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

Legend:

"Someone is talking."

'Someone is thinking.'

"A technique is being used."

Chapter 17:

(Unknown Location—With Danny)

Danny was running as fast as his legs could take him. When he had woke up, Danny had found himself in an endless sea of fog while the ground beneath him was nothing but white sand. He didn't know why but a deep terror was running through him, making him run through the thick, gray fog as fast as his legs would allow him to. Danny was in his Arrancar form for some reason but his powers were cut off from him making him as weak as normal human. He didn't know what he was running from exactly but he did know that, whatever it was, it terrified the hell out of him so he ran onwards.

"Danny"

Danny's eyes widened at the unfamiliar voice, his heart clenched from the terror that voice seemed too inspired in him. In a moment of unbridled desperation, he lost his footing and slipped on the white sand beneath his feet, displacing a fair amount of it as he fell into the sand. Danny quickly scrambled to his feet, not wanting whatever was behind him to catch up, and began running again.

"Danny..."

Danny clenched his eyes shut—desperately trying to tune out the voice—though to no avail. No matter what he tried, he could still hear the voice at the same volume no matter how fast he ran away. Why couldn't he block the voice out? Why was the voice chasing him to begin with?

He tried to continue running forward but a sudden, massive gust of wind threatened to knock him over from where he stood. The gust caused a great deal of sand to fly into his face and forced him to shield it with his arms. When he felt the sand settle and he was able to open his eyes again, Danny looked upwards to see that the fog had vanished from the area around him.

"Danny." The voice said, but it was no longer an echo; it was right in front of him. Looking up into the sky Danny felt his breath hitch at what inhabited the black sky.

It was the beast that haunted his thoughts and his nightmares, the black dragon. It hovered in the air in front of him, flapping its massive reptilian bat-like wings to keep itself aloft. It looked down at him with its shining eyes that seemed to pierce his very soul. The sight of the great beast made Danny freeze in terror and it only got worse when the beast opened its maw and began to speak.

"Danny."

Then everything went white.

XXXXXX

(Amity Park—Axion Labs)

When Danny opened his eyes he saw that he was still within the pod that Technus had trapped him in, which was hanging from the ceiling in a vertical position. He then remembered the dream that he just had. No, it wasn't a dream, the memory of it was too clear for it to be a dream. The vision of that black dragon came back to him and while it only fueled the fires of his fear a seed of doubt began to form in his mind.

'Why was it calling my name?' Danny wondered to himself.

Before Danny could think more about the black dragon, his captor slid into view of his pod and noticed him. "Oh, you're awake?" He looked a bit irritated for a moment before his expression was replaced with a look of intrigue. "It seems that the dosage of Knockout Gas I gave you, while effective against Humans and Ghosts, isn't as effective on Arrancar. Interesting..."

"It won't be so... interesting... when I get out of here..." Danny threatened as he struggled against his bonds.

"That's fine; I don't intend on letting you out of there. Well not alive, at least." Technus stated as he floated over to a nearby control panel and pressed a button. A low rumbling sound filled the room as Technus floated behind Danny's pod. While Danny couldn't see what Technus was doing, since the pod he was in was facing the opposite direction, he could hear the low growling of some kind of animal.

"Don't worry... You'll be better soon." Danny heard Technus mumble to what ever was growling.

Curious in spite of himself, Danny tried to stretch his neck so he could see over the sides of his pod. By stretching his neck and upper body as far as they could go Danny could just make out the form of Technus standing in front of a glass container of some kind. While he couldn't see what was in it Danny could hear it as it release a loud empty sound roar. Danny broke out in a cold sweat at the sound of that roar for it was the roar that he released in his nightmares. Danny struggled against his bonds even more but before he could get the chance to do it, the wires tightened around his body, forcing him back into a straight up and down position.

'Oh—!'Danny managed to think as his head slammed against the back of the pod before the wires wrapped around him began pumping an incredibly high dosage of electricity into his body. He couldn't even scream in pain as the electricity locked the muscles in his jaw in place. His body spasamed in pain as the electricity made him feel like every cell on his body was on fire. The scent of burning flesh wafted up into his nostrils letting Danny know that the electricity was starting to burn his skin.

'Oh, god it hurts so much.' Danny thought as he tried to block out the pain

Technus floated back into view as he pushed a button on the console that he was working on earlier, the electricity was cut off, making Danny sigh in relief. Danny was then slammed against the side of the pod as it spun around at a high speed, crying out as his head impacted against the side of the pod. Once the stars in Danny's vision dissipated he could see an enormous and complicated-looking machine that had a long cable that was hooked up to his pod. But it was what was hooked up to the machine that caught his attention though.

