Disclaimer: Neither Sharkteeth or I own anything.

Legend:

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

Chapter 22:

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

Armed with the information regarding the latest batch of tests on Harribel and her three Fraccion, Dexter walked into what had been a master bedroom before the División de Ciencias' arrival into the World of Living. His subordinates had wasted not a moment; quickly and efficiently ripping away all that was unnecessary in the room before bringing in machinery from their main laboratory in Las Noches. So now, while not a laboratory that Dexter would happily spend hours away in, it was good enough for its current purposes.

Spotting him, a black-haired Arrancar walked away from the screen he had been monitoring and rushed over. "Señor Dexter, I have news regarding the location of the Arrancar that Harribel was assigned to track down.

Dexter had been ready to dismiss his subordinate but stopped when he heard it was about the Arrancar Harribel had been assigned to track down. With Harribel in the state she was in, he had temporarily taken over in her stead. It had been difficult to track him with all of his work —setting up the laboratory, examining Harribel and her Fraccion, trying to figure out the mysteries behind that seal that bound them and formulate ways to break it, and dealing with a recent discovery—so he hadn't had much time to deal with that seemingly unimportant issue.

"From what we have been able to gather, the Arrancar left this city approximately two hours ago from what we have determined to be a Human high school called "Casper High". The barrier in this town prevented us from tracking him any further than that and made getting a sample of any reiatsu that he might have left highly improbable." The black-haired Arrancar reported.

Dexter pinched the bridge of his nose. "Do you have any good news to tell me?"

"I believe that while we may not have good news, we have interesting news Señor Dexter. Our equipment has managed to detect a number of unusually high reiryoku-possessing beings within this town. Four of these can be tracked back towards Casper High while the remaining one keeps moving about the city and had become difficult for our technology to keep track off. But that is not the most interesting thing... It seems like two of those beings bear a reiryoku signature similar to that of the sample we were able to retrieve from this city's barrier."

That was interesting. Following his arrival in this city and the setup of the División de Ciencias' temporary laboratory, their equipment had detected a strange form of reiryoku that hung around the town. Other scientists would could have dismissed it as a natural occurrence, but Dexter had detected an anomaly within the data and set about finding out what had caused it. Now members of his division were studying it.

In a short time, they had been able to discover that the reiryoku in and around the town was unlike anything they had seen before. While ordinary reiryoku was composed of millions of tiny reishi particles, this reiryoku possessed an additional component. The problem was that they didn't know exactly what that component was. The reason for that was because when they took apart the reishi to try and study the component, it dissolved into nothingness. All they had been able to find, so far, was that the substance was somehow reliant on reishi.

After a moment of thought, Dexter handed over the test results to his subordinate. "Input these new datamodels A-2, B-2, C-2, D-2, and E-1. After that, assign at least three Arrancar to each model and have them examine it and come up with at least three different hypothesis based on it. I expect them to be done before I get back."

"May I ask where you are going Señor Dexter?" The black-haired Arrancar asked.

"I'm going to look up more of this city's history and then figure out how to tell Dama Harribel that she and her Fraccion will be required to go into the city and track down the people we have been able to detect. How long I am gone will depend on the results of my findings and how long it takes to convince Dama Harribel to go with it. Be sure that everyone is finished with their work by the time I come back."

XXXXXX

(Meanwhile—Wisconsin—Vlad Masters' Mansion)

At the moment, Vlad Masters could be found standing on his front porch as he waited for the Fenton family to arrive. He was thinking about the family of four as well—wondering if the two children would match up to the reports he had gotten about them and about Maddie.

'Maddie...' The mere thought of that woman sent shivers down his spine, his heart flutter, and butterflies start to fly around in his stomach. If that fool Jack Fenton hadn't interfered, then he would never had to spend so much time in the hospital and away from her. Time that the fat fool had spent wooing his rightful wife.

That would be rectified soon enough. While as innocent as this college reunion may seem, it was but a farce in the face of his true plan. A plan in which he would show Maddie how much he had gained since their time in college, impressing her, and hopefully rekindling the flame that they had once had. If all went well and something happened to Jack, well, it would certainly free Maddie to marry him after he managed to put her back together.

Vlad's dark musings were cut off by an obnoxious honking and he looked up. Approaching his mansion from its private driveway was a silver-green RV inscribed with the trademark Fentonworks logo on it. So, the Fenton family was finally arriving, hm?

