Chapter 2: Evolution

SOUL SOCIETY (Undisclosed location)

Sosuke Aizen watched the events unfold in the human world through a screen. He had used Grand Fisher to remove Kurosaki Masaki from the life of his test subjects. He was very interested when the eldest one named Indra summoned reishi blades and attacked an experienced hollow like Grand Fisher. His surprise was not just because of Indra's ability rather it was the killing intent behind the weapon that interested him. To project such a killing intent at the age of nine was something most ordinary humans did not possess but yet his test subject did. How very interesting, he thought. Soon the fight spiraled out of hand and he watched as the soul of Indra get absorbed by a low class hollow like Grand Fisher. But he was satisfied as Masaki died.

"Ahh, captain Aizen. It seems your experiment is foiled and lost." Gin Ichimaru said with a creepy smile

"Nothing is lost forever Gin especially someone like Kurosaki Indra. I will be going to Hueco Mundo for some time. Record everything with Kurosaki Ichigo. I would like to observe him after his mother's death." Aizen said as he stood up from his seat and created a garganta directly into the home of hollows

Gin watched as the portal closing up with that same sick smile. He turned his head back to the screen and he lost his smile. He observed the kid who lost everything in a moment just because a sick bastard like Aizen was interested in the boy. He can only watch not act. Not yet at least but soon, he said to himself.

HUECO MUNDO

Grand Fisher broke out into an evil laugh as he escaped yet again from a shinigami. If he really wanted to evolve to a Menos he should have consumed other hollows but he found the suffering and pain he cause to the humans more pleasurable. This was why he went after human souls rather than hollows. Besides he will not have to worry about his evolution as he has been promised by lord Aizen to change him to an Arrancar if he managed to kill that human female. He was not complaining as he will be getting what he wanted and as an extra bonus he even managed to kill that arrogant kid. Seriously what did that stupid kid hoped to achieve by trying to attack him.

Suddenly his body became enveloped by a bright blue glow. A huge spiritual pressure began to fall around the Menos forest and Grand Fisher screamed as his body began to tear itself apart. A beam of blue coloured energy blasted into the sky from Grand Fisher and with it his screams died down.

A cloud of dust surrounded the immediate area. Many Gillian class hollows slowly moved towards the site in a sedate pace. A tail swished in the air and blasted away the dust cloud revealing a new hollow. The hollow had a tough white skin and a hollow hole at the centre of its chest and blue tribal markings spread across its body even on the mask. The wild spiritual pressure began to settle down slowly and a new hollow was born.

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After Indra was devoured by Grand Fisher he entered his inner world. Unlike last time his inner world was different. Now the skyscrapers were inverted from the sky and the floor now became a giant hole.

"There is still time to stop the coming change. Are you sure this is what you want?" a white copy of him asked

"I am sure. Are you ready?" Indra asked

"I Am." the white copy said with a smile

"Then let's begin." Indra said confidently

Suddenly he felt his spiritual pressure release from its confines and he was pulled out of his inner world. The next moment he looked around he saw a forest with dying trees around it. He felt raw power surround him hardening into his skin. He inspected his hands and body and it looked similar like ichigo's first hollow transformed body only with blue markings.

He heard the growls of giant Gillians as they neared his position. One of the Gillian began to form a cero in its mouth. Indra was not going to look stupid. He brought forth his right hand and let his instincts take control as he formed a blue coloured cero. With a sonic boom his cero travelled straight up and surgically cut through the red cero of the Gillian and blew it's head off. The Gillian fell upon the ground crushing many trees. Indra didn't wait a moment as he began to devour the giant hollow. Soon other Gillians began to converge upon him. Indra stood up and roared and his spiritual pressure raised three times that of the combined energy of the gillains that surrounded him. Indra jumped powering the movement with his reiryoku and smashed his fist through the mask of a gillian making it fall. Then he fired a cero that vaporized the head of another gillian. He ran along the ground and gathered Reiryoku in his claw like hands and with a roar he dragged his claws through another gillain's body and blood spilled upon the land from the wound as it fell dead. From there it was a slaughter as he killed every single gillian he saw and quickly began to consume them increasing his energy reserves exponentially.

Indra stood silently after he finished his meal but he was still not satisfied. The hunger for more still tried to claw at his mind and he remembered his ambition to be the most powerful being. He ran into the forest in search for more pray to find. He will not rest until he evolves, he silently promised.

Upon a nearby cliff all of this was being observed by Aizen. A small smile came to his face at this interesting turn of events. His experiment to create a transcendent being has now taken a very unique path. From now on he will be closely monitoring the progress of Ichigo and Indra. After all he can now observe the fastest and best path for transcendence himself. With that thought he returned to Soul Society.

