I awoke in a desolate world, it was barren from the west to the east, from the north and the south. grey stone made up the ground. I took one look at my body and knew exactly where I was and what I was. I was a hollow, a soul who couldn't leave earth and lost its mind, and I was in Hueco Mundo, the Hollow World.

I was long, maybe 20 ft in total, and serpentine, my mask as a hollow reflecting that, as I had fangs and could feel I had poison but I don't why. I looked like an albino black mamba wearing a mask of a different snake species, and I actually liked it, I felt unique.

I slithered my way through the Hollow World, but that was when I found a strange rift nearby. I could smell fresh souls on the other side, my instincts as a hollow telling me to eat. I quickly resisted that notion and entered the rift, ending up in a small town in japan, no idea what town.

When I finally exited, I noticed a fellow Hollow attacking some humans, and in my anger at them, I charged at them and bit into their hide, injecting my poison into it. It stumbled back, shaken by my sudden attack, before growing sluggish and then crumbling to dust, as I felt my body grow stronger.

However when I noticed someone watching me, I began to flee the scene, only to find myself on the floor nearly unconscious. When I finally fell under, I heard this.

"You a curious little snake aren't you?"

***

Waking from my unconsciousness, I found myself in a deep pit, unable to move, unable to even hiss.

"Hey there little snake, You interested me when you protected those kids, so I decided to hide you from the soul society, don't worry, I know a Hollow's instincts, I'll provide you some lesser hollows next time. I should probably mention that as long as you don't want to die, you'll be stuck here."

I felt my bindings lessen as a simple metal grate was placed over my prison, finally able to move, I curled myself into a pile and began thinking about my captors.

<They seem to care for me, but due to my volatile nature as a hollow, they fear me.>

<Maybe I can earn their trust over time then.>

As I formulated a basic plan of action, The metal grate opened above me and a small dog like hollow fell into my prison. Feeling a bit starved, I quickly snapped it up and found my body growing stronger once more.

<This is interesting, seems eating Hollows can increase my strength, I'll need to get used to this, but this means I can grow stronger by devouring fellow hollows.>

"How was that little snake, tasty, and by the way your name is now Shea, I've gotta have something to call you."

Looking up, I caught a glimpse of my captor, he looked like a blonde japanese man wearing a green striped hakata, and a similar hat. I couldn't see much of his face but even seeing his form was enough for me to fear going near him. it was like I was a simple snake and he was the stalking hawk.

<Maybe one day it will be different.>

***

It didn't.

The only change over the past month was that I grew to be Menos Grande, though most of the hollows I ate to achieve that had less intelligence than a dog so I didn't have to fight my mind to achieve the Adjucha rank of Menos Grande, and I was finally being given more challenging hollow to eat.

"Hello Shea, Hows Life?"

*Hisss*

"Yeah yeah, Here I caught this one snooping outside, teach him a lesson he'll never forget."

Suddenly, a hollow nearly to the Menos Grande stage fell into my cell, after becoming larger, I gained speech capabilities, but I never used them as I never had to. This was a perfect time to test it out.

"Hello I am Sshea, and you have angered someone very powerful, even I fear him."

"Who! oh just a weakling, of course you'd be afraid, but me? never."

"Hmp, I'm no weakling, in fact you're the one whosse weaker."

I noticed my voice was distinctly female with a lisp on my S's, really leaning into that snake theme huh me. Well I know now I was female in my last life as a human.

"What! I'll prove to you I, The Dark Knight, am even greater than you, you sly serpent!"

I noticed this hollow was centaur-like, with a blade for a right hand, his mask shaped like a helmet. In a flash I adjusted my size to be slightly larger than my default, and wrapped my body around him tightly.

"You Sshall not insult a Menoss Grande, know your place trassh!"

I bit him then and filled him with my, what I now know as, Spirit poison, it directly harms the soul but doesn't destroy it. He rapidly began to look worse and worse before falling over and turning into black smoke. I absorbed the smoke, feeling my body grow and change.

my body shrunk to maybe half my original size, my formerly limbless body sprouted two arms, both having sharp claws, but the fina change was that my torso and head became slightly more human shaped, though a cobra's hood sprouted from the back of my head ruining the look.

I was now officially an Adjucha rank Menos Grande, before I was just a high ranking Gillian, now I am even stronger. I doubt I'll ever reach Vasto Lorde, as I feel that I must fulfill certain conditions to become one.

"Ah! Shea! You reached Menos Grande! I fear I may lose control over your actions soon."

"Hello, my captor, sso can you tell me how you even ssubdued a hollow if you're ssupposedly a normal human."

"So you can speak, well I used to be a shinigami simple as that, and it's Urahara, here I'll expand your cell, just refrain from harming my employees."

"Fine Fine, I don't enjoy killing humans anyway."

Suddenly a chain fell from the ceiling, and in response I climbed it with my still snake lower half, reaching the top in a matter of seconds. At the top was Urahara, and three strangers I didn't care for, even if I was half my former size I was still 10 ft tall, so I naturally gave off an intimidating presence.

"Oh and Shea, these are the people who brought you in, they are Kurosaki Ichigo, Ishida Uryu, and Sado Yasutora. Say hello."

"Hello, I don't care for Human souls so don't worry, me and Urahara have known each other since I was born in Hueco Mundo and escaped to the human world."

"Shea here has only ever eaten Hollow, even when I watched her exit Hueco Mundo for the first time and battle, she only ever protected the humans, never even seemed to think of them as food."

The three boys still appeared stiff, though the Ichigo boy seemed more confident.

"So you mean to tell me, Mr. Urahara, that you have successfully found a Hollow who isn't pure evil?"

"I never ssaid I wassn't evil, jusst that I don't eat humanss."

"Yeah Shea still hates me and most of the soul society, she just doesn't actively care enough to actually do anything."

"I'm currently trying to figure out how to become a Vassto Lorde."

With that everyone but me tensed up.

"Erm why?"

"I want to be free, and I have a feeling I would get that if I can achieve Vassto Lorde."

"Well from what I heard it was different for every hollow."

"I have a feeling that mine requiress the help of a sshinigami'ss zanpakuto."

With the mention of that, everyone including me gulped in anxiety.