A/N: Hey guys! I'm so glad to have this chapter out. I've got good news: college may have rolled around for me, but I'm doing well in all of my classes (including the one that caused me problems last year), so updates might be coming faster.
Also, I can't believe I've never talked about this this entire time but I'm pretty excited for the Thousand Year Blood War Arc getting animated! I remember being so disappointed with the circumstances of how the manga had to end, but hopefully Kubo is able to tell the story he wanted to tell this time around. I'm especially looking forward to Jugram fighting Uryu.
On another light note, I found out that somebody made a TV Tropes page for this fic! I am so grateful for that. If any of you feel like adding to it, feel free to embark on that journey!
But here's the chapter!
Chapter 29: Testing the Waters
"What the heck is that?"
The cause of all of the commotion was a. . . something? It had the abdomen of a cockroach, six large, hulking human arms, four gangly, odd legs (not unlike a spiders), a pair of giant, feathery wings, the head of a crocodile (or maybe an alligator?), with about a hundred or so beady eyes littered about its face and jaw, and a body covered in some type of scales.
Oh yeah. And the thing was the size of a skyscraper.
There was also that.
Danny gulped as he took the being in. "I'm getting too old for this. . ."
His ghost sense had been triggered, but he was sensing Reiatsu from the creature. . . and ghostly energy? At least, he thought it was ghostly energy he was sensing. It was hard to tell considering he couldn't really sense a ghost's energy so much as he could recognize its proximity. However, he could sense how Reiatsu could be altered by ectoplasmic energy; he'd gotten enough experience sensing his own energy. The giant standing before him reminded him a lot of Dani, Vlad, and his own energies. He didn't have the slightest clue what to make of it, but he had a feeling it wasn't anything good.
"Hey, big guy!" Danny shouted. "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size? Er. . . strength!"
The giant turned around, making eye contact with the halfa. The thing's eyes became wide as dinner plates before it began to open up its maw with a horrible creaking sound. Danny raised his fist, bracing himself with morbid curiosity. Just when the creature's jaw had opened unbelievably wide, it unleashed an ear-splitting screech.
It was almost enough to disorient him against the wave of sharp projectiles heading his way. Danny quickly turned intangible, weathering the torrent of shards spewing from the thing's mouth. The torrent soon ended, and Danny returned to his solid state. He winced as he looked back at the cloud of metal, now a twinkle in the distance.
He could only hope that it didn't cause too much damage. He'd hate for Danny Phantom to get a bad rep worldwide.
"I gotta get in close somehow," Danny muttered. "Maybe it'll help if I cut this overgrown Frankenstein down to size."
Flying, still intangible, Danny returned to tangibility and blasted at the monster's leg. The Ghost Ray hit with a long hiss, shimmering on the creature's hide before disappearing with a pop. There wasn't a scratch on it.
Danny blinked in surprise. "Alright. . . Didn't see that one coming."
He didn't see the kick coming either.
Sailing through the city, Danny crashed through a building and rolled to a stop on the other side. He barely took note of the screaming civilians now running away from the ruined building thanks to the pain coursing through his body. It felt like every bone in his body had gotten shattered and then reduced to mush. He winced as he yanked his broken nose back into place, letting his quick healing factor take care of the rest.
"Blegh!" Danny spat out bits of grass and mud from his mouth. A quick use of intangibility quickly got rid of the blades of grass and clumps of mud that had gotten stuck on his person. "Alright, no more Mr. Nice Guy!"
Danny blasted off for the creature, thrusting a hand at the creature's many eyes. The attack was swallowed whole by the creature's gigantic maw, which slammed shut with thunderous force. He paused his flight, blinking at the pulsing green veins that had begun to run along the thing's form. Soon enough, the lights died down and veins became less prominent.
"Alright, you like to eat, huh? How about you have another?"
Danny fired another Ghost Ray only this time, he made a finger gun and fired off a beam behind the blast. The first attack met the same fate as the one that'd come before it, sucked down the monster's gullet, but the beam hit true exploded right in the back of the monster's throat. Well, it should've exploded. Instead, the beam seemed to absorb itself into the monster's meaty skin. Its veins pulsed green once again as it stared emotionlessly onward.
"OK, maybe I should stop feeding the glutton," Danny muttered. "Let's try something more slicy!"
