When Shane woke again, the sun was high in the sky. He put his hands up to shield his eyes from the bright light and sat up. Down in the lot, Jinta and Ururu were sweeping. Rather, Ururu was sweeping and Jinta was waving his broom around like a baseball bat.
"Jinta, you'd better stop before Tessai finds out," Ururu said timidly.
"Who cares? He's off with the owner on an errand!" Jinta said excitedly and swung his broom around. CRACK! The broom handle hit Tessai in the head and broke in half. Jinta's eyes went wide and he began to tremble in fear.
"Oh? You hit me on the head and you don't say you're sorry?" Tessai roared.
"AAHHHHHH!" Jinta screamed as Tessai scooped him up in his big arms and began to squeeze. Shane couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh, nice to see you awake!" Urahara called up. "Come down, I have something for you."
Puzzled, Shane jumped down and followed Urahara into the shop. Just then, Shane's phone began to beep.
"Jeez, not now!" Shane exasperated and pulled out his phone. "I'll be right back," he told Urahara.
"By all means, go," Urahara said. As Shane disappeared out the door, Urahara became serious. "What will you do with no Soul Slayer?" he wondered.
Shane followed the tracker until he arrived at the waterfront. He looked around the old buildings and carefully looked around.
"The hollow is around here somewhere," Shane said. He reached for his Soul Slayer, then stopped. He pulled the swords out of his sash and stared at it.
"I guess this will have to do until I figure something out," Shane said. The wind picked up and blew an old news paper into the water. Shane watched it float by, then it stopped. Shane frowned and looked closer. Just then, the water exploded and Shane jumped back.
"Ha! I've got you now!" the hollow shouted. It had a long, serpentine body with many small legs, each with one claw. Its face was rather plain for a Hollow, but had two long mandibles near its mouth that constantly clacked together. It rushed at Shane, who jumped out of the way and slashed at the hollow.
"Hm? What was that?" the hollow asked. "Are you trying to tickle me to death?"
"I knew this wouldn't work," Shane growled and sheathed the sword. He landed a short distance away. "It can't be helped then," Shane decided. He used flash steps to get in close and began to beat the hollow.
"Ack! You are like a pesky fly to me!" the hollow said, rather annoyed. "Is this how you kill hollows? By boring them to death?"
Shane appeared under the hollow and quickly kicked out several of its legs. The hollow became unstable and fell over. Shane jumped into the air and held his hands out. "Way of Destruction No. 33," Shane called out and a ball of blue fire crashed down on the hollow with tremendous force.
Shane landed and waited for the dust to settle. Out of the dirt cloud, a long, wet tentacle shot out. Shane's eyes went wide as he ducked out of the way. The tentacle turned around and reached for Shane again. Shane jumped, ducked and rolled, playing keep away from the tentacle. He jumped in the air again, just ahead of the tentacle. Shane saw a flash of motion out of the corner of his eye. His mind barely registered the fact that there were now two tentacles, when the second sent Shane crashing to the ground.
Shane groaned and tried to get up, but before he could move, the tentacles wrapped him up so he couldn't move.
"Heh, you were harder to catch than the others I have eaten," the hollow said. "But now you will meet the same fate as them!" The dust cleared enough for Shane to see that the tentacles were coming from the hollow's mouth, where there were numerous other tentacles moving about.
Shane felt pinpricks all over his body and he began to feel numb. The saliva was also hardening around his body, slowly encasing him in a concrete-like substance.
So this is how the "great" Shane Akiyama goes out? he thought as he struggled to remain conscious, punked by a hollow? I'm glad no one else is around to see this. Killed by a hollow, how embarrassing. Another tentacle appeared and Shane's vision went black.
Somewhere, deep in the dark corners of Shane's mind, a light flickered.
kill
What's that?
kill it
Am I dead? It's so dark.
kill
What's this feeling?
pain
What's in pain? Am I in pain? I don't feel anything...
hurt it kill it causes us pain yes kill it show it who's boss not the boss of us kill it dead hurts cause it pain yes suffering
I don't understand...
The hollow pulled its tentacles back to reveal a mass of hardened saliva. It moved closer and opened its mouth to swallow its prey. Just then, the mass moved. The hollow stopped and peered closer. The lump moved again and a small crack appeared. The lump was now moving and thumping about and more cracks began to show. A small chunk fell and clattered away.
light go to the light hurt them light kill what put us in the dark
Shane's hand shot out of the mass and latched on to one of the hollow's mandibles. The hollow reared back and howled in protest, pulling Shane the rest of the way out. Shane now stood in front of the hollow, its mandible in his grip.
kill it
kill it
KILL IT NOW!
With a wild look in his eyes, Shane raised his left hand and chopped off the hollow's mandible with one blow. The hollow roared in surprise and lunged at Shane, but Shane grabbed the other mandible and crushed it with one hand. The hollow leaned back and shot several tentacles at Shane, but he caught them all in his hands and pulled the hollow closer. When the hollow was at his feet, Shane braced his foot against the hollow's head and pulled, ripping the tentacles out of the hollow's mouth. The hollow cried in pain, spraying blue-black blood everywhere. The hollow closed its mouth, but Shane put his fist through the hollow's teeth, shattering them. He then began to pry open the mouth of the hollow, but the hollow resisted.
it tried to hurt us now kill it yes kill it make it suffer smash and grind
DIE!
With a mighty effort, Shane ripped the the hollow's bottom jaw clean off. Blood was pouring everywhere, making everything wet and slick. The hollow lay twitching on the ground. Shane raised his arm and put his fist though the middle of the hollow's mask as if it were paper. With its mask broken, the hollow dissolved into a shower of blue spirit particles.
killed it gone dead yes victory killed it smashed it hurt it...
Shane shook his head and rapidly blinked his eyes. He looked around in amazement. "What happened?" he asked. He walked around and noted the damage from the battle. "I don't remember any of this." Shane felt a slight pressure in the back of his head. He reached up and rubbed the spot.
"Hmm. Weird. Perhaps I'll ask Urahara about it," he said and went back to the store.