KARAKURA TOWN

"Tell me Kisuke, is there any way Indra can escape from that hollow." Isshin asked as he made himself comfortable in Urahara's shop

"It is hard to tell. You must realize there is no other beings that we know of that have the powers of a Quincy, Shinigami and Hollow. Frankly we are completely blind to what your eldest two children are." Kisuke frankly admitted

"But still you must have certain guesses right." Isshin asked desperately

"I have but they may not be correct." Kisuke warned

"Tell me." Isshin said

"You must understand that the boundary between a shingami and a hollow is very delicate. Now, the hollow powers are poisonous to quincy powers. So the only possible way for Ichigo and Indra can survive if the quincy and shinigami powers get combined. Since Indra is inside a hollow anything can happen. There is a small chance Indra might have escaped Grand Fisher but in turn he would have become a hollow." Kisuke explained

"So what do we do now?" Isshin asked

"There is also a possibility of his shingami and Quincy powers to be lost during his transformation as a hollow. Either way we must wait for him to resurface. After that we can purify him." Kisuke said solemnly

"My Shinigami powers are not yet returning. Why is that?" Isshin asked

"Even if your powers suppressed the hollow infecting Masaki, I believe that hollow has now infected both Ichigo and Indra. So now your shinigami power is suppressing the hollow inside Ichigo. Should Ichigo unlock his own shinigami powers you will be able to recover your powers but until then all you will be able to do is sense and see spirits." Kisuke informed

"It is better that way. Of my powers return fast maybe it will attract more hollows to our house like it did with Masaki. Anyway I should go. The children are alone at home. Goodbye Kisuke. Tell Tessai and Yoruichi I said hi." Isshin said as he walked out of the shop

After the door closed behind Isshin a black cat jumped into the room through an open window.

"Why didn't you tell him Indra will be a lost cause now that he will be under Aizen's influence." Yoruichi asked

"Isshin is not a fool. He already knows it deep down. It is better for me to lie now. He already has enough pressure on his mind." Kisuke said

"Is there any hope for Indra?" Yoruichi asked

"If he manages to escape Grand Fisher and I am pretty sure that will happen and somehow also manages to recover his memories as a human then we have a chance. In fact that is our only chance." Kisuke said as he hid his eyes under the shade of his bowl hat.

HUECO MUNDO

Indra walked through a rocky terrain looking for more Gillian to feed on. He had no idea how much days or months have passed as it has no meaning in this dimension. What he knew was that he had consumed exactly seventy two Gillians since he came here. He can almost feel he was at the verge of evolution. Not only that his power was now much greater than a normal Adjuchas after all he can feel the power of other such hollows in the Menos forest. Unfortunately he had yet to encounter an Adjuchas class hollow to test his strength which was the reason why he was traveling through this terrain. He was actually tracking the spirit energy of an Adjuchas but he has yet to find it. Finally he came upon a cliff and he walked to edge of it and looked below. Down below he found his target along with someone else. Without a sound he began to climb down the cliff and moved towards the clearing.

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Nymeria Chacal was a female Adjuchas class hollow. Unfortunately for her female hollows are quickly killed off by other male hollows and only very few even survive to be an Adjuchas much less a Vasto lorde. She had even once met Tier Harribel when she was a regular hollow and was amazed by the power of the female Adjuchas. This chance meeting inspired Nymeria to evolve up to Adjuchas all by herself but by that time Tier Harribel had evolved to a Vasto Lorde and is now residing in Las Noches.

Then her goal had changed to become a Vasto Lorde but now her goals went up in smoke. She was careless as she targeted a much stronger Adjuchas than herself and paid the price as the rival Adjuchas began to crush her head to the ground. If a hollow takes a bite of flesh from another hollow one will lose the ability to evolve further. Now she was beaten down and if it bites her she can never reach Vasto Lorde. She was desperate for a way out but her strength began to leave her.

"It was foolish of you little hollow to attack me. I am the right hand of the guardian of Menos forest. Do you really think a lowly hollow like you can even compare to me. Hahahahaha..." the bird shaped hollow roared in laughter and he drew his arm back to strike her.

Suddenly out of nowhere a blue cero blasted the hollow away from her. She turned her head and saw an ordinary hollow walking towards her. Even if the hollow was not an Adjuchas it's spiritual pressure was tremendous. Suddenly the other Adjuchas roared out in challenge and rushed at the blue one. But the blue hollow ducked a punch and caught the Adjuchas tail and smashed it to the ground. Then it used it's clawed hand and pierced the head of the Adjuchas killing it on spot.

Nymeria was stunned by the speed and strength of this regular hollow. It has not even become a Menos and it was already strong enough to kill an Adjuchas like it was nothing.

