Shrieker

Shrieker is a Hollow that was an infamous serial killer in life and a villain from Bleach.

Life and Becoming a Hollow
A few years before the storyline of Bleach, Shrieker was a serial killer and murdered 7 or 8 people and was constantly able to escape the police. His last victim would be the mother of a boy named Yuichi Shibata, stabbing her numerous times as she protected her son. Eventually he followed her out onto a balcony where he was about to stab her one last time. But Yuichi grabbed his shoelaces, causing him to trip and fall off the balcony, twenty stories to the ground. Eventually he was reborn as a Hollow with a grudge against Yuichi and decided to use him to make his feeding on souls more enjoyable. Shrieker took the boy’s soul out of his body, placing it inside a cockatiel and told him if he could run from him for 3 months, the Hollow would bring his mother back to life. Shrieker obviously didn’t have any such ability, no creature did, and was only doing this to get more souls to feed on. The Hollow fed on the soul of anyone who came into ownership of the cockatiel and two Shinigami who tried to help Yuichi.

Battle with Ichigo
Eventually the cockatiel came into the possession of Ichigo Kurosaki’s friend, Yasutora “Chad” Sora. Shrieker began stalking Chad and eventually caused a car crash, leaving a wound on Chad’s back that resembled a hand, tipping off Ichigo and Rukia Kuchiki that there was a Hollow involved. After Chad left the Kurosaki family’s clinic, Shrieker caught up with him and Yuichi and began chasing them. Rukia started to pursue Chad, but Shrieker turned his attention to her instead, only for her to escape his clutches and the Hollow noted it was interesting that she could clearly see him. Rukia tried a kido spell, but it did nothing to him and he realized that Rukia was a Shinigami, telling her he’d already devoured two Shinigami that tried to help Yuichi’s soul pass on. Rukia asked Shrieker why he pursued Yuichi, but he just replied that he’d be more inclined to answer if she let him have a bite and pinned her to a wall. However Chad returned, managing to punch the Hollow in the face, but the human was unable to see Shrieker, though he managed to punch him again and the Hollow spread his wings and took to the air. Shrieker taunted Chad and Rukia for being unable to reach him in the air, but Chad, with direction from Rukia, managed to strike the Hollow with a telephone pole. Shrieker was smashed to the ground and Rukia told him to give up since someone would arrive to finish him soon. But he laughed and said that this was the reason so many Shinigami lost to Hollows, they underestimated the Hollows. Small frog-like creatures leapt out from behind the walls around the street they were in, pinning Rukia and Chad to the ground. However Chad was able to throw all the frog creatures off of him and kick the rest off of Rukia as Shrieker took flight, higher than before so Chad couldn’t reach him at all. Rukia had Chad throw her at Shrieker, only for the Hollow to have one of the frog creatures appear on his shoulder and spit purple leech-like objects at her. They stuck to Rukia’s body, causing her to fall to the ground and Chad managed to catch her. However Shrieker landed and used his tuning fork-like tongue to send out a sonic wave, making the leeches explode. The Hollow then revealed he had Yuichi, having bought time to capture him earlier, with three of his frog creatures surrounding the cage with leech bombs in their mouths, ready to blow. Shrieker told them he wanted to hunt Rukia alone and Chad had to stay where he was or Yuichi would be blown to bits. Rukia complied and began running with Shrieker and the frog creatures in hot pursuit. He managed to get more of his leech bombs on her and set them off, making her start bleeding. Shrieker asked her how long she was going to run from him and she could attack him if she wanted. Rukia suddenly stopped and the Hollow asked her if she’d given up, to which she replied that she had no more reason to run and she’d take that counter-attack offer. Ichigo showed up and introduced himself as a substitute Shinigami. Rukia was able to get Ichigo out of his body and he attacked Shrieker. They began fighting, until finally Ichigo managed to get his sword on the Hollow’s neck. He got Shrieker to tell him his history and the deal he’d made with Yuichi. Ichigo began to shake in anger, allowing the Hollow to push away his Zanpakuto and leap into the air. Shrieker sent out more of his frog creatures, but Ichigo grabbed them, squashing them and leapt at the Hollow. He punched his hand, which was full of the leech bombs, through Shrieker’s teeth, leaving him unable to detonate them without blowing his own head to bits. Ichigo then ripped out Shrieker’s tongue and slashed at his face, defeating him, and because he had committed such evils in life, the gates of Hell appeared behind him and pulled him inside.