Danny felt the black rings float over him as he shifted into his Shinigami form. He unsheathed his zanpakuto with one smooth motion as he gripped his handle with both hands. "Alright! Reap, Karitoriki!"
His sword shifted into his Shikai scythe in a brilliant blaze of fire. He charged at the giant once again, this time aiming for his many arms. To his surprise, though, the giant reached for him with unreal speed.
Danny flew under the first grab, squinting against the wind from the failed grab. He didn't dare to close his eyes while being that close to his fast enemy. Zipping around another wild grab, Danny doubled back and spun his scythe into one of the thing's biceps, the blade jamming into the skin. The fires spread along its being, climbing up its arm at breakneck speeds. The giant didn't but it didn't make a sound.
Instead, the thing's body grew spikes. Danny's body reflexively made holes where the spikes would have impaled him. He bit back a curse as he flew backwards, gaining welcome distance away from the thing.
He observed it carefully as the spikes slowly retreated back into its skin as if it never had been there. "Just what the heck is that thing?"
"That's what I'd like to know."
Danny glanced over to see Dani floating, not too far from him. She had her eyes trained on the thing with eyes alight with curiosity. "Any ideas for what it could be?"
Danny scowled as he turned back to the giant. "You mean besides a giant pain in my butt? A nightmare. And that's putting it nicely."
Dani sucked her teeth in at that. "That bad?"
"Yeah. Just so you know-"
"-Don't shoot Ghost Rays at it. Yeah, I heard your thoughts a couple minutes ago. Maybe we could try Kido?"
Danny shrugged. "It's worth a shot."
He raised a free palm at the thing's chest, molding his Reiryoku. Forgoing the usual incantation, Danny shouted, "Hado #33: Sôkatsui!"
A blue wave of fiery Reiatsu surged towards the giant. It hit its target with a deafening explosion, sending smoke cascading from the thing's abdomen. Danny almost cheered with delight. . . until the thing's veins pulsed green and the smoke receded. There wasn't a scratch on the monster.
"Oh, come on!" Danny exclaimed. "What does it take to beat this thing?!"
"Hey, Danny?"
Danny glanced over at his ghostly friend, trying to keep his annoyance out of his tone. "Yeah?"
"Do you feel any of the powers from that thing?"
Danny blinked in surprise. Now that he thought about it, he didn't feel anything different, aside from maybe a bit more Reiryoku than he'd once had. That almost never happened when he used his Shikai ability. There would always be some part of his opponent's soul that would be taken and with it some of their abilities. He'd only found out about that after he'd left Soul Society after stopping Rukia's execution. He'd gotten some of Yumichika's Shikai abilities. But with the giant, he only seemed to gain Reiryoku. 'The only time I can remember this happening was with the Bounts. . .'
"Whatever it is doesn't have a Soul, then," Dani rationalized. "It does have a healing factor, though."
"Huh?"
"The stab wound you gave it is gone."
Sure enough, there wasn't a scratch on it. The formerly deep gash was now rough, scaly skin. Even more surprising, the fire that had wreathed its person had wilted away. Danny knew that his powers had been acting odd lately, but something told him that he didn't have anything to do with the mishap. "This thing doesn't have a soul, and it has a damn good healing factor. Well, this sucks."
"Not to worry, I've got just the thing!" Dani held her zanpakuto out in front of her, in a double-handed grip. "Rip to pieces, Messatsu!"
A blinding light emanated out from Dani's zanpakuto as it bathed the battlefield. When the light died down, Dani's Shikai skull gloves were on full display. "Cover me!"
With that Dani flew off to meet the giant.
"Here goes nothing," Danny muttered as he trailed behind her. Spinning his scythe, he launched twin fireballs at the giant's eyes, hoping to stun it. As expected, however, the beast simply opened up its maw and ate the attacks, pulsing green with each meal.
Dani used the advantage to tap two of its arms. She retreated as quickly as she came to avoid a cavalcade of spikes that erupted from her previous location. Danny continued launching ghostly fireballs to try and cover Dani's retreat until she was by his side once more.
"Do you think it worked?" Dani asked.
Danny cocked his head. "I don't know. . . I can still sense him, and he doesn't seem unstable or anything."
"Hey, I think it's working!"
Danny did another once-over of the giant. It still looked fine and kicking. "Huh? I don't see anything different."
"Look at his bicep! The middle one on the right side!"
