The Good Old Days.

'Welcome to Ohio' read the sign as Sal sped onwards above the interstate and hung a left at the nearest exit. The town he came to was, quite frankly, a shit hole.

One bar, a mess of homes, a barbers...all they needed were some cowboy hats an-no wait, he thought, there's a man with a cowboy hat. He touched down on a rooftop and surveyed the area. The place stank of Hollow, their festering spiritual residue lingering in the air. He'd found the right place after all.

"Guess i just have to wait..." He grumbled and got comfy for the long haul.

Night fall came and Sal hadn't felt the merest flicker of an unusual energy for miles. Maybe Gribb, an old acquaintance who had called in a favor, had gotten himself worked up for nothing. Although why anyone would care about some backwater town in the middle of Ohio was beyond him.

It was, as always, right at the moment when he was about to depart that the sky above him ripped open, dozens of black tears in the veil between the Hollow world and Humanities appeared and from them Hollow began to pour out.

"What the hell?" Sal said, why would this many Hollow be here, there went even enough Souls to feed twenty of them never mind 60+!

They swarmed the night skies like grotesque insects and then...they just...stopped. There was no ravenous piranha like attack, they all just watched...or were they waiting?

"Ve meet again...little Chinigami..." Sal recognized the accent before he recognized the Voice and his hand went to the circular scar on his left shoulder involuntarily.

"I'll be damned..."

The man he was expecting to see stepping into the foreground never came. What he saw instead was a Hollow, a muscular creature, its body an emerald green, arms ending in terrible talons, and a tail that was clearly a snake.

Its face was the only thing Sal recognized, although the Hollow mask covered the top of its head and continued down the side of its face like a helmet. Nikolai the Russian was back....and he looked pissed.

"Well well..." Sal said and thought about all the terrible things he was going to do to that double crossing bastard Gribb when he got back. "You look like shit Ruskie."

"Death...az ets advantages..." Nikolai responded, flexing his clawed hand into a fist a few times.

"I can certainly see that, i really can. So whats the deal here, revenge?" Sal began. "Because in case you hadn't figured it out yet, i didn't kill you and i DID kill the bitch that put you on ice." It was the truth, Sal had slain the telekinetic bitch and her twin brother months ago.

"Zo van dimensional..." Nikolai said and actually cracked a smile. The unholy host around him charged into action like the man...hollow....bount...thing just fired a starting gun.

Sal's Katana flew from its sheathe instantly and he slashed underhand at the closest attacker, spun on one foot and quickly shifted his grip before plunging the blade into the next.

He back flipped from the rooftop and gathered his his spiritual energy under him, gliding as it were through the air his Zanpakuto flashing out like a serpents tongue snatching another Hollow from the air.

Sal dove onto the hoard. He slashed one and kicked another so hard it became a tiny dot upon the horizon. He dodged a bite from another and snatched it into a headlock under one arm, the creature squirming to escape, while he hacked the sword into the join between shoulder and neck of one of its comrades.

A frog-like Hollow hammered a punch his way and Sal twisted his captive round and used it as a literal meat shield, the poor creature gasping in pain as the thunderous blow connected with its abdomen. He threw the wounded animal aside and dodged to the side of another blow, bringing his Katana down upon the striking arm, which fell to the ground below, and took a running jump before planting a headbutt on the white mask of his foe.

Three of the creatures came at him at once, Talons, Jaws and fists all aimed for a killing blow. They all connected.

The Hollow couldn't seem to understand what had just happened. The talons of one simply rested against Sal's chest, the jaws of another biting futility at his sword arm and the punch of the other resting, almost gently, against his forehead.

"You really think any of you can hurt me?" Sal said with a grin, he was bored now anyway. He cranked his spiritual power up to its maximum and the Hollow, what remained, were consumed in the red energy that exploded from his body. The pure unadulterated Spiritual Energies ripping them apart and then the crimson light subsided, leaving a ruby glow around the outline of his body.

"Well, its been fun Nikolai, but unless there's anything else i think i'll get the hell out of this dump." He called to the only remaining Hollow in the sky.

"You'av gottun better..." Nikolai seemed pleased, which didn't sit well with Sal. The guy was crazy strong in life, bugger knows how powerful he was now.

"I've had plenty of practice since you bit the big one mate..." Sal responded and sheathed his sword. "I don't have time to play with you, the worlds are about to go boom and i need to try and stop it."

"Zat iz why i am here..." The Hollow descended until he was a few feet from Sal, his snake like tail coiled up and looked over his shoulder and Sal recognized the green eyes staring from its serpents head.

"Hey...aren't you...wait...thats your doll!?" Sal said with mild confusion.

"Ah yez...we av...joined in death." Nikolai chuckled and stroked the serpents head. "I vish to join you..." The Hollow switched from jovial to all business in the blink of an eye.

"What makes you think you can help?" Sal asked, geniunly.

Nikolai raised his right arm out to the side and the area was suddenly flooded with a gargantuan spiritual pressure that impressed even Sal. Red light spiraled toward his hand, a vortex forming in his palm that coiled into a globe and then it fired.

The Cero was more than 60ft wide and it ripped a gouge into the county side so big you could have filled it with hundreds of 747 jumbo-jets.

"Point taken, welcome aboard." Sal nodded at the handiwork and then added. "No eating people, if you have to go do it in private. What they don't know wont hurt them."

"Agreed..." The Russian Hollow smiled.

"I don't think the humans will like this but fuckem, they don't exactly have alot of choice in the matter." Sal growled and then sped off toward the ocean where the Submarine Cruiser Damocles awaited.