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

Legend:

"Someone is talking."

'Someone is thinking.'

"A technique is being used."

Chapter Twelve:

When Danny had finally fallen to sleep, he began to dream of a place that he had never seen before in his entire life.

It was a desert of white sand and dunes that stretched far into the horizon. The depressing landscape was littered with what appeared to be boulders and shriveled trees. Danny looked towards the night sky and found himself looking at an endless void that was denied any of the twinkling stars that should've dotted the sky. The only form of illumination that this land seemed to have was the single, out of phase, moon that hung in the night sky.

After a couple moments of observing the desert, Danny shrugged off the weirdness of his surroundings and started walking in a random direction. As he continued to walk Danny noticed that there was a distinct lack of life in the desert, which seemed impossible since the desert was supposed to come to life during the night.

Danny then walked up to one of the shriveled trees and placed his hand on it. He was surprised to find that instead of feeling wood beneath his hand, the tree felt like it was made of some sort of rock. As he ran his hand over rock-tree's branches some of it actually chipped away when he applied a moderate amount of pressure on them. The fragility of the tree surprised him even more.

'How could rock grow to resemble a tree…?' Danny thought as he pulled his hand away, looking at the rock-tree with furrowed eyebrows. 'And why is it so fragile?'

After a few more moments of thought, and not coming up with any plausible reasons that could explain the rock-tree, he pushed it out of his mind so that he could focus. He then started to make his way through the desert again, heading in a slightly different direction than he had been going before.

Danny walked for what seemed to be hours in a single direction. As he continued his journey Danny noticed that the scenery around him didn't change, leading him to believe that he was walking in circles. After walking for a little while more Danny was about to give up all hope as his mind was slow from fatigue and his muscles were screaming in protest when he saw something in the distance.

There, like a shimmering mirage, was a large lake of some kind. Seeing that this was the first new thing that he had seen since he had appeared in this desert, Danny began to run towards it. From the distance that he was at, Danny could tell that there was no water in the lake but some kind of oil-like liquid instead. He didn't care though; if it wasn't part of the endless desert then it was better than his current predicament.

In the middle of the oily lake was a small island where an enormous, gnarled, dark-gray tree. The tree was covered with patches of what appeared to be white moss, though Danny couldn't be sure because of the slight fog that hung around the small island.

However, upon closer notice, Danny saw something that greatly disturbed him; the tree appeared to be bleeding. Danny wanted to get a better look at the odd tree so he sped up his pace. When he was almost at the shores of the lake he almost tripped in surprise, the tree's "blood" dripped into the lake, filling it with the oil-like substance.

When Danny reached the lake itself he became curious about the oil-like liquid that filled the odd lake. His fingers shaking ever so slightly, Danny reached out and touched the surface of the liquid with one of his fingers. He pulled it away almost as soon as he had put it in because of the odd slimy yet oily texture.

After wiping the liquid off on his pants, Danny took another glance at the pond, only to have his breath taken away at the sight of it. The lake was filled with stars, it was as if had taken the night sky and turned it into the oil that filled the lake. Danny could see millions of twinkling lights beneath the lake's surface, hell he could even make out the many different and majestic forms of galaxies!

Still stunned by the sight before him Danny barely caught a flicker of movement that was in the corner of his eye. Turning his head in the direction of the movement Danny could see a shadow move under the surface of the lake.

He tried to get a good look at the shadow, but it swam into a place with no stars or galaxies to illuminate it. Frowning, he stood up and walked around the shore of the lake, getting ever closer to the void where the shadow hid.

When he got to the shore that was closest to the shadowed area Danny peered into the starless void that made up that part of the lake. Danny began to strain his eyes as he tried to see past the inky blackness. The void seemed to shimmer for a moment beneath his stare before all hell broke loose. There was a huge explosion of semi-frothy liquid and wind as the void, actually a pitch-black creature emerging from the void, broke through the surface before it roared, as if announcing itself to the empty world.

