Outsider Chronicles: Hollow Awakening
Usually Outsiders wake up as they are born. However, this one is a little different. He actually woke up in an afterlife. To bad its a shithole full of monsters. Maybe someone with a very different outlook can change the outcome?
OK, I probably shouldn't be starting another story, but my others are giving me a massive amount of trouble. I've been wanting to do a Bleach story for ages, so lets see if I can get anywhere with this. Enjoy!
Chapter 1
"Where am I?"
That was the first thought that passed through my head as consciousness slowly returned to me. The last thing I remembered was being hit by a car and knocked off a bridge, then nothing but empty blackness and hunger. I groaned as I slowly pushed myself to my feet, stumbling slightly as the sand shifted under my hooves. Wait, hooves?
My eyes snapped open, intending to see when I acquired four legs and hooves, but before I could even look at myself, my brain stalled as I saw my surroundings. Surrounding me on all sides was a never-ending white desert, with a multitude of dunes, littered with boulders and spindly trees. The sky above was completely black, lit only by a baleful white moon that hung overhead like an eye watching over the world of the dead.
"W-what the hell?!" I spluttered, "How did I..?"
A sinking feeling in my stomach had me looking down. Sure enough, I was met, not with my pale, thin chest, but a sculpted humanoid torso covered in a smooth, black exoskeleton made up of interlocking plates that gave a full range of motion while providing complete protection with a hole in the chest that passed straight through. Below my torso was a pair of powerful looking horses legs and a quick look back revealed that my form was similar to that of a centaur, although like my torso, my entire body was covered in the same black exoskeleton. A tail that looked like it was made of the same black material that covered my body emerged from my rump. Strangely, a pair of skeletal wings emerged from my shoulders. They were flexible and had a rather impressive range of motion as I tested them out, although I highly doubted that they'd let me fly, although they looked incredibly sharp.
I raised my hands to my face, idly noting that my fingers tapered to sharp looking points and ran them over my mask, blindly feeling its shape. It felt like it was made up of interlocking plates, like the rest of my body, and sculpted to match my face, rather than being skull-like like most Hollows. Moving my hands over my head also revealed that I now had a pair of horns emerging from my temples and a head of blade-like hair that was somehow both stiff and flexible at the same time.
"Alright, lets take stock," I said, "I died and am now in Hueco Mundo and a Hollow. Right, how did that happen?"
I quickly discarded that musing though. I'd probably never know and it wasn't very pertinent to my current situation.
"Since I'm in the Desert, I assume that I'm an Adjuchas," I continued, "I wonder what powers I have…"
I trailed off as I felt my arms twitch. I held up my arms and watched as they rippled and twisted, morphing into the form of a crude lance and shield.
"OK, thats cool," I said, "I wonder if I can…"
As if in response to my question, my arms shifted again, this time forming into a claw and a bow shape.
"Huh, thats interesting," I muttered, "And familiar."
I morphed my arm into the shape of a sword and held it so I could see my reflection. Whatever my armour was made out of was surprisingly reflective as I could see my new face in it, including my glowing, silver eyes that stood out even on the black surface. I stared at my reflection for a moment, before I let out a sigh and shook my head.
"OK, being a Hollow I can sort of get," I said, "But how the hell did I end up as a copy of Isley?"
I sighed. Its not like I'd ever be able to get an answer to that question.
"Aw well, I guess it could be worse," I muttered, "I wonder if I'm as strong as Isley is? Doubtful."
I shook my head, dispelling that thought. Whether or not I was as strong as the Silver King was irrelevant, so long as I was strong enough to survive. Speaking of surviving, I couldn't stand here forever. I glanced down at my horses behind and cautiously started to walk. The first few steps were a little clumsy, but it didn't take long for instinct to kick in and I was walking normally. Then I started speeding up. First to a trot, then a canter, then to running flat out. My God, I was fast! I rocketed across the sands so fast that each time my hooves hit the sand, it shot up as high as my head, leaving a deep trench behind me.
Time in Hueco Mundo is a very odd thing. As it's always night, its very easy to lose track. The only thing that changed was the phase of the moon, but that only gave a very rough idea of the passage of time. I truly have no idea how long I spend wandering the Desert and I quickly lost track of the number of Hollows that attacked me and ended up as my meals. From the moment the first Hollow attacked me it became clear that I was very powerful, certainly more so than most new Adjuchas. I wasn't the strongest and there were a few battles that were very close, leaving me with nasty injuries, but with ever fight, my power increased, both from the natural process of increasing Spiritual Pressure through life threatening situations, and from consuming other Hollows.