Suspended in blood-red liquid on either side of the machine were a pair of creatures that were trapped in clear containers which were hooked up on either side of the machine. The creature in the tube that was connected to the machine's right side made another growling sound which Danny instantly recognized as the same one that he heard earlier.

The creature resembled the snow leopard that he had seen at Amity's Zoo. It was seven feet long from its masked face to the tip of its tail and it was covered in grey fur with a white underbelly. It's mask had a toothy grin that reminded Danny of the Cheshire cat but instead of the playful sarcastic smirk depicted in the story book this one was infinity more sinister looking. At the edges of the mask and running all over its body were a number of grayish-blue spots and on its paws were a set of viscous-looking claws.

The second creature greatly resembled the first, though it was smaller than the larger one. In fact, as Danny looked at it with more attention, he could see that it shared many features of the larger one. It too looked like a snow leopard but instead of the fully grown version this one looked like a kitten. The small one shared an almost identical mask and body with the larger one but this one had a small set of fangs in its grin and a different pattern in its spots.

"I allowed you the opportunity to look at what you're going to be used for, so be thankful." Technus sneered, now floating directly before Danny's pod as another surge of electricity forced Danny to scream. Technus then floated to the large machines counsel and began to use it, "You are the key component that my machine needs to reverse the Hollowification that my beloved wife and daughter have undergone." His glasses glinted as he leaned forward, "Unfortunately the process will surely kill you."

'Hollow?' Danny's muddled mind latched onto the familiar word and connected it with the creatures that he had seen in the containment tubes. 'Those things are... Hollows?'

"By your confused expression, is it possible to assume that you've never seen a Hollow before?" Technus asked with a raised eyebrow. He spoke again before Danny could respond, "... That means you either skipped the traditional evolutionary phase that Hollows can go through or you simply forgot your time as a Hollow before you decided to rip your mask off. Hmm, if the latter is true I wonder how many human souls you've devoured to make you want to forget."

"Human... what?" Danny managed to choke out. The very idea was horrifying to him. What was Technus implying? That Hollows ate Humans souls? He couldn't even imagine what it would be like, and didn't want to. The very idea almost made him throw up, but he choked it down.

Technus' eyebrows rose again, "So you haven't seen another Hollow and you show revulsion about the very idea of eating a Human Soul... Very interesting... I'll have to do an in-depth analysis of your body once the procedure is complete..."

Technus the floated to the tube containing the smaller Hollow and gently place his hand against the glass.

"The two Hollows that you see before you were once my wife, Аnyа, and my daughter, Marianna..." Technus murmured as he stared at the young kitten Hollow, his voice soft from the memories of his family. "I was a hip scientist studying the paranormal world, or more in particular, the Spiritual World..."

'... He was like my parents...' Danny thought as he listened to Technus' story.

Technus then clenched his hands as his eyes prickled with unshed tears. "In my zeal, I accidentally summoned a Hollow into my home as I was studying the realms of the afterlife. I managed to destroy it but not before it killed my wife and daughter and devoured their souls." He paused as his eyes lost their gleam and became dull and lifeless. "For years after that I worked tirelessly to try and bring my Anya and Marianna back to me, and eventually I succeeded...just not in the way that I hoped."

'How could he have done that?' Danny wondered, in spite of himself. As far as he knew, it was impossible to bring somebody back when they died. The people still existed, but their bodies were dead or gone, with no way to reestablish the former connection the soul had with the body.

"I managed to bring them back... but they were in the form of Hollows. I was so surprised that I didn't even react as they almost killed me..." Technus muttered. "I was a fit man back then, so I managed to get to the machine you see before you and I trapped them into the golden pyramids... and then... I died. And while I passed on, my forgotten memories ended up in the Ghost Zone, where I became a Ghost..." Unseen, he glanced at the pod that Danny was in. "And now that I've finally escaped the Ghost Zone, I can fulfill my promise to turn them back to normal. But first... I have to deal with your friends..."

'My friends?' Danny wondered sluggishly. 'Oh no... Tucker... Sam... They're in trouble!'

Technus then floated towards another terminal, but this one had a microphone attached to it. "Testing… testing… is this thing on…? Of course it is on… I adapted the technology, after all…" Technus paused and then took a few pieces of paper from his coat and began to read from them. "Attention all mindless peons under my command, I just wanted to take this moment to thank the one person who brought this all together. The one man, whose unsurpassed intellect and hip fashion sense to do the impossible... ME!" Technus then threw out his arms like an orchestra conductor who was receiving a standing applause. "But I know that you peons played a small part in helping me complete my hip plans. So why don't you all give yourselves a round of applause?"

'He must be talking about those guys that grabbed me...' Danny thought as he watched Technus give his speech.

"Okay that's enough of that. Now on to the main event!"