Once the RV had pulled up, the door opened and two teenagers—Jasmine and Daniel, he presumed—emerged from it with small duffel bags held in their hands. Jasmine was truly her mother's daughter in how beautiful she was turning out to be and how intelligent she had proven herself to be. Daniel though, seemed to favor his... father's... side more than anything else: mediocre grades, butter fingers, and a budding troublemaker.

Vlad raised a single eyebrow in interest as he watched Daniel effortlessly pick up a rather large piece of luggage that his sister had. So, young Daniel was interested in improving his physical fitness? That was certainly a difference from his father, who never even thought of going to the gym or abandoning his precious snacks. Maybe there was hope for the boy after all.

"Vladdie!" Came Jack's bellowing voice as he rounded the side of the RV, smiling for all he was worth.

Vlad plastered a smile onto his face before making his way down the stairs to greet him, "Hello, Jack." He barely resisted the urge to stab the fat man in the back as Jack reached him and pulled him into a friendly hug. After all, while it would rid him of the oaf, he would make a bad impression on Maddie and the children. So he endured it until Jack reluctantly pulled away and tried to make polite conversation with the person that he hated more than any other in the world. "How have you been doing?"

"Just great! Maddie and I finally managed to create a stable Ghost Portal and come up with a process that allows us to use ectoplasm as ammo for our developing Anti-Ghost technology. And, just recently, we managed to capture our first Ghost." Jack said excitedly before deflating somewhat, "We haven't had the time to study him to further our understanding on Ghost Anatomy."

Vlad was surprised, too surprised to respond, which Jack took as a sign to continue talking about what "he and Maddie" had discovered. The Anti-Ghost technology had been an idea of his before the Proto-Portal incident, in response to wanting to be able to protect oneself against a Ghost. It had fallen onto the back-burner after what happened and what Vlad discovered about himself, but Jack had taken his pipe dream and was starting to turn it into a reality.

'Jack doesn't have the brains to figure out the calculations that would enable such technology to work. It must have been Maddie.' Yes, now that made sense. Maddie had always been the brains of the operation back in college and that likely hadn't changed. After all, it was Maddie who had spotted the miscalculations in the Proto-Portal data and advised against turning it on until they had gotten them correct. A shame that Jack hadn't listened.

"Congratulations, Jack. I'm happy that you and Maddie have managed to come so far since we began that many years ago. Perhaps we can talk some more later? I doubt your children would want to hear two old men blathering on about Ghosts when we are supposed to be preparing for our college reunion tomorrow." Vlad said before spotting Maddie as she approached with Daniel and Jasmine, "It's good to see you again, Maddie."

"It's nice to see you to, Vlad. I hope that you have been doing well?" Maddie asked.

"I have been doing splendidly." Vlad had to resist adding that he was doing even better by just seeing her, but he wanted to subtly woo her. If he came on too strong, it would push her away from him. "Are these your children?"

"Yes. Why don't you introduce yourself to Mr. Masters?" Maddie said, directing the question towards her two children.

Jasmine smiled at him, "Hello, Mr. Masters. I'm Jazz."

"Nice to meet you, Jasmine." Vlad said as they extended and shook hands. He then turned towards Daniel, "And you, little badger?"

"I'm Danny. It's nice to meet you after hearing all of the stories Mom and Dad told us about you, Mr. Masters." Daniel said before they shook hands as well. Vlad noted that the boy's previous display of strength wasn't a fluke as it matched up to the boy's strong grip. "This is your home?"

"Indeed. It used to be the home of Wisconsin's "Dairy King" before his unfortunate passing. But I can tell you all more of that later as I'm sure that you're all very tired from your trip. Please come in." Vlad answered before he began to usher the family inside. He wanted to close the door in Jack's face but, alas, it would show the children and Maddie that he still held a grudge. So, he held open the door until Jack wandered inside and closed it behind them.

XXXXXX

(Amity Park—Manson Mansion—Sam's Bedroom)

Sam was laying down on her bed with her boot-clad feet hanging in the air, using her newfound ability to manipulate plants to play around with a freshly plucked flower from the garden. Every time she gave small tug at its spirit ribbon, the flower would move in the direction of the tug. It was actually not that dissimilar to a puppeteer moving around their puppets but, unlike them, her "strings" weren't noticeable to those without spiritual energy.

The rose's stem twisted around like a corkscrew before it slowly untwisted itself. Once that was done, the petals curled downwards until they overlapped with the sepals and, together, moved aside as the bud moved upwards. The rose's anther came together and sharpened into a small, thumbtack-sized point before hardening.