The beast was draconic in its appearance. Its scales looked like they were carved from obsidian as they were as black as the void that it was from. Its scales spiraled into wicked looking spikes that arose from its body like the twisted roots of the dead tree that was within the lake. The claws that extended from its back legs were long and sharp, was easily sharp enough to rend Danny in two. It was as long as a city bus, not including its crocodilian tail, and was easily three times as tall as Danny was. A pair of black reptile like bat wings flapped at each side of its body, sending out gusts of wind that threatened to send Danny flying. The beast then plummeted towards the shore line where Danny was, sending up clouds of the white sand forcing Danny to shut its eyes.

When the sand settled Danny opened his eyes and immediately wish he hadn't. Towering above him, like how a cat towers over a mouse, was the beast its face was easily seen by the young Fenton. It had four large curved horns coming from the base of its skull, like a crown sitting atop the head of the god of death. The skull of the beast was something from a dragon from the very belly of hell itself, but it was the eyes of the beast that frightened him the most. The closet thing that Danny could compare them to was the God Eyes that he learned about in astronomy class. The mixture of crimson red and emerald green spoke of knowledge and power that was beyond anything that Danny dared imagine before, it was like he was in the presence of a true god.

"I have awakened." The draconic beast muttered before it looked around for a bit before its eyes came to rest upon Danny's stunned form. "You're here. Good. Now tell me, young one… can you conquer your fear?"

Before Danny could a response to the beast's question the dragon lurched towards him with its mouth wide open. Before Danny could utter a sound he was devoured whole by the beast in a single bite.

XXXXXX

(Unknown Time-Unknown Location)

When Danny opened his eyes again, he found himself in a bright white void barren of everything. His sense of touch and smell seemed to fade as he gazed into the whiteness of the surroundings. This confused him since the last thing he could remember was being eaten by that dragon-like monster. Why was he in this void instead of the belly of that beast?

After a couple of minutes of deafening silence, Danny pushed the thought to the back recesses of his mind. He then started to look around the white void, hoping to find a way out when he came across the only other thing that was present in this place.

It was an enormous, bone-white mask that floated in place. The mask was shaped like the head of the beast that devoured him, but instead of the obsidian skin of that dragon the mask was as white sun dried bones in the desert. The mask was decorated with three purple lines that surrounded its right eye, one above its eye hole, one below its eye hole, and one line coming from the eye hole itself. All three lines ran down for a bit on the side of the mask then encircled around the back. It was also decorated with an inverted purple triangle on the forehead just in-between the two eyes.

Before Danny could even wonder why the mask was there, the surface of it seemed to ripple for a bit before it launched itself towards him. He didn't have any time to react before the mask clamped itself over his face, forcing him onto the ground as he tried to claw it off.

As he continued to try to yank the mask off of his face a wave of pure, unadulterated hunger washed over him. He fell to his knees as his stomach seemed to shrink in on itself, a defining roar of primal hunger escaped from his mouth as the hunger became worse.

"Wha—?" Danny muttered before he screamed, another wave of hunger washing through his body. It felt like his stomach was devouring itself in its demand for food. "What… what's happening…?"

Danny's mask-covered head upturned before the jaws of the mask opened, showing Danny's human mouth, before he released another loud roar. The sound was terrifying in its ferocity and seeming unnaturalness, which could've come from the fact that it sounded empty. It sounded... hollow.

XXXXXX

(Amity Park—Fenton Works—Danny's Room)

Danny woke up with a gasp, his eyes frantically looking around his room while he panted like he just ran a whole marathon. All the while sweat continuously poured down his face in rivets, stinging slightly as some it got into his eyes.

After a few seconds Danny managed to calm himself down when he saw that he was not in that horrible white room anymore, he was sitting in his own bed in his home. Slowly scanning his room Danny saw that it was still in pristine condition with Sidney sleeping in his mini-futon on his desk.

Finding that nothing was amiss, Danny placed his left hand on his chest in an effort to calm down his rapidly-beating heart. He closed his eyes while he was doing so, reminding himself over and over again that it was all just a nightmare; it was nothing more than a bad dream. However, even if he didn't admit it out-loud, Danny knew that his nightmare didn't feel like a dream at all.

Danny clenched his blue comforter so hard that his knuckles turned white from the pressure, 'I know that it was a dream but... why did it feel so real?'

