Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Bleach.

Legend:

"Someone is talking."

'Someone is thinking.'

"A technique is being used."

Chapter Five:

(Amity Park—Casper High—Food Storage)

"Dear child, why won't you eat meat?" The Lunch Lady asked with a frown. "Your body needs it, whether you like it or not."

Sam glared at her with as much force as she could muster from her position.

After the Lunch Lady had kidnapped her, Sam had thought that the Lunch Lady would kill her in some lunch meat related way. It was a reasonable belief, considering that the Lunch Lady had made two attempts on her life today. However, the Lunch Lady did something completely unexpected.

Instead of killing her, the Lunch Lady had taken Sam to Casper High's food storage, a freezer-like building in which Casper High stored the majority of the perishable food that was shipped in. Once inside the building, the Lunch Lady had gently set Sam on the floor—confusing Sam —before she raised her right hand. The Ghost had then fired two, ectoplasm-filled beams at Sam, who recoiled at the very sight of the "attack". While in the air, the two beams spilt off in an ever-widening gap. They then impacted against Sam's wrists and ankles with a sticky 'splat', wrapped around them tightly, and hardened into a dark-green substance.

Effectively bound with what appeared to be a murderous Ghost looming over her, Sam thought that she was going to die. This led to a rapid increase in her pulse, her eyes prickling with tears, and sweat to emerge from her forehead and under her arms.

Was this how it was going to end?

"Now, why did you have to change me menu, dearie?"

Sam was rendered speechless at this question and found herself looking at the Lunch Lady with a dumbfounded expression on her face. What had the Ghost just said?

Her sense of shock faded quickly and was replaced with a heavy sense of disbelief. She then wondered why after all the trouble, and murder attempts, would the Lunch Lady ask her this now. Why did it matter if she had anyway?

However, after mere seconds of contemplation, a niggling doubt in the back of Sam's mind decided to make itself known. Could all of her current troubles with the Lunch Lady have been caused by her need for change?

"Why does it matter if I changed the menu?" Sam finally asked as she glared at her captor with a small glare on her face. "All I did was try and start something new for the school! Is that so bad?"

The Lunch Lady shook her head softly, "My dear child… change is never a bad thing. Personally, I believe that a healthy need for change should be nurtured within children."

This answer threw Sam through a loop. If the Lunch Lady was agreeing with her in the idea that change wasn't a bad thing, then why all the hostility towards her? Why was she making such a big fuss about her changing the menu? It didn't make any sense!

"… If you agree with me then why are you so mad that I took meat off the menu?" Sam demanded to know.

"Because meat is good for kids: it helps them grow and makes them smile." The Lunch Lady responded before she made a chicken leg float into her right hand. She waved it in Sam's face. "Now, won't you try some?"

Sam shook her head defiantly, "No! We don't need to eat meat, that's a fact!"

"SILENCE! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF MEAT! MEAT IS THE BEST, NATURALLY OCCURING, WELL-BALLANCED FOOD THERE IS!"

Sam recoiled from the ghost's rage.

"Meat contains ALL of the necessary acids and vitamins that the body needs to stay healthy! No single plant comes close when it comes to the amount of essential proteins and vitamins that meat can provide!"

XXXXXX

(Meanwhile—With Danny and Tucker)

While the Lunch Lady was busy trying to make Sam eat meat, something weird was going on with the air vents. The only vent that led to the outside of the building suddenly started to rattle around before it actually broke open. This sent a small rain of broken metal down as two teenagers fell to the floor.

"Dammit, Tuck…" Danny groaned as he got up from the box underneath him. "… You're lucky that box was there to break our fall."

"Sorry, Danny. I thought that these vents would be like the ones in the main building…" Tucker smiled sheepishly. "… Guess I was wrong…"

"It's okay…" Danny sighed, leaning his back against a nearby box, Tucker falling in behind him. "I don't think the Ghost heard us… which is good." He frowned. "I'd better transform before she does, though…"

Only seconds later, Danny's skin began to crack around the palm of his right hand before the cracking quickly spread to the rest of his body. Silver ash obstructed Danny from Tucker's view as it swirled around Danny like a miniature vortex. Then, once the ash had dissipated, it revealed Danny's "Arrancar" form.

Danny was much lankier than he had been in his Human form, though he still retained a fair bit of muscle here and there. He stood at about average height with pale white skin, short and messy silver hair, and emerald-colored eyes.

He was wearing a white jacket with white hakama pants that were tied with a black sash and a pair of white boots. Also, in the sash was Danny's sword. Unsheathed, it was a beautiful blade with a rectangular, light-green tsuba that shined in the light. Looking further, one could also see the large, silver snowflake that branched out from the center of the tsuba until it touched the edges of it.

