Chapter 7
(Post D-stabilized, before PP.)
A/N: This is the moment you have been waiting for, when Danny meets Ichigo and company!
As Danny burst through the gap in the void, he found himself in a desert of white sand stretching as far as the eye could see, with what looked like skeletal white trees dotting the landscape, and a large white structure in the distance.
Looking up at the sky, he saw that it was night, with a crescent moon high in the sky.
"Huh," Danny said. "I thought it would look more like the Ghost Zone. Well, since these Arrancar would have to have a base, I should probably head towards that white thing," he said as he took off his backpack to get the duplication enhancer Clockwork had given him. But as he pulled it out, a piece of paper fell out as well.
"What is that?" Danny asked as he picked it from the fine sand, "A note?"
Dear young Phantom, the message read.
There is a group of young heroes, a bit like you, who have traveled to the world you are now in to rescue a friend who was kidnapped by Aizen. First, there is a Substitute Soul Reaper with bright orange hair and a large blade. Then there is a Quincy with glasses and white clothes, who can channel spiritual power into arrows. Though more will join you afterwards, the third you must know from the start is a muscular human with spiritual powers. You must journey together to the white fortress known as Los Noches.
After reading this, put it in the enhancer, then drink it. Afterwards, you will be able to understand and speak Japanese as if it were English.
In Time,
CW.
"Well, I guess I was right," Danny murmured aloud. Crumpling up the paper, he stuffed it in the enhancer, which he then gulped down in one swallow.
"Ugh!" he gagged, holding his throat, "That stuff tastes worse Dash's underwear!"
After he had gotten the taste out of his mouth, he started to fly at over 200mph towards Los Noches. But after a couple minutes of this, he noticed that the fortress didn't look any bigger than it had before.
"That place must be huge!" he muttered as he pondered his next move. Then, as a grey version of his ghost sense was triggered, he turned to look ahead, and saw a swirling mass of sand suddenly burst and fall to the ground. Turning invisible, he flew over towards in, and soon found the trio Clockwork had told him about.
Staying invisible, he observed them resting and talking, learning their names. Then, out of the blue, a group of three Hollows popped up, chasing what appeared to be a human child!
As the trio (which Danny now knew were named Ichigo, Ishida and Chad, in the order CW had referred to them) leapt into battle, Danny kept himself invisible, but charged ecto-energy to his fists as a precaution.
As it turned out, however, much to the surprise of both Ichigo's group and Danny, the child was actually a young female Arrancar named Nel Tu, and the Hollows were her adoptive siblings (and pet)!
The first brother was Pesche, who had a human size and four limbs, but an insectoid appearance. The second brother, Dondochakka, was larger, and a mask similar to a tiki mask, and the pet, Bawabawa, was essentially a giant worm or snake with no eyes and small horns on the mask.
Danny listened closely when Nel explained a bit about the Arrancar ranking system, how the Hollows that were Adjuchas before becoming Arrancar were given two-digit numbers, serving directly under the Espada (Dominic mentioned them as the 10 most powerful Arrancar).
Continuing to watch, he was shocked to learn that Nel and her "brothers" had apparently not immediately realized what Ichigo, Chad and Ishida were, and started calling them "bad guys" once they did realize (Danny felt sorry for them, knowing what it was like to be considered bad because of what you were)!
After that, afraid of the "bad guys" Nel and her brothers devised a crazy plan to wear them out and keep them from killing them (not that Danny though Ichigo or his friends would do that) using a game they called "eternal tag".
During the attempt, however, Nel tripped, and her brothers and pet would have fallen on her if Ichigo hadn't grabbed her and gotten her out of the way (though Danny would have helped her even if the young substitute Shinigami had not). That seemed to convince her that Ichigo was a good guy, though she grew upset when he started to leave.
Then, a giant Hollow called Runuganga burst up out of the sand! Danny thought Ichigo could handle it, but even though Ichigo cut his head in two vertically with a crescent-shaped blast of blue energy from his sword, or when he and his friends all attacked at once, but since he was made of sand (as Nel revealed), he just kept regenerating (reminding Danny uncomfortably of Undergrowth)!
Eventually, the sandy soul-eater had trapped them in a sandy pit. Danny was planning to grab them when they went under, hoping he could fool the grainy guardian, but quickly changed his mind after seeing that Runuganga was going to eat them!