Danny squinted at it and noticed that it was flaking a bit. However, it seemed to heal back just as fast as the scaly flesh was falling off. "Darn, I don't think it's working."
"Maybe it's like Jin's healing factor and we have to overwhelm it?"
"Maybe. . ."
They wouldn't be able to beat the thing with Kido or ghostly attacks. He had a feeling that anything energy based would just go to the monster's insatiable appetite. It seemed only to serve to bolster the thing's already monstrous Reiryoku, which was already something they definitely couldn't afford to deal with. They'd have to bring the fight to it and try their luck with physical attacks. The tricky part would be avoiding the spikes. . .
"Alright Dani," Danny started, "I'll try hacking tall, dark, and troublesome while you keep trying to disintegrate it. Hopefully we can find a weakness somewhere."
"On it!"
"Just what the heck is going on down there, Mr. Hat 'n Clogs?!" an irate Jinta asked. "It sounds like a stampede of hollows or something! I can't focus on sweeping the stupid compound!"
Urahara loosely fanned himself as he peered over his audience. The Fenton's had dropped by to train Jazz and stay updated on the Aizen situation. As usual, Jinta, Yoruichi, Tessai, and Ururu were in attendance. Jinta had barged in not long after the first shockwaves had started. Ururu had stumbled in shortly after, trying in vain to calm the child down. Nevertheless, Urahara thought it fitting that the boy got some kind of an answer along with everyone else. Jazz herself could barely fight the urge to be as impatient as Jinta with her baby brother and Dani out there. Standing around doing nothing and having no idea what was happening was absolutely maddening. "It seems Dani and Danny have their hands full. But from what I can sense, your precious Danielle-chan is doing just fine, my dear boy! No need to worry!"
Jinta's face went beet red as he decided the wall looked more interesting. "I have no idea what you're talking about, ya weirdo!"
"Do you think it's from Aizen?" her mother asked.
"Man, if it is, I don't even want to imagine what else that psycho has cooked up!" her father exclaimed, smacking his fist into his palm. ". . . Although, they might be fun to study!"
"Focus, Jack!"
"Right! Sorry, Mads!"
Urahara kept his eyes emotionless as he dropped his hand, clutching his fan, to his side. "I'm not sure. I'd need a bit of a closer look before I could say, but this does seem like an experiment of sorts, if what I'm sensing is any indication."
"Does this mean that you'll be witnessing this battle, Urahara-sama?" Tessai asked.
Urahara nodded his head. "It'd be nice to stretch my legs again, for one! It also helps that we have multiple scientific minds to assess this new threat."
Jazz scowled. There wasn't a doubt in her mind about what would happen next: they would demand that she stay at the shop while they fought. It sickened her being looked over while Danny, her baby brother, would be fighting without her. Even Dani, a girl who she was enjoying thinking of as her younger sister, was allowed to fight.
'Because she's strong enough.'
Jazz pushed the voice to the back of her mind. "Can I go too?"
Everyone turned to look at Jazz who was looking determinedly at her mother. Her mom shook her head as she gave her daughter an apologetic smile that did little to ease her mind. "Sorry, Jazz, but this fight is a bit too much for you right now. You've only just begun your training."
"But Mom, I've helped Danny before-"
"No, Jazz. Not with something like this. Judging by that thing's Reiryoku, it could give some Captains a headache. The ghosts that you and Danny have fought pale in comparison. Sit this one out, your father and I can handle it, sweetie."
"Yeah, Jazzy-pants! We'll be back in a jiffy!"
Jazz wanted to object, but she sighed in defeat. There wasn't any use. Deep down she did know that there was nothing for her to do. She wasn't delusional enough to be fooled into thinking that she had a dog in that fight but knowing didn't make it sting any less that she couldn't be the one to protect her brother. "Fine. . ."
Maddie touched her shoulder and gave it a soft squeeze. "We'll be back soon, alright? Tessai will stay with you and keep you safe."
Jazz nodded, not meeting her eyes.
With that they were off. And she was left behind again.
"What does it take to drop this guy?!"
He and Dani had been attempting a one-two punch of sorts with him distracting the giant with zanpakuto slashes and fire while Dani focused on tapping any exposed flesh with her destabilizing gloves. It seemed to have little to no effect though, leaving the two at a loss for what to do.
"Maybe I can cool it down," Danny mused. "Dani, cover me!"
"Got it!"