The only things that would confirm Danny wasn't actually human were the white, choker-like segment of bone around his neck and the small, two-inch hole in the middle of his right hand.

Without wasting any time, Danny quickly gathered some of energy for a pulse of his sonar-like technique. However, unlike the last times he had used it, the energy was somehow faster and easier to gather.

"Pesquisa (Inquiry)."

Danny didn't realize he had even spoken until the strange, unfamiliar word had left his mouth. He had no time to wonder why he had said as his technique began to work. The world around him became black and white for a few moments, before Danny sensed something troubling. Hidden all over the building were small, green-white flames that Danny could assume were Ghosts. It seemed, however, that these Ghosts were weaker than the Lunch Lady and connected to the female Ghost somehow.

Danny also could sense just where the Lunch Lady was; a little over 45 feet away from him and Tucker while only five feet away from Sam. He was so happy over 'seeing' that Sam wasn't dead yet that he almost missed the two Ghost signatures blocking the path to her.

After a moment, Danny turned to Tucker and told him about what he had sensed. Tucker nodded with a frown, wondering how they would get to Sam. They couldn't use the route that led towards her, or else whatever the Lunch Lady was controlling would attack them, allowing the Lunch Lady to escape with Sam.

"Danny… I think I have an idea..." Tucker said after a moment, drawing his friend's attention. "It's a little risky… but I think it could work."

XXXXXX

(With Sam and the Lunch Lady)

The Lunch Lady had just finished another rant on why she believed children should eat meat as a main part of their diet when she heard a faint whistling. Turning around, she saw a humanoid hunk of meat flying towards her.

Not having that much time to react, the Lunch Lady simply allowed herself to become intangible so that the meat to pass through her. The meat landed on the ground behind her with a sickly 'plop', only a few feet away from Sam. That, however, was not what the Lunch Lady was now focusing on. No, her attention now belonged to the Arrancar child standing 10 feet away from her, an extremely angry expression on his face.

"Let. Her. Go."

Hearing his voice, Sam turned as much as she was able to and saw Danny. Like the Lunch Lady, she noticed that he was in his "Arrancar" form, looked very mad, and was now pointing his sword towards the Lunch Lady.

"You think you can threaten me, child?" The Lunch Lady asked before she frowned. "You may have the powers of an Arrancar, but… unless you know how to use them, it means nothing."

With that, a meaty fist impacted against Danny's cheek and sent him crashing into a nearby row of unmarked boxes. The boxes then fell on top of Danny, who was still slightly dizzy from impact. After a couple of moments, Danny managed to push the boxes of off him to reveal his relatively unhurt body. As he struggled to stand up he then got a clear look at what had just attacked him.

In front of the Lunch Lady were now twelve large, humanoid creatures made out of meat. These creatures watched as Danny wiped a bit of blood from his chin, grinning slightly as their green eyes glowed in the dim light.

"Seize him!" The Lunch Lady threw her right arm forward, towards Danny.

The creatures complied with their mistress and three of them began running towards Danny. Halfway there, they jumped into the air and they pulled back their legs, intending to send the Arrancar flying with three mid-air kicks.

Instinctively, Danny swung his sword and released as much of his energy as he could through it. This in turn, caused an ice-blue crescent wave to fly off his sword and it bite into the three meat monsters, shredding them into individual piles of meat. Danny was still stunned over the results of his attack, it was more effective then he thought. A small portion of the ceiling above then fell onto the floor.

Perhaps it had been a bit too effective.

However, Danny didn't have that long to ponder what he had just done, as the three piles of meat before him reformed into the humanoid meat monsters. Then, along with the nine other creatures, they lunged at him.

"Crap."

XXXXX

(Meanwhile—With Tucker)

As soon as Danny had gotten the Lunch Lady's attention, Tucker had made his way over to Sam. He had snuck out from behind a pile of boxes that were near Sam and stealthily made his way to her. Shocked, but extremely happy, Sam looked like she was about to say something until her put a finger to her lips.

"I'll get you out of here in no time Sam. I just need you to be quiet." Tucker whispered to her.

Moving over to Sam's backside, Tucker frowned when he got a look at what was restraining Sam. Her wrists and ankles were covered in what looked to be hardened slime. He looked at the slime for a couple of seconds before he took out his pick, and went to work. Tucker grew increasingly frustrated as the seconds ticked by. No matter what lock-picking trick he tried, it wasn't enough to pry the slime from Sam's wrists. In his growing desperation he had even tried to hack away at it, though to no avail.