"Danny…?" Danny turned to see that Sidney had gotten up, and was looking at him with a concerned expression on his beak. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Sidney." Danny lied before he got out of bed, making his bed so he didn't have to meet Sidney's plastic eyes. "I just had a bad dream."

XXXXXX

(Later—Fenton Works)

After Danny had gotten dressed for the day he decided that it was time to go downstairs and help prepare for his father's party. Danny quietly exited his room and walked to the stairway with Sidney holding onto his back like a koala. As Danny made his way down the stairs he accidentally bumped into his sister, who had been walking the living room with a wrapped present in her arms, at the bottom of the steps.

Brother and sister stumbled a bit as they hit each other, with Jazz almost falling to the ground, though neither of them fell as Danny righted his balance and caught his sister before she could fall. After they avoided a potential disaster and regained their balance Jazz looked up at him with an indignant expression on her face, annoyed at him for not being careful.

"Why don't you watch were you're go—" Jazz asked, only to stop mid-word when she noticed the dark-rings in his eyes and the slumped posture of her little brother. "Are you alright Danny? Did you get enough sleep last night?"

Danny smiled weakly at Ash, "I'm okay Jazz. I just had a bad dream last night." He spoke again upon seeing her start to open her mouth. "It wasn't too bad and I can't even remember most of it anyways."

Danny lied about that; he could remember every detail of the dream with perfect clarity.

"But, Danny—" Jazz began with a concerned expression on her face, taking a step towards her brother.

"I'm fine, Jazz." Danny interrupted, before he seemed to remember something. "I promised Mom that I would take out the trash, so… bye!"

With that, Danny rushed off towards the kitchen before Jazz could possibly even think of a response. He wasn't even lying that much, as he had promised his mom that he would take out the trash, well it was yesterday but it was probably still there. It also gave him the opportunity to pick up his dad's present from the porch before anyone could see it.

XXXXXX

(With Jazz)

Jazz frowned as she watched her brother retreat into the kitchen, he must've been desperate to have used the trash as an excuse to avoid talking to her.

Danny had been acting strange lately, which was beginning to worry her. He was spending hours outside of the house only to come back beaten up, he may have had a clever excuse for their parents but Jazz could see through Danny's deception. It started out with the Karate lessons, something he had never had an interest in before, which was the first instance where Danny had acted strange. The situation only seemed to get worse as he seemed to become more distant to her and their parents as time passed, never telling them about what he did in his free time and only offering vague answers when asked.

Now, it appeared that Danny was starting to have nightmares. She was worried that her little brother could make bad decisions because of a lack of sleep, if he hadn't done so already.

'Why won't you tell anybody what's wrong, Danny?' Jazz thought with a saddened expression on her face and head slightly lowered. 'Why won't you tell me?'

XXXXXX

(Two hours later—Fenton Works—Living Room)

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK!"

In the recently redecorated living room of Fenton Works, a mass of people had gathered to celebrate Jack Fenton's 47th birthday party.

The ceiling was covered in a bright web-like structure of orange and red streamers with a few multi-colored balloons here and there. Near the closed fireplace was a small mountain of gifts where Maddie had the guests put Jack's presents. The fireplace's mantel was now the new home to over a dozen birthday cards.

The guests included all of Jack adult friends, which consisted of some of his old college buddies and a few adults he knew through Amity High. Also, Jack had personally invited Sam and Tucker, along with their parents, to his parent, which the teens had happily accepted, though only the Foleys had shown up.

Jack beamed at all of his guests, "Thanks for coming here today, everyone! I really appreciate it!"

"It's your birthday, Jack!" An old-looking man with thinning, brownish-gray hair and green eyes responded. "Why wouldn't we come?"

"Yeah, your parties are the best!"

"We always have a blast, anyways."

Jack's grin grew t epic proportions about hearing the positive comments from his dear friends, "Why thank you! But it is Maddie who puts these things together!" He crossed his arms childishly before he grumbled, under his breath. "She never even lets me help put up the streamers…"

Seeing Jack's current posture, and having heard what he had muttered to himself, everyone within the living room laughed. Jack looked confused for a couple of moments before he joined in with his own deep, booming laugh. What could he say; their laughter was infectious.

While Jack and the majority of his guests were laughing, Danny was just watching him with a smile on his face. It was nice to see his dad so happy.