Return from Hell
Shrieker was reborn as a Togabito and eventually managed to return to the Human World, attacking numerous Shinigami and devouring them. He attacked Zennosuke Kurumadani and managed to easily fight the Shinigami, before asking him if he’d had enough. However Rukia showed up, freezing Shrieker with her Zanpakuto, but he quickly escaped the ice. Recognizing Rukia, the Togabito attacked her, saying he’d known a rampage in Karakura Town would draw her out. The Shinigami asked Shrieker how he knew her, to which he replied that he was offended and told her to look around. The alley they were in was suddenly lit up by the eyes of small frog-like creatures and Rukia recognized them as Shrieker’s minions. He confirmed that it was him and the Shinigami didn’t believe it, demanding to know how he’d escape Hell. However Shrieker just sent his minions to attack her, but Rukia managed to evade using Shunpo. Kurumadani tried to foolishly help her, but when he slashed at one of the frog creatures, it let loose its leech bombs. Shrieker made them detonate, forcing Rukia to save Kurumadani, before resuming her fight with the Togabito. She found his abilities were much greater and eventually he managed to catch her in a large explosion from his leech bombs. However Shrieker was briefly apprehended by the special ability of Kurumadani’s Zanpakuto, Tsuchinamazu, but managed to free himself by sending his leech bombs at Kurumadani. The Shinigami told Rukia to run, but Shrieker grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to the wall, saying he was different than before. Rukia asked him what he was and Shrieker explained that he was now a Togabito. The Shinigami said there was no way a Togabito could escape from Hell, but he just said he’d done it to get revenge on her. But then Renji Abarai intervened and Shrieker angrily attacked him for taking away his kill. Renji managed to evade, but couldn’t land a hit on the Togabito and eventually released his Bankai, hitting Shrieker with a Hikotsu Taiho, before Rukia slashed his back. This finally defeated the Togabito and as he fell to the ground, a portal to Hell opened and Shrieker fell inside, swearing he’d keep coming back until he had his revenge. However this was all an experiment by Gunjō, a stronger Togabito working with a group of other Togabito determined to escape Hell. He deemed the experiment a success and since Shrieker was of now more use, he was silenced.

Personality
Shrieker is highly intelligent as opposed to most other Hollows, but like most other Hollows, his primary drive is to kill and feed on souls, but he had his love of murder even while alive. He is very manipulative, using Yuichi’s desire to see his mother again to make his killing spree more enjoyable. Shrieker has a habit of using underhanded moves in battle and likes to add sadistic twists to make his hunt for souls more fun.

Powers
Shrieker possesses some level of spiritual power and as a Hollow, feeds on souls to sustain and power himself. He controls small frog-like creatures that he calls his “artillery”, which come from his body and have no sense of pain or will. These creatures have enough strength to hold people down and can spit streams of purple, leech-like bombs that stick to whatever they hit. Shrieker can then make the leech bombs explode by vibrating his tuning fork-like tongue to send out a wave of sound. The bombs can also go off if the frog creatures are slashed, which causes the leech bombs to spill out of them. Shrieker can also fly with bat wings that are normally sheathed in his arms. As a Togabito, he possesses the same powers, but is more powerful with greater strength and speed. Shrieker can also fire his leech bombs from his own body as well as his frog minions.

Trivia

 * Shrieker appears as a minor enemy and playable character in Bleach: Dark Souls along with his minions, which are called “familiars” in the game. In Bleach: The 3rd Phantom, Shrieker and his minions appear as minor enemies. However his minions are treated as normal Hollows and Shrieker is referred to as “Screamer”.
 * When Rukia was using bounty credit to pay at the Urahara shop, it was stated that Shrieker had a bounty of 5000.
 * Shrieker is one of the few Hollows that is known to remember his life while alive.