To add to his frustration, Tucker could hear Danny fighting against the Lunch Lady and her minions. He hated to hear his best friend cry out as he was hurt, knowing that Danny was going through all of that to buy him time to free Sam.

Tucker's hand started to shake as he wiped his sweaty brow with the sound of his own heartbeat blocking out the sounds of Danny's battle against the Lunch Lady. His friends were getting hurt while he was just sitting there, unable to do anything to help either one of them.

"NO!" Tucker screamed as he ruthlessly began digging at the slim with his hands. "Don't worry, Sam… I'm going to get you out!"

"STOP HIM!" Screamed the Lunch Lady as she finally took note of what Tucker was doing.

Tucker kept digging at the slime, growing more determined by the minute. He would get Sam out of this if it was the last thing he did! A sudden feeling of power surged through Tucker's body, though he wasn't aware of it in his current mindset. This made it a shock for him when he actually began to tear away the slime covering Sam until his friend was completely free.

A fair distance away, the Lunch Lady's eyes widened. That Human child had actually managed to break the ectoplasm-based bonds? How—how was that even possible? No Human should have been able to do that!

Getting up, Danny quickly spotted the meat monsters rushing towards his friends as his eyes widened in alarm. Knowing that he would be unable to reach them in time, Danny quickly brought his hand forward and gathered his energy. A lumpy, ice-blue sphere of energy formed in front of his fist before he launched it at the meat monsters.

The meat monsters shrieked as they were hit by Danny's technique and were then vaporized by it. Not even a spec of meat was left from where they had once stood, only small wisps of black smoke.

Seeing this, the Lunch Lady frowned before she countered with a beam of pure ectoplasm. When the two techniques met, the area in-between them was consumed within a massive explosion that rocked the entire building.

The boxes that hadn't immediately been vaporized were now on fire. Smoke from these boxes soon filled the entire room as the fire spread.

Danny ran through the smoke—eyes burning—as he looked for his friends. The Lunch Lady could wait for now. As he ran through the smoke, Danny called for Sam and Tucker. However, neither of his friends had yet to respond to him. Why weren't they responding to him?

"Danny! Where are you?" There was a brief pause. "Tucker's hurt!"

Eyes widening, Danny quickly called out to Sam before he asked her to keep talking so that he could get to her. He found both of them by a nearby corner of untouched boxes, only to see Tucker clutching his left arm in pain.

"What happened?"

Tucker winced, "One of those meat things got me in the arm before Sam punched it off me and into your attack…" He looked down at his arm. "I think it's broken."

Danny and Sam looked at each other for a brief moment before they helped get Tucker off of the ground, all the while making sure to be gentle and to not jostle his injured arm. Together they then slowly began to make their way through the smoke.

However it soon became apparent that they didn't know where they were going and not knowing where you're going in a burning building isn't a good thing. Adding onto this was the fact that breathing in this acrid smoke was beginning to take its toll on them.

"I don't… I don't think I can go that much father…" Tucker coughed a bit as they walked past another pile of burning boxes.

Danny tightened his grip on his friends shoulder, "Just hold on, Tuck. I'll get us out." Thinking for a moment, he told Sam to hang onto Tucker before he pulled out his sword. 'I hope this works…'

Danny then began channeling his energy into his sword and grasped onto the memory of how it felt when he had released energy from his sword. Then, praying to whatever deity that bothered to listen, Danny swung his sword and released a crescent of ice-blue energy. The crescent wave cut down and through a few nearby boxes, as well as clearing some of the smoke in their path. Danny told Sam and Tucker to follow him before he began to walk forward, unleashing another volley of crescent-shaped blasts to cut down anything in his path.

As they made their way through the smoke and fire Danny began to feel the strain on his reserves as he let loose another blast of energy, he honestly didn't know how long he could keep this up. In what seemed like an eternity later Danny had released one last blast of energy and broke through the outer walling of the food storage building.

Danny, Tucker, and Sam then stumbled out of the building, coughing, as the smoke began to pour out of the hole Danny had made. Somehow, they managed to get away from the food storage building and into a nearby alleyway before the police and firefighters showed up.

"That was way too close." Danny panted out as he shifted back into his Human form.

"You're right man, but… what are we going to do?" Tucker responded before he looked down at his broken arm. "My arm is broken."

Sam frowned for a moment and then brightened somewhat, "Hey, didn't your mom study medicine when she was in college Danny?" Danny nodded a bit as he tried to regain control of his breathing. "Couldn't we get her to set Tucker's arm?"

"Yeah, I think she could. But, after that, I think we should talk about what happened today."