When Sam placed her fingertip on the anther, she found it to be slightly sharper than normal. This is what she was trying to do but it was not as sharp as she wanted it to be. Still, Sam realized she couldn't expect it to be perfect as she was only still learning how to use her new ability. She had also realized that if she hadn't known enough about plant anatomy, she would have never progressed this far either, as her ability was dependent upon her knowledge of what part of a plant she was trying to manipulate.

There was a sudden, quick series of knocks that caused Sam to lose her concentration due to her surprise.

Sam threw the modified rose into her bedside drawer before turning towards her door, seeing a shadow lying underneath it. Sam then visibly relaxed as she heard her grandmother's voice through the wood, asking if she could come in, Sam shut the drawer where the rose was kept and told her grandma to come in. The door to her room opened up, revealing an older, blue-eyed woman with her grey hair in a bun wearing a white blouse, a knee-length black skirt, and black slippers.

"Do you need anything, Grandma?" Sam asked.

"No, I'm fine sweetie. I just came to tell you that someone from the government is in the living room... She wants to ask you some questions about the Ghost attack that happened at your school. She says that you may know something as you and your friends were there the longest." Georgina Manson answered with a small frown "It's odd, though, that she would be coming so late... Inconsiderate, too."

Sam's heart skipped a couple beats in fear as her grandmother's words pierced through her like the bullets of a firing squad. A person from the government was here, in her house, wanting to ask her about the ghosts? Why now? Why come to question her now, unless...? Did they know? It wasn't possible but the fear was starting to chill her as if she had ice water in her veins. Did they know that she, Tucker, and Danny hadn't really been there, that they were actually in Axion Labs? And what if they did? What would happen to them if anybody else knew?

"Does she need to ask me now?" Sam asked, as she barely kept the unease out of her voice.

Georgina nodded, "Yes. She was quite insistent that she talk to you to get further knowledge about what happened when that Ghost attacked your school. But you don't have to worry about it sweetie," she said, having noticed Sam's discomfort, trying to be reassuring. "I'll be there with you. And if she starts asking too much personal questions well, government agent or not, I'll kick her out of the house myself."

"Thanks, Grandma." It wouldn't really help if the official knew what her paranoid thoughts supposed, but it was nice of her grandma to try and comfort her.

XXXXXX

The moment that Sam and Georgina walked into the parlor, the younger Manson saw that the official was already sitting down on the chair directly across the couch. The woman had tan skin, long yellow hair that had been made into three long braids, yellow eyebrows, and dark sunglasses over her face. She was wearing a black suit with a white shirt, a black tie, and polished black shoes.

"Hello there, Ms. Manson. My name is Tier Harribel." The blonde woman said. "I have some questions for you regarding the recent Ghost activities at your school, Casper High."

If the woman alone was enough to make Sam feel panicked, then her spiritual energy was enough to leave Sam feeling petrified. The moment that she had stepped into the room, it had come down on her like a ton of bricks, making her breathing more difficult until she was able to get used to it. It wasn't that much spiritual energy, especially compared to the amount that Danny emitted in his "Resurrection", but it had caught her off guard for a moment.

"Okay." Sam said, managing to keep the shake out of her voice and sit down on the couch at the same time as her grandmother did. Even if this woman had spiritual energy, it didn't automatically mean that she was an enemy until she did something antagonistic. So she would wait and keep her guard up, "What do you need to know, Ms. Harribel?"

Tier leaned forward, hands coming together to form a pseudo-cushion for her chin while obscuring her mouth from view. "I would like to know about the Ghost that attacked your school. Could you please describe the time and place where you first noticed the Ghost?"

"I was sitting down at a table in the cafeteria at lunch with my friends, Danny and Tucker. Dash came up and started to harass Danny because he had just received warning from our counselor, Ms. Penelope Spectra, that he would be kicked off the football team if he was caught bullying someone ever again." Sam said after a moment. "The Ghost appeared before things could get hostile, behind Dash, before the Ghost started to taunt him."

"Thank you, Ms. Manson. Now, could you please describe the Ghost itself? Clothing, skin color, hair color, eye color, what you were able to observe of its personality, and the Ghost's general behavior after the Ghost appeared?"

Sam thought about it, "Well... the Ghost called itself "Peten" and referred to himself in the third-person. He seemed to revel in the chaos he caused, laughing after everyone started to panic. I don't remember seeing anything of his skin, eye, or hair color as he wore clothing that completely covered all of it; a jester-like mask, a jester hat, clown-like clothing, and pointed shoes..."

"Okay. Is there anything else you would want to tell me about this "Peten"? Or any other Ghosts you may have encountered or seen in the past...? I believe that there was another incident where a meat-controlling Ghost attacked your football field during a school rally. Reports tell me that two Ghosts were present, but I wanted to ask you if that is true. Was there another, smaller Ghost?"

