Bleach: A Grand Adventure

Baiken and Pinkie found that everything seemed to be fine the following morning, Orihime had this excuse about how her home was attacked by a sumo wrestler that had a bazooka, which was even more outrageous than the 'truck hitting Ichigo's home' story, even though most people bought it. Baiken suspected that it was due to the fact that Orihime was the one who revealed the story and not the other girl that had been in her house when Sora's Hollow, Acidwire according to what was on Rukia's phone, attacked them to kill Orihime. The interesting thing was that it looked like Rukia's memory device might have actually failed and that the two girls were playing dumb, like they recalled actually seeing the Hollow and that they had been rescued by Ichigo, even though neither had any idea what to do with this information, hence why they were silent on this matter. For the most part it was important for Ichigo to believe that none of the others were aware of his second life as a substitute Shinigami, since he didn't want anyone else to know about what he was doing, and right now they were doing their best to abide by his wishes.

Other than that they were able to give Ichigo some time to rest, relax, do his schoolwork without anything happening to him, and even gave him some time to train him when night finally arrived, as if everything was normal again, doing their best to prepare him for whatever the Hollows might have in store for him.

The fact that Hollows were originally ordinary souls seemed to fuel Ichigo's determination to make sure he was able to save as many of them as possible, almost like he was more of a Shinigami than Rukia was, though Baiken found that to be an unfair comparison since he had survived longer than Rukia had. At the very least he showed signs of conviction, taking his training much more seriously than before, and seemed to be doing his best to get used to the weight of his weapon while also aiming at the vital areas that would allow him to take down Hollows that much faster. In addition to that Pinkie made sure to tell Kisuke about the black robed figure she had seen while they were watching over Ichigo, which interested him a bit since it was definitely unusual and he promised that he'd keep an eye out for the figure while they were helping Ichigo in his training. Other than that there really wasn't much for the girls to do, though they did their best to keep an eye out for any new Hollows that might come looking for an easy target, and yet, despite the couple groups of Hollows they had previously it seemed like they were going to have a few easy days off.

Something eventually caught their attention, as the girls found that there was some commotion in one of the construction sites that dotted the city, where Baiken found Chad sitting with some of the other students from Ichigo's school, though he did end up protecting them from a steel beam that seemed to fall on them at random.

"A Hollow was here, I can feel it... in fact, I'm sure it's still watching them." Pinkie remarked, looking over Baiken's shoulder as she stared down at the trio, which was when they found that there was a cage with a parakeet inside it, one that seemed to be talking to the small group of students, "And there's a soul inside the parakeet... that's who the Hollow is chasing."

"Still, what in the world is Chad's body made of?" Baiken inquired, because it was insane that he had stopped a steel beam from hitting both of his companions and the bird that was stuck in the cage, somehow without hurting his back despite the bit of blood that was coming from his head, but it seemed to do something for the school boys, "He's definitely not human, that's for sure... we'll have to tell Kisuke about this, since he might have an idea on what's going on... it's a shame that he doesn't have any powers, as Chad seems like he'd make a decent training partner."

Pinkie nodded as they continued to observe Chad, since he was the one that seemed to bond with the parakeet and the soul that was trapped inside it, despite the other two saying that anyone who owned the bird ended up dead in due time, which Chad didn't even seem remotely worried about. The rest of the night seemed to pass by without anything happening, as in the Hollow that was following the parakeet seemed to be in hiding, either because it knew they were watching the bird or it wanted to cause fear in the soul that was trapped in the animal. This allowed them to rest up while keeping their senses open in case more Hollows decided to make themselves known, and when morning arrived Baiken tracked down Chad once more, only to find that he was hit by a motorcycle and carried the injured rider to the hospital. Such a thing meant that he would be late for school, but it seemed like an okay thing given that it wasn't caused by the Hollow that was following the bird, so they headed to Ichigo's school instead, just to see how things were going over there.

