Don't feed the stray [INV, ND]

Pico stood and watched as the man leaped from the high wall and descended down before him, atleast getting a bit of his interest. Now that he was closer, he could see him alittle better. Eh, didn't look TOO weak, but still hadn't convinced Pico he was worth his time.

"Yeah uh... nah, I came here lookin' to fight with someone... stronger?" Rubbing the back of his head, he looked over Theo unimpressed. Now he was talking about a whole lot of other stuff and Pico's short attention span swiftly hit a brick wall. Maybe if this guy was a 10 foot tall boulder-man he would have felt it more important to listen, but he didn't even look like he could throw a pu-

Then with two words, Pico was sent skidding off of his feet and thrown a few meters back. All he saw was the man tap him on the shoulder, but if felt like a haymaker punch, nearly sending Pico right onto his ass in the sand. Digging his toes into the sand as they finally connected again, he remained upright, now instantly interested. You're it...?

Now, body physically attentive, Pico held his hands up in two fists, looking to where the man had been, realizing he was gone.

"Ah yeah...? I'm what..? HUH? Where you runnin' too..." Pico taunted out to thin air, looked around for the new acquaintance. He had no concept of tag, and might not even care to be taught. But maybe today was the day Pico learned tag by force.

Spinning around quickly as he heard the man speak so closely, his fists tightened up, readied for a punch. Yet once again, no punch, just a "tap" that would send him stumbling back again. He was more prepared this time, keeping his feet planted as he flung back, skidding but not being thrown off balance.

Baring a fanged incisor, Pico curled his lip at this guy. He was starting to get alittle heated, and was not here to fuck around and play games.

"Ah yeah..? This..?" Drawing the blade from his hilt, Pico stared Theo in the eyes and tossed the blade away into the sand nearby. Shrugging his shoulders, his curled lip turned into a grin. "I don't need that shit to kick your ass, you got that? Now stop runnin' around like that, I'm not here to play your fuckin' games, Scarface.."

Slamming his fist into his palm, an attempt at brandishing a tough guy attitude, he cracked his knuckles. Now he watched as he began to just stand there, eating some stick thing, mockingly. The blood went straight to Pico's head as his anger spiked, jutting a finger out towards Theo.

"Alright.. now you're pissing me off. I'm gonna kick your ass... C'MERE!" Finally, Pico kicked off the sand, sprinting towards Theo and transitioning into Sonido, fist cocked and ready to fly.

Charging forward, Pico definitely did not expect this man to suddenly appear right in front of him. Pico's momentum nearly sent him slamming into Theo, feeling his cocked fist now socketed firml in his opponent's grip. His eyes got big, surprise showing on his face for a split second before regaining his composure. His arm tightened as he tried to fight his way free of Theo's clutches, yanking back his arm, but it was useless. There he goes, yapping away again. 

Pico was torn, he felt the rush of finally finding someone strong to get his blood pumping, but he also talked so much. Blood thumped in Pico's ears as his anger seethed more and more. Curling his other fist tightly, he curled his lip as he grunted in rage, uppercutting Theo right in the jaw, hearing an audible crack as bone to bone met so forcefully. Breathing heavy from the sudden burst of passion, it took Pico a moment to realize that his fist was definitely completely shattered, and not Theo's jaw like he expected. 

As Theo jumped back, Pico held his broken fist with his nearly-broken hand, clenching his jaw and practically fuming as he glared to the man. That fucker. 

"I'm gonna smash your fuckin' teeth in, you FUCKER!" Pico was at this point completely taken over by rage. Digging his toes into the sand once again, he kicked off, flying off towards Theo head on once again. Nearly at the last second, he Sonido  stepped again to the side of Theo, skidding slightly on the sand as he did, but finally continuing into a third and final step to try and get behind the man. With a forceful snarl, Pico kicked up off of the sand, and attempted to plant both feet squarely against Theo's shoulders in a desperate attempt at a drop-kick.

Slammed into the sand, his leg and body controrted in Theo's grappling hold, Pico's teeth bared in both pain and sheer anger. His eyes burned with rage, his entire body seeming to pulse with pain. His hand was shattered, and now his leg threatened to snap. He shifted under Theo's hold, struggling the entire time to try and force his way out, his fingers attempting to dig at any surface he could, with no luck.

As he felt the half-eaten stick from before hit his face, Pico nearly hit his limit. The anger and adreneline that he lived off of was pushing him dangerously close to the threshold where he didn't care how much he got hurt, as long as he could snap this guy's neck.

He could only hear the blood thumping in his ears, his entire being burning with rage, his fiery spirit boiling up until he blew his lid. Baring his teeth and heaving himself off of the sand by only an inch, a bellow of released power blasted free from his lungs.

"EAT SHIT, COCKSUCKER!" Were barely discernible through the erupting roar, Pico continuing to struggle and writh with all of his might in Theo's hold. He wasn't going to say uncle, and was probably not going to stop throwing himself at Theo until one of their lights had been knocked out.

Continuing to struggle and squirm in Theo's hold, Pico's muscles were straining in a futile attempt to break free. The more he struggled, the more he realized that his vision was beginning to get blurry and his body was becoming numb and non-responsive. His anger seemed to hit its limit, and his injuries were catching up with him. Grinding his teeth, he very reluctantly growled into the sand, "...alright, ALRIGHT already, FUCK! Get your fuckin' hands off of me..." He turned his head to the side, spitting out sand as he grumbled.

Feeling Theo lift him out of the sand and tossing him like a ragdoll onto his back a few feet away. Pico laid back and attempted to breath raggedly, glaring at Theo as he stood over him. Rolling his jaw around, he stayed silent for a few moments before finally mumbling out.