With that, Technus pressed a button on the control panel, sending a high dosage of electricity into Danny's body and causing him to scream. The pain was made worse by the fact that his skin and nerves were still recovering from the last shock, amplifying the pain even further. After a few seconds of this, Danny couldn't stand it anymore and fell unconscious. However, even though he was knocked out, his body still thrashed within its restraints, flailing around from the electricity that coursed through his nerves.

XXXXXX

(Meanwhile—With Sam, Tucker, and Sidney)

After Danny's screams had been cut off with from the PA system Sam, Tucker, and Sidney walked down one of Axion Lab's numerous hallways with carefully blank expression on their faces. If it had been any other situation—or they had been anyone else—they would be panicking and running around looking for Danny like chickens with their heads cut off. However, now wasn't the time for that.

To help Danny, they needed to find out exactly where he was being kept and get there without raising any suspicion. To do that, they needed to find a storage room like Tucker had suggested. Once they reached the room Sam planned to use her ribbons while Tucker hack into the security mainframe. Through this, they would try to find out where Danny was and how much of those Zombie-fied creeps they'd run into on their way to get to him.

So, with a plan in mind, the trio were walking towards the nearest storage room that Tucker had found on the blueprints. They easily passed through the few guards around by making sure they were walking at the same speed as them and that they answered the guards' questions as slowly as the other guards did. Luckily for them, none of the nearby guards noticed the three when they slipped into the storage room and closed it behind them with an audible click. Once inside, both teenagers gave an all clear sign which caused Sydney to materialize into view.

Tucker glanced at Sam and nodded his head slightly, "Let's get to work."

"Alright." Sam said before she looked at Sidney. "Can you keep guard?" Sidney nodded seconds before Sam closed her eyes and began to concentrate. "Good."

While Tucker began looking for an outlet and Sam focused, Sidney unzipped his fanny pouch before releasing a small torrent of paper. The paper quickly flew through the air and phased through to the outside of the door they had come through. Once there, the paper stuck to the walls and covered the door till none of it was showing. Once the door was fully covered the paper then started to change in color and texture. Eventually where there was once a door to an old storeroom there was now another section of the blue tinted wall that made up the entire facility.

"Cape Papier (Paper Cloak)." Sidney said, whispering the name of his technique as it completed itself.

It was only a couple moments later when Tucker finally found what he was looking for with an 'Aha!' He moved aside a few boxes and dropped to his knees beside the wire box that was attached to the wall and pulled out his new lock-picking kit from one of his pockets. He then pulled out a screw driver and began to unscrew the edges of the box so that he could get to the circuitry beneath it.

As Tucker worked away at the cover of the box, Sam released a breath and focused on her power. Slowly, as to not draw unwanted attention to themselves from whatever sensors Technus had set up, she began to bring 'the ribbons' into view. This caused a gradual filling of the room as hundreds of white, green, black, and gray ribbons appeared.

Tucker spliced a couple of the wires that were in the box and reattached them to his PDA. With a minor application of his Reiatsu, the screen of his PDA came alive, showing numerous streams of green zeros and ones amidst a black background. He grinned at his success and let his friends know, "I'm in."

"Good job Tuck." Sam congratulated with a small grin before she returned her attention to the ribbons, trying to locate Danny's.

Tucker grinned as well before he looked back at the screen and began typing. After a few moments, his grin was replaced with a confused expression.

'What is this stuff?' Tucker wondered as he looked at the files that he had been able to bring up. 'That one is for the security cameras… but what about the other files?'

Curious as to what could be in the files, Tucker hacked into one of the larger ones only for his eyes to widen as numerous blueprints began to cover the screen. These weren't ordinary blueprints though, they were to complex for any standard machine. Digging deeper, Tucker stumbled upon a picture of the machine that the blueprints made. The machine in question appeared as a 10' by 10' block with a circular satellite dish and control panel on it. It was mainly black in color, but the machine also had numerous green lines that represented the circuitry underneath it.

After a couple of moments, Tucker looked downwards and came up to the information about what this device was supposed to do. His eyes widened. 'Mind… This device's main function is… Mind-Control?'

Hearing Tucker's gasp, Sam and Sidney turned towards him and asked him if he was okay. Seeing him slightly pale and sweaty made them nervous since it couldn't mean anything good.

"What's wrong, Tucker?" Sam asked her friend.

Tucker looked at her for a moment before he returned his attention back to the PDA, "I think I found the reason why all those people we've seen are Zombies—" His gaze became solemn as he raised his PDA so that they could see the machine on the screen. "they're being mind-controlled."

"Mind-Control?" Sidney asked in a confused tone. "You mean like those little green men use to control cats they've taken onto their ships?"

