Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters, ideas, etc.
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Chapter 3: The New Breed of Hollows
Ichigo woke up. Where was he? About to yell out where the hell he was noisily, Ichigo observed the surroundings. He saw Rukia, Yuzu, Karin, and Isshin. It was one of his dad's clinic rooms.
"Nii-san!" exclaimed Yuzu cheerfully. Yuzu ran over to hug Ichigo. Embracing Ichigo tightly, Yuzu was told to stop by her father.
"You'll open the wounds like that," said Isshin seriously.
An Ajuukaru hollow, thought Rukia. What is the chance of that?
Ichigo told everyone that he was fine. Trying to stand up, Ichigo was knocked down by his father, his mouth was covered, and he was told to stay put. Ichigo had never seen his father this serious before. "Quite peculiar," said Ichigo. "I've never seen you act this way before." Slightly smiling, Ichigo liked his dad better like that.
"Let's just say I don't want to lose another family member…"
The process began. Mother commenced to throw up little eggs the size of a child's hand each. Each time she threw up, about one hundred eggs were thrown up. She threw up in an odd method. Mother's throwing up was more like spitting. After "throwing up" roughly five thousand eggs, Mother had become slimmer. The eggs cracked open to reveal tiny hollows. However, it was clear to see that they were growing at a fast pace. The process was almost complete. Once the hollows grew to be strong ones, they would usually become stronger than Ajuukaru hollows. One in ten million would actually be as strong as or stronger than Vasteroode. One in five million would be as weak as Gillian-class ones, but none were weaker than that. This new breed of hollows was not created from plus spirits or hollows fusing together, rather they were "pure" hollows. They were known as "Children hollows". They were stronger than most hollows and definitely smarter than any hollow. Suddenly, the Mother literally swiped up about one hundred of the hollows and swallowed. That way, the hollows would be safe. The next day, the hollows would be "reborn".
"Eh? So that's how it is?" said Mayuri.
"Yep. I don't know much more," responded Urahara.
"But why keep this thing a secret? How'd you find out?"
"Chronologically, the question 'How'd you find out?' would go first."
"Spit it out, old man."
"Tch, you're old too. Anyway, here's how it went: I was walking down a little path with Yoruichi, when we suddenly felt a strange reiatsu coming in the east direction. It did not feel evil; rather it felt like it was calling us. Yoruichi was quite curious, so she ran over to the source of the reiatsu. I decided to accompany her. To her disappointment, nothing was there. She was wrong. I soon realized that the source of reiatsu was not that place, but rather a nearby cave. I followed a small tail of reiatsu that seemed to be connected that reiatsu. To my surprise, I stumbled upon a cave, which was blocked by a barrier. I realized it. The reiatsu thing was just a trick. I broke the barrier, and to my surprise, a blast of reiatsu came flowing out. It was an evil one alright. Yoruichi had felt it too and came rushing to me. In there were words and pictures on a new, shining wall. I managed to read the words, but even my translator had a hard time translating the words. My essay was what I found out. I thought it was strange. The people who wrote this shouldn't have been evil…should they? I felt that somewhere in the reiatsu, there were hollow presences. But then I rethought, hollows don't use reiatsu. It was all very confusing to me. I then thought something else a little different from that. The walls were shiny and new, so was it written not too long ago? The language resembled something like the language of shinigami tens of thousands of years ago. The writing stated that the Mother and Father would be reformed every ten million years. I decided that ten million years probably would not come for a long time. I created another barrier for the cave. I didn't want Soul Society to know this and start worrying, so I kept it a secret."
"Ku, ku, ku, intriguing!" exclaimed Mayuri. Mayuri was writing each and every word of the conversation down. His hands and fingers were moving at such an extreme speed. Even though he wasn't looking at the monitor where Urahara was, Mayuri was definitely listening. "So, how come you wrote this down?"
"I decided that I wanted to keep anything I stumbled upon written down. After about four years later, I decided to lock the file and make it delete itself if anyone managed to discover it. I left it there on purpose so that one day the new 12th division captain can discover it."
"Is that all?"
"That's how much I know."
Mayuri turned off the monitor. He told Nemu to come back. Mayuri cackled. This information would not be spread out to anything or anyone. He was one step closer to winning what he desired.