Sam felt the blood in her veins freeze at the question, the underlying current of knowing in Ms. Harribel's voice. She knew! She knew there was another "Ghost", Danny, and was fishing for any information that she had about him.

When Sam didn't speak up for a moment, Georgina looked at her for a moment before turning her attention back to Ms. Harribel. "What does that matter to you, Ms. Harribel? I thought this meeting was to discuss what Sam saw during that recent attack in her school's cafeteria. Not about that other attack that happened over a month ago. My granddaughter probably doesn't even remember much about it."

"We believe that the two attacks may be connected. As you know, it seems as if the company known as Fentonworks has managed to create a device that allowed them to tear through the fabric of reality separating Earth from what they call the "Ghost Zone". This has been a boon in their research on Ghost but, unfortunately, it seems to have allowed Ghosts an easier way of getting through. A question that has been plaguing us is why, instead of fleeing to another area, the Ghosts that have come through so far have attacked places where teenagers are present."

"If you want an answer to that, I suggest that you ask the Fenton's themselves when they return from their trip." Georgina said.

Sam wished her Grandma hadn't said that. She didn't want this woman anywhere near her or her friends. Because if she started to dig, she could come up with inconsistencies or manage to uncover everything that they had been trying so hard to hide. And if the truth was uncovered and revealed to everyone, what would happen to them then?

"We are going to ask Mr. and Mrs. Fenton when they return to the city." Tier responded. "But, until they do, myself and the agents under my direct command have been assigned the task of finding out everything about the recent Ghost attacks." She looked at the two women, "It has become clear that something has been drawing those Ghosts to the locations, some form of connection, and we need to figure out just what that is. Sam here could have the knowledge of that connection, even if she doesn't realize it."

"I'm sorry Ms. Harribel, but I really don't remember another Ghost during either of those attacks. Each time, I ran away with my friends as soon as the Ghost appeared and started their attack." Sam said as politely as she possibly could.

Tier didn't say anything for a moment. Instead, she simply looked at Sam for a couple of moments. She then nodded and got up, grabbing her briefcase as she did so, before half-bowing to Sam and Georgina. "Very well, then. If you happen to remember anything you think is important, please don't hesitate to tell us about it."

Sam should've felt relief at Ms. Harribel's departure, and some part of her did when she could no longer feel the woman's spiritual energy, but she didn't. Instead, she felt a growing sense of unease. Someone was on to them, people like Ms. Harribel were starting to believe that Danny may be the connection between the Ghost attacks (which was somewhat true). If they kept digging... it would only be a matter of time before everything fell apart.

'I have to warn the others.' Sam thought.

XXXXXX

(A Few Minutes Earlier—Foley Residence—Living Room)

"How much more questions do you need to ask our son, Ms. Sung?" Violet Foley asked with a small frown.

After that disaster at Tucker's school and her son's explanation of where he had been, both elder Foley's had been sort of been expecting something like this. The Fenton's may have been stepping up to help the city deal with those so-called Ghosts, but everyone knew that the government was going to get involved. Ghosts possessed abilities that they had never seen except in fantasy and were capable of bypassing the majority of security/defensive measures that were currently in place.

So, while they had been expecting someone to come and question their son about what he had seen, they hadn't thought it would be so soon. Or late: couldn't government officials like this Ms. Cyan Sun come at an earlier time?

Cyan Sung-Sun looked at Violet for a moment before lowering her head, "I apologize, Mrs. Foley, but I need to ask your son these questions so that I can to get a grasp on the situation. In addition, I need to get as much details as I can about this situation from him as I can." She closed her eyes and sighed, "Before this year began, no one believed in Ghosts. Now that belief has been challenged by the number of Ghosts coming to our world and, in some cases, attacking the populace."

"... I can understand the difficult position that you are in Ms. Sun, but I'm just a little worried that all of these questions will dredge up memories that Tucker may not wish to remember." Violet said after subtly glancing over at where her unusually quiet son was sitting next to her husband. "Surely you can understand that I want to protect him from such things."

As Ms. Sun opened her mouth to respond to his mother's question, Tucker could only sit there and wait. His mother probably believed that he didn't want to "dredge up memories" that may have upset him and was trying to push them out of his mind, thus explaining to her why he was being quiet, but he wasn't.

Tucker was simply anxious. Ms. Sun had been asking a lot of pointed questions and, after he answered them, asked him to elaborate on points that he didn't think were that important. It made him worry about how much Ms. Sun and her "fellow agents" knew about him—how much they knew about Sam and Danny—and what they would do if they did know.