Sam did a double take before she shrugged off Sidney's question and turned back to face Tucker, "I thought that Ghost—Technus—was controlling everybody, not a machine."

"I doubt that the 'Master of Technology' can control so many people at once, so it makes sense that he built this machine do to it for him. These files were added within the last day or so; probably when Technus took over this place." Tucker theorized. He turned away upon Sam's semi-incredulous stare. "Well, it's the only real reason I can think of right now…"

Sam bit her lip at the thought of being trapped within your own body before nodded in head in reluctant acceptance at Tucker's logic.

"As long as Technus has these machines he can control these people for as long as he wants, we'll have to take it out to free them. If we do, then we won't have to deal with all the people who Technus is in control of while we go to rescue Danny."

"… That's true." Sam reluctantly admitted before she sighed, looking away. "It would help if we didn't have to keep avoiding people… and it would give us the advantage once Technus' 'minions' are gone…"

Sidney nodded once as he remembered what he saw on his initial scouting of the facility, "Those zombie-cats are literally flooding the inner labs, if we want to get in there then will need to take the kooky machine out."

"Well it looks like we have our first objective because..." Sam said before she held up a black ribbon—Danny's ribbon—before her. "Danny's ribbon is leading into the heart of this place; the inner labs."

"That's good to know." Tucker said before he looked back at his PDA. "Besides the machine the blueprint that I showed you indicates that there are two other machines that help keep control of the people and they're located in three different areas."

"So we'll have to split up to take the machines down?"

Tucker nodded once before he explained his plan. "If we only focus on one machine, then the guards will know and increase security on the other two. What we need to do is attack all three machines at once, so that the guards will have no time to react."

"That's true but," Sam looked at Sidney for a moment and, seeing how exhausted the Ghost looked, hesitation began to creep into her mind. "Do you think that you could handle one of those machines and the guards by yourself, Sidney? You look pretty tired."

"... I can do it." Sidney said.

"Now that that's settled, I'm going to find out where these machines are." Upon Sam's look of exasperation, Tucker went back to working on his PDA. "Don't look at me like that, Sam. It's not my fault that this file only tells me about the machines and not where they are. But with a little bit more time I should be able to find out where they are."

After a couple of seconds of Tucker trying to hack into the system, Tucker suddenly jerked backwards as his PDA's screen flashed with a bright green light. When the light died down, there was only the green face of a Ghost on it. The Ghost appeared to be a little older than the Lunch Lady, judging by his wrinkles, as well as having a pair of dark sunglasses that covered his eyes and a mad scientist shock-white hair style on his head.

"Hah! You wet blankets think that I, Technus, the Master of Technology, would be so stupid as to not realize someone would attempt to use an outlet to hack into the system that I conquered?" The Ghost—Technus—scoffed. "No! I merely allowed you to view that file so you could see how deep you are in, children. And now its time you realized just how out matched that you are."

With that the ghost disappeared from the screen and Tucker's PDA went dark. A couple of sparks raced down the wires Tucker had spliced and into the PDA before the PDA to spark as well. Tucker dropped his PDA with a yelp, as the sparks burned his hand, before he began to wave his hand in the air trying to cool it off. After shaking his hand had cooled off, Tucker picked up his PDA again before he began to try and turn it on. However, no matter what he tried, he couldn't turn on his PDA let alone get back into the database that he had hacked into. The insides were totally fried.

Sam approached him from behind, her expression sorrowful. "Tucker..."

"... That PDA was a gift that Danny gave me." Tucker muttered to himself as he stared at the PDA, remembering how happy he had been when Danny had given it to him. Danny had remembered what he had wanted for his birthday and had used five months' worth of allowance to buy it for him. He had taken a shine to the device and, soon, he made sure he kept it with him.

"Tucker..." Sam tried to snap him out of his funk, putting a hand onto Tucker's shoulder.

To see something that Danny had given him destroyed in an instant while he was trying to figure out a way to help Danny out of this situation was maddening. He had been given no warning, no real chance to stop his precious gift from being fried. Tucker shoved Sam's hand off him and closed his eyes, fighting back a sudden surge of pure hatred. Without really realizing what he was doing, Tucker began pouring all of his power into his PDA, in the hopes that he could somehow undo what Technus had done. He would fix his PDA and find the information he needed to save all of those people and Danny.

Failure was not an option. He would do it.

Fueled by Tucker's determination and power, his fried PDA began glowing a bright green color. No, that wasn't quite right. If one looked closely, they would find that the PDA was glowing a bright teal; the same color Danny had called their 'flames'.

The sudden light blinded all three people within the room forcing them to turn away or shield their eyes with their hands. When the light died down, everyone looked back at Tucker's PDA, only to be startled when they noticed that it was gone and Tucker's outfit appeared to have changed slightly. Both of Tucker's arms were now covered in sleek, silver gauntlets, like those of a knights armor, that went up to his elbow. Upon closer inspection, one could see a keypad on the left gauntlet that covered what would've been Tucker's forearm.

