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Legend:

"Someone is talking."
'Someone is thinking.'
"A technique is being used."

Chapter 21:

(Amity Park—Forest)

As Tier slowly began to return to consciousness, she slowly became aware of the long grass underneath her and the warm wind brushing over her face. Instead of soothing her, the grass and wind only caused her to grow wary as there was no grass in her chambers and all winds in Huceo Mundo were cold. With the growing belief that she was in enemy territory, she silently molded her reiryoku and sent it out in the form of a Pesquisa in order to "see" just where she was.

The first thing that she "saw" was herself. She was lying down near the base of what appeared to be tree with diminished reiryoku levels and wounds indicating of a recent battle. Tiburón's physical form was nearby, which reassured her as it was within grabbing distance. All in all, if she was in hostile territory then whoever had captured her wasn't all that intelligent if they would leave her unbound with Tiburón so close.

Next came the sight of the three figures that served as her fracción. Like her, they sported diminished reiryoku and a few wounds but were mostly unharmed. Something within Tier's chest loosened at this knowledge before she was flooded with a sudden relief: they were alright. Wounded and tired yes, but alive.

Her Pesquisa expanded past her three and beyond. It allowed her to see the various animals that one would expect from a forest (various kinds of insects, chittering birds, squirrels looking for nuts, a couple of small mice, a fox...) but nothing else. There was no one within range of her Pesquisa, besides she and her fracción that possessed even a single drop of reiryoku within their bodies.

Still, while that knowledge would have normally soothed her, Tier didn't relax. Something didn't feel right. How had she and her fracción come to be here? Who had they battled? Why had she battled someone? Most importantly, why was she having difficulty in calling her reiryoku forward and manipulating it?

"You can't remember, Tier?" Tiburón's voice, distant and muffled, scoffed. "You've become so weak..."

Something clicked into place. Tier remembered training with her fracción only to be called to Dios Aizen's chambers. She remembered going to Szayel and getting supplies she and her fracción would need for a trip into the Human World. She remembered all of the time they had spent tracking an Arrancar down, the taste of the Human souls she had eaten and Apacci's complaints, Sung-Sun's seemingly endless chiding of her fellow fracción , the small lessons she had been able to get in. She remembered one last rush, an old man, seeing her fracción fall, rage and pain, and darkness.

Tier's teal eyes snapped open even as she sat up, flexing her fingers and looking at her body. Now that she could remember, she realized that her wounds had been caused by that Human, "Sensei". Her diminished reiryoku was a result of that strange Kidō -like ability of his which was slowly draining her reiryoku to fuel itself. By doing that, it could continue to exist and fulfill its purpose of trapping her within her Gigai.

"Fine, ignore me. I don't want to talk to you anyway."

"Apacci, Sung-Sun, Mila-Rose..." Tier said as she approached where her three loyal fracción lay before kneeling down. She struggled with her reiryoku for a moment before releasing it in the form of reiatsu, "It's time to wake up."

The feel of Tier's reiatsu washed over the three lower-ranked Arrancar and caused Mila-Rose to groan as she and the others woke up. Apacci's sleepy, mismatched eyes were the first to notice the strange environment they were in before she turned to Tier with a confused expression. There, like Sung-Sun, she noticed and grew incensed over the visible wounds through her leader's clothes. How dare someone raise arms against Dama Harribel!

"I can see that you three are confused and upset, so let me explain before you ask any questions. It seems that, before we fell unconscious, we came across a Human capable of fighting toe-to-toe with us. After a brief engagement, each of us were affected by a Kidō-like ability which is currently confining us to our Gigai and making our reiryoku difficult to access." Tier said.

"How could some Human match all of us? It doesn't make sense: Humans barely ever develop any type or control over their reiryoku." Mila-Rose asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "And to seal us within our Gigai... Humans aren't supposed to be aware of Gigai."

"That Human could have been a survivor of the Quincy Massacre 200 years ago. It would explain why he was able to fight on-par with us, his knowledge of Gigai, and an understanding of reishi signatures that would have allowed him to sense that we are Arrancar." Sung-Sun reasoned.

"Do you really think that a Quincy of that Human's level would have gone unnoticed by the Soul Society for so long?" Mila-Rose asked a tad doubtfully, "While they haven't caught us because of these Gigai and your technique, Sung-Sun, the Shinigami have damn good machines that can detect almost anyone with reiryoku in the Human World."

Tier raised her right hand, causing her three fracción to stop before they could begin to argue. "Enough. Speculating over who or what that man was will do nothing. As it stands, our mission has been compromised by his actions. In our condition we will be unable to keeping up with the Arrancar or fighting any Shinigami, or Human, that may be after it."