Whispering to himself "Not on my watch, you sandy cousin of Undergrowth!" he charged up his ice powers and threw a supercharged snowball into the gaping maw of the white Hollow, freezing him almost instantly! But, just a few seconds after that, as Danny's ghost sense flared white, another freezing blast froze him again, tipping Runuganga over and shattering him.
Danny, turning to see where the blast had come from, saw two new Soul Reapers, a young man with tattoos and bright red hair and a young woman with raven locks, violet eyes that reminded him of Sam's, and a beautiful white sword. Both were wearing cloaks over their Shinigami uniforms.
Danny watched, amused, as they greeted each other, Rukia (the girl), reminding him even more of Sam the more he saw of her, and Renji, who were both upset about how Ichigo hadn't waited for them to come help before running off to rescue their friend. Nel and her brothers were initially apprehensive about more "bad guys" showing up, but seemed to enjoy showing off.
Once that was all said and done, Ishida pushed up his glasses and said, "While I'm glad we have your help, there is one thing that concerns me".
"What?" asked Rukia, Renji, Ichigo and Chad simultaneously?
"Rukia, when your attack hit Runuganga, he had already been frozen. Someone else froze him before you could," Ishida said with a grave expression.
"Who could have done that?" Ichigo asked with a puzzled expression.
Danny, deciding that that was his cue, phased back into the visible spectrum, gave a little wave and said "Uh that would be me".
"Ahhhh!" Nel and her brothers screamed. Immediately, Ichigo and his friends all readied their attacks, aiming at him.
"Please don't attack me", Danny pleaded. "I'm one of the good guys!"
"Sure," Renji scoffed. "We're supposed to believe a, a," he paused, evidently confused. "What are you anyway?"
Rolling his eyes, Danny replied, " My name is Phantom, Danny Phantom, and I am a ghost," well, it was half true, Danny thought to himself as Nel and her brothers gasped in shock.
"A g-g-gh-gho-GHOST!" Pesche screamed, grabbing Nel and leaping with his brother over Bawabawa before Ichigo dragged them out.
"Why are you so scared?" the Soul Reaper with carrot-colored haired asked with a confused expression. "You weren't this scared when you realized I was a Soul Reaper!"
"Ghosts are beings which Hollows speak of in hushed whispers," Pesche said, still trembling in fear whenever he looked at Danny. "They are said to inhabit a world separate from The World of the Living, The Soul Society, and Hueco Mundo."
"Zone, it's more of a zone, The Ghost Zone!" Danny interjected, making Pesche jump about 4 feet in the air, then continue.
"Ghosts are not ordinary spiritual beings, like we are. It is said they do not have Chains of Fate, and even that they aren't even made of reishi, but some other supernatural substance!" he said, gesturing wildly with his hands.
"That would be ectoplasm," Danny interjected. "All ghosts are composed of ectoplasm".
"Hey, my brother's talkin', don't'cha know?" Dondochakka said, forgetting his fear for a moment in defending his adopted sibling.
"Thanks Dondochakka," Pesche said with a nervous glance towards the spectral boy. "Unlike us, it is said that ghosts can be seen by regular humans, is that right?" he asked the ghost child. When Danny nodded yes, with the Soul Reapers staring at him, Pesche continued.
"Ghosts are said to be able to pass intangibly through objects that are solid to humans or souls like they weren't even there, turn invisible at will, fly, fire beams of green energy," Pesche said, looking more nervous as he paused, the attention of the visitors to the Hollow dimension split between him and the ghost. "It is said they can even phase into you and take you over, turn you into a meat puppet they have complete control over!"
"Yes, I can overshadow people," Danny said when they all stared at him. "It's one of the more basic ghostly abilities".
"Never mind that," Ishida said pointedly. "How did you get to Hueco Mundo, and why did toy save us?" he asked, his hands edging towards his Quincy cross.
"I got here when a Hollow attacked me," Danny said. "I managed to beat it, but it knocked me into the Garganta it used to get to my town."
"Your town?" Ishida asked, still ready to leap into battle should the need arise. "And where is that?"