Both Sam and Sidney's eyes widened at this change, shocked and had just turned his PDA into armor of some sort with just his power, how had he just done that?

"Tucker, what...? How did you...?" Sam managed to stammer out before Tucker began to speak.

"I... I don't know..." Tucker responded with a semi-awed, semi-confused tone as he looked at his new gauntlets. "I wanted to fix it ... and I think I poured my energy into it and... there was a glow and now... I have these gauntlets.."

Tucker barely got to finish his sentence before his eyes glazed over slightly and his head turned towards the gauntlet with the keypad on it. Like a man possessed Tucker began to type on the keypad that left his fingers little more then After typing for a couple of seconds, a panel that was on the back of Tucker's left hand opened the opened panel, a bright light began to shine, making a foot by foot screen appear in midair.

Sam's eyes widened in surprise, "Tucker?"

XXXXXX

(Meanwhile—United States of America—Nebraska)

Tier Harribel and her three Fracción could be found running down one of the lesser-known highways in Nebraska, their bodies blurred from the sheer speed they were travelling at. However, instead of Tier being in the lead of the group, it was Mila-Rose. This was because she was carrying Sung-Sun, who was focusing ** keeping her Camuflaje Óptico working.

"Geez..." Mila-Rose began as she shifted Sung-Sun in her arms, annoyed at the silence that had descended between them all. "What do you eat, Sung-Sun? It feels as if you weigh as much as Yammy does and he weighs a freaking ton!"

Sung-Sun frowned, "Shut up. My weight is of no concern of a muscled cow as yourself..." The insult lacked the usual bite it had, as Sung-Sun was concentrating on maintaining her technique.

Tier sighed as Mila-Rose growled about being called a 'muscled cow' and begin to lay into Sung-Sun, who was now tuning her out. Once this mission was over, she would have to work on her three's teamwork and try and reduce the hostility between them.

She glanced at the Arrancar tracking-device that Szayel had given her as her thoughts drifted into a different direction. 'I can think of ways to deal with that problem later. Right now I need to focus on the mission.' She then flipped the phone like device open and began to read over the information that it provided for her. Her eyes widened slightly at the readings it projected for her. 'This isn't good.'

"-and I'll make a purse out of you!" Mila-Rose finished.

"That is enough." Tier interrupted with a brief glare that instantly shut up her two squabbling Fracción. "Now is not the time to be arguing amongst ourselves; we have more pressing matters to take care of." She glanced at the device again before looking back at her three, "Our target's Reiatsu is slowly fading."

There was a stunned silence for a couple of moments before Apacci turned to look at her leader.

"... What do you mean that the target's Reiatsu is fading, D- Tia?" Apacci asked in worry. In response to her subordinates question, Tier handed over Szayel's device to Apacci so that she could look over the readings on it. Moments later, Apacci swore at what she saw. "How could this be happening?"

"Our target must be weakening in his/her battle by whoever it's fighting against." Though she never said it, the words 'with the Shinigami' were clearly implied by Tier. Her Fracción didn't need to hear the words from Dama—Tia but her intentions were clear to them.

Apacci, Mila Rose, and Sung-Sun each developed a small scowl or frown as they imagined what could be going on with the mysterious Arrancar. It was easy for them to imagine a fellow Arrancar fighting against a single Shinigami or a group of them, and slowly weakening. And then being slain and 'purified' by the Shinigami. It made them all clench their hands into fists and increase their speed as new determination surged through them.

They would not allow the Shinigami to kill a fellow Arrancar. Especially one that Dios Aizen had personally ordered them to find.

XXXXXX

(Axion Labs)

At the moment Sidney was stealthily walking, or waddling to be more specific, down the corridor that led to the 'Vehicle Testing' section of Axion Labs. He had to go invisible a couple of times to avoid a few of the patrolling guards but so far, it was going pretty well.

He was, however, feeling very nervous about the situation, though he tried to squash that feeling. He needed to focus on helping his friends shut down those strange machines that Tucker had talked about so that they could get Danny back. If he followed the plan that Tucker had suggested then everything should be alright.

XXXXXX

(Earlier—Axion Labs—Storage Room)

Sidney watched in rapt fascination as the strange window materialized in the air above Tucker's gauntlet. Since he had never seen such a thing in his life before and in his death the odd sight fascinated him. That was to be expected though as he hadn't really seen a any of the modern televisions or computers yet, even though Tucker had talked to him about it.