XXXXXX

(Later—Amity Park—Fenton residence)

"Hello?" Jazz called out as she walked into the darkened entryway of her home. "Mom? Dad? Is anybody there?"

Hearing something metallic banging near hear, Jazz turned and saw a canister rolling down the staircase and towards her. She didn't have any time to react before the canister hit the floor and opened, sending vast amounts of white smoke into the air.

There came a rapid series of footsteps from within the smoke. "Now, Maddie! I'm going in! Hold my back!"

Jazz screamed when she felt somebody grab her legs and swayed, almost falling backwards. She recovered just in time to hear something like a vacuum cleaner before she felt her hair being sucked into something.

The smoke cleared only a few seconds later, revealing the two culprits of the sudden ambush: her mom and her dad. Jazz scowled before she crossed her arms, glaring at her parents until they released her legs.

"This is all going in the memoir." Jazz grumbled as she began walking away, dragging the vacuum-cleaner behind her, as she hadn't yet pulled her hair out of it.

Before either Jack or Maddie could comment, the front door opened and Danny walked in with his two friends, Sam and Tucker. Jack and Maddie quickly got up and about to welcome their son home, but then they saw the condition the three teenagers were in.

"What happened to you three?" Maddie exclaimed with concern in her voice. She quickly approached the teenager, and then noticed Tucker cradling one of his arms. "Are you okay?"

Danny shifted under his mom's gaze, wondering what he should tell her. He couldn't tell her the truth unless he wanted to reveal what had happened during the Accident. Maybe, maybe a half-truth would work?

"There was a fire at school, just three minutes before school got out. By the time we got out, the smoke had already started towards the school. As we were making our way here, we were almost hit by a car. We managed to jump out of the way but Tucker broke his arm when he used it to cushion his fall."

Maddie frowned for a moment before she told the three teenagers to follow her. She led them all down to the lab where she opened up a cabinet, pulled out a first-aid kit, and called Tucker over. When he got there, she began to feel around Tucker's arm, testing to see where it was broken.

"It's a clean break, luckily enough." Maddie said as she released Tucker, pulling out a wooden shaft, some gauze, and two metal clips from her medical kit. She then reset the bone and braced it with the stick.

Once the makeshift brace was done, Tucker stepped away, his cheeks slightly red. "T-Thanks Mrs. Fenton."

XXXXXX

Once everyone had been patched up by his mom, Danny had retreated to his room with Sam and Tucker. Once they were all within the room Danny closed the door and turned to his friends.

"A lot of weird things happened today guys… I think it would be best if we talked about them and got each other's opinions about them." Danny said with a serious expression on his face.

There was a brief pause before Sam spoke up, "There has been something that's been bothering me. Do you guys remember when Danny first transformed? The Lunch Lady looked like she was going to pass out."

"Yeah! She acted like you weren't a Ghost at all, Danny." Tucker agreed with a nod as his face showed some confusion. "What was it that she called you again…?"

"She called me… an 'Arrancar'." Danny answered, feeling that the name was somehow right when it rolled off his tongue. "I think she also mentioned something about 'Huceo Mundo' and why I wasn't there."

Tucker frowned at the new facts that were presented to them, "Okay, so maybe you're not a Ghost but… something close to a Ghost. If you are, it would make sense for the Lunch Lady to know of you." He paused. "Maybe this 'Huceo Mundo' is what Ghosts actually call the Ghost Zone."

"That could make sense but, why was she so scared?" Danny murmured before he shook his head, "Anyways, I have something else to tell you guys. When I used my sonar technique, I heard somebody whisper 'Pesquisa' into my ear."

This admission caused Sam and Tucker to share a brief, concerned glance with eachother before they turned back towards Danny. It appeared he hadn't noticed their looks, too distracted by his own thoughts over what had happened today.

"… 'Arrancar', 'Huceo Mundo', and now 'Pesquisa'… I'll look up those words tonight and see if I can find anything about them, okay dude?" Tucker half-offered half-asked.

"Alright."

"Let's just hope that nothing will make the Lunch Lady angrier than she was today…" Sam thought aloud, shivering at the memory of the Lunch Lady's murderous expression.

XXXXXX

(The next day—Amity Park—Casper High)

"Or not."

Upon returning to school the next day, Casper High students heard about and saw the results of two protest rallies that had been set up overnight. Both rallies had been set up on the football field so there was no end to the amount of arguments from the opposing sides.

On the left side of the football field were the 'Meat Connoisseurs', led by Mrs. Sarah Johnson of Casper High's PTA. Mrs. Johnson had been a major voice ofoppositionduring the debates revolving around Sam's changing of the menu, but had been outvoted. This had led to the changing of the menu and the Lunch Lady's subsequent attacks.