"I come from a town in the US called Amity Park," Danny said with a sigh. "You see, unlike Hollows, most ghosts cannot create portals to allow them access to Earth, and instead have to wait for natural portals that temporarily appear at random."
"Do portals form often?" Ishida asked, trying to get all the information he could.
"Well," Danny said, rubbing his neck, looking slightly embarrassed. "Some locations are more common than others, like the Bermuda Triangle".
"The where?" Renji and Rukia asked, interrupting.
"The Bermuda Triangle is the name a region of ocean in the world of the living," Ishida said, pushing his glasses up. "The so called "points" of the Triangle are three islands. It is notorious for mysterious disappearances and unexplained phenomena." Turning to Danny, he asked, "So, the things that disappear there, they end up in this Ghost Zone?"
"Yeah," Danny said with a nod. "Though the stuff usually gets sucked out again before too long, natural portals can send you not only to Earth in the present, or to another one of the Zone's infinite realms, but through time as well".
"Wait, let me get this straight," Renji said skeptically. "Not only is your dimension infinite, it has portals that allow time travel?"
"Yes," said Danny simply. "Though I don't spend much time in the Zone. You see, after I died," in an accident, he quickly assured, "I ended up in the Zone, and almost immediately passed through the Fenton's portal"
Who are the Fentons, and why do they have a portal?" Ichigo asked. Sighing, Danny answered him.
"They are a family of ghost hunters and researchers who live in Amity. Jack and Maddie Fenton do most of that, and are the world's leading ghost experts, though they do have two teenage children," Danny said plainly. "They worked on a portal between the dimensions for 2 decades before finally getting it to work. The Fenton Portal is an artificial portal set firmly in the present-day wall of the Fenton's basement. Though its stability causes trouble for the town."
"What do you mean?" asked Chad. "How would it cause trouble?"
"Because," Danny said, rolling his eyes, "Not all ghosts are as nice as me. Even so," he added, "even my most evil enemies tend to have at least a trace of their humanity left. But," he said as his eyes narrowed, "There are a lot of ghosts that like to come through the portal to scare the humans who live there, so I started to defend the town against them, gaining their respect and making enemies".
After a quick conversation among themselves, with Danny explaining that he had been knocked into a Garganta after a fight with a Hollow that had attacked, and had ended up here, they decided he could come with, since, because of his invisibility (and other powers), if he had wanted to harm them, he would have done it already.
And so they set off on Bawabawa towards Los Noches, Ichigo and his friends talking as they went, Danny mostly staying silent, except to mention that the Earth and the Ghost Zone couldn't exist without each other. But they didn't get far before Runuganga burst out of the sand again!
"This guy's as bad as Undergrowth!" Danny yelled in frustration after Nel revealed that the sandy spirit had multiple bodies.
"Who the hell is Undergrowth?" Renji asked, confused.
"He's a sentient plant ghost who can regenerate, and he hates humanity because of all the damage they have done to the environment," Danny replied. "If I hadn't stopped him, he would have turned the human race into fertilizer!"
But as Danny explained, the group was being sucked down underground by Runuganga. Thinking quickly, Danny decided to grab them once they went under, like he was going to do before, but he was surprised to find there was a huge space underground…
To be continued…
I know I'm evil, blame my muse for it!
Sorry this took so long, but this is over 2,000 words, so can you blame me? This is probably my longest chapter for a story fanfiction!
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY 2012!
Check out my story, The Ultimate Guide to Danny Phantom, for ALL the DP info you could need! (Updated occasionally)
EMERGENCY! ALL the Danny Phantom episodes are being deleted from Youtube! I am counting on you to post new ones. The more good quality DP episodes there are, the faster I will try to update!
If you want me to keep updating myPhantom in the BundDP/Dance in the Vampire Bund Crossover story, the first story in a multi-crossover series spanning most of my DP crossovers, I need Dance in the Vampire Bund volumes 11 available ASAP! I will focus on my other stories less as well until I can get the manga so I can know more about the series (a big part of the reason I have waited so long for some of my other stories).
I know some of you are ticked off about me not having updated many of my stories. Basically, the idea is that Danny is traveling through dimensions, and that each story focuses on a different universe, Phantom in the Bund being first (though Danny Phantom in Hueco Mundo, Phantom Fairy Tale, and Phantom Spider are not part of part of this series)