However, as time went by, I noticed something a little strange. While I did get hungry and whenever I slew another Hollow I ate it without really thinking about it, I didn't feel any need to keep hunting down and devouring other Hollows. From what I understood from the Anime, Adjuchas had to keep consuming other Hollows or they'd regress into a Gillian. Not only that, but they knew that instinctively and as a result, were driven to hunt and consume. I wasn't. I don't know why I was different, but whatever the reason, I was. It was convenient that I didn't have to worry about losing myself, but without something to drive me, wandering the waists of the Hueco Mundo was a very lonely and boring existence. I would have found companions, but after winning countless battles, most Hollows took one look at me and ran. Even Barragan's forces avoided me after I slaughtered a squad of them that had been sent to eliminate me.
Maybe thats why I started looking for a way to go to the World of the Living. It took a while, but I eventually managed to figure out how to open a Garganta. The portal opened in the sky over a city somewhere and I stepped out onto the air. It was a strange feeling, walking on air. Or rather, the Reishi within the air, but thats just semantics.
"Huh, the air here really is thin," I said, looking around.
I inhaled, taking in the scent of countless Human souls below me. I was curious as to what they'd smell like to a Hollow on my level. Its kinda hard to explain, but the strength of a Soul determines how good it smells. A weak Soul is like rice crackers, bland and unappealing while strong Souls smell like delicious roast dinners. To me, the Souls in the City below smelt about as appetizing as a plain cracker.
I turned, intending to go look around so I could see if I could figure out where I was and when. However, before I could, I felt a large group of powerful Hollows appear on the edge of the City that seemed to be strangely empty. Then, like a curtain moving aside, a large number of powerful Souls appeared out of nowhere.
"What the hell?" I muttered, turning to face the newcomers.
One of the abilities I had discovered during my time in Hueco Mundo was what was essentially telescopic vision that came in very handy for spotting powerful Hollows before they could get the drop on me and take them out with my Bow arm. I focused my vision on the place where I could feel the powerful Souls coming from. The area looked like a powerplant of some kind, although it didn't look like it was currently in use. Not to produce electricity at least. Instead, it was crawling with Souls wearing white and red or blue uniforms.
"No way," I muttered as I watched one of the kids cleave a crude looking Hollow in half, "Is that…?"
I quickly suppressed my Spiritual Pressure as much as I could and ran in towards the powerplant. I stopped a short distance away to make sure they didn't detect me. Sure enough, there was the class of Soul Reapers in training, including Renji, Momo and Izuru.
"Holy shit, that was unexpected," I said, "I wonder what the year is…"
I shrugged off the question in favor of approaching the tower where I could see a group dead Soul Reaper trainees who had been maintaining the barrier.
"Lets see, I always wondered who took these guys out."
I turned over one of the bodys and found that he had been killed by sword wounds.
"Seems like Aizen's already up to no good," I muttered.
"Barrier team, come in."
I tilted my head as one of the radios on the bodies activated.
"Barrier team, respond."
I reached out and plucked the radio from the corpse of the Soul Reaper as whoever was on the other end tried again to get in touch with the dead team.
"Attention Soul Reaper," I said, "You may have a slight problem on your hands."
"What? Who is this?" asked the Soul Reaper on the other end.
"Who I am doesn't matter," I said, "What does matter is that your barrier team has been slaughtered and there are a number of Huge Hollows heading towards you. I suggest you clear out before they clear you out."
"But…"
Before the Soul Reaper could respond, I crushed the radio in my fist.
Third Person POV
Hisagi flinched as the radio gave a squeal and died.
"Whats going on?" asked Kanisawa, one of the other upper year leaders of this training trip.
"I'm not sure," said Hisagi, "But we may have a problem…"
Before he could explain, Kanisawa turned and screamed. Hisagi spun around and immediately felt the blood drain from his face as he saw the massive Hollow that had appeared out of nowhere. Before anyone could react, the Monster struck, impaling Kanisawa on one of its blade-like arms.