Danny swooped down low, watching the giant's eyes follow him. They lacked malice or any emotion at all really. It was a strange thing to note, but he couldn't help but notice it, considering how many eyes were staring down at him.
"Hey, big and ugly! Over here!"
Danny poured on more speed as he saw the distraction had begun. He was able to reach one of the giant's spindly legs in a few short moments. He grabbed hold of it with both hands as he channeled every bit of his icy core as he could manage. The result was a creeping wave of ice that surged along the thing's entire being, thickening and increasing its strength.
Within seconds, its entire form was enshrouded with ice. He found himself amusingly noting that it looked like one of those dinosaur skeletons that you'd see in a museum. Imagine seeing that giant Frankenstein next to the T-Rex display?
"There we go!" Danny cheered. "Everything's chill."
"Eh, not your best work!"
Danny mock glared at Dani, who'd swooped down next to him, while clutching at his heart, causing her to giggle. "Everyone's a critic. . ."
"So, what now?"
Danny blinked in slight surprise. He'd completely forgotten that it wouldn't be the best idea to just leave the thing in the middle of town. The thing wasn't a ghost, so sucking it into the Fenton Thermos wasn't an option. His zanpakuto ability was still a little sketchy, and the last thing he'd want would be to accidentally drop the monster in the Rukongai or the Seireitei. That didn't leave very many plausible options. . . "Wanna help me lift this thing out of the city and into the sea or something?"
"Sure."
Drip.
Danny frowned as he stared up at the sky. 'Not a cloud in the sky. . . it wasn't supposed to rain today, was it?'
"Uh, Danny?"
Drop. Drip.
Danny turned to Dani, who was wearing an alarmed expression? Before either of them could speak, water began to fall from the sky in thick groups. Alarmingly, some of it looked like melting hail the size of basketballs. No, he corrected as he stared up at the giant with wide eyes, it was falling from the quickly melting giant.
"Get back!"
Danny and Dani soared back just in time to avoid a burst of scalding water spraying them. From the heaps of steam, the monster locked eyes on the duo of halfas. It felt unbelievable, but the monster had some kind of heating abilities mixed in with its already numerous and pesky powers and immunities.
Danny was about ready to tear his hair out. "I can't beat this guy! I've tried everything!"
"There's gotta be something that can take him down! Maybe we can overload it?"
As tempting as that suggestion was, he couldn't go through with it. There was too much of a risk: they could give even more power than it already had, and they'd be helpless to stop it without power. Not to mention, the thing could explode a large part of the city if it went kablooey. They may not have many options, but some options were just unreasonable.
"Maybe we can be of assistance?"
Danny turned to see Urahara, Yoruichi, and his parents hovering in the air. No, not hovering, standing on the Reishi that they'd gathered in the air under their feet. He tried not to stare too long at his parents or look too far away from them as he spoke. "I-We could use the help. That thing eats Reiatsu and ghost energy and converts it into power. At least, I think so."
"Its Reiryoku keeps rising after we attack it with energy," Dani supplied helpfully.
"It sucked up my Kido and Ghost Rays like they were nothing. It has a wicked fast healing factor, and it'll pop out spikes whenever you make contact with it. I couldn't even freeze the thing because it's an oversized heater, apparently!"
The four adults regarded him with different looks. Yoruichi looked at him with the utmost seriousness, Urahara lazily stared at him, hiding his critical mind, his mother was looking at him with no small amount of concern as her scientific mind went a mile a minute, and his father was. . . well. He only had eyes for the giant apparently, if his sparkly-eyed enraptured gaze was anything to go off of.
"Have you tried to go for its vitals?" asked Yoruichi, now studying the giant.
Danny felt his cheeks heat up as he chuckled nervously. 'Geez, why didn't I think of that?!' "Not yet. Dani and I have been trying to destabilize the thing, but it hasn't worked. It just keeps healing back."
"Well, no wonder. The thing's Reiryoku level is much higher than yours or Dani's."
Danny squinted in confusion as he mulled the information around in his mind. On second thought, he remembered his parents saying something similar to that while they'd been training him; however, something didn't feel right about the answer. "Oh yeah. But why won't it work on the giant like it worked on Jin?"
His mother responded this time. "He was likely further exhausted from his excessive Reiatsu use and distracted by having so many opponents. He didn't have much to combat Dani's unique powers."