"How uh... how do you do that... the whole.. uh.." Looking down at this crushed fist, he bared his teeth again. Clenching his jaw for a moment, grinding his teeth, finally he blurted out, "How the fuck are you so tough... you made of rock or somethin'..." Pico stared over Theo, genuinely dumbfounded at how someone like him could take a punch so easily. He had not had any experience with any of this and it was making his head spin. That, and the fact that he was nearly snapped in half.

Pico stared at him, the cogs in his head grinding away as he tried to follow what Theo was saying. So many of the things Theo had just said were lost on him, and he ended up just nodding his head at one point. He had so much to learn it seemed, and he knew that it wasn't going to be easy. But that's what Pico wanted anyway. He was always in search of power, but never knew how far he really needed to climb.

"Uh.. yeah.. so.. you just.. evolve your skin and... yeah, I get it. Uh, my Zanpak-what..? You mean my knife?" Pico scratched the back of his head, looking over in the direction of where he had tossed his weapon so carelessly. He wanted to see him transform, it only made sense. I guess he wouldn't be able to take him on normally anyway, maybe his beast-form would give him the edge he needed to atleast leave a scratch. Limping over, wincing a bit as he realized how beat up he had already gotten, he made his way over to his Zanpakuto sticking out of the sand. Kneeling down, he snatched it up and turned back towards Theo. For whatever reason, for the first time, he was reluctant about fighting. He hadn't hit a brick wall like this before, not entirely sure how to move forward. I guess the only way he has ever known to get over obstacles. Smashing straight through them.

After the pause, Pico took in a breath, flipping the knife around in his grip to point downward, raising it up high into the air and baring a fanged incisor. Calling out his release phrase, he gripped his short blade tightly, "Hunt down...!" Now, he stabbed downward powerfully, as if sinking his blade into an invisible enemy, shouting out the final word, the name of his release, "CAZADOR!"

From the blade erupted a blast of steam the engulfed him, a rush of heat radiating out and burning the smoke and steam up just as quickly as it had appeared. From beneath the smoke, Pico had now donned his new form, clad with clawed hands and maned shoulders. He felt his muscles and bones snap back into place and surge with power, cracking his neck to the side and rolling his shoulder. He felt excited again, finally, to fight. He was beginning to feel the rush he was hunting after, the rush that he felt in his first fight.

"Oh... why the fuck didn't you just say that...?" Pico grumbled, processing the new information a bit before looking down over his hand. Clenching and uncleanching his freshly clawed fingers, he felt the bones and muscles now back how they were before. So all it took was to take a beating to get stronger? Then this guy must have had his ass kicked hundreds of times. For some reason that made Pico feel better. Heat baked the sand around him, Pico's raw reiatsu radiating around, his fiery passion seeming to manifest in the air around him. With every word her uttered and muscle he flexed, the air wavered and cooked in response. He had discovered his powers, but had not had a chance to learn control of them, and by that same token he had not learned their true extent. Now, as this man began to talk again, Pico listened. Bloody and bruised huh? Nothing new to him, but if that meant that he could take punches the way this guy did, he was in.

"Alright, whatever man, yeah.. I'll fight. But uh.. what the fuck is that anyway... little kitten... that somethin' else I need to know?" Raising his eyebrow, Pico stared out to Theo, the situation hinging on his response.

Now he was starting to speak his language. Pico was all about a good pummeling that would leave his knuckles bloody. He grinned a bit and furrowed his brow, bringing up his fists in preparation for what was no doubt about to come. If it took him getting utterly crushed over and over to have him to have skin as tough as his and punches as hard, Pico would train for days on end.

Without warning, Theo appeared up close and personal, not giving Pico any time to think, only to run on fighting instinct. The heat around him rippled in repsonse, bracing both of his arms in a cross over his jaw and elbows over his chest. He did what he could to try and protect what he could, but felt multiple hits pound into both his arms and chest, instantly feeling shooting pain from the impact. The punches sent Pico skidding back a short ways, but he stayed hell-bent on keeping upright and in the fight.

Gritting his teeth to try and work through the pain radiating from his chest and arms, he shook it off the best he could, wanting to throw some punches of his own. One step forward, he kept his arms up, clawed hands at the ready to try and block whatever came his way, all the while looking for any opportunity to strike back.

Pico grit his teeth, feeling the blood boil in his veins, his rage beating through every muscle. He wasn't only mad that he was getting taunted, he was mad that for the first time he couldn't seem to just throw a punch. There had never been anyone that was this intimidatingly powerful.

His chest rose and fell rapidly now, eyes darting along Theo, arms feeling like molasses. He had already taken a few punches, and knew he wouldn't be able to do this all day. If he wanted to move forward he was going to need to get with the program and start kicking it into high gear.

Once again, Theo cocked back a punch, Pico's eyes widening for a split second, time seeming to slow down as adrenaline coursed through his body. It was crunch time, literally, and Pico furrowed his brow, grunting out in a final attempt to get his body to move. Under the intense pressure of the incoming haymaker, Pico finally dug his feet into the sand, moving to duck his shoulder and lower himself just out of the way of the flying knuckles, his left fist clenched and arm tightly bent to try and deflect any additional attempts at some sort of side-ways smack or elbow to the face. Keeping his momentum, Pico heaved forward, teeth baring as he threw back a punch of his own, hurling his right fist now in for a right-hook to Theo's jaw. He knew even if he connected, he might end up with a broken hand, but if anymore bones were going to be broken, it was going to be because of him, not Theo.