"This is a great party!" Tucker said as he approached Danny, holding a plate that was full of party food, though the majority of it was meat. "And your Mom's cooking is really, really good!"

Sam walked towards them, with a smaller plate full with vegetables and fruit in one hand and a drink in her other hand, "You would say that, meat-lover."

"At least I can enjoy the taste all of the different, amazing flavors of meat, grass-muncher!" Tucker retorted hotly.

Danny smiled at the sight of his two friends arguing with each other in one of their constant fights. It made him happy that his friends could still bicker with each other like this, especially after what had happened to all of them.

"What do you think Danny?" Tucker asked as he turned to Danny for help in his argument against Sam. "Don't you think meat is better than vegetables?"

Sam frowned, "Don't bring Danny into this, Tucker!"

"Why not, Sam?" Tucker turned back to face Sam again, never noticing that Danny had begun to sneak away from the both him and Sam. "You're just afraid that he'll say meat is better and prove, once and for all, that meat is better than vegetables!"

"Why you little—!" Sam roared as she and Tucker descended into another argument about their respective food groups.

XXXXXX

(Fenton Works—Fenton laboratory)

"Gosh, those two are scary!" Sidney said while sitting upon Danny's shoulders as he walked down the staircase into his parents' laboratory. "Do they always fight like that over food?"

Danny nodded, "Yeah, and that isn't the only reason they fight with each other. Tucker argues with Sam over her eco-protesting, and Sam fights with Tucker over his obsession with technology."

"Really? Then how can they be friends?" Sidney asked, with his beady little eyes widened in confusion. "Wouldn't fighting all the time make it really hard?"

"They are able to argue like that all the time because of their friendship. Both of them know that neither would purposely try to hurt each other and do their best to protect and help each other out." Danny answered as he looked around the lab for his dad's gift that he had hidden earlier.

"I am the Box Ghost! Beware!" A highly obnoxious male voice proclaimed directly above Danny, causing both him and Sidney to look up.

Floating above them was a middle-aged looking Ghost with short black hair, red eyes, and light-blue skin. The Ghost was wearing a light-purple shirt underneath purple overalls, black boots, and light-purple gloves with a light-purple beanie on his head.

Danny frowned when he saw his dad's present, along with all of the other box-shaped stuff in the lab, were floating around the Box Ghost.

"Hey, you up there!" Danny yelled towards the Box Ghost, who turned to look at him. "I really need that red box! So, if you could just hand it over and head back into the Ghost Zone, we won't have any problems!"

The Box Ghost laughed at Danny's request, "You think I would give you one of my oh-so precious, square boxes!"

"Please?" Sidney asked hopefully.

"I'll give it to you…" The Box Ghost trailed off for a moment, before each of the boxes and box-shaped objects around him became covered in a greenish glow. "Never! Now tremble before my power! Boîte pluie (Box rain)!"

All of the glowing boxes flew down towards Danny and Sidney, who cursed before they jumped out of the way as the glowing boxes left square impressions on the ground where they impacted. While in mid-leap Sidney jumped off of Danny's shoulder and Danny transformed into his Arrancar form, both ready to do battle with pudgy ghost.

Danny lunged towards the Box Ghost as said Ghost slashed his arm towards the side of the wall, "Boîte Bouclier (Box Shield)!"

All of the boxes on the floor quickly rose up again and stacked together to merge into a rectangular-shaped shield to the Box Ghost. Danny crashed into the shield and was sent back towards the ground as the Box Ghost's shield shattered into millions of tiny boxes.

"Beware my power! Boîte la grêle (Box Hail)!" The Box Ghost shouted before he slammed his hands downwards, sending all of the boxes towards Danny.

Sidney jumped forward on his peg-legs before he threw the top of the pouch attached to his stomach open, "Petit Papier Bouclier (Small Paper Shield)!"

Paper flew from Sidney's pouch and quickly erected a shield before Danny, quite like Sidney's Papier Bouclier, though about half of the original technique's size. It did its job however and protected Danny from the rain of tiny boxes coming towards him.