"Oh," Dani muttered. Danny could feel the disappointment radiating from her. Before he could say any words of comfort or offer a distraction, Urahara spoke up.
"The giant looks awfully bored, don't ya think?"
"What?" Danny asked, looking at the man like he'd grown another head. Everyone else was trying to make plans to beat that thing, and he was worried about whether the stupid thing was having fun or not?
"The entire time we've been talking it hasn't moved. Is that normal for this giant?"
Before Danny could ponder what that could mean, a steady hum entered the air. The sound was like a chorus of static being funneled through a tube. The echo was all encompassing as Danny turned back to the giant, figuring that it was the source of the persistent sound. He was sorely disappointed when the giant was as still as ever. Despite that just over its shoulder, a wave of dark clouds soared towards them. He couldn't make out a thing, but he could tell one thing: it was coming for them fast.
"Get ready, guys!" Jack boomed. "We've got some creeps coming our way!"
Danny lit his hands with ecto-energy as he glared into the threat. They were much closer now. He could feel his skin crawl at the sight of them. The cloud wasn't a cloud at all; rather, it was a swarm of insects in the form of humans. Danny deeply scowled. "Geez, I know it's summer, but this is ridiculous. . ."
"Stay focused!" Yoruichi commanded.
"I am-oof!"
Pain exploded from Danny's jaw as he found himself forced away from the group. He blinked with slight surprise before his eyes focused on an insect man hovering in front of him, its wings working overtime to stay afloat. He spared a quick glance to see each of his friends and family were locked in battle with the winged creatures. The overgrown beetle in front of him was standing in his way. Not only him, he corrected, Dani as well. She must have been forced away from the group just as he had.
The creature roared for a few long moments before snapping its maw shut with a loud snap, drawing Danny's attention. Danny felt a churning in his gut like his insides were fighting with themselves. He faced the horde with a scowl before, turning back to the giant, then to the still hovering bug man blocking their path, and finally to Dani. He couldn't sense much of anything from the insect, which made it hard to gauge its strength. It might've caught him off guard, but if his still stinging cheek was any indication, it packed one heck of a punch. As much as he wanted to force his way through the horde to get to his friends, he had a sinking feeling that the creature in front of them wouldn't allow it.
That was even factoring the giant still below them.
"I guess we've got to take this guy on our own!" Danny exclaimed to Dani, firing towards the giant.
"That was a good choice, Charlie."
A white-haired child beamed as he looked up from his lap, sitting cross-legged. "You think so, Fletcher?!"
Fletcher grinned widely as he looked on at the chaos happening a few blocks away. "Yeah, mate. You're doing a bang-up job keeping those fools busy. They don't even suspect a thing! I've gotta say, you made a wonderful choice with those insect-people. I don't know how you come up with this stuff. Simply brilliant!"
Charlie bashfully looked down as he fiddled with the hems of his already ripped jeans. "Thank you, big bro!"
"Don't mention it, lil bro."
Fletcher's smile fell away, slightly, as he gazed over the battle. His eyes locked onto a certain white-haired teenage halfa from a distance on a skyscraper. The tall building gave a perfect bird's eye view to his already talented eyes. He could see just how flustered and unprepared that little runt was. The little boy couldn't have been more than a babe with how inexperienced and inept he'd truly been in those moments. It was almost laughable.
"Show me," Fletcher muttered as his fingernails bit into his palms, "Why do Clockwork and that damned hollow have so much faith in you?"
Chad was running towards the battlefield, his thundering footsteps pounding along the pavement. As he ran, he looked up at the giant being that had appeared in the center of town. He had no idea when it had popped up exactly, but he'd been hearing the explosions and thundering stomps for minutes now. He'd been quick to rush out of his room, gathering his reiatsu to form his monster arm. No matter how apprehensive that he'd felt about using it, there wasn't a chance that he'd abandon his friends to fight alone.
Still, his mind couldn't help but drift to that malevolent being that had impersonated his abuelo. It felt sick and depraved, almost like a hollow in nature. That wasn't even what put him on edge. No, what did put him on edge was that it felt like the energy was coming from him. He had a couple of theories on what that could mean, but none of them were good. The smart thing to do would be to tell Urahara-san about it, a part of him reasoned. But another part of him was attached to the fleeting idea that his abuelo was reaching out to him. If he told Urahara-san and the others, maybe they'd break the connection to his abuelo before he could hear what he wanted to say.