It was a bitter pill to swallow. They had all spent so much time just tracking down this Arrancar, trying to avoid the Soul Society's notice, and now it was so close. Despite that, they would be unable to assist the Arrancar in their current condition so, regretfully, they would have to leave it alone.

"I will be contacting Dios Aizen with news of what has happened and to seek guidance in how to proceed from here." Tier stated before looking each of her fracción in the eyes, "Do not be discouraged. You have done beyond anything that anyone could have expected out of you. It was only circumstances beyond our control that have landed us in this situation."

"Yes, Dama Harribel."

Tier nodded before she stood up and removed a Denreishinki from the depths of her hakama's pockets. Her fingers deftly tapped out the number that would connect her to Dios Aizen's personal Denreishinki and waited as it slowly went to work. Within moments, a familiar but unexpected face appeared on the screen, "I'm sorry Harribel-chan, but Aizen-taicho's busy." The grinning face of Gin Ichimaru said, "What can I do for you~?"

"I need to report a recent happening in the mission that Dios Aizen assigned my fracción and I." Harrbiel began.

"Oh? Do tell."

XXXXXX

(Amity Park—Casper High—Cafeteria)

One would be able to find Danny, Sam, and Tucker sitting around 'their' table in the cafeteria, talking to each other in what felt like the first time in a long time. The disaster that had been Technus' kidnapping/attempted murder of Danny had left them with a lot of unanswered questions and the need to talk to one another. This, however, had been very difficult due to their punishments and general school stuff had left them with little to no time to meet and talk.

Sure, they could still talk in the hallways, before and after classes, during lunch, and after-school but they couldn't talk about anything important. They couldn't talk about what happened with Technus, Sam and Tucker's new powers, Sidney's transformation, Danny's boost in power and his new techniques, or what they would do about all of it. It had been really annoying and frustrating.

What made the situation different was that Danny's seeming minder—Jazz—had been called away by a teacher about some extracurricular project. This had allowed them to really talk for the first time since everything had happened, though they were being careful not to mention anything important while eating. They could talk about the important stuff when they had finished eating and had found a place to talk.

So, what were they talking about?

"My parents grounded me for two weeks. I have to come home straight after school and do my homework before spending time in my room "thinking about what I did"." Tucker informed with an unhappy look before he sighed, "I'm just lucky that they didn't take away my PDA like they did my computer..."

"Yeah." Sam agreed with her own sigh, looking down at her sandwich. "It's the same thing at my house, but my grandma has been sneaking me in things she finds "interesting" so I won't get bored." A small smile appeared on her face at the memory of her grandma and the odd little things she had been given. "It has, however, allowed me to practice with my new sword and play around with my you-know-what."

Even though it seemed like ordinary speech, Danny caught the underlying tones. Both of his friends were anxious and unsure of what had happened to them and why this had happened to them. It had been enough when they could use reiryoku to increase their speed or, in Sam's case, call forth a bunch of ribbons that allowed her to track anybody she wanted to. Now, their most precious object could somehow morph and grant them with supernatural powers they didn't understand or know how to control.

It was a similar situation to Danny's own feelings regarding his powers ever since he got them. He was starting to come to grips with everything, but the concern and worry about it was still there. How was he supposed to learn to control his powers when he kept learning that he could do more?

"I think we should talk about the you-know-what, guys." Danny said, gesturing towards the clock.

Sam and Tucker looked at it for a moment, their plates, and then back up again. "Yeah," Sam agreed as she got up, followed by Tucker and Danny. "I have found out some things about it that I should probably tell you guys about."

Getting rid of their trays, the trio walked out of the cafeteria and into the hallways. There they were asked where they were headed by one of the new security officers that the morning announcements and assembly had introduced them to. Sam answered that they were headed to the library and he nodded, letting them pass. But, not before the teens had noticed the twin Fenton Ecto-Guns that were strapped to either side of his belt.

That was also something else that had happened. Apparently, the school board had decided to beef up the school's security after Peten had showed up. To do this, they had inquired in about Fentonworks and were talking to Danny's parents about anti-Ghost measures. The talks looked promising but, sadly, the only thing that Fentonworks could do short-term was train the security guards on how to recognize Ghosts, how to fight them, and supply them with a few anti-Ghost weapons.

Now past the guards, the trio quickly made their way to Sam's Chemistry class classroom. The teacher of that class was out during lunch but left the classroom open for his students to go when they had finished their lunches. It wasn't the most ideal place to go if they wanted to talk about something secret, but they should have at least five to fifteen minutes before anyone else came to disturb them in it.

As soon as they got into the room and saw that nobody was there, Sam shrugged off her backpack before taking out a red prinny doll and placing it on a lab table. The prinny shook itself for a moment and then took out a pair of tapered glasses from its fanny-pack and put them over its eyes. That done, Sidney Poindexter turned to look up at his friends. "So, we're going to talk about what happened that night with Technus, I presume?"