"I've had—!" Danny yelled after the deluge of boxes ended. He then used Sonido to appear behind the Box Ghost with his leg raised above his head. He then slammed the soul of his foot on top of the Box Ghost's head, which sent him crashing towards the ground. "—enough of you!"

The Box Ghost groaned weakly within the small crater that had been formed upon his impact and looked up through his bleary eyes as Danny descended towards the ground.

"I should've recognized you!" The Box Ghost said as he got up, his body aching as he pointed an accusing finger at Danny. "You're that monster that beat Skulker so bad! So bad that he had no chance against Walker!"

'Walker? Why does that name feel familiar?' Sidney wondered as he watched the Box Ghost accuse Danny.

"You only beat the Box Ghost because you're an Arrancar! And it was two-against-one! But, you shall not win against the Box Ghost again! Beware!" The Box Ghost proclaimed.

Then, before either Danny or Sidney could react, the Box Ghost turned intangible and sank into the ground beneath him. It left both Sidney and Danny shocked and confused, as they thought it would have taken some more effort to get rid of the Box Ghost.

However, after the initial shock and confusion wore off, Danny was once again hit the underlying truth of Skulker's cruel words and his own nightmares. He clenched his eyes close as thoughts about him actually being a monster flew across his mind, taunting him over and over again.

Danny soon felt somebody shaking his leg and opened his eyes, locking them with Sidney's own concerned eyes.

"Are you alright D-Danny?" Sidney asked worriedly.

Danny didn't answer. Instead, he quickly walked towards his dad's present, one of the numerous boxes that had assumed their original shape after the Box Ghost had fled. The shiny red paper crumpled underneath his hand when he picked it up, with a single tear-drop falling onto it.

"I'm fine." Danny muttered quietly, with Sidney not being able to tell he was lying, or see the various emotions that flashed across his face. After a couple moments though, he turned back to Sidney with a force, somewhat happy expression on his face. "Let's go. They'll start missing us if we're gone too long."

Sidney said nothing. He just ran on his still-unsteady peg-legs, towards Danny, whereupon he jumped on Danny's back. Danny then proceeded to walk up the staircase and out of his parent's laboratory; back to the party he was suddenly in no mood for anymore.

XXXXXX

(Meanwhile—Southeastern California—Train)

Within the confines of their cabin, Tia Harribel and her Fracción were all attempting to preform the Arrancar's equivalent of the Shinigami's Jinzen, Hablar. Like Jinzen, Hablar was a technique that allowed Arrancar to access their inner worlds so that they would be able to communicate with their Zanpakutō. It was through this method that Arrancar could learn how to access their Resurrección and how to best use them.

It was through Hablar that Tia hoped her Fracción would be able to learn more about their individual Resurrección and master them. It did appear to be working, as she had recently seen them begin to display new techniques in their released forms.

Tia herself was using Hablar to communicate with her Zanpakutō spirit Tiburón in the hopes that she could improve her powers. Clearing her mind and calming her breath Tia felt the outside world melt away as she entered her mind-scape. When the physical world melted away completely Tia opened her eyes to gaze at her mind scape .It took the form as a blood red ocean that was dotted by small tropical islands.

The Tres Espada glanced at the frothy red waves that lapped at the beach for a moment before she looked towards the ocean, trying to find the elusive Tiburón. Her sharp gaze soon caught sight of a large, dark-blue almost black dorsal fin peeking out from the red water; it appears that Tiburón had been waiting for her.

"Come on out, Tiburón. You know that" Tia called out to her Zanpakutō spirit with the dorsal fin slowly moving towards the shore being her response.

The dorsal fin became submerged in water as Tiburón lowered itself in the water before, in a huge spray of saltwater, Tiburón leapt out of the water and onto the shore. A massive amount of dust was thrown into the air due to Tiburón's landing, concealing it from view. After a second the dust slowly began to dissipate, slowly revealing Tiburón to the world.

The creature before Tia would've sent most people running away in terror, but not Tia. After all why should she run from her partner? The first thing that you would notice about Tiburón was that it was excessively tall, easily twelve feet tall if it wasn't in a slouched position. It was mostly humanoid in the fact that it had four limbs and stood upright on its legs but beyond that it was a monster in most every sense of the word.