He knew it seemed to be a foolish thought, but maybe it wasn't so foolish. Orihime had met her brother, who had become a hollow, years after he'd died. Would it be so outlandish if it was happening for him, too? Did he even want it to be true?
He wasn't sure.
"Do you feel that too, Sado-kun?!"
Chad's thoughts drifted back to the present as he turned to find Orihime racing behind him. She caught up to him fairly easily, only breathing slightly heavily; a true testament to the training she'd maintained. "Do you sense the giant's power?"
Chad nodded. "It feels as powerful as Yoruichi-san. If not more powerful."
"We need to get there and help out Dani-san and Danny-san!"
"Right."
The two rushed down the pavement. Chad pushed his fears aside. His friends needed him now.
"Just stay in here and don't do anything dumb when I'm gone, got it?"
Kon rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm not some snot-nosed kid, y'know? I'm not gonna go trapezing around the town. There's nothing to do around here, anyway! And your face would scare the babes away!"
Ichigo felt his eye twitch as he glowered at the stuffed animal. "What was that?"
Kon started to sweat a little as he patted at the air. "N-Nothing, boss! Don't be so serious all the time! Ya might hurt something, hahaha. . . !"
Ichigo glared at him for a moment longer before scoffing and heading for his window. Without any bit of fanfare, he jumped out and hit the pavement running.
The giant was easily visible even from his ground position. He could make out the screams of civilians and even see a couple running away from the giant being. Before long, he could even spot Hat 'n Clogs and Yoruichi as well as Danny's parents in the sky amongst a fog of black. He didn't know much about what was going on between Danny and his parents, but if they were together fighting that thing it had to be a good sign, right?
What didn't seem like a good sign was that fog. It looked murky and thick, and it was separating Danny and Dani from the rest of the gang. "Ah well," he muttered, "time to get up there, too!"
Ichigo poured on the reiatsu for a Flash Step and raced towards the fight.
"Take that you overgrown Frankenstein!"
Danny sliced at the giant before darting away from its rapidly approaching spikes. Dani had resorted to decking the giant every now and again on its person while skillfully evading. There was only so long that they could hold up, however. This proved to be the case as Dani yelped as she was skewered in the abdomen by a stray spike. As the spikes retreated back into hiding, Dani began a freefall, plummeting to the ground.
Danny's heart sank at that. She was too immobile. She would have tried some type of maneuver by now to right her fall or even stop it. Instead, she continued to race towards the earth.
"Dani!"
Danny raced after her and caught her as she fell before taking off in the other direction. His worried eyes quickly noted that her wound was quickly beginning to heal, but the pain clearly hadn't subsided any less. He could tell that much without their empathic link from the periodic winces that she'd give as she writhed in his arms. For a moment, Danny fretfully wondered if the giant's spikes contained any poisons. Cursing his carelessness, he knelt by her side, several yards away from the behemoth.
And that was where Ichigo found them.
"What the heck's going on?!" Ichigo demanded. "Is Dani alright?"
Dani gave a weak smile that looked more like a grimace. "I'll be fine. . . I just need to. . . walk it off."
Thankfully, her wound had closed completely, but she wasn't out of the woods yet. Thankfully, she'd begun to stop writhing as much and was starting to take steadier breaths.
Danny stood up from her side before abruptly turning as he felt a rise in spiritual pressure. He tackled Ichigo, who'd had his sword raised to attack the giant. From the feel of it, the behemoth would've gotten an all-you-can-eat-Getsuga-Tensho-buffet.
"What are you doing?!" Ichigo barked. "We need to attack that thing!"
"It can absorb reiatsu, genius! We can only hit it with physical attacks."
"But even those. . . don't work because of its healing. . factor," Dani added, slightly hunched over from the pain.
Ichigo's eyes never left the giant, but he lowered his sword hand, much to Danny's relief. "So, what can we do?"
Danny heaved a tired sigh as he stared at the giant. It hadn't moved from its spot, much like Urahara had observed. What it meant; he had no idea. "Yoruichi suggested that we attack the thing's vitals. You can distract it, Ichigo. I'll take its heart." He bent his legs and got ready to fly off but paused after remembering an important detail. "Also, watch out for the spikes. They're wicked fast and pop up whenever you land a hit on the thing."
"Got it."