As it turned out Ichigo and Rukia were talking about Rukia's grades in the school she had learned her Kido from, which came as a surprise to the boy since he wasn't expecting Shinigami to have such a thing, but that caused Baiken to land on part of the roof, far from the others, with a huff.

"You know, when we agreed to watch over Karakura Town, I was expecting a little more excitement... I thought there would be more Hollows than what we've seen." Baiken commented, something that made her wonder if Kisuke might have a few more spare gigai in his shop, because it might be worth slipping into a more human form and just exploring the city while she waited for Hollows to show up, even though Pinkie didn't seem to be bothered by this at all.

"Look, Chad's here." Pinkie said, focusing more on the fact that things were happening, especially with Ichigo being talked to by someone else, likely someone he had pissed off before they started following him around, it was hard to tell with humans since some had really insane reasons for wanting to do things, especially once they learned about the ones who enjoyed killing people.

Sure enough the confrontation was resolved easily, Chad grabbing onto the other student's fist and hurled him backwards, thus allowing him to walk over to Ichigo and set the cage down, all while Rukia struggled to drink a juice box, causing Baiken to groan, as the actual Shinigami was freaking useless in both her own job and pretending to be a human. The only useful thing was that Ichigo seemed to understand that there was a soul inside the parakeet, showing that his own skills in being a Shinigami were growing at a steady pace, in fact Baiken assumed that once half a year had passed Ichigo might be more skilled in this lifestyle than Rukia was. Rukia, despite her near total uselessness, as her healing skills seemed to be the only saving grace she had, also noticed the soul and was impressed by how serious Ichigo was taking the parakeet's existence, all while affirming that it wasn't a Hollow, it was just a lonely soul and that it would be best to send it off soon, before it turned into a Hollow or was targeted by one. Other than that there wasn't anything else to worry about, allowing the girls to head out to observe the city once more, which seemed to be the only thing to do when there weren't any Hollows around, though Baiken headed back to Kisuke's for some additional training, figuring that Pinkie would alert her if things changed.

In the end it wasn't until the afternoon when things changed, a Hollow surfaced in the area around Ichigo's place, something that caused them to get moving, only to discover that there was a car accident involving multiple people and Chad, but the Hollow was long gone by the time they arrived.

"I have a feeling this is one of the two more dangerous Hollows that Kisuke warned us about... Shrieker or Grand Fisher, but this seems more akin to the former's habits." Baiken remarked, because their friends wanted to make sure they were ready for whatever the future held in store for them and Kisuke had shared the information he knew on the two most dangerous Hollows that he knew about.

Pinkie nodded as Ichigo returned home, in time to see multiple people being brought into the clinic while his father called the main hospital that was in the area to request some beds be opened, especially since a few of the victims were beyond what his clinic could handle. Chad, on the other hand, had a wound on his back that was made by a Hollow, in fact it was still bleeding and caused them to calm the buff student down so his back could be bandaged, and it wasn't long before he was put in one of the clinic's rooms for the night. When morning arrived, however, Chad was long gone and so was the parakeet, something that caused Ichigo to run all over the place to find him, both because he was friends with the buff boy and, more importantly, he was being hunted by a Hollow. Baiken and Pinkie remained on the roofs as they glanced out at the city, as it seemed like Chad was definitely running, he was aware that something was chasing him and the bird and seemed to be in the middle of running to be sure no one else was caught in the crossfire.

Eventually Ichigo and Rukia caught up before Ichigo had a good idea, he was going to focus on the Reiryoku of the soul that was inside the parakeet, causing him to focus on visualizing the various bits of Reiryoku into Reiraku, or Spirit Ribbons, a highly advanced technique among Shinigami, and it wasn't long before he grabbed one.

"Okay, now that is impressive." Pinkie said, as it confirmed something she had been thinking about since they met Ichigo, his Reiryoku was more akin to the ones they had sensed from Kisuke, Tessai, and Yoruichi, meaning there had to be Shinigami blood inside his body, dormant powers that Rukia's own had caused to awaken a little.