Tiburón looked like the offspring between a shark and a man; its skin glistened brightly from the fresh seawater that clung to it from its swim in the ocean's water. Its limbs were long and pale like the underbelly of a Great White and its hands were webbed with wicked looking claws adorned on them. Tiburón's head was that of a shark with its teeth displayed as the beast breathed in and out. Tiburón's back was an almost black color as a series of distended vertebrae and a large dorsal fin forced it into the slouched position that it was in. To finish off its appearance was the large shark tail that extended from the base of its spine and a pair of webbed feet.

When Tiburón spoke its voice was surprisingly feminine, but guttural at the same time. "What have you come here for, Tia?"

"I need you to help me get stronger, Tiburón." Tia answered seriously. "My current level of strength is level of that of one of Soul Society's Captains… but, if I and my three are to survive the coming war, I will need to get stronger than I currently am."

"You still haven't given up on that strange desire to protect those three, have you?" Tiburón asked with disapproval in her voice.

Tia frowned, "I have not. I have no idea as to why you dislike them, Tiburón… but I will need your help if I am able to protect them."

"Hmph." Tiburón said with a mild scowl on her face, partially turning away from Tia. "Those three weaklings only slow you down, something that you don't need, Tia." Tiburón faced Tia again. "In this world, it is either kill or be killed. Those three that you so desperately wish to protect… they are only baggage that will slow you down. If you continue to insist that you need to protect them then a greater predator will strike you down. If you truly wish to become strong, then you need to get rid of—"

"Enough, Tiburón." Tia interrupted with a bit of anger in her voice. "I have no wish to argue with you about my three subordinates."

"Then why have you come here if you weren't going to listen to me, Tia?" Tiburón bared her teeth in an intimidating manner, showing off her rows of teeth that could easily crush steel and render flesh from bone.

"… I have already told you the reason that I am here, Tiburón." Tia looked up at her Zanpakutō with a frozen expression on her face. "Alone, a predator will be able to inflict much damage on its prey… but together, a group of even the weakest prey can overcome the strongest predator."

Tiburón stiffened. She then opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by an extremely loud beeping sound. This sound caused Tia's eyes to widen slightly, as she only knew of one thing that could've caused it.

Tia turned to Tiburón, "I hope that the next time we meet, you'll have realized the meaning behind my words. Goodbye, Tiburón."

With that, Tia closed her eyes and exited her mindscape. In the real world, her eyes snapped open, catching her three subordinates awakening from their own meditations, and got up from her seat. Tia then moved over to one of her traveling bags where the beeping was coming from. She unzipped the bag and pulled out the beeping contraption, which caused all three of her subordinates' eyes to widen since it never did that before.

The object in Tia's hand was a cell phone, molded after a Human's Motorola Razor, but white in color. Flipping it open, Tia saw the word "East" flashing on the little screen over and over again.

Apacci leaned over Tia's shoulder and looked at the cell phone before pulling away with a scowl on her face, "East? That information's real helpful!"

Sung-sun then decided to offer her own opinion, "At least we know we are going in the right direction, Apacci." Sung-Sun remarked.

'It also means that we're one step closer to finishing this mission. Once we find this new Arrancar we can return to Las Noches and continue our training.' Tia thought as she slipped the cell phone into one of her pants pockets. 'We'll be one step closer to winning this war.'

Omake: Viva Las Vegas!

(Nevada—Las Vegas—Harrehs Casino)

"Come on triple sevens… let's see those triple sevens!" Mila-Rose chanted to herself as she yanked the handle on the slot machine before her.

Tia-sama had decided that they needed to relax while they had to the chance to do so. So, with this idea in mind, Tia-sama had dragged them all off towards the nearest casino when their train had stopped. It was to be a relaxing night of gambling and sin.

Of course a night in Las Vegas wouldn't be complete if they weren't dressed for the part. It was with this realization that Tia-sama had allowed them to purchase an outfit for the night. Mila-Rose had used her money to buy herself a fancy white tank-top, a white skirt that fell just above her knees, and a pair of white, high heel boots.

Upon walking into the casino, everyone had drifted apart, with Mila-Rose soon found herself being drawn to the flashing lights of a row of slot machines. What she didn't know was that one of the primary rules of gambling was to never play at the slot machines.