With that out of the way, Danny took off for the giant's chest, carefully monitoring the beast's reaction as best he could. Much like before, the giant simply watched his approach, never moving a muscle. Quickly turning intangible, he zoomed right into the being's chest. He lit his fist in ecto-energy illuminating the cavern. He blinked with scouring eyes only to find. . . nothing. There weren't any spikes waiting to protrude out, no heart, no ribcage, no bones to speak of. Only skin was there.
He floated over to a patch of skin and gingerly poked at it with his free hand. He quickly retracted that hand when the formerly pink flesh began to pulse with green light. He could feel a bit of his power leave him from that small contact. It wasn't too much, thankfully, but it was enough to make him wary. "Just what are you. . ."
Letting his blue rings float over him, his zanpakuto disappeared and he returned to his Phantom state. He jabbed at the thing's skin once again, this time deciding quick and powerful would be the proper method, causing a deep rumble to echo throughout its body, all the while maintaining his light. He could see the thing bruise for a moment before healing just as quickly as it had before.
"Ah, poop. How the heck do I beat this stupid thing?!"
Just then, the cavernous body was set aglow with green light. He ceased his own light as he brought a hand to his face, hissing from the new, brighter light. It felt like he'd been in a staring contest with the sun for half an hour. Try as he might, though, it was impossible to block out the light as it pulsed from all around. He felt himself falter in the air. It felt almost like that bit of turbulence that he felt on the plane to Karakura. Just like the plane, it stopped almost as suddenly as it started.
That's when he started to feel weak.
It was slow. It began to feel a little bit harder to stay afloat, then it was harder to maintain his ghost form. He could feel beads of sweat pooling on his brow for the effort of simply hovering.
Danny's eyes flitted in all directions, trying to find some way out. Unfortunately, the light seemed to have gotten even brighter somehow. He could barely even make himself out, much less where he'd come from. "I've gotta get out of here!"
He turned intangible with a groan as he tried to fly out, the effort feeling like lugging a bus behind him. He ran smack dab into the thing's skin instead of flying out. He stared at the wall of skin in bewilderment before repeating the action, only to receive the same result.
"What?! No, this can't be happening!"
In a fit of terror, he blasted at the skin, trying to make way only for the glowing veins to return and the attack to be absorbed. Danny found himself falling out of his ghost form completely. The only thing that kept him from falling to the bottom of the giant was his presence of mind to create a cushion of reiatsu to stand on.
Actually, kneel on would have been more appropriate. He was breathing in unsteady heaves now as his vision swam. His mind flashed with the thoughts of his friends on the outside, his friends in Amity, his friends in Soul Society. He wanted to press into the memories and muster some kind of second wind, but the power just kept eluding him. He could feel his body starting to teeter as he dropped to his hands and knees, his breaths coming only in pants. "No. . . Not. . . Not gonna die. . here! Come on!"
He felt an explosion of power as his world was overtaken by fire.
". . y . . . nny! Danny!"
Danny's eyes fluttered open as he squinted carefully. It wasn't particularly bright, but he could still make out some sunlight wafting into the room. However, from the looks of it, the sun was on its way out. He took note of the futon underneath him and soon noticed the people around him. There were his parents, Urahara, Yoruichi, Tessai, Ururu, Uryu, Chad, Ichigo, Jazz, and Orihime. Near his head, Dani sat kneeling next to him, watching him with the utmost concern. "Are you alright?"
"Well. . . I feel like I just fought Vlad, Pariah, and Dan back-to-back. . . so considering I'm alive, I'm feeling pretty good."
"That was some stunt you pulled, Danny-kun," Urahara said, stepping towards him. His signature fan was concealing his expression as it usually did.
Danny had to keep squinting because of the pulsing headache he was feeling alongside the fatigue. "What happened anyways?"
"You flew inside the thing and set it on fire," Ichigo said.
"Quite the blunt rendition," Uryu muttered.
"You mean, you don't remember any of it, Danny-kun?" asked Orihime.
Danny tried to shake his head but thought better of it as his head protested. "I can't remember much after I went in. I do remember the fire, but your guess is as good as mine for how I managed to pull that one off."
"We don't know much, either," Maddie added. "We only saw the results. The giant was engulfed completely by your fire, and it disintegrated soon afterwards. The insect foot soldiers followed soon afterwards, vanishing like dust."