Everyone nodded.

"We pretty much already had powers, but this—" Sam's body was enveloped in green flames for a moment before she stepped out, covered in the vine-like clothing/armor. A flare of her reiryoku had a small potted plant responding to her, turning towards her as she manipulated its spirit thread. "We never suspected to develop powers like this."

Tucker nodded in agreement, "Yeah. While my Data Crusher seems really cool, and I'm thankful for it, I didn't think I could ever get something like that. Or do this..." Green flames enveloped Tucker's PDA before the flames moved across his arms, dissipating to reveal Data Crusher in all of its glory. "Program: Firewall."

Spreading his hands apart, Tucker used his reiryoku to create a smaller version of the shield that he had instinctively made to protect himself a couple of days ago. Recreating the technique hadn't been that difficult, since he could remember how it felt. It helped that he had nothing but time in which to practice since he got grounded. That and test out to see what else Data Crusher could do...

As Sidney waddled to the edge of the table that he was on, Tucker allowed his firewall to dissipate into thin air and then turned his attention towards Sidney. He was in time to see Sidney as "his" body glowed green for a second before his intangible spirit exited the prinny plushy. Once out of the prinny, Sidney quickly became solid again before picking up the plushy from where he left it.

It was then everyone noticed that, besides his new coloring, Sidney had removed the tape from his glasses and combed his hair back. Altogether, it made him almost look like a regular teenager, except maybe a couple of shades paler.

Sidney unzipped the prinny's fanny-pack before four pieces of paper floated out of it and into Sidney's right hand. Within seconds, the paper morphed into a short origami knife which had a slight silvery sheen instead of the usual plain white of ordinary paper. When the knife was fully formed Sidney showed it to the rest of the group, who noted that the knife looked like it was made from Paper Mache more than the origami-based style that Sidney used to shape his weapons like.

"I know you guys said that you could do more with your powers, but I never believed that you could do things like that." Danny said once the awe over his friends' display had died down. "You guys already had powers but now you can control plants and create shields? It's amazing..."

Sidney nodded at Danny's statement as a contemplative look entered his eyes, "And unusual as well. Most souls are unable to develop reiryoku while still within their original Human bodies, but you cats have." He glanced towards Sam and Tucker. "What's more is that you actually developed those powers and were able to use them at your own free will. If that wasn't kooky enough, your abilities are still developing, and may produce stronger powers."

"... Well, we have differently colored ribbons then a lot of normal people. My ability to form those spirit ribbons and sense where Danny was appeared slowly, so maybe it's a natural thing for us." Sam reasoned out as she thought about her own powers.

Tucker looked at Sam for a moment as if she just said she was becoming a meat-eater, "You call transforming a PDA into two metal gauntlets and growing body armor made out of plants "natural", Sam? If you do, I think we better get you in to see a doctor so we can get your head examined..." He put a finger onto his chin, "Though, if you are crazy, that would explain why you like that garbage you call food so much..." Sam punched him in the shoulder for that comment, leading him to rub his arm and turn to look at her. "That hurt, Sam!"

"You deserved it." Sam said.

"He's right though." Sidney said thoughtfully, missing or ignoring the glare that Sam sent at him in response. "About the powers not being natural, not about the food. Like I said, normal Humans shouldn't be able to develop any Reiryoku of their own, let alone be able to use it. But from what you cats have said so far, you two might be more different from other Humans. Hmm, maybe that could be it..."

"... 'Maybe' what, Sidney?" Danny asked.

Sidney frowned, "You cats have said that Danny gained his Arrancar form and powers when an invention of his parents was turned on while he was still inside of it." He looked at Danny, "When that happened, I think that your body and soul were flooded Hollow Reiryoku, forcibly morphing your normal Human soul into that of a Hollow. But that's not all that happened, if it was then you would've just become another Hollow... You said that you shattered something on your face before the pain intensified, that was probably when you transformed from a Hollow and into an Arrancar."

"It makes sense, but... that portal that Mr. and Mrs. Fenton built was designed to pierce through the fabric separating the Human world and the Ghost Zone. Why wasn't he flooded with Ghost Reiryoku instead?" Tucker asked before adding on, "And for that matter what does any of this have to do with Sam's and my powers?"

"I was getting to that, sheesh. Anyways it could be possible that, instead of piercing into the Ghost Zone as was intended to do, the portal pierced through the fabric of reality that separates the Human world and Huceo Mundo instead." Sidney said as his voice became more and more sure, "It's only a guess, since I haven't even seen this portal you cats told me about, but it's the only explanation I can think of that makes sense." He paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts, "And as for how it applies to your earlier question... It has everything to do with your power."

