Heroes

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Uh oh…” Rukia whispered. 

“Ha ha haa!!” he laughed. “NOW try to hit me!! Well, tough guy? Now what?”

Chad just stood there, looking around questioningly. I wanted to yell at him, but I’d lost too much blood; for the moment I just needed to sit if I planned on seeing tomorrow.

“Don’t just stand there!” Rukia angrily yelled at Chad. “RUN!! He’s taken to the air!!”

“Hey, new girl…” Chad replied dazedly. “You…can see ghosts?”

“There’s no time to talk!” she exclaimed. “We can’t reach…”

“Where is he?” he asked bluntly, ignoring the fact that Rukia was talking. 

“WHAT?” Rukia asked, looking at Chad as if he had four eyes and had sprouted a tail. 

“You said it’s in the air.” Chad seemed extremely calm and nonchalant about this pressing time of mortal danger. “Which direction?”

“What difference does it make? What can you…” Rukia was interrupted by Chad picking up a telephone pole as if he could lift it. 

“This.”

This whole time, the Hollow was ignoring us on the ground and was lost in his own sick, twisted murder fantasies. “Ha ha ha!” he shrieked. “So many CHOICES!! I could swoop down like a hawk, or do a nosedive, or…wha?”

The Hollow was interrupted by Chad snapping the pole at the bottom and easily holding it.

“Well?” he said nonchalantly, looking cooly back at Rukia. “Which way?”

She was still dumbfounded, frozen in her place. So I figured it was my turn to take the reins on the situation. 

“In front of you!” I croaked. “Bring it strait down!” Losing that much air in my condition made me go all light-headed, so I had to close my eyes as Chad swung and made a direct hit on the Hollow, knocking him flat on his face, making him seem soundly defeated. 

Rukia gained her composure and walked over to the crushed enemy with a smug look on her face. “Give up,” she said. “Another Shinigami will be here soon to finish you. And don’t make trouble for yourself.”

“Heh heh…” the Hollow snickered mischeviously.

“Something funny?” Rukia, annoyed, asked.

“Heh heh…it’s just that…aren’t you curious?” he brought his head up from the ground and looked at us. “About how I managed…to eat TWO Soul Reapers?”

Rukia looked at him questioningly. 

“Heh, see, that’s why you Soul Reapers…KEEP GETTING MUNCHED!”

Suddenly we were surrounded by a HUGE group of mini-Hollows, each with an oddly shaped head, like the brain was stored in the very back, tiny bodies, and seemed to have little conciousness. They slammed Rukia and Chad onto the ground, obviously ignoring me, something I took no offense to. I mean, if I were them and I saw how bloody and bruised I was, I wouldn’t even begin to think of me as a threat. 

“Heh heh heh…” the Hollow cackled. “Now THERE’S a reversal of fortune! You Shinigami are so slow…you guys never suspected that I might have friends.” He looked at the two smugly. “Did I ever say I was a loner!?” Ha ha HA!!” He examined the three of us closely, as if he was trying to make a serious decision. “So, who to eat first!? Guess you’re dessert, girlie,” he said, looking at me.   

Chad grunted, a low, quiet sound that eventually turned into an all-out yell as he jumped up, throwing all the minis off his body. 

“What the--!?” the Hollow shrieked, just as surprised as we all were. “The crazy fool!! Thinks he can beat me with muscle alone, the meathead…woah!”