In his time, the closest thing to what Tucker had described where inside a government facility and way bigger than what Tucker had shown him. Some of his former classmates would've probably thought that such things were 'witchcraft' or 'impossible' and, while he did think that sometimes, the proof was before his eyes. So he watched as the 'window' formed above Tucker's gauntlet before a map slowly started to appear on it. He spared a glance at Tucker and Sam's faces and saw that, they too looked curious, in Tucker's case, and confused, for Sam, though Tucker was starting to grin. Did that mean that Tucker knew what was going on or had experienced this strangeness before?

"... These are the blueprints to Axion Labs that I found earlier." Tucker observed with an appreciative, awed tone in his voice. "And these are...?" As Tucker was talking, three red dots slowly formed on the 'blueprints', which drew Sydney and Sam's attention. "These are the places that we need to go."

Sam frowned slightly, "Tucker... how do you know that?"

"I think these gauntlets are like what I can do with normal computer..." Seeing Sam's confused expression, he decided to explain it more. "On a normal computer, I can 'ask' it to help me find something I'm searching for. On these gauntlets... it seems the same concept applies... 'Cause I must've 'asked' my PDA about the locations of the three machines..." He looked down at the gauntlets. "Even I couldn't break through firewalls that easily... but these gauntlets can."

"Just what are those things?" Sam whispered.

Tucker looked down at his gauntlets and thought about it. "These gauntlets are my power... and the physical manifestation of my determination to help save Danny and destroy Technus." His metal-covered hands clenched, "They are... Data Crusher."

XXXXXX

(Flashback End)

It was soon after that when Tucker had divided them up, with each 'getting' assigned their own kooky machine to destroy. Sidney had been assigned to destroy the machine that was in the Vehicle Testing area, Sam had been tasked with destroying the machine near the experimental bio-fuel area, and Tucker had decided to get rid of the machine near one of the computer labs.

Separating from his new friends, especially under such dire circumstances, had been a really difficult thing for Sidney to do. He didn't want to leave either of them, for fear that they might be hurt but he knew that there was no other choice. With this in mind, Sidney had wished his friends good luck and promised them that he would find them as soon as he destroyed the machine.

At the moment, Sidney had just finished phasing through a wall at the end of the hallway he had walked in earlier. When he next opened his eyes, he saw that he was in a giant garage-like place. There were lots of cars, boats, and small planes scattered around the garage in various states of completion. These were surrounded by a few workstations and things Sidney had no knowledge of.

Sidney wondered where the machine he was supposed to find was, as he couldn't see anything that didn't seem to belong here. As he thought about it, he almost missed the red dot that suddenly appeared on his chest. Sidney looked down at his chest and saw the red dot and immediately became confused since it wasn't there before. He tried to brush away the dot but it seemed to be determined to stay on him. He jumped left and right a few times, which kicked up a bit of dust in the air, but it seemed as if the dot would not leave him alone.

As he was about to just ignore the dot and continue looking for the machine a dozen more dots appeared all over his body, causing Sidney to grow a bit concerned. He didn't know what the dots were supposed to do but he was beginning to feel a bit uneasy about it. That was when he noticed that the dots left a red beam behind in the dust that was in the air.

'These aren't dots, they're lights.' Sidney thought as he began to trace the red lights back to their source.

Sidney traced the red beams up into the rafters of the hangers and immediately broke out into a cold sweat. Over a dozen guards were standing on the railing above him, but they were vastly different then the guards that he had seen in the facility so far. Each dressed in form-fitting black uniforms that almost seem to make them blend into the shadows of the higher areas. Each guard was also wearing a black mask that only had a single red lens where the eyes should be and they were equipped with long guns that were trained on him.

"For coming into this area, you will die."

XXXXXX

(With Sam)

At the same moment, one would find Sam walking down a hallway at the same speed as the Zombie-fied guards that were around her while making sure to keep her face blank. She hadn't thought that the hallways to 'her' machine would be so crowded; it bugged her a bit that Tucker or Sidney probably weren't having this problem.

'And I can't just beat them either...' Sam thought with a mental scowl. Unlike her friends, she didn't really have an offensive power that she could use. Her specialty seemed to be tracking which, while helpful in finding people, couldn't help her defeat anybody.

The sting of that realization hurt Sam a bit. She had been training so that she wouldn't be as helpless as she was against the Lunch Lady, but this situation made her feel useless. She had trained to fight with a practice sword and had grown somewhat good with it, especially with the books about swordsmanship that she had. But, her practice sword—which she had tied to her stomach with a ripped bit of her clothing—wasn't ideal for this situation.

While it had been effective in knocking out those guards outside, she had only accomplished that by channeling her energy into the wooden blade. She could probably use this technique to injure normal people but against things like Ghosts...she didn't stand a chance. Ghosts could simply turn intangible to avoid her blows or destroy it with a blast of only reason why she knocked Peten down was because she took him by surprise, if she fought him head to head then she would've easily been beaten.