Baiken nodded, as this was definitely more exciting for them, and they rushed off in the direction Ichigo was moving in, just in time to hear the sound of the Hollow attacking the area Chad was in, though instead of Chad waiting for them to catch up he just ran off again, while Ichigo stopped as one of his sisters appeared nearby, weakened for some reason. Since he was more worried about her, however, Rukia told him to take Karin home and he did so without delay, though he made sure to tell Rukia not to push herself too hard if she decided to join Baiken and Pinkie in fighting the Hollow. Sure enough they found their target as Rukia followed Chad, a tall Hollow that was almost three times the size of a normal human, with an ape-like body, large black wings connected to his hands, that seemed to be enjoying the hunt, as it closed in on Rukia. Baiken took a moment to grin as she laid eyes on it, because they had descriptions on the two Hollows they had to be on the lookout for and this was definitely Shrieker, she recognized him anywhere, and when he attacked Rukia she was on the scene instantly, slashing at his arm as he backed off.

Pinkie landed nearby with a smile on her face, because this meant that Baiken might have found a worthy playmate and it came in the form of a powerful Hollow, at least based on what they had been told so far, while Chad continued down the street with the parakeet, focusing on saving the soul right now.

"You... you have a tasty scent. Not quite a Shinigami, but tasty all the same... reminds me of the two Shinigami I ate, those that came to send that brat to the afterlife." Shrieker remarked, confirming everything that the pair had been told, he was the one that Kisuke had gotten their Zanpakuto from, due to the blades dropping from his body once he was done feasting on the Shinigami he had killed, which was further validation that Rukia wasn't at all ready for this job.

As it turned out Baiken didn't get to fight Shrieker immediately, rather Chad returned, without the parakeet, and ended up punching the Hollow right in the face, without being able to see the Hollow, and while he tried to fight Shrieker elsewhere, a fact that confirmed his eyes couldn't see the Hollow, he ended up hitting him again somehow. Baiken realized what she and the others were seeing, Chad must have had some sort of event that caused him to see into the Spiritual World, to a small degree anyway, as she was sure he could see a faint outline of sorts, a haze that he was having a hard time making out. The Hollow even took off and that only caused Chad to tear out a telephone pole, demonstrating his great strength, before he, with Rukia's guidance, swung it down on Shrieker and crushed the Hollow into the ground, thus weakening him so Baiken could, in an instant, slice open his mask if she so desired. As it turned out Shrieker had a power none of them knew about, he had these frog-like critters that could spew out leeches that he intended to stick to his targets, though as that happened Baiken and Pinkie vanished, rushing around the area that was around them as they slashed open the critters and diced up the leeches before they could be used.

During that short period of time Ichigo arrived and Rukia, sensing the opportunity, separated his soul so he could join in the battle, where he slashed through the critters as well as they wiped out the leeches that were spread around the area, in fact Shrieker tried to have them blow up and failed in the end.

Ichigo did have to ask the Hollow one question, as he had learned that Shrieker had killed the mother of the soul that was resting inside the parakeet, and, sure enough, he confirmed that he had murdered the soul's parent, in fact he had been a serial killer before his untimely demise, somewhat of a famous one. Apparently the boy's mother had been the last one he had gone after, he enjoyed the pain he caused upon her body while she tried to protect her son, and yet it was the son who was the death of him, by grabbing onto his shoelaces and caused him to fall to his death. His rage at dying like that caused his soul to transform into the Hollow that was in front of them, leading him to tear out the boy's soul and stuffed him into the parakeet, where he told him that he'd bring his mother back if he could survive a game of cat and mouse for three months, and that was years ago. He even frightened the boy into submission by telling him that his mother was waiting for him, and yet he took a sick satisfaction in doing such a thing to someone like that, something that made all three of them sick to their stomachs.