Danny's brows shot up in mild surprise. That seemed way too easy. Sure, it didn't feel easy at all when he was getting the life drained out of him, but is that really all it took? Defeat the boss villain and you win the round? "Geez, all I can remember was just wanting to get out of there. I didn't even have enough energy to stay in my ghost form, so I don't know I could've even accessed my flames."
Urahara stared at him carefully. "Hm. I'm not too sure what could have happened either, but we're glad to have you back, Danny-kun."
"Could Jack and I talk with him alone?" his mom asked.
The room fell silent for a moment. Danny wanted to shrink in on himself but just barely managed to avoid the action. He wasn't sure if he was ready to talk to his parents alone so soon, but a part of him knew that it had to happen at some point.
Being the owner of the shop, Urahara was the one to respond. "Sure. We'll just get started on some discussions and fill you in later." Turning to the other teens and Dani, he told them, "You guys are free to go."
Ichigo took one more glance at Danny and nodded. "I'll catch you later, then. Rest up."
"Yeah, sure thing."
Chad and Orihime said their goodbyes as well with the latter promising to drop by with a home cooked meal (much to Danny's dismay). Dani, Jazz, and surprisingly, Uryu stayed over in a separate room, waiting for their talk to finish.
Just like that it was only him and his parents.
Danny's fingers fiddled with the sides of the futon to keep his mind from registering the headache. It was turning into a dull ache, no doubt thanks to his healing factor, but it was still unpleasant. It almost made him forget that his parents were in the room.
"Are you alright?" his mom asked.
"Yeah, I've dealt with worse."
He could see his mother flinch and his father frown at the double meaning. He even felt slightly taken aback by how thick the venom was in his own tone. He shifted slightly propping himself on his elbows so that he could see them better. Would it be too late to phase through the floor and just find Dani and the rest later?
Before he could further entertain that thought, his dad's voice took an impossibly somber tone. "Y'know. . . your mother and I love you a lot, right?"
"I know, Dad."
More silence.
"How is it living with Vlad?" his mom asked.
He was no stranger to how she'd felt about Vlad's less than subtle courtship attempts. However, he found himself reevaluating his perception of their worn friendship. He couldn't imagine how guilty she must've felt over the years for what she'd inadvertently caused. 'Yeah. . . so guilty that she remade the portal and lied to you.'
Danny pushed that thought back. "It's been. . . interesting."
"Good, good. . ."
"Uh, is that all?"
His parents glanced at each other, somewhat surprised before coming to a silent agreement. His mom nodded with a paper-thin smile. "Sure, just. . . if you want to come back with us just say the word, OK?"
"Yeah."
Reluctantly, his parents filed out of the room, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
Dani, Uryu, and Jazz came into the room, not too long after his parents left. The somber atmosphere was almost tangible. He could even sense it through Dani, no matter how much she tried to hide. Jazz was kneeling by his side playing a psychologist version of 20 questions while nearly cradling him in her arms. Well, as close to cradling as she could get from hugging his head to her lap. After barely managing to shoo her away, he decided an apology was in order. "Man, I'm sorry about how this day turned out, guys."
"Don't be," Dani demanded. "It wasn't your fault."
Danny glanced over the room, his eyes finally landing on Uryu. "Why'd you stay?"
Uryu shrugged. "I just had the feeling that if I left, Dani-san would have dragged me back here."
"Darn right, I would've! We'll have a day out inside this dusty old shop if we've gotta! Anything to keep you from that emo, pity party inside your house!"
"It's gonna be dark out in a few hours."
"So? We've got adults here."
"My dad's gonna be expecting me home in an hour."
"Look at you. A hollow killer with a curfew."
"Oh, shut it. . ."
"Be nice, you two!" Jazz barked. "Not to mention, all your yapping is sure to give Danny a headache!"
Danny wanted to smile at their antics. He really did, but he couldn't get the last couple of hours out of his head. Karitoriki still wasn't talking to him, and something had sent those weird creatures. His mind wanted to reason that it was something Aizen had cooked up, but his gut said otherwise. The Bounts had attacked of their own volition, after all. All he knew was that something big was coming, and he wasn't sure if they could handle it.
A/N: Geez that took forever. . ! I kinda like how this chapter turned out, but feel free to review and tell me what you thought of it, favorite, and/or follow! Have a good one.
Uploaded: February 13th, 2022