"I see." Ms. Sun said before looking at Tucker, "If you will allow me, Mr. Foley, I would like to ask you just a few more questions before I take my leave. Is that acceptable?"

"I guess."

After a few more minutes of answering the last of Ms. Sun's questions, Tucker felt a pulse of reiryoku and his body instinctively tensed. He glanced in the direction his fledging skills in reiryoku detection led him to believe the source of the pulse and found himself staring at Ms. Sun. The dark green-haired woman simply stared at him for a moment, thanked him and his family for their time, and slowly stood from the armchair before she picked up her briefcase.

'Was that really you, Ms. Sun?' Tucker thought. The look she had given him suggested that she could have released that pulse of reiryoku, but was that true? He had turned to face her suddenly and stared at her with who-knows-what passing across his face. For all he knew, he could just be getting paranoid.

The phone began to ring as his dad got up to escort Ms. Sun out of the living room and house.

"I'll get it." His mom said before moving to do just that, picking up the phone and putting it to her ear. "Foley Residence: Mrs. Foley speaking..." Recognition dawned in her blue eyes at the all-but inaudible voice that Tucker heard on the other end of the phone. "Hello, Sam. Do you need anything? I'm sorry, but Tucker can't talk right now: he's grounded. Do you want me to tell him anything for you...? Okay. Have a good night."

'Sam? Why would Sam be calling now? I thought her parents had taken away her phone.' Tucker thought as his mom hung up the phone, looking confused as he turned to his mother. "What did Sam want, Mom?"

"She just wanted to talk to you. Since you're still grounded, I couldn't allow it so you'll have to talk to her tomorrow when you leave for that concert." Violet said with a small frown at the thought of the Remember Yesterday concert.

The idea of Tucker going to that concert after he had been grounded had been an issue between Violet and her husband. Violet had wanted to disallow Tucker from going, to really teach Tucker that there were consequences for not following their rules, but... her husband made some good points. Tucker had been grounded for a couple of days already, had apologized for his actions and had been striving to do better, and he had worked hard for his Uncle Fred to earn enough money to pay for it.

While his mom was thinking about the concert, Tucker was thinking about the reasons that Sam may have called. Her phone privileges, like his, had been taken away. And she usually didn't call him unless it was to talk about what they were planning to do later with Danny. With Danny gone and Sidney going to inspect the Ghost Portal, she had no reason to contact him. Or did she?

'You're just being paranoid.' Tucker told himself, shaking his head to get rid of his thoughts.

XXXXXX

(Amity Park—Fenton Residence—The Lab)

At the moment, Sidney could be found kneeling near the entrance of the deactivated Ghost Portal. He had originally been a little excited to actually hear of an artificial portal and even more so when Danny had offered him the chance to examine it. Now, though, he was wishing he had read up before coming. He could understand a few things—modifications to objects and concepts that Tucker had showed or taught him—but everything else was beyond him.

"... I can't believe that two people made this." Sidney muttered to himself, awed. "It's really advanced."

During his seemingly endless entrapment within the facsimile of the 1950's Casper High, Sidney had often gone into the library in order to escape the rampant bullying of his peers. It was one of the only places where he could learn new things as, somehow, it possessed information that a basic Ghost should know—even if he had never been able to use that learned information, it was good to know. It was there that he learned of the rumors revolving around the Ghost King, Pariah Dark, and the realms of the dead.

What interested Sidney most was how the dimensions were structured. The Seireitei, Huceo Mundo, Hell, and the Ghost Zone were all dimensions that existed outside of the dimension that the World of Living did but still revolved around it. Of those dimensions, Huceo Mundo, Hell, and the Seireitei were not directly connected to the World of Living but could be accessed when a "pathway" of sorts was opened between them.

The problem with these pathways was that they couldn't always remain open and, as such, would eventually be forced to close. It was a good thing that they did too as, if too many of these pathways were opened at once or for too long, the dimensions would be pulled together and collide. It was one of the reasons why the fabled Kyōgoku, a naturally-occurring dimension between the World of Living and the Seireitei, had to be destroyed before it could cause the destruction of the Seireitei and the World of Living.

The Ghost Zone, however, was a little different when compared to the other dimensions. Instead of existing "outside" of the World of Living, the Ghost Zone resided "inside" the World of Living but in a separate dimension. It was because of this that, when the two dimensions came together for a brief moment, they created small natural portals in which the overlaps occurred.

Sidney had been able to use that knowledge in order to create a pathway between his personal