In fact Ichigo let himself be covered in a few leeches so he could grab them and then smashed his fist into Shrieker's mouth, breaking some of the Hollow's teeth in the process, and the Hollow realized that he couldn't set off the bombs without also blowing off his head, so Ichigo tore out his tongue.

"Woah, I didn't know you had this in you... I approve." Baiken remarked, though at the same time she and Pinkie stabbed the Hollow without delay, her blade driven into Shrieker's leg while Pinkie even got a blow on one of his arms, something that caused the beast to become fearful as he severed his own leg and tried to take flight, "Now, as one!"

"Go to Hell, you bastard!" Baiken, Ichigo, and Pinkie shouted, each of them slashing into Shrieker's mask before he had even a chance to flee, two of them cutting through the eye sockets while the third hit the forehead area while driving the Hollow into the ground in front of them.

In the next moment Shrieker let out a pained groan as something interesting happened, the air behind him shuddered as a large door frame, a massive gateway with two large skeletons, the upper half of them anyway, appeared in the space right that was behind the beast, the frame divided into two panels and each had a single skeleton on it.

"What in the world is that?" Ichigo asked, as this was the first time he had seen something like it, in fact he could tell that the girls were surprised by this discovery as well, meaning that none of them knew what it was, even though Pinkie wasn't even remotely intimidated by what they were seeing at the moment.

"What were you expecting? You three were quite specific in where his soul should go." Rukia remarked, in a manner that was akin to deadpanning, though she knew this was serious, especially after discovering that Shrieker had been a serial killer in his prior life, before becoming a Hollow, where she glanced at the girls before focusing on Ichigo and the gate, "These are the Gates of Hell, the fourth Realm that is where Hollows that committed sins while they were still living will be sent when they are slashed by a Shinigami's Zanpakuto... we can only purge the sins they committed while they were Hollows, but anything they did before becoming Hollows will be held against them."

"Basically, innocent souls would be sent to Soul Society... wicked souls go to Hell." Baiken stated, where they watched as the two skeletons pulled open the Gates of Hell, revealing a reddish realm beyond the borders of the Gates, all while Shrieker seemed to be screaming in pain as his soul was claimed by the dark realm, and it wasn't long before the Hollow was stabbed by a large blade, wielded by a massive blue hand.

Pinkie just bounced up to the Gates and peered inside Hell, since this might be their only chance to do so, spotting two odd figures, one was a tall dark purple furred Hollow, standing twice as tall as Shrieker, that had an odd black chain tattoo that went from it's right shoulder to it's left hip, and it had an odd circular ring on it's right arm. That had to be a Ghoul, as Kisuke had told them about the residents of Hell during one of their first conversations, and yet that put a smile on her face since it seemed like the ape Ghoul could be a challenge for Baiken. The other one was as tall as her and Baiken, a black and eerie white scaled figure with almost icy blue talons on her feet, clawed hands, the tips of her wings, and even the pair of scythe-like horns that were growing out of her head, it was like a humanoid or even an anthro dragon. As Pinkie noticed that the figure was wearing a crimson robe with a red sash, which almost looked like a Shinigami's attire, she knew one thing, this figure wasn't a Ghoul, it was a higher ranking member of Hell and seemed far more dangerous than the ape creature.

Shrieker was dragged into Hell by the figure who was holding onto the massive sword, where Pinkie stepped back as they watched as the Gates closed before their eyes, and when she waved at the Gates both skeletons seemed to freak out before the Gates crackled like glass and shattered, as if they never existed in the first place.

"Seems like things might be getting more exciting." Baiken commented, with a smile on her face, because now they could tell Kisuke that they had seen some of the denizens of Hell, all while she and Pinkie left Ichigo's group to deal with the soul that was inside the parakeet, since there was no reason for them to stick around right now.

She wasn't sure if they could do anything about the denizens of Hell, since it seemed hard to enter that Realm, but it was an interesting thing to see and it only made her that much more interested in what the future held for them, especially since Ichigo send the boy's soul to the Soul Society, making her look forward to what the coming days might offer them.