"What do you mean?" Tucker asked.

"I think that you cats received a 'taste', if you will, of Hollow reiryoku when that accident happened... which then evolved into your current powers as your souls started to develop their own reiryoku and mixed with that 'taste' Hollow reiryoku." Sidney paused for a moment, "I have another theory, though. It's that the Hollow reiryoku actually awakened and sped up the development of something that you cats already had inside of you."

Silence fell upon the room. It was to be expected, though, as none of them knew what to say in the face of Sidney's theories. What could they say? None of them knew for sure how Tucker and Sam had started to develop their own reiryoku, why their ribbons were colored differently, or why they were made up of different colored 'flames' then everyone else when Danny looked at them with his Pesquisa.

After what seemed like an eternity, Danny opened his mouth. "If you want to, you guys can check out the Ghost Portal this weekend. My parents are dragging me and Jazz to some old college reunion of theirs after school, so you'd have the chance to look at it until we get back on Sunday."

Danny was about to say something but before he could Sam hit the back of Tucker's head with her hand. Tucker exclaimed from pain but, before he could do anything in retaliation, the school bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Sydney reentered the prinny and hopped back into Sam's bag while the others grabbed their stuff. They all agreed to try and meet up when Danny returned from his family's trip and picked up their backpacks. They then left the room and began to make their way to their respective classes, in the case of Danny and Tucker, while Sam went over to her desk and sat down.

XXXXXX

(Amity Park—1600 St—Number 5 Maple Lane)

In the two days since Tier had first tried to contact Dios Aizen, several things had happened. The first thing that had happened is that Tier, following Gin's orders, had managed to acquire a vacant house within Amity Park which would serve as their base operations. The next thing that had happened was that Tier had managed to get in contact with Szayel and have him start the process of getting their coordinates.

Shortly after Tier and her fracción had gotten the keys to 1600 Maple Lane and "moved" into the house, Szayel had reported that he had a lock on their coordinates. He had then told them that an "associate" of his would meet them soon alongside the reinforcements Gin thought they would be needing. Before anyone could question who would be coming, Szayel had cut off the connection as he had "much more important things to do".

Four blades emerged from the corners of the wall where a dormant fireplace stood, instantly startling and freaking out Apacci and Mila-Rose. The two stepped away from the blades and demanded to know what was going on while Sung-Sun chided them, saying that this was most likely the work of Szayel's associate. It was shortly after that that the blades moved diagonally towards the middle of the wall in an "X"-like shape and then sank in as the entire wall went dark.

"I've never seen a Garganta like that..." Apacci muttered.

"That's because it isn't a standard Garganta. It's a variation of it that I developed using a new invention that I, Dexter, have created. You may know it as the Garganta Abierta (Open Throat)."

The speaker was an Arrancar with curly red hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. His outfit consisted of an ankle-length buttoned up lab-coat, black boots, and purple gloves. His mask fragment took the form of white glasses with thin gray lenses in between them. His Zanpakutō took the form of a large silver wrench that was strapped to the side of his pants.

"... Who are you?" Mila-Rose asked.

"You don't know me?" The redheaded Arrancar asked sourly. He seemed ready to say more yet the honest confusion on their faces stalled him, allowing his mind to catch up. "Of course you don't know me: you've been on a mission. Well, we can't keep you not knowing." He cleared his throat. "I am Dexter, one of the three Co-Heads of the División de Ciencias of Dios Aizen's army, boy genius."

Asking Dexter to elaborate had led to the quartet quickly learning about the new changes that Dios Aizen had implemented shortly after they had left for the Human World. Dios Aizen had divided and reassigned portions of their fighting force into different groups, called divisions, while giving the Espada, the Privaron Espada, and a few more notable Arrancar the right to lead them.

While Dexter got into talking about each new division and their responsibilities, ten more Arrancar had emerged from the Garganta Abierta. Those Arrancar quickly began to help Arrancar from the División de Ciencias finish setting up their equipment before having them remove anything unnecessary from the room and bringing in their equipment. Noticing the curious gazes of Tier's fracción, Dexter explained that those new Arrancar were members of the Escuadrón de infiltración and would be turning the suite into a makeshift base.

Two days had passed since then. In that time, Dexter had his subordinates set up a miniature laboratory, had performed some preliminary tests on Tier, Apacci, Mila-Rose, and Sung-Sun, and then used the data that he had gotten from those tests to craft three-dimensional models of the quarters natural Arrancar forms, their Gigai, and the seal keeping them bound to their Gigai.