The Meat Connoisseurs' had multiple barbeques going with a bunch of inflatable cows floating overhead. On the makeshift stage that they had built, a row of girls dressed as hotdogs were doing the Can-Can.

On the other side of the football field was what appeared to be brightly-dressed Hippies; the Ultra-Recyclable Vegetarians. They were carrying multiple signs promoting their food group of choice while chanting to something that a man said on their stage.

Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that the man shouting on the stage was none other than Mr. Jason Cross. Mr. Cross was also a member of the PTA and, like Sam, was a firm believer in Ultra-Recyclable Vegetarianism. He had opposed Mrs. Johnson in the menu debates, and wanted the current menu to remain unchanged.

"How in the world did two different protest rallies get set up this quickly?" Danny wondered aloud as he saw Mrs. Johnson storm over to the veggie-hippies and began to argue with Mr. Cross.

"Actually, we've had this protest ready for months." Sam admitted before she produced a folder from her backpack and handed it over to Danny. Danny opened the folder and found himself looking at the plans to the rally. "We U.R.V figured that the school's newsletter would cause some of the meat-eaters to protest, so we prepared a counter-protest."

"Wait… if news about the menu changing was in the school's newsletter then…" Danny looked at Tucker. "Why didn't you know about it?"

Tucker scoffed at the idea of reading the paper, "I don't need something as archaic as the newsletter." He pulled out his P.D.A. and looked at it affectionately. "My baby gives me all the information I need."

"And that is why Tucker had no idea what was happening until it was too late." Sam finished with a smirk. "Your reaction to the menu change was funny… Maybe you should consider a career in comedy, Tuck."

Tucker pouted at Sam's good natured teasing.

"… Guys… I think we may have a problem." Danny said, having just realized something.

"What?"

"These rallies have a lot of the people that were involved in changing the menu… and the Lunch Lady was REALLY mad at Sam for changing it. Plus," Danny pointed towards the meat-truck that had just arrived. "There is more than enough meat for the Lunch Lady to control."

Both Sam and Tucker paled at Danny's deduction. "That doesn't mean that she'll attack, right?"

Three seconds passed before Tucker's question was answered. All three teenagers heard the Lunch Lady laugh from somewhere nearby before every piece of meat, cooked or not, shot into the air. The meat then converged to a single point 200 feet in the sky before it began to twist and turn like some kind of tornado. As the meat spun faster and faster before they started to merge together. It took seconds for a mountainous meat monster to form before it snapped open its green eyes, and roared down at the people below:

"IT'S LUNCH TIME!"

People panicked to say the least. Everyone immediately dropped whatever they had been doing before they raced towards the exits of the football field. If someone fell to the ground, they were trampled upon by the feet of people who just wanted to get away.

"Meat!" Tucker covered his eyes with his hands, wailing. "Why have you betrayed me?"

"Guys!" Danny hissed to his friends, snapping them out of their shock induce funk.

Tucker and Sam heard and understood the unspoken order immediately. They quickly moved to hug Danny—thereby hiding him from the eyes of the mob—to give him enough time to transform. Seconds later they separated, revealing Danny in his Arrancar form, ready for battle.

Danny ran through the crowd for a few moments before he came to a stop 100 feet away from the Lunch Lady. She seemed to notice him as she lowered herself slightly, her eerie green-colored eyes glowing with a malevolent fire.

"I won't underestimate you again, Arrancar! So, prepare to face the full force of my L'essence de la nourriture (The Essence of Food)!"

Huge chunks of meat fell from the Lunch's Lady's body and landed on the ground with a sickly splat. It only took a few seconds for these globs to begin transforming into numerous meat monsters the size of Great White Sharks.

"Crap." Danny mumbled as the monsters surrounded him.

The meat monsters then took action, launching themselves towards Danny with incredible speeds. Danny then jumped back as he didn't want a hole punched through his abdomen. However, he wasn't aware that another meat monster had appeared behind him until it backhanded him into the air.

Danny flew a couple dozen yards before he crashed onto the ground, skidding to a stop on the turf grass. As he struggled to get up Danny saw the meat monsters rushing towards him again. Know that he had to take them out before they got to him Danny began gathering energy for his laser-like attack. Sweat tricked down his face as the monsters drew ever closer while his attack was still not completed. Just as the meat monsters had gotten within five feet of him,Danny could feel that he had completed his technique.

Launching it as fast as he could, Danny watched as the ice blue beam ripped through and then vaporized any of the meat in its path. He even heard the Lunch Lady exclaim in pain as it hit her. Once the attack was done Danny noticed that he had taken a good chunk out of her new lower body.