"Who are you?" Nymeria asked as she stood up

But the hollow paid her no mind and began to eat the fallen Adjuchas. Halfway through its meal she saw the hollow get surrounded by a strong blue energy. A horrendous spiritual pressure fell upon her forcing her to kneel. She raised her head with some effort and watched as the hollow raised its hand and roared and for a moment she couldn't see anything. With a boom the energy blasted outwards uprooting the surrounding trees and she had to pierce her hands to the ground to hold on. Soon the colossal energy died down and what she saw took her breath away.

She knew the hollows evolved in stages. When human soul dies and become a hollow it is a regular type of hollow with blind hunger and nothing else. But then a large number of such hollows will combine together to form the first evolutionary stage of Menos called Gillian. A Gillian after formed will have to battle itself with the different minds of the hollows it is made of and the one that emerges in victory will be able to evolve into Adjuchas. The Adjuchas will have to feed continuously until the other hollow souls could no longer affect its mind and after attaining sufficient energy it will evolve into a Vasto Lorde, the final form of Menos. At least that was how normal hollows evolved.

She looked at the hollow before her once again and she still could not believe it. The hollow now had a white mask with horns and black lines stretching vertically across the eyes. The tail that it had in its initial stage has now vanished completely. A long mane of black hair bellowed behind its head in the turbulent winds. Its claw like fingers were now black in colour and black stripes now travelled away from its hollow hole at the chest to different parts of its body. The spiritual pressure from this thing was massive. She couldn't even get a full read on its energy either. This form was definitely that of a Vasto Lorde.

The hollow began to walk towards her. She watched as its crystal blue eyes watching her struggle to stand up. Suddenly the spiritual pressure that pinned her down let up and she found she could stand up but for some reason she stayed on her knees.

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Indra watched the jackal masked hollow stay on it's knees. He was about to kill it but since it was on it's knees and bowing it's head in submission he decided to hear it out. Maybe it can be useful, he thought

"What is your name hollow?" Indra asked coldly

"Nymeria Chacal, my lord." the hollow said

"A female hollow… That is quite rare is it not? Now what shall I do with you." Indra said as he observed her energy levels and found it to be close to an evolution

"Your power is magnificent my lord. Let me serve you master." Nymeria begged in fear

"Now why would you want to serve me?" Indra asked amused by her reauest

"Because of your power master. I have felt the power of Vasto Lorde class hollows before. Your power exceeds that by a large margin. Infact I am not able to sometimes feel your spirit energy. In this world the strong rules the weak. You are strong so let me serve you." Nymeria said as she bowed her head

Indra put his clawed finger underneath the chin of Nymeria's mask and made her look at him.

"Do you know a place where other Adjuchas gather in numbers?" Indra asked

"I know master." Nymeria answered

"Good lead me there." Indra said as he removed his hand from under her mask

"Master…" Nymeria hesitantly called

"What?" Indra asked

"What is your name master?" Nymeria asked uncertainly

"Indra. Just Indra. Let's go." Indra said

"Hai." Nymeria agreed as she stood up and she began to lead her master towards the Guardian of Menos forest and his ilk.

SOUL SOCIETY (Squad 5 barracks)

"Captain, you have a visitor." Hinamori said

"Who is it Momo." Aizen asked

"It's captain Ichimaru. Shall I bring him here." Momo asked

"Yes let him in." Aizen said as he arranged his paperwork and put them on a shelf. Even an all powerful Shinigami like him cannot escape a primordial entity like paperwork. He has to do it all by himself. One of the things he will change in the new world he will be creating.

"There has been a development with our new friend." Gin said as he entered the room and closed the door

"Oh. What happened?" Auzen asked

"Indra has evolved to become a Vasto Lorde and by the looks of it a very strong one at that." Gin said with a creepy smile

"Where is he now?" Aizen asked as he pushed his glasses up

"He is still in the Menos forest. It seems he is going after the guardian of Menos forest." Gin said with the same smile

"Hmm. Sooner or later he will be coming to the surface. It seems I must have a word with my Espada." Aizen said with a calm smile

"So you were planning to make him part of the Espada from the beginning." Gin mused out loud

"Oh no. I don't think he will be part of the Espada. No he has a more important role to play than that." Aizen said

"What role would that be captain Aizen?" Gin asked

"It completely depends on Indra. Will he disappoint me or will he surprise me. Let's wait and see." Aizen said with a smile

"Then I shall take my leave." Gin said standing up

Aizen watched as Ichimaru left his room. That calm smile on his face slipped away and he sat deep in thought. He was thinking about whether he should wait until he get the other Hogyoku from Urahara to turn Indra. Maybe it would not be needed as Indra has already achieved Vasto Lorde form less than two years. Maybe Indra will reach at a level he is capable of with a little help from him.

But before he do that he must analyze his character. Then only he can understand which approach to take with Indra, Aizen thought.