The remaining room within the laboratory had been converted into a storage warehouse. It slowly began to become filled with supplies from Las Noches and supplies that the Escuadrón de infiltración acquired. With Dexter's orders to stay put so he could monitor the quartet, it hadn't taken very long for them to find out what those supplies were in an effort to relieve their boredom. They found various bits of equipment, clothing, machines in various different sizes and forms, stored chemicals, metal, basic tools, water, rock samples, etc.

"If you are done looking around, perhaps you will pay attention and listen to me."

Mila-Rose and Apacci startled a bit before turning around to see that Dexter was standing before them with an annoyed expression on his face. Both female Arrancar's cheeks turned red and bowed their heads before they muttered hasty apologies to Dexter—who was now their sort-of superior, being a co-leader of the División de Ciencias and all. Dexter huffed at this but reluctantly let the matter slide and handed Mila-Rose and Apacci two bowls.

"Eh?" Apacci questioned after looking at the contents of the bowl. Instead of being filled with some super-secret science-y concoction, the bowls were filled with steaming rice. She looked up to Dexter with a frown, "Why do you want you to eat this?"

It was a known fact that souls that had or developed reiryoku of their own would eventually need in order to nourish themselves and replenish lost energy. Shinigami ate food that was grown within the Soul Society and Hollows ate any soul they could come across. Arrancar, being half-Shinigami and half-Hollow, could chose to eat either way but most choose to continue eating as a Hollow. It was mainly because most Arrancar still viewed themselves as being Hollows but also due to the fact that Huceo Mundo lacked fertile land in which crops could grow.

So, it was understandable that Arrancar like Apacci, who had only ever ate other Hollows and a couple of Pluses, would be wary of eating something besides another soul. Looking around, the same wariness could be seen on Mila-Rose's face as well as Sung-Sun's face, though Sung-Sun's expression was not as severe. Only Tier managed to keep all signs of her unease off of her face, retaining the stoic expression she was well-known for.

Dexter grounded his teeth together, "Yes, I want you to eat it. Why else would I have given you the bowls? So that you could stare at them like a bunch of imbeciles?"

"I would ask you not to talk to my fracción like that when in my presence, Señor Dexter." Tier said as she stared at Dexter with cold, frigid eyes that locked the red-haired Arrancar in place. "You have yet to explain exactly why this food is relevant in helping you discover a way to break the seals that bind us to our Gigai. So, until you do, you should expect similar questions to the one that Apacci asked."

Dexter clenched his fists together, angry at being spoken to like that, but bit his tongue and swallowed his pride. Realistically, he should have expected such questions and explained things beforehand. It was just that he had grown acustom to his new subordinates knowing this information that he had begun to expect everyone to know it. And, perhaps, he had also been a little angry that he had to keep explaining things to the quartet of female Arrancar.

Even if their lack of knowledge was infuriating, though, Dexter still couldn't find it in himself to dislike them. They were not as barbaric, hostile, rude, or unthinking as a majority of Arrancar outside of the División de Ciencias were. No, they were genuinely curious about what he had to say and would ask insightful questions to allow themselves to gain a better understanding of the material.

Dexter supposed that he had gotten so angry at Mila-Rose and Apacci's inattention because it reminded him of another person who had never listened to him. In his new station, that open inattentiveness towards him hadn't happened and he had forgotten how angry it usually made him. It meant that important instructions could go unheard which could led to a disaster in the lab or, worse, a complete destruction of the laboratory itself.

"Dama Harribel, Señorita Apacci, Señorita Mila-Rose, Señorita Sung-Sun... I apologize for my rude behavior towards you and hope that you could forgive my rash words." Dexter said, hand on his stomach as he lowered himself in a bow.

Tier looked at Dexter for a couple of moments, searching for some clue to help her decide if he was actually being sincere or lying in an attempt to appease her. She then turned towards her fraccion, the offended party, and caught their looks. A silent conversation born of decades working together raced between them until Tier turned away.

"Señor Dexter, we can forgive your behavior. In the future, though, you will need to keep in mind that we have not been in Huceo Mundo for months and have little knowledge of the changes that Las Noches has undergone." Tier stated, "Nor have we your knowledge and understanding in just what you are trying to do in order to help us."

Dexter's cheeks turned pink but he nodded, "Yes. I will strive towards remembering that in the future, Dama Harribel."

"Good. Now, could you tell us why you want us to eat this food?" Tier asked.

"The food in those bowls is infused with a high density of reishi from reishi-infused stalagmites that the Equipo de exploración discovered in a cave system miles away from Las Noches. I am requesting that you eat it to see how the boost of reishi into your bodies will affect your reiryoku and record how the seal reacts to that boost."

"Has this stuff been tested before?" Mila-Rose asked.