The next day, Ichigo was all better, but he still needed some rest. Rukia still went to school though. At lunch, she managed to gather Orihime, Chad, and Ishida so that she could talk to them.
"Why isn't Kurosaki-kun here today, Rukia-san?" asked Orihime, trying to hold her envy of Rukia living with Ichigo, even though it had been a long time already.
"He was hurt by a hollow," responded Rukia.
"I hope he's okay!" gasped Orihime.
"Me too," murmured the quiet giant.
"Tch! I expected more from him," scoffed Ishida. "That's pathetic!"
"No," Rukia asserted darkly, "That was a Menos Grande Ajuukaru hollow."
"What's that?" Chad questioned.
"S-sounds sc-scary," Orihime shuddered.
"A Menos Grande is a fusion of numerous hollows," Rukia explained, "They are a lot more powerful and larger than a regular hollow. A Menos Grande is divided into three classes: Gillian, Ajuukaru, and Vastoorode. Gillian is the weakest, while Vastoorode is the strongest. Gillians are most common, but even they are rare. Vastoorodes are extremely rare. It is said that about ten or a bit more have the power to destroy Soul Society. I will explain the Ajuukaru-class hollows now. They are actually smaller than Gillians, although they are bigger than regular hollows. Although they are smaller, they are faster, more powerful, and smarter."
"I heard this from my grandfather already," said Ishida. "And I've encountered a Gillian before. But I thought Ajuukaru have never surfaced the Earth before."
"I know," said Rukia. "Something's up. Somewhere in the hollow's eyes, I saw fear. Not fear of Ichigo or me, but fear of something else."
"I'm still too weak," muttered Ichigo. "No, that bastard of a hollow inside me was turned on the moment I went to bankai. If I didn't suppress it, I would've been taken over. If I find a way to suppress it, I'll definitely…definitely be stronger!" Ichigo limped off to the door and opened it. He was quite lucky. His father was sleeping, and Rukia, Karin, and Yuzu were at school. Quietly tiptoeing to the front door, Ichigo planned to limp to Urahara.
Before he managed to walk a few steps outside, something appeared in front of Ichigo. "Y-you're…!"
Urahara, waving his fan as always, opened the door to his shop for Tessai. Tessai was carrying a body. It was the body of Ichigo's.
"Good job Tessai!" smiled Urahara. "Now then, let's go to the underground base, shall we?"
Inside the base were Chad, Ishida, Rukia, and Orihime. Tessai dropped Ichigo's body. Spotting Ichigo, Orihime ran over to Ichigo.
"K-kurosaki-kun!" cried Orihime.
Urahara stepped in front of Orihime. "Now, now," said Urahara. "You don't want to be rough on the patient now, do you?"
"S-sorry," cried Orihime with tears of happiness. "I just was so worried about him and everything and now I'm so glad he's okay and everything."
"Oh my," murmured Urahara so that Orihime couldn't hear, "I should get injured badly one day too." Urahara pointed at Orihime. "Now then! Heal Ichigo!"
"Yes!" Orihime. "Ayame! Shuno! I reject!" The hairclips clipped on Orihime's hair shined. Suddenly, Ayame and Shuno popped up. Orihime produced a barrier around Ichigo.
Ichigo woke up. "Wh-where am I? Urahara? Inoue?"
"Kurosaki-kun!" exclaimed Orihime, literally hugging Ichigo to death.
"Arehime! C-cad't breafe!" sputtered out Ichigo.
"Heh, sorry!" smiled Orihime, sticking her tongue out.
"Anyway, Urahara," said Rukia, walking over to Urahara.
"Yes'm?"
"This is proof."
"Well, then, I guess I'll have to explain everything to you." Urahara smiled. "Let's start with the fear in the hollow's eyes!"
Five days was up. Five thousand hollows were fully grown and ready to destroy and massacre. A few hollow had slipped away. The rest stayed in Hueco Mundo.
"So that's how it is…" exclaimed Rukia. "But I don't really understand this. Hollows don't have reiatsu."
Meanwhile, Ichigo was training with Chad, who had become a lot more powerful under the special training with Yoruichi.
"You don't have to understand," smiled Urahara. "I think that soon, about today or tomorrow, fate will demonstrate what I meant…"