Score!

His small victory didn't matter though as it appeared that two of the meat monsters were smart enough to have jumped out of the way of his attack. Danny was just about to prepare another attack when the heads of the monsters were cut off by two green lights. Headless, the two meat monsters' former bodies collapsed into individual piles of meat.

The Lunch Lady frowned as she looked at the two new combatants that had entered her battle against the Arrancar; two jumpsuit-wearing adults. While weaker than her, those two could prove to be an annoyance that she didn't need while fighting an Arrancar.

"La Viande Clonée (Meat Clones)!" The Lunch Lady stated before she used the barest amount of meat possible to create about 20 meat clones. She pointed at the two Humans. "Destroy them!"

Jack and Maddie Fenton look at the Ghost-possessed meat charging towards them before they looked at each other. Smiling, they raised their Ghost Hunting equipment and charged into battle.

Meeting in the middle of the football field, the two forces collided.

Maddie engaged the nearest squadron of meat clones with her Fenton Quarterstaff. Jack jumped over his wife and, as he landed on the ground, turned on the perfected Fenton Extractor before he spun it around. The Extractor then began to draw all of the Lunch Lady's Ghost energy into it.

Seconds later, the meat clones around Jack and Maddie fell to the ground, no longer filled with the energy that gave them life. Jack looked up as the meat fell down around him as he twirled the Fenton Extractor above his head and grinned.

"Who else wants some?"

XXXXXX

While his parents were busy dealing with the Lunch Lady's meat clones, Danny was busy dealing with the Lunch Lady herself. At the moment, he was dodging one of the multiple streams of meat that the Ghost was sending at him. He was doing a pretty good job, if he did say so himself.

The Lunch Lady was furious, "THAT'S IT!" With a roar, she threw her arms outward. "Viande le Tsunami (Meat Tsunami)!"

All of the meat that made up the Lunch Lady's new body suddenly flew off her and high into the air, where it assumed the shape of an enormous red wave. Danny's eyes widened at the sheer size of the wave and what would definitely happen to him if it hit him. So, he quickly began to gather his energy for his beam attack as fast as he possibly could.

Just when the Viande le Tsunami was about to crash down on him, Danny finished his technique. He then fired it towards the meat wave without a second's thought before he was thrown back from the force of the explosion that the attack created.

The Lunch Lady had to shield her eyes from the sudden explosion with her arm as she was pushed ten feet backwards. She quickly recovered, however, only to see the Arrancar falling towards the ground; his clothes were mildly burnt from the explosion. This was her chance!

"Danse des Lances Barbecue (Dance of the Barbeque Spears)!"

Hundreds of ribs from the remaining pile of meat flew into the air like a swarm of locust. Once in the air, a green glow appeared around the ribs intensified before it stretched out until the ribs resembled miniature spears.

As he flew through the air Danny managed to catch sight of the spears and felt his eyes widened. He quickly figured out that he wouldn't be able to dodge as he continued tumbling through the air and felt a twinge of fear. As the spears flew closer and closer Danny began to wonder if this was how he was going to die.

Something within Danny rebelled against this idea and seemed to shift. He felt his energy being drawn to the soles of his feet before it spread out into the air beneath them. Milliseconds later, he felt something solid beneath his feet and Danny found himself standing on the air itself.

"What the—?" Danny began before he stopped himself: there was no time to be wondering about what had just happened. Now was the time to move. So, he quickly kicked off the air beneath his feet and dodged the first barrage of ribs. While he descended, Danny quickly took out his sword and, after channeling his energy into it, released an enormous crescent wave of energy.

When the Lunch Lady's barbeque spears met his crescent energy, there was a brief struggle before Danny's attack ripped through and shredded the meat. The ribs, now resembling ground beef, fell to the ground in useless chunks.

The Lunch Lady was seething. How was it that this Arrancar child, who didn't even know what he was, beating her? It didn't make any sense! He shouldn't been able to beat her at all!

"I'm not beaten yet!" The Lunch Lady growled, glaring at the Arrancar as he landed on the ground. "Prepare to experience the full power of meat Arrancar! Déjeuner Abomination (Lunch Abomination)!"

All of the remaining meat flew towards the Lunch Lady and wrapped around her body before it began to compress. The meat shrunk and then fused to the Lunch Lady's body where it began to form into muscles. It was then that the scattered utensils from around the football field flew towards the Lunch Lady. This metal attached to the Lunch Lady's wrists before it transformed into sharp, wicked-looking claws. Her face was like a skinless demon with steak knives for teeth and green fire for eyes.