"It has been." Dexter said, having expected one of Tier's fraccion to ask this, "Each of those bowls contain reishi equivalent of that found in a standard Gillian-class Hollow. It should both satisfy your hunger as well as give you a small boost in your reiryoku. How your seals react to such a boost could be the key in helping the División de Ciencias discover how to break them."

That was all that needed to be said.

Sung-Sun picked up the fork that had come with the bowl, dipped it in to get a small bite of the rice, and placed it in her mouth. Her eyes bulged ever-so-slightly at the taste before she managed to swallow it down, already bringing up another forkful of rice to her lips. Apacci and Mila-Rose gained shocked looks at this, as Sung-Sun was practically shoveling down the food into her mouth, and then at each other before looking down at the food. Slowly, they took their own forkfuls and ate.

"T-This is...!" Apacci exclaimed with a surprised expression, "Good! Really, really good!"

"Why did I listen to you instead of listening to Dexter?" Mila-Rose demanded in-between bites, digging into the food with relish. "This stuff is awesome!"

Tier had to agree with her fraccion. The rice that Dexter had given them tasted quite good and was very satisfying. Both the taste and the satisfaction the food brought was most likely a result of all of the reishi within the food, but it was just a passing observation. Her mind was more focused on getting more of the good-tasting food into her system and wondering if other reishi-infused foods would be just as good.

XXXXXX

(Meanwhile—With Dnany)

Danny was currently sitting within his family's RV, looking out of the window to his right and watching as they drove further and further away from Amity Park. When the RV stopped, he and his family would be staying with his parents' old friend Vlad Masters until their college reunion could begin the next day. The idea of the trip didn't really appeal to him, as everyone there would probably be talking about the 'old days' and talking about everything that had happened since they left college, but he still had to go.

"Just wait until Ol' Vladdie hears about everything that's happened, Maddie." Jack enthused to his wife as he continued to drive the RV on, smiling. "He might have had some doubts after what happened back then, but I'm sure he'll be as interested as back then too. And when he hears that we managed to perfect the Ghost Portal and captured a Ghost... He'll be so excited."

"I'm sure that he will be, Jack." Maddie agreed.

Well, at least his parents were excited about the trip.

As his parents began to talk about the stuff that they were going to tell their friend—which quickly lost him since it was mostly science babble he couldn't understand—Danny looked towards Jazz. His sister was reading yet another psychology book. Jazz would occasionally look from her book and look at him from the corner of her eyes. He didn't notice it in the beginning but it became obvious soon enough when he realized that she should've been further in her book than she was.

So she was still keeping an eye on him, huh? Danny turned back towards the window. Ever since his punishment had begun, Jazz had been monitoring him like a hawk. Her intentions might have been good but they were annoying and had left him with little time. In fact, if Jazz hadn't been called out during lunch to talk with her teacher, then he wouldn't have been able to talk to Sam, Tucker, and Sidney before leaving.

'It's not my fault that Technus' brainwashed goons kidnapped me.' Danny thought with a frown, 'If you guys knew, then you wouldn't be watching me all the time. Or at least not watching me like I'm suddenly going to do something wrong.'

There came a flash of color and Danny blinked, drawn away from his thoughts. On the opposite side of the road was the Remember Yesterday tour bus with the singer signature flame-like logo splashed onto the side. That reminded him... Remember Yesterday was supposed to be having a concert tomorrow night. While he may not have liked Remember Yesterday's songs all that much, Tucker and Sam could have fun at it. Even if it didn't turn out all that great, it would get their minds off of everything that had happened. Get their minds off all of the fighting.

Kinda like this trip would do for him. Danny blinked, 'Huh... Maybe this trip could be as relaxing as Dad says it'll be.'

XXXXXX

(Remember Yesterday's Tour Bus)

The inside of the Remember Yesterday's tour bus was a lot like any other tour bus. It had a small bathroom, a small kitchenette, a curtained-off area that served as a bedroom, and enough seating for everyone. The people that made up Remember Yesterday were scattered about the interior and doing different things to occupy themselves.

Zeke Hule was a lanky, green-haired, and caucasian teenager who served as the group's keyboard-player. He was in the kitchenette, making everyone sandwiches as a small snack. They would go out later for dinner, but they were hungry now. Tomas Wispy, the big boned, black-haired, brown-skinned teenager that was the group's drummer, was busy reading through one of the group's new songs. He would need to know his part by heart before they performed it tomorrow night.

The final member of the group, besides their bus driver, was the singer who had put Remember Yesterday on the map: Ember McLain. She had long, teal hair put into a ponytail at the top of her head held back with two locks of hair framing her face which look like a sharp-angled "M" and purple lipstick. She was wearing a black choker, a black one-shouldered tank-top that exposed her midriff, one long glove that covers most of her right arm, and one black bracelet on her left arm. She also wore a pair of what appeared to be leather pants with a silver belt and skull boots.

