The Hollow Evolved

[Kaige] "I can't believe she went ahead and became friends with her. I thought she liked me. Seems that Miko is attracted to strong…girls? Is she bisexual?"

The daylight could barely fit through the shrouded leaves that blocked out the sun in the sereitei woods. Kaige had abandoned the day of lessons to catch his breath in solitude. He walked along the woodland path for a few minutes before stopping by a set of trees besides a clearing. No creatures dared disturb him as he curled up next to a large tree.

[Kaige] "I'm gonna kick your ass…. just you wait"

Not too far away, a sense of danger overwhelmed the woods. Bird flew out of their nests and small mammals hid back inside their burrows. The sound of heavy footsteps multiplied across the broken leaves. Small grunts and barks were spat from the runner's mouth. A streamlined creature leapt across the woodland at a blazing pace; followed by six more of its kind. Its body was red in colour and stood on all fours. Its build took the aspect of a panther but with a white mask over its head in a streamlined, racing car spoiler fashion. This red panther creature was defiantly the pack leader as its body was three times larger than that of the blue versions standing around it. They sniffed the air a few times and stopped to rest near a large series of boulders moved from the academy.

[Kaige] "If only there was some way to get a Zanpakutou quicker. Maybe if I train every day I will get it next year!"

Kaige had begun to stroll again. He walked up a little hillside of trees and fallen logs to be greeted by a large series of rocks and boulders. He walked around them and froze as he spotted the monstrous panther. The white mask and red eyes immediately gave him a name to speak.

[Kaige] "A….h…hollow? Here?"

Hollows are spirits gone bad. If somebody in the living world died with regrets, they would enter their spirit state and wander the living world until they were cleansed by Shinigami or eaten by hollows to become one themselves. Some people have told stories about seeing these spirits wandering around abandoned shacks. The humans call them ghosts; that's a lie. The ones that wander are given the title "wholes" and are hunted by "hollows"; the mask wielding monsters. That was 100 years ago. Ever since the captain of research and development in the sereitei got a hold of some strange DNA known as Xeno, the hollows have begun to evolve. Nobody had a decent amount of info about them. Apart from the fact that they have blended with the living world and are now partly technology.

[Kaige] "Something's not right about them… I was told hollows were plain in colour and structure, these ones…. are mechanical…"

The giant mother lay there sleeping. Its mask was pulsing red veins in straight lines with a few blue ones spiralling the larger lines. Its body muscles were also tribally designed with red vein like wires that pulsed red down them. Almost like mechanical blood. Kaige slowly backed up. He had never seen a hollow with such strange builds. As he stepped back, he jumped at the sound of a loud yelp from behind. Turns out he trod on a Childs tail that quickly ran behind the larger mother of the pack. In comparison, Kaige was as big as the mother's leg. It was quickly roused from its sleep and climbed to its feet before roaring. He turned around as fast as he could and sprinted away. The panthers roar was very metallic. As if a dragon made of steel was screaming out next to a factory of iron works. The panther mother reared its head and pulled itself into a run. Its mask quickly began to pulse faster and slowly converge colours. The spiralling blue and red grew a nasty purple colour that caused the entire creatures body to triple in speed. Kaige looked back to see the panther was gone. He ran up to a tree and hid behind it. Every few seconds, he would peek round the tree to see if any of the pack had followed. Then he stopped breathing; maybe they could sense breath. He stood still with his hand over his mouth and then gasped a weird sound as he looked forwards. The mother was merely standing there waiting for him notice her presence.

[Kaige] "F…f…f..f…FUCK!"

He turned round and began to run back the way he came panting and gasping for the air he just gave up. The panther roared its head off once more causing its six children to charge beside Kaige. Not seeing any other way out of it, Kaige began to fight. As he ran, he leapt onto the back of a panther that strode too close. It yelped as Kaige clung on tightly around its neck and other panthers scratched at them both to knock him down. He took the pain and carried on holding as the panther ran further. As he ran out into an opening, the hollow stopped in its tracks and threw Kaige over its head. He rolled down the side of the small hill he had run up before and into a bush at the bottom. The panthers had stopped and stared in a single direction. Even the pack mother was looking. As Kaige crawled out of his bushy predicament, he dropped all hope of escape when he saw what was standing above him. Twice as big and twice as frightening, a Pack Alpha had turned up. The big daddy of the pack. It's no surprise really as the young of such creatures are looked after for several years by both a brutish father known as the Alpha and defensive mother called Beta. The alpha didn't look too happy, but it looked pretty cool. The back of its hind legs had built into strange exhausts and its mask had grown over its back in a 6 spoiler shape. The perfectly aerodynamic Hollow. It looked as though its mask had given it wings the size of a plane. Whatever the Shinigami were thinking when building these, didn't they get a slight clue that they would be dangerous?

[Kaige] "I…am so dead…"

The Alpha reached down with its head and sniffed Kaige before it lifted its body up and let out a thunderous roar that shook the trees around them. Even the class back in the academy were distracted by the loud roar. Miko and Orochi were now standing with their heads against the glass.

[Miko] "What if Kaige is… out there?"

[Orochi] "I'm sure he's not… he's not that stupid to go into the woods"

[Miko] "But why did Rihiku?"

[Kaige] "Holy SHIT!"

The alpha dropped its body onto Kaige who closed his eyes and braced his head. The sheer weight of the creature and the force of simply dropping caused a small shockwave. When he opened his eyes again, he found the creature merely centimetres from his forehead.

[???] "You alright under there kid?"

[???] "We'll quickly deal with this while you scurry back to the academy"

The panther was lifted from the floor by two guys standing above Kaige. They were surely straining, but they both kept wide smiles. The guy on the right was familiar; One of the guys Miko had seen run out of the academy. Black hair, spiked up and lazy at the back; Red streaks and a scar across his right eye. He kicked down on the panther's ankle causing its leg to flinch out of the way. Enough time for a second guy to swoop down and pull Kaige out before they all leapt to safety from the falling creature. The second man was different to the first guy. Slightly more refined but very plain compared to the first. He had dark brown hair and wore tinted blue fingerless gloves. Nothing more was given about his uniform. His eyes were different from everything else though, giving a strangely calm grey colour. He leapt through the air, spiralled a bit and dropped Kaige down near a tree stump about 10 meters away from the alpha. The first guy drew his blade and ran at the alpha, slicing through its front right leg. The massive beast roared in pain and swung round to claw at the guy who quickly reacted and leapt to Kaige's side.

[???] "Hey there, I'm Kigira Hensai. Nice to meet you"

[Kaige] "Nice to meet you? These things are hollows!"

[???] "Yeah… and I'm Rijuen Zinbou. Their hollows but not the kind we have seen before"

[Kigira] "Yeah… must have some reasoning to it"

[Rijuen] "What the hell is it doing?"

The alpha opened it mouth to a point where its jaw seemed dislocated. Its windpipe seemed to also be mechanical with several pulsing wires trailing down it. The Mouth then began to glow red and within a few second, fired a huge beam of energy at the three that tore up the ground as it went.

[Kigira] "Shit! Cero?"

[Rijuen] "Cant be?"

[Kaige] "What the hell?"