So lost in thought was she that Sam almost didn't notice she had reached her objective until she literally walked into the door to the Experimental Bio-Fuel area. Stumbling back a bit, she blinked at the door before she looked around. Thankfully the few guards that hadn't walked off somewhere else didn't noticed that she hit the door. Her eyes narrowed when she saw that they appeared to be avoiding the door.

'Why were they avoiding the door?' Sam thought as she looked at the guards in the hallway. Surely, with one of those three machines in it, Technus would want to protect it very well. This normally would translate into a higher number of guards to protect it. But, the guards were actually avoiding the door to the room with the machine in it. 'So, why are they avoiding the door?'

After a moment, Sam shook her head, pushing her growing paranoia away for the time being. This was actually a good thing. If the guards were avoiding the door and the machine was in the Experimental Bio-Fuel area, then her mission would be easier. There would be less people to stand in her way.

So, with this thought in mind, Sam punched in the number that Tucker had gotten for her into the code box on the side of the door. Not even a second after she was done the door slid open with a near-silent 'whoosh' and allowed the scent of the lab to reach her. She clutched her nose in a vain attempt to block the scent of decomposing plant matter.

'Oh, god, why did it have to smell so bad?' Sam thought, eyes tearing at the scent of decomposing plants and other materials.

The room itself was enormous, with a white ceiling, white walls, and light blue tiling as flooring. In the middle of the room was a large, light-green machine that Sam recognized as the "Bio-Fuel Making Machine". It looked somewhat like the distillery that she had seen once when her middle school had taken her class to a brewery for a school field trip. All around the Bio-Fuel Making Machine were containers, which Sam assumed were filled with fuel that Axion Lab created. Also in the room there were small plots of various types of plants which Sam guessed were used to make the fuel.

After a moment, Sam spotted the machine she was after behind the Bio-Fuel Making Machine. She couldn't see it clearly, as only a small part of it was poking out from behind the Bio-Fuel Making Machine, but she didn't need to see it all the way. She just needed to see where it was.

Walking towards the machine, Sam lifted her shirt a bit and removed her practice sword from its makeshift sling in preparation for the destroying it. She barely got the sword free before she sensed something behind her. Twisting around Sam hastily brought her sword up in a guard position just in time to see the flash of light from a descending blade. Sam's wooden sword, charged with her own power, held against the other blade for the briefest of seconds before it was cut cleanly in half, forcing Sam to jump backwards lest she share a similar fate.

Standing before Sam were a trio of crouching figures clad in white form-fitting armor. They were different from the other zombie guards as they actually wore armor instead of the 'traditional' uniform. The armor itself was sleek and white around the chest area with grey around the limbs. Each figure was also wearing sightly elongated helmets which had four glowing red slits where the eyes should've been. The Finally, clasped in each of their hands was a four foot long straight blade that hummed with electricity.

"All intruders have been marked for elimination by Technus."

With that, the figures lunged towards Sam, who could only think of one thing as she fell into a defensive stance.

'This is going to end badly.'

XXXXXX

(With Tucker)

In another part of the facility Tucker was walking down the path towards Axion Labs' Computer Labs all the while thinking about his new power, 'Data Crusher'. The first thing that he realized about the gauntlets was that he wouldn't be able to take them with him down the hallways, as they would break his cover as a guard. So with that in mind Tucker tried to deactivate it. For a bit nothing he did seemed to work but it was only after he cut the flow of energy from the gauntlets did they morph back into his precious, easily hidden PDA.

Another bonus of this new power was that his PDA was completely fixed. Before he had somehow activated 'Data Crusher', his PDA had been completely fried from Technus's security protocols. Now though, his PDA looked as if it was brand new. In fact, if Tucker didn't know any better, he would say that his PDA was working better than it had before. But that couldn't be right. It was the same PDA Danny had given him months ago.

'Or is it?' Tucker thought forlornly as he gazed down at he PDA.

"Stop..." A guard stated from his spot in front of the door that led to the hallways that contained Axion Labs' Computer Labs. " You can go no further. This is Lord Technus' orders"

Tucker floundered a bit in his response. Unlike the other guards he had come across so far, this guard didn't pause multiple times in his sentences and he looked more aware of himself. The blank face of the guard's helmet only made Tucker more nervouse as he tried to come up with an excuse.

"Uh... I-I... I..." Tucker stammered out nervously as he tried to think of a way to appease the guard. He suddenly pointed to the left, "An intruder, over there!"