At the moment, Ember was busy tuning her guitar. Only, she wasn't doing it in a way that most regular people would or could do. She was using a hand covered in green reiryoku to tune it to perfection. It was something that she had discovered how to do in her 15 years of existence as a Ghost.

Ember finished and plucked a couple of the guitar's strings before she nodded in satisfaction. She then put her guitar back onto its case and looked around. The sight of it all never managed to astound her. How she, a former nobody, had managed to become as famous as she had so quickly... without using any of her powers.

One year ago, she and her band mates had managed to escape the Ghost Zone and enter the Human World through a naturally-occurring portal. Being there was like being given a second chance for all of them and Ember had not wanted to waste it. Together, they had formed Remember Yesterday and began to play their music at teenage parties. Then, as news of their band spread, music producers had begun to call them and had arranged for them to be able to produce their own album.

That album had gone out and one of their songs, "Remember", had become very popular with teenagers and young adults. The band's music producer, seeing this popularity, had somehow managed to give them enough money and supplies to actually go on tour. For the three Ghosts, it was a dream come true: being able to share their music and have everyone appreciate and love it.

Ember was snapped out of her thoughts and memories when she felt ectoplasmic energy suddenly wash through the bus all within. While unwelcome, it didn't startle her too much as she had expected it with all of the news about Amity Park. The feeling of the energy caused her band mates to startle before looking around in confusion, making Ember frown. "You don't realize we're we are, do you?"

"No." Zeke said, shaking his head.

"We're in Amity Park: the one town where Human scientists have actually managed to create a functioning portal into the Ghost Zone." Ember answered as if it wasn't a big deal, rolling her eyes when Zeke and Tomas' eyes grew big. "If you guys would read the newspapers, you'd know this."

There was a moment of silence before the expected "What do you want us to do?" question from Tomas.

Ember shrugged, "I don't want you to do anything we haven't already been doing. We came here for a second chance and, amazingly, we got it. If we blow our cover now, then we'll lose everything that we've worked so hard to build. If that happens and we're found out, then they'll send Ghost Hunters after us. And, worse, Walker will know and send his cronies after us. So, we're going to act as normal as possible."

"I'm afraid that I can't allow that Ms. McClain."

In an instant, everyone's attention was drawn to the source of the voice. There, next to where their now-terrified bus-driver sat, was someone that they had never seen before. The person was outfitted in a floor-length black cloak with his face unrecognizable through the shadows of his hood. The only thing about the person, or whatever it was, was that it had white, malevolent eyes.

"Ember..." Zeke warned as he slowly, slowly, reached towards the knife he had been using to spread the mayonnaise with. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Ember nodded and channeled his reiryoku into the knife until it became coated in green energy.

"Either tell us who you are and get out or face a beat down." Ember threatened as she caught her guitar as it floated into her hands. She pointed it at the cloaked figure as the tips of her fingers began to be covered with her own reiryoku. "Well, dipstick?"

"Who I am and what I am doing here does not matter. All that matters is that my master has found someone of interest in this town and that he needs bait in order to force him to come out of hiding. This little group of yours will be the perfect bait."

"Hell no!" Ember turned the dial on her guitar until it was on a specific symbol before striking the strings of her guitar, "Poing (Fist)!" A table-sized fist made out of green ectoplasmic energy was launched from the tip of Ember's guitar and launched itself at the cloaked man.

"Ballade de la foudre (Lightning Ballade)." Tomas announced a few seconds later. His drumsticks, cloaked in crackling green reiryoku, pounded on the air as it the very air were his precious drums. The first beat caused the air to crackle while the following beats served to send green lightning bolts flying towards the cloaked figure.

Zeke threw his makeshift weapon at the cloaked man. While flying through the air, the knife was joined by over two dozen similar knifes composed entirely out green, Ghostly reiryoku as they appeared around the original weapon. "Fantôme Mash (Ghost Mash)!"

The cloaked man didn't move or do anything to try and defend himself from the three techniques closing in on him. Instead, he lifted his head enough for his sharp shin and a mouth full of sharp white teeth twisted in a sinister smirk. The man then he raised his left hand in front of him, straight in the path of the incoming tasks. All three of the techniques suddenly met what appeared to be an invisible wall, stopping just before hitting the man. The man clenched his hand, as though he was crushing something in his grasp, and the stopped techniques shattered like fragile glass.

By that time however, Ember, Zeke, and Tomas were already coming at the man for round two. Tomas was going for the cloaked man's left with two sword-like protrusions emerging from the ends of his drumsticks, Zeke was going for the right with a number of blades of reiryoku flying around him, and Ember jumping up to smash the man with her guitar in case he jumped upwards to dodge Zeke and Tomas. It was a perfect combination that should have worked, given the fact that the man hadn't seen them get up, but it was for naught.