"Now Arrancar, let's see how you deal with my strongest form!" The Lunch Lady shouted before she lunged herself at Danny.

Danny quickly brought up his sword to block the first swipe of the Lunch Lady's claws, though his guard broke upon the second swipe. Taking advantage of this, the Lunch Lady raked her claws across Danny's chest, leaving him with five semi-deep wounds to the chest. She then used an uppercut to send him hurdling backwards, blood flying from his mouth.

Panting, Danny regained his footing on the air before he began gathering energy for his energy fist attack. However, before he could finish it, the Lunch Lady's right arm stretched towards Danny as her fist wrapped around him. Danny cried out as she began to squeeze him, the pressure feeling as if twenty anacondas were trying to strangle him.

"Did you really think I'd let you prepare another attack…? Now, I think this battle has gone on long enough… It's time to finish this." The Lunch Lady began to spin around, faster and faster, until Danny felt like he would throw up. "And now, for the finisher: Purée de Livres Sismiques (Puree Seismic Slam)!"

Using the momentum from her spin, the Lunch Lady threw Danny over her shoulder before she slammed him into the ground. More blood flew from Danny's lips as he released a pained groan. The pain that he was feeling right now was so intense that he was unable to move.

The Lunch Lady smirked at the downed Arrancar, "How does it feel to be an Arrancar who has been beaten by a Ghost? It must feel pretty awful… especially when I'm considered one of the weaker Ghosts in the Ghost Zone. I—"

At that moment, Jack Fenton came up from behind the ghost and hit her on the back of her head with the Fenton Extractor. The Lunch Lady grunted as she felt a portion of her energy being sucked away before she backhanded the foolish Human into his wife.

However, she had not noticed the small object that Jack had thrown moments before he had been backhanded. It proved to be a big mistake as, once the device began beeping, the Lunch Lady looked down. Lying by her feet was a green grenade with the word 'Fenton' on it that beebed faster and faster causing her eyes to go wide. The Lunch Lady was then consumed within a massive, green explosion as the grenade detonated.

Jack Fenton smiled weakly, seeing that he had gotten the Ghost after all, before he fainted. He, nor his wife, noticed when a pale hand grabbed something that had flown from Jack's pocket the moment he Lunch Lady had backhanded him.

The Lunch Lady pulled herself out of the crater caused by the Fenton Grenade's detonation, only to see Danny standing before her. It honestly surprised her to see him standing with his wounds, before she saw the thermos he was holding and became enraged again.

"Soup's not on the menu!" The Lunch Lady shouted at the wounded hero.

"Didn't you know…?" Danny questioned, aiming the thermos. "The menu's been changed."

A beam of white light erupted from the end of the thermos, hitting the Lunch Lady before she could react. She struggled against it to no avail as it began pulling her towards the thermos, shouting her defiance until she had completely disappeared into it.

Once that was done, Danny slammed the lid back onto the Fenton Thermos, before a wave of dizziness overtook him. He started to fall to his knees before he felt someone catch him. Danny weakly turned his head to the side and saw that Tucker and Sam were holding him up.

"That was amazing." Sam whispered, looking at her friend in a new light. "… I can't believe you won."

"Yeah… It was pretty close. Still though, you won! It's over now." Tucker said to Danny as he reverted back to his human form.

"No…" Danny responded, shaking his head. "I think that this is just the beginning."

XXXXXX

In the western region of Death Valley, a thin black line was forming on the surface of the air itself. There was a momentary pause until the area around the line began to twist and turn, as if something was trying to break through it.

A couple of moments passed before a massive black tear, shaped like a mouth, opened from where the line had been only moments before. There, standing amidst a swirling grayish-black background, were four figures. These figures stepped out of the tear and into the silvery moonlight just as the tear began to close behind them.

The first was a dark-skinned woman with long, thick wavy brown hair and green eyes. She was wearing a tight white tank-top, black track pants, and a pair of white sneakers. Another feature about her was that she was very tall and had highly defined muscles.

The next figure had jaw-length black hair and heterochromia; her right eye being ice blue while her left eye was amber with a red outline around it. Her skin was very pale and her face was etched into a permanent scowl. She was wearing a white jacket and a pair of dark-blue jeans that obscured her feet.

The third woman had long, olive hair, lavender eyes, and three pink dots beneath her right eye. She was wearing a white, long-sleeved kimono top and a black skirt that reached below her knees. She held her sleeve up to her face and obscured the lower half of her face from view.

The final woman had dark skin, green eyes, thick blond eyelashes, and messy short blonde hair with three braided locks. She was wearing a white jacket with a high collar that covered her mouth but exposed her midriff, a pair of baggy black pants, and white sneakers. She also was wearing a long black and white checkered scarf that obscured the entire bottom half of her face from view.