"Crap, its a Hollow, and a Big one at that!" thought Hisagi, "But why didn't we sense it approaching? Is that what killed the barrier unit?"
Before he could think any further, his other companion, Aoga charged the monster.
"Aoga, no!" shouted Hisagi.
It didn't do any good and the Hollow simply swept the trainee aside without even looking.
"Everybody run!" shouted Hisagi.
The trainees did as they were told, leaving Hisagi to try to hold off the Hollow and request help from the Soul Society. He knew staying put was probably suicide, but it was his job to keep the Freshmen safe and by god, he was going to do it!
It went about as well as he was expecting. The best he could do was keep dodging the Hollows attacks and try to counter, but the Hollow was way to quick, deflecting any and all attacks he sent at the Monster. Eventually, the Hollow seemed to get tired of playing with him and its arm split up into a fan of sharp looking blades.
"Is that all you got?" growled Hisagi, struggling to his feet despite his aching body and blood obscured vision, "Then bring it on!"
The Hollow swung at Hisagi, but before it could cleave him in half, the top three Freshman students, Renji, Izuru and Momo, appeared out of nowhere and blocked the attack.
"What are you three doing here?!" he demanded.
"We just wanted to help sir," said Izuru, "Sorry we disobeyed!"
"We came back to save you so remember to forgive us," said Renji as the three pushed the Hollows claws away.
The three students followed up with a Shakkaho which blinded the Hollow long enough that the four students could flee.
"How could such a massive Hollow sneak up on us?" asked Renji as they ran.
"I don't know, but it looks like it was able to conceal its Spiritual Pressure somehow," replied Hisagi.
"We're not strong enough to beat that thing!" shouted Izuru, "Are we just supposed to keep running?"
"I radioed for help so there should be some on the way," said Hisagi, "Until then we just need to stay alive!"
By this point the four students had left most of the buildings behind and were out in a clearing in the structures. As they reached the middle, they stopped as the air around them began to distort and more Huge Hollows emerged from thin air.
"W-what the hell?" gasped Momo, "H-how can there me so many?!"
The four would-be Soul Reapers quickly readied themselves for battle, although it certainly appeared hopeless if help didn't arrive quickly. Izuru looked close to panicking, not that Hisagi could really blame him. The Hollows began to close in, clearly enjoying the fear the four were feeling and savoring the kill. Suddenly, something long, black and very fast shot out of the sky and hit a number of the Hollows, making them roar in pain. The objects were revealed to be black rods that seemed to ripple and fuse with the Hollows they hit, rapidly expanding to cover them in a shiny black substance that quickly broke down and flowed towards a shape that was stood in the air above the four Soul Reaper students.
"Peh, looks like I was a little too late to get you out of here," said the figure in an oddly echoing voice.
Hisagi's eyes widened as he recognized it as the one who had found the Barrier teams radio. They widened even more as the figure slowly descended, revealing that it was a black, centaur-like Hollow with an unusual black mask and silver eyes that burned like stars. One of its arms looked like a crude bow while his other had a number of the black rods that had killed the Hollows before between its fingers.
The black Hollow's burning eyes swept over the arrayed Huge Hollows as they hesitated, apparently not sure what to make of the new comer and Hisagi got the distinct impression that the black Hollow was sneering.
"Pathetic creatures, driven only by hunger and instincts," he said, sneer clear in his voice, "Your kind sickens me."
One of the Huge Hollows seemed to take offence at that and tried to charge the silver eyed from behind. It didn't make it more than two steps before the bony wings on its back flared and it was impaled in ten different places by the suddenly extended finger bones. The Hollow roared as it turned black and was absorbed into Silver Eyes body. That seemed to be the signal for the rest of the Hollows as they rushed Silver Eyes. The smaller Hollow simply scoffed as its bow shifted and morphed into a kite shield while the rods in its other hand morphed into a western style broadsword.
"BRING IT BITCHES!" roared Silver Eyes, rearing up on its hind legs.
The four Soul Reapers couldn't help but stare at Silver Eyes for the oddly out of character warcry, before all four were slammed into the ground from both Silver Eyes incredible Spiritual Pressure and the massive impact that came from his charge. They watched in shock and no small amount of awe as Silver Eyes slammed into the Huge Hollows and immediately started tearing them apart, its sword and wings slicing through limbs, torsos and masks with every swing while powerful kicks caved in ribcages and broke limbs like twigs. Each Hollow that received a fatal blow quickly turned black and was absorbed into Silver Eyes body.