Seven. Seven. Cherry.

"ARRGGHHH!" Mila-Rose shouted in frustration, as that had been the last of the gambling money that Tia-sama had given her. "Damn this accursed machine!"

"Ah, what's the matter Amazon? Did you happen to lose… again?" A very smug and very familiar voice said from behind Mila-Rose.

Turning her head to the owner of the voice, Mila-Rose found herself looking at an all-too smug Apacci, who was wearing a simple red dress and a pair of black slippers. What made Apacci smug was the small bucket of casino chips she held between her arms, as opposed to the empty bucket near Mila-Rose.

"Could it be that you can't gamble at all, Mila-Rose?" Apacci asked, before she said. "I can't see how's that possible since it's so easy, I mean I already quadrupled my money."

"Shut up Apacci. Just because you can gamble doesn't mean that you're better than me!" Mila-Rose exclaimed.

Surprisingly Apache didn't argue back but only laughed in a haughty tone. "Ha ha ha, Mila-Rose such an insult would've normally sent me into a rage but since I'm doing so well I don't think that I will." She then looked to her right. "That goes double for Sung-Sun."

Sung-Sun was sitting at a roulette table while wearing a long-sleeved Chinese-styled dress that completely covered her arms. She was sweating slightly, with her right eye twitching slightly, as she watched her stack of chips grow smaller and smaller still.

"Wow! Look at her go!"

"That's amazing."

"How does she do that?"

Apacci and Mila-Rose looked towards the source of the noise and found themselves surrounding one of the casino's Black Jack tables. Getting a closer look at the crowd, the two Arrancar found their mistress sitting in one of the seats with a small mountain of chips surrounding her.

Tia was wearing a beautiful black cocktail dress that showed off her delicate curves, a small silk scarf that covered the lower half of her face, and black heels. She was looking at the table with her usual bored expression, which unnerved the people around her.

The dealer dealt her a ten of hearts and a six of spades while he had a nine of spades face up, "Hit me."

The dealer turned over another card, revealing it to be the two of hearts. The crowd around the Black Jack table began to murmur on the good hand that Tia had before the woman did something that no one would suspect.

"Hit me." Tia said.

Everyone was stupefied at what Tia had just said, even the dealer. What kind of crazy person asked for another hit while having a hand of 18? It was suicide!

"Hit me." Tia repeated her earlier request, as the dealer had yet to give her another card.

The dealer nodded before he flipped over another card, revealing the three of spades, giving Tia a total score of 21. The crowd around the table went wild as the dealer flipped over his own cards, showing that he had a king in the hole, giving him a score of 19.

"I'll be taking my chips." Tia said as she rose from her seat—before noticing the high number of chips around her—she turned to the dealer and batted her eyelashes. "… If you could call someone to help me?"

The dealer flushed before he nodded and called over several wandering people, who then helped Tia fill numerous bags with casino chips.

Tia then looked outside to the entrance of the strip then turned her head to her gawking subordinates, "What are you waiting for? The night is still young."

Techniques:

1. Boîte pluie (Box rain): After taking control over nearby boxes, or box-like objects, the Box Ghost is able to send them hurling downwards at his opponents. As the number of boxes increase, the more it appears to be an actual rain of them, hence the name of this technique.

2. Boîte Bouclier (Box Shield): Using the boxes under his control, the Box Ghost is able to call them towards him whenever he is in need of protection. The boxes are able to merge into a stronger, more durable form, durable enough to even deflect an Arrancar.

3. Boîte la grêle (Box Hail): The Box Ghost can use this technique to "shatter" any large box, or box-like object, into millions of tiny boxes. He can then send these boxes towards his enemies, though how effective this technique is still unknown.

4. Petit Papier Bouclier (Small Paper Shield): By using his control over paper, Sidney is able to manipulate a good sum of paper to form a shield before himself or an ally. While this technique does provide cover for Sidney or his allies, it is not as large or as damage-resistant as his Papier Bouclier (Paper Shield).

A/N; Author's Note: I have a request for any of you talented artists out there! I'm requesting some fan-art for this story, whereupon your names and a link to the fan-art will be posted on my profile page.