moment. But then, the small hollow lunged at Jensen, and in an instant, they were gone, leaving Liv alone with the large hollow. This was a bad situation to be sure.

The hollow stepped forward, promising Liv her death. She knew she was hopelessly outmatched here. But Liv does not simply go down without a fight. She remembered that her fists were still charged from her cero, so she decided that the best defense was a blistering offense. "You talk a lot. Now it's time to put 'em up!"

Liv raised her fists in a traditional kickboxing stance and charged forward. Driven by emotion, she peppered the hollow's head with rapid punches and kicks, with any that connect dealing a bala's worth of damage. She gave no regard to her own safety, just worrying about dealing as much damage as possible as quickly as possible.

Jensen grabbed the dumb little hollow by the throat and lifted him up out of the snow. "Take me back, now!" He shouted at it. The hollow just shivered with fear but they didn't move. Jensen grunted and dropped him back in the snow, and it scrambled away from him. He began making his way back with shunpo.


Clacking his teeth, Sen smiled as the girl chose to resist death. "Resistance is futile." He said, as she lunged towards him swinging. Sen ducked and weaved with blinding speed dodging each punch and kick with little effort. The last kick took him across the jaw, striking against his grey hollow mask. He just smiled as the blow barely shifted him.

Then Sen struck back, a straight punch to the chest followed by an upper cut containing enough force to lift the girl off the ground. If that landed, he would follow up with a spin kick to the gut to send her flying into what ever happened to be behind her. If she managed to avoid the upper cut, or the kick, Sen would spin and whip his barbed tail towards her face, at the same time spraying barbs of dark energy outward.

Liv struck a solid blow during her brief offensive flurry. The blow would have been a knockout impact on a weaker opponent, but this particular foe barely moved from it. This was indicative of the gulf in power between the two. Liv landed back on her feet, just leaning back in time to dodge a ferocious uppercut. She did not dodge the lightning quick follow-up though, as a straight kick to the gut winded her and sent her crashing through the tree she had been sitting at moments previously. She landed hard on her back but rolled through and regained her feet.

Shaking the cobwebs off, Liv stood up and entered Rage Mode. The flames in her hair intensified greatly, and her irises turn a bright crimson color. She fired a 6-strong barrage of Standard Shots from her gauntlets that, while being wildly inaccurate, served to kick up a load of sand to shroud her target. Any that hit their target inflicted damage equal to a cero. If Sen was still behind the dust cloud when she finished, Liv then clasped her hands together into a gun shape, aimed at the cloud, and fired her Double Blaster which, if it hit, has the energy of a Cero Oscuras. If not, Liv would charge at him until she was within 50ft (OOC: I can't remember, but if she is already within 50ft then she doesn't move.), and slams her fists together for "Yellow Fire, Smash Down", which is deals Gran Rey damage to anything in the radius (50ft).

The girl hit the tree like a ton of bricks and turned it to splinters. To his surprise, she managed to get back up after that, and It seemed he'd made her angry. She entered some kind of high power mode, based on the sudden aura change and started attacking wildly. All of her shots missed, and he barely had to move to dodge them. Was she so angry she'd lost control? He though it might be the case until he noticed the attacks had kicked up allot of sand. Sen switched Visions to see where she was, and she hadn't moved. But she did fire something.

The Vasto lorde side stepped it casually as he walked out of the dust cloud towards her. He dashed forward to attack, but the girl exploded, apparently. Sen threw up his arms to defend against the energy that charred his skin, the force of the blast slidding him backwards 5 feet. As it subsided he growled and nashed his teeth, the burns beginning to heal.

Sen dashed forward and in a flash of speed appeared behind her. He kicked at the back of Olivia's knee and if that hit, he slowly raised the palm of his hand, firing a cryoblast at her back. A cone of frozen energy blasted the area in front of him with the power of a cero. If she avoided the kick, Sen instead threw out a barrage of energy javalins.

The smoke cleared as the blast from Liv's Double Blaster went off. Liv saw however that the hollow had dodged the attack at the last second and charged at her, and directly into her Yellow Fire, Smash Down attack. The attack visibly charred the hollow, but his regeneration kicked in almost immediately and the wounds began to heal. Liv knew about the fast regeneration of hollow, but that didn't prevent her disappointment.

Suddenly Liv lost sight of the hollow, but then felt a hard kick hit the back of her knee, sending her forward and making her lose her balance. As she fell she spun around to see the ice cascade towards her from his attack. Reacting out of instinct, Liv crossed her arms in front of her chest to activate her Spirit Wall. The attack impacted on the wall and sent Liv sliding along the floor. Rolling through onto her feet again, she raised her fist and punched the ground, activating Quake Strike. The shockwave travels to the hollow and explodes upwards at him.