The four Soul Reapers watched the massacre in shock, none of them quite able to believe that it had been a Hollow, the natural enemies of Soul Reapers that many in the 13 Court Guard Squads considered to be little more than beasts, had stepped in to help. More than that, the fact it was using weapons with more skill than some members of the 13 Court Guard Squads was also pretty impressive.
Renji, Momo and Izuru couldn't help but marvel at its skill. Every movement was perfectly executed to do the most amount of damage possible and resulted in another spurt of blood from one of the Huge Hollows. They also got the distinct impression that Silver Eyes was grinning under his mask.
Hisagi on the other hand was more wary. He could tell that this Hollow was much, much stronger than most other Hollows. Its Spiritual Pressure rivaled that of a Lieutenant and it was clearly intelligent, much more so than most Hollows. He wondered if it was one of the Menos he'd seen references to in text books he'd found in the Academy Library. The thought of that being true was more than a little terrifying as, if he was a Menos, he was obviously one of the upper level classes.
"Oh my, this is unexpected," said a voice, making the four students jump.
Approaching the battlefield was a pair of Soul Reapers they recognized as the Captain and Lieutenant of Squad 5, Sosuke Aizen and Gin Ichimaru.
"Whats going on?" asked Captain Aizen, not taking his eyes off the 'battle'.
The hidden snake was curious about this turn of events and for good reason. Few Adjuchas came to the World of the Living and even fewer Hollows of any sort would aid a Soul Reaper, even tangentially. Most would have joined up with the Huge Hollows, taken out the Soul Reapers and then turned the Huge Hollows into lunch. This Silver Eyed Hollow was very interesting.
Finally, Silver Eyes had slaughtered all of the Huge Hollows and had the last one held tightly with the tendrils coming from its wings wrapped tightly around its limbs and throat.
"And then there was one," said Silver Eyes, raising its sword.
Before it could finish off the Hollow though, a flash of silver shot past it, slicing off one wing and carving through the Huge Hollow's mask. It roared in pain and vanished, leaving Silver Eyes to look over his shoulder at the new comers in annoyance as its wing regenerated.
"You just killed my dinner," said Silver Eyes.
"Oh excuse me, I thought I'd do at least a little in this battle after coming all this way," said Gin.
Silver Eyes sighed as its sword and shield morphed back into normal hands which it linked behind its head.
"Eh, whatever, its not like I haven't eaten my fill tonight," it said, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I should be returning to Hueco Mundo."
It snapped its fingers and a black tear appeared in the air next to him.
"Farewell Soul Reapers, I hope don't meet again," it said, "I suspect the next time we meet will be on the battlefield."
It started to walk through the tear.
"Wait," called Momo.
The Hollow paused and glanced back at the girl. She gulped as the burning silver slits in the mask met her eyes.
"Why did you help us?" she asked.
The Hollow looked thoughtful.
"I'm not sure," it said, "Was it curiosity? Or perhaps mere happenstance? A sense of whimsy perhaps? Something left over from when I was Human? Eh, I guess it doesn't matter in the long run. I saved your necks and got a great meal out of the bargain. See ya."
Before anyone could say anything else, Silver Eyes turned and vanished through the Garganta with a flick of his tail. The Soul Reapers staired after the Hollow in surprise. Aizen hid a twisted smile as his eyes momentarily flickered blue. Yes, the Silver Eyed Hollow was indeed very interesting.
And with that I'm done. Silver Eye's design is based on Isley from Claymore because its fucking cool and I love the Silver Kings abilities.
Just to be clear, Silver Eye's is currently an Adjuchas. Hes powerful but he hasn't evolved yet. The reason he won't regress like most Hollows is because hes an Outsider. His Unnaturally strong Soul basically crushed the other Souls that make up his form so much that they basically just became a new power source for him, which is part of the reason that hes so strong.
Since the actual time Bleach is set in is a bit nebulous, the timeline for my story is that the Bleach canon will take place at around 2009. Its currently 40 years before then. Someone else can do the maths to figure out the actual year because its largely irrelevant.
Whats with Aizens eyes? Who knows? Well, I do, but it won't be relevant for a while. Until next time, see ya around!