"Dammit! That Szayel jerk sent us to the middle of freaking nowhere!" The black-haired woman complained irritably. Huffing, she crossed her arms as she looked around at the barren landscape. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"Calm down, Apacci. Just because that you have the body of a ten year-old doesn't mean that you have to act like one." The brown-haired woman taunted her shorter companion.

"SHUT UP MILA ROSE! JUST BECAUSE YOU KEPT THAT COW-LIKE BODY OF YOURS DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN TALK DOWN TO ME!" Emilou Apacci shouted as she turned to face her aggressor.

A tick mark appeared on Franceska Mila Rose's forehead, "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME YOU WASHBOARD-CHESTED FREAK?"

"I called you a cow!"

"Why you little RAILROAD SPIKE!"

"UGLY GORILLA!"

"My, my, my… I didn't think that you two monkeys would get into an argument for at least another ten seconds." The green-haired woman commented softly, her left sleeve covering her mouth. "It seems as if my expectations for the two of you were too high…"

Instantly, both Mila Rose and Apacci turned as their anger towards the green haired woman. "SHUT UP SUNG-SUN!"

Cyan Sung-Sun shoved her hand into Mila-Rose and Apacci's faces, silently telling them to 'talk to the hand'. Furious, Mila Rose and Apacci were about to lay into Sung-Sun when another voice interrupted them.

"Enough!"

All three of the younger women stopped at the sound of their mistress, Tier Harribel—the Tercera Espada. They then bowed their heads, each of them ashamed and embarrassed by their previous actions.

"Sorry, Dama Harribel."

Tier didn't respond automatically. "Remember, while we are on this mission we are not allowed to attract the Soul Society's attention. This is why we cannot use our powers, and why Szayel provided these Gigai to us; they mute our Reiatsu to the point where it undetectable."

"Dama Harribel, does this mean that we'll have to look for the Arrancar Jehovah Aizen wants… on foot?" Apacci asked.

"Indeed. However, we are not without some way of tracking the Arrancar." Tier answered before she pulled out a small device from her pocket.

The device was something Szayel had given her to track down the Arrancar that Dios Aizen wanted. It wasn't the most precise thing that Szayel had invented; only being able to track someone when the subject was using his/her energy in high concentrations, but it would have to be enough for now.

"This is going to take a while." Apache mumbled as she followed her Dama's example.

Techniques:

1. Pesquisa (Inquiry): This technique functions like a Sonar, with the user's Reiatsu expanding outwards from him/her. While the user's Reiatsu travels forth, the user can see whatever his/her Reiatsu has traveled across. If the user's Reiatsu passes over another being, it will detect the race of the being, the amount of Reiatsu it has, and how powerful that being is.

2. L'essence de la nourriture (The Essence of Food): The Lunch Lady's essential power is that of to conjure, control, and manipulate anything that is related to food.

3. La viande clonée (Meat Clones): This is a technique that allows the Lunch Lady to create a humanoid creature out of 15 lbs. of meat. These creatures are capable of pulling themselves back together even after being cut down, which allows them to keep on fighting. The only sure-fire way to defeat the creatures is to either completely destroy the meat that makes them up or to suck out the energy that empowers them.

4. Viande le tsunami (Meat Tsunami): Using all of the meat she has gathered, the Lunch Lady can merge it all into an enormous wave. The power behind this attack is comparable to a regular Tsunami, though it is not as destructive. The Lunch Lady can also use this technique to spread meat across the battlefield for future attacks.

5. Danse de l'Spears Barbecue (Dance of the Barbeque Spears): Coating barbeque with a sharp outer shell of Ghost energy, which makes the barbeque into miniature little spears. These spears are capable of cutting through human flesh or pierce their way through a wall.

6. Déjeuner abomination (Lunch Abomination): The Lunch Lady's strongest and most powerful technique. It draws in all of the nearby food and kitchenware before it merges the stuff with her own body. With this technique, the Lunch Lady becomes five times as stronger than she usually is, though not as fast.

7. Purée de Livres Sismiques (Puree Seismic Slam): A basic technique in which the Lunch Lady grabs someone, moves them over her head, and then slams him/her to the ground.

A/N: Author's Note: And there you have it; the end of the introductory arc. Tell me how you liked it, ideas on how I could improve it, or just general reviews. Flames will be ignored, as always, while constructive criticism is welcomed.

P.S. If you review then you can get a Plushy of Danny, Tier Harribel, or any of Tier's three Fracción.

P.P.S. This chapter was updated as of 06/09/2012.