The guard turned around, "Where is this intru-"

"Data Crusher!" Tucker announced as he practically flooded his PDA with his energy, transforming it into his two gauntlets, before he launched himself at the guard. He quickly knocked the guard out with a couple of blows, made even more effective by his gauntlets. "Hah!" Tucker deactivated his Data Crusher, looking down at the guard as his PDA reformed in his right hand. "You fell for the oldest trick in the book!"

Grinning slightly, Tucker turned back to the door the guard was guarding and looked at the keypad. Attaching a small cable to his PDA, he attached the other end to a small hole he found at the bottom. His brows furrowed in concentration as he slowly hacked into the keypad and discovered the code needed to open it. When he did, he took back the cable and put it in his pocket before he punched the code into the keypad.

The doors opened with a 'whoosh', allowing Tucker inside. He walked briskly down the hallway towards the farthest computer lab, which he knew 'his' machine would be at. However when he was only halfway down the hallway, five figures jumped down from the ceiling and surrounded him.

'Wha—?!'

Each of the figures were dressed in black bodysuits, a black helmet with a dark-yellow visor, and silver armor over their chest, elbows, and knees. They were equipped with large, black-and-silver guns in their hands. Said guns were now aimed at Tucker, who had begun to sweat at the sight of them.

"Intruder found. Beginning elimination of intruder." One guard said as the rest took out their hand guns and unfolded some nightsticks that arced with electricity.

"Data Crusher!" With what was becoming the customary flash of light, Tucker's PDA transformed into two silver gauntlets on Tucker's arms. Looking at the guards, he then made a 'come on' motion with his hands.

"Come and get some!" Tucker said as the guards charged towards him.

Omake:

Chash smiles as the curtain opened up to reveal him in a talk show host suit, "Sharkteeth and I are happy to announce the winner of the "Who is the Craziest Scientist" Award..." He pointed towards one of the three contestants. "Mayuri Kurotsuchi, you have been chosen by as the Craziest Scientist!"

"As if there could be anyone other than myself to win such an award." Mayrui scoffed, folding his arms in front of himself. "Neither of the two other 'contestants' could match me in battle, let alone in scientiffic achievements."

Szayel was furious, "How dare you! Do you realize the exten to which I studied Hollows? How Hollows form, how Hollows are able to evolve, why Hollows form masks, what happens to the Hollow when the mask is destroyed or broken as to being removed..." A green-haired child in the audience coughed, "Not to mention all of my studies into Arrancar and my list of inventions!"

"And I, Technus, Master of all Science and Technology-"

"Well, as for your reward..." Like a flower, metal came out from underneath Mayuri and closed at the top, trapping him in a metallic pod. Mayuri banged at the metal from within, demanding to know what was going on. "You have been given a one-way trip into outer space!"

"10..."

Uryū smirked as Mayuri tried to use his Zanpakuto to cut through his metallic prison, "I knew that you would win the contest, so I helped Chash-san and Sharkteeth-san to develop some metal that Zanpakuto can't cut..."

"6..."

Mayuri yelled that he would kill them all when he managed to escape. That no prison could hold him. This only made Uryū scoff and ask him to try to use Kido or his Bankai. Uryū said that he wanted to see what happened when Mayuri tried to use his Banaki, as that metal wasn't going to expand.

"... 4."

"See you later, you crazy clown!" Ichigo waved to the pod, before muttering. "Too bad that the others aren't being sent into space."

"1..."

"Lift off!"

Yachiru looked at the departing pod with a pout, "Oh, poo! Now Kenny will have one less person to play with!"

Chash turned to the audience an smiled at them as Mayuri's pod was launched into outer space, "Well, that's the end folks..." Two pods quickly snatched up the retreating forms of Szayel and Technus, causing them to scream as they started pounding on their prisons as they were dropped into the Mariana trench. "See you guys later!"

"Shoot! Kenny has two more less people to play with!"

Techniques:

1. Cape papier (Paper Cloak): A camouflaging technique that Sidney can use. To do this, he summons enough paper to cover an object that he wants to camouflage. Once the paper has stuck, the paper slowly blends in with the area around it, making the object the paper is on 'invisible'.

2. Data Crusher: Tucker Foley's Fullbring. It takes the form of a pair of silver gauntlets with a small keypad of the left gauntlet. Data Crusher has shown to have an enhanced form of Tucker's ability to find information by 'asking' for it, though what other powers it has are currently unknown.

A/N: Author's Note: Well, that's the end of this chapter, though with some questions. Will Tucker, Sam, and Sidney be able to defeat the specialized guards that Technus has guarding his machines? Will Tier & Co. reach Amity Park in time to save Danny? Will Danny be saved? What does that black monster want with Danny?

Also, check out the new cover art! I was supposed to have uploaded it earlier, but I had some trouble with the lighting of it; it would've been to dark for you guys to see it. I hope that you guys like it~!