The man released his reiryoku and instantly everyone within the bus fell to their knees and started to gasp for air. The man smiled down at them, his blank white eye's somehow still expressing a feel of joy at seeing them in pain, "My master had thought that you would be uncooperative... but he didn't tell me that you would be this skilled. Yes... With your power, you'll serve as excellent bait."

"G-Go to... h-hell!" Ember bit out as she struggled to get to her feet.

"Where do you think I came from?" The man asked, cutting off any startled responses that admission might have caused by flaring his reiryoku even more. "Now. I've been here long enough." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a large. white crystal. "Now, something to change your mind?"

The cloaked man then crushed the crystal in his hands so hard it turned into a fine powder. Cupping the powder with his hand and then blowing on it caused viscous white-red flames to leap towards the three Ghosts and swirl around them like miniature tornados. Then, as they began to scream from the heat of the fire, the flames began to sink into and merge with their skin. By doing so, the flames destroyed any attempt at a disguise they might have had and revealed that Zeke and Tomas were actually blue-skinned while Ember became paler and her hair began to flame.

A small portion of the white-red flames that hadn't gone into the Ghosts came together before them. Twisting and turning, the flames slowly grew increasingly solid and started to take a definitive shape. It was a guitar in the same shape in style as Ember's original guitar, but with black and red replacing the original purple and blue coloring.

"Your mission is to stage an event that will lure my master's target into the open. Something like... trying to take over the world." The man said once the flames had disappeared and the three Ghosts' eyes had flashed red before returning to normal.

A dark, long forgotten, desire surged to the forefront of Ember's mind and took root. Ember's expression darkened to match before her mouth curled into a smirk. "Guys... I believe it is time for us to start our own youth revolution!"

Techniques:

1. Program: Firewall: A technique that allows Tucker to create a rectangular green shield composed out of solidified reiryoku in front of him. The shield is able to withstand moderate damage before starting to crack and then break. The true potential in this technique lies within the amount of reiryoku that Tucker puts into it (thus determining the amount of damage it can take) and the shape that Tucker chooses to create the shield in.

2. Garganta Abierta (Open Throat): A variation of the standard Garganta (Throat). The technique works by having four blades of reiryoku piercing through the fabric separating Huceo Mundo and the area that the user wants to Garganta to. Once they have arrived in the desired location, the reiryoku blades will come together into an 'X' shape before the Garganta will open. As long as it remains open, it allows for virtually undetectable transference between the two areas where it is open.

3. Poing (Fist): A technique that allows Ember to create a fist of reiryoku after turning the dial of her dial to the corresponding symbol. To perform this technique, Ember channels her reiryoku into her guitar which will then shape it before, with a minor pulse of reiatsu, she can launch it forward. A weakness of the technique is that it is only capable of going in a straight line once released.

4. Ballade de la foudre (Lightning Ballade): A technique that allows the user to beat on the air in order to saturate it with crackling, electricity-like reiryoku before sending it towards an enemy in the form of green lightning bolts. The number of lightning bolts is dependent on the amount of reiryoku in the air while the lightning bolts' direction and speed is determined by the user's mind.

6. Fantôme Mash (Ghost Mash): A technique that uses reiryoku to create a blueprint of an object and then clone the object with the remaining reiryoku. The cloned objects aren't as powerful as the original objects, but can be made up for if the user has created enough clones.

A/N: Author's Note: Whelp, that's the end of that chapter. Sorry it took so long to get out guys, but Sharkteeth and I have differing schedules that make getting together to discuss ideas and write a tad difficult. I hope that you guys will feel as the chapter was worth the wait... even if it is a filler chapter. Still, the Amity Quartet talked about and came up with some theories, Dexter reappeared to start the process of finding a way to break Sensei's seal, Danny arrived in Vlad's domain, Ember arrived in Amity Park...

I also hope that you guys liked my mini-explanation of how Arrancar have been eating like and how that could start changing soon. It is
partially the reason why Las Noches needs foodstuffs from the Human World; they need it to make the reishi-infused food. That will change as Las Noches manages to start producing its own food (if it ever does).

Still, the change will allow more Hollows to be spared from becoming a meal... Who knows what will happen because of that? How many more Hollows will attack the Human World? How many more Hollows will rise through the ranks of the Menos? How many more Hollows will become Arrancar? How many more pawns will Aizen manage to acquire and then use against the Soul Society?

Also, if anyone has any recommendations for songs that you guys think Ember would sing... please leave them in your reviews. We want to hear your opinion of what you guys believe that Ember would sing and what would fit her style of music.