The kick landed, but the girl managed to slip out of his way. She was sent sliding backwards and when she rolled to her feet, she punched the ground sending a shockwave towards him. Sen followed suit and slammed his fist into the ground as the the attack reached him. The shear force of his blow blasted a crater into the ground, and dispersed the attack. That was not to say he did not feel some of it, but it was greatly reduced to the point of being a mere pest. He stood up grinning, teeth nashing and clacking as he approached the girl.

"Let's see if you can stop this!" He shouted, forming one of his stronger attacks, a spear of raw energy. He drew back the Hollow lance and threw it at her with all his strength. This was the end. Or so he though. What he expected, and what happened were two very different things.

Moments before the lance hit Liv there was a flash of silver, and the lance struck a shield. Not used to coming up against something it couldn't peirce, the lance Violently exploded throwing up a cloud of sand. As the dust cleared, Sen could see the an armoured figure standing in front of Arngrim's daughter. To his annoyance, he realised it was the shinigami from before.

"You ok?" Jensen asked Liv as he stepped away from her. Then he turned to the Vasto lorde. "You  fool, I don't know or care what it is you've got against Arngrim, but I'm telling you now, give this up and leave her alone or I will crush you under my boot like a worm." In response, Sen roared. "Get out of my way shinigami! Or I will add your soul to my power." Before the hollow could react, a blade of golden energy slammed into him and sent him flying backwards. A second one passed over him as he hit the ground and skipped across it.

"That was just a warning shot. Leave, now." Jensen said as Sen got back onto his feet. He growled, almost attacked and then thought better of it. A garganta ripped open and the Vasto Lorde Vanished into it. As soon as he was gone, Jensen turned to Liv.

After Liv sent her Quake Strike at the hollow, it was nullified immediately by his counter-attack. Liv fell to the ground in despair. This can't be the end!, she thought angrily, I could be so much better than this. The hollow slowly advanced on her, and charged up powerful attack. The attack took the form of a large energy lance that the hollow then threw directly at her. There was no way she was going to avoid it. Liv closed her eyes. But then, just before the lance impacted, the attack was blocked by a shield that had seemingly materialized from nowhere. The resulting explosion was deafening but the shield blocked that too.

Liv opened her eyes. Jensen was standing in front of her, threatening the hollow in a threatening way. The hollow tried to advance again, just to be met by a fierce attack from Jensen that sent him scuttling back to Hueco Mundo. Jensen then turned to her.

Liv couldn't believe her luck. "I owe you one, friend." She stood up and dusted herself down. "I suppose I have some explaining to do, huh?" She grinned nervously and ran her fingers through her hair.

Jensen waited a little bit, until he was sure the hollow wasn't coming back, then he sealed his Zanpakuto and sheated it. "It's alright. I'm not one to stand by and watch an innocent person die. You don't owe me anything." He said. Then he considered her. "Your a good kid, surprising for an arrancar. I can't believe your Arngrim's daughter though.." Jensen siad.

"I.. Who is your mother? Her name isn't Marie by any chance?" Jensen asked. "That might seem personal but I have my reasons for asking." He wondered if this was another of his wife's arrancar daughters. If so the difference was astounding, considering Helena was a psychopath.

Liv reverted to her normal form. Jensen sealed his zanpakuto away and sheathed it. He graciously accepted her gratitude for saving her from certain death. He also seemed incredulous at the fact that she was the Cero King's daughter. "Yeah, it's true. You know when they say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Well, somebody obviously took my apple and threw it as hard as they could." Liv chuckled at her own lame joke. Jensen's next question took her off guard however. "Oh...er, well you see, I don't really know. It must have been someone he actually cared about. He still talks about her from time to time." Liv was curious about Jensen's reasons for asking, but she did not pursue the point.

Jensen chuckled at her lame joke. I had a kid like that myself. Though he was more on the violent pyschotic side. " He said. "I see.. Thats... Kind of surprising.. I'll let you in on a secret though. I'm married to his ex girlfriend. I don't thing she's your mother though. Chances are I'd know. I wouldn't be so lucky to have such a nice step daughter anyway.."

"Anyway I better get back to Karakura town. If you need anything, drop by. Grainnè has an understanding with your father so you won't be attacked on sight." Jensen said. Then he turned to leave. "See you around, Liv."

(ooc: alrigght, done here. cant say that went badly. soooo tier up to 1-4 approved.)