Forest of Menos

[Bloodedge]

The Forest of Menos (メノスの森, Menosu no Mori) is an area below the surface of Hueco Mundo's desert where the average Hollow hide from the Arrancar.

The forest is filled with large trees made of a silvery quartz substance. These trees extend to the surface and dot the landscape of the desert in Hueco Mundo. Arrancar have a considerable amount of influence here, judging by a large group of Hollow bowing down upon seeing an Arrancar. Countless Gillian class Hollow live here and follow the commands of the Guardian of the Forest of Menos and his followers. The Adjuchas in charge of the Forest of Menos are under the command of a few select Vasto Lordes.

[Apollymi]

Soon enough, the group of people would be crossing into the Menos Forest through a portal opened in the Twelfth Division's Sixth Laboratory. Out of this portal came a pink haired woman with two cat tails and a pair of cat ears. She pushed spectacles up onto her nose as she stepped out and grinned. "Oh, this place is really different. This is much better than trying to analyze it through video feed," the woman mentioned in case any one happened to be interested in the parts of her research which took place long before the individuals present would have been thinking about such things. As she looked up, she took in the sights of quartz like trees and desert sand.

[Bloodedge]

"I can leave more sources if you want," said the youngest of this group, who was the second to walk through the Garganta. The boy immediately spread his arms, allowing ten white snakes to emerge from his over-sized sleeves. The eyes on these snakes were exactly like his own, and in fact, he shared their vision. Yonsokei, the mechanical male figure who emerged afterwards, said nothing. The Lieutenant named Raizen, however...

"Sugoi. I didn't expect the home of Hollows to have trees, but the material is a nice touch," he said simply to address the aesthetics of the area. The more he looked around, though, the more Gillian-class Menos he saw. "Now... where are the..." His statement paused briefly, as there were numerous standard Hollows quickly approaching the group. An almost ethereal glow swept across the area surrounding the Shinigami when Raizen drew his sword, as he quickly maneuvered around the others to cleave through the mask of each Hollow near them. When he sheathed his blade, he exhaled and felt open enough to complete his clause. "... other Menos."

[Apollymi]

"Hai, that will be good. I don't know how much more information and proof I will need later," said the woman who was already apparently thinking about things far into the future of herself and probably most of the Seireitei. As she looked up towards the sky she found it strange. "It seems like we're under something..." she said seeming to not be bothered by the approach of numerous Menos. Soon enough, Raizen was taking care of it anyways, and so far as anyone could tell, this woman wasn't even armed. "I wonder how far up that goes, how to get to the light," soon though the woman's ears twitched and she remembered what she was here for. The Menos so recently murdered by Raizen. "Right, not here to study the environment. Here to find the strange Menos," she said remembering the important information. "Yonsokei, bait the area," it was an order which was something apparently simply done, she intended to draw more Hollows to the area if only to see if any of the interesting ones would come to the surface.

[Bloodedge]

When the Captain mentioned feeling as if they were underneath something, Raizen's gaze rose to the apparent roof of this forest. The trees seemed to reach this roof, and what's more, there were light-giving holes scattered along the platform as well. After seeing this, Raizen immediately brought his gaze to the ground beneath them. There, he took note of the sand, which showed itself in larger piles directly beneath the holes above. "The Hollow world is a desert. I wonder if it's anything like..." He stopped himself there for some reason or another, choosing to address Akiko's change in subject. "Surely though, you would be interested in taking a bit of a detour once we have the information we came for."

Moments later, Yonsokei held out his left hand. A segment in his palm opened, preparing to release a special Hollow-attracting bait, but the hand of Raizen stopped it from doing so. "Gomen. I have a better idea," he said as he stepped away from the android and out into the open. "I don't know if you finished watching that recording or not, but I never killed that last Menos. We tied, and he ran back here. I assume things will be much easier, Taichou, if I call out the one that probably wants my head for the state I sent him back to his 'brothers' in." As he spoke, Raizen's Reiatsu flared. Though he was very much a young Lieutenant, his energy output seemed much closer to that of a moderately fresh Captain. "Think this will be enough, or should I go for a bit more?"

[Apollymi]

Akiko noted the easy transition in conversation, and after the young man addressed her need to know what was going on above them. "Yes, I plan a bit of a detour anyways, so long as nothing too frightening happens. But I want to know why you stopped speaking a moment ago, got a comparison you'd like to share with your friendly scientist expedition leader?" this was a coy question and for the most part just a curiosity.

But before anything could be properly addressed it seemed that Raizen had something to say about the method of attracting a bit of attention. And went on to showcase something in particular which made the young woman's eyes widen quite a bit. "Well, of course I watched the tapes until the end. A couple of times even... but... that doesn't really explain why you're so strong." she said her eyes now locked on the young man. However he chose to attract attention, soon enough they'd be approached by a large hollow shaped a bit like a salamander. "YOU CAME TO ME THIS TIME! I'M ABOUT TO HAVE A DELIVERED MEAL!" the hollow seemed to have a bit of personality to it, and most definitely was quite original in its look. "Well would you look at that..." the woman said her head tilting to the right as she studied this new thing right before her eyes. "That is a lot of talk from something we generally assume is mindless...." she said of the Hollow seeming to compare the knowledge of this to nothing else she'd seen before. "Oh and you brought something for my Brothers too!~" this Hollow didn't seem to fear these Shinigami at all, and instead seemed to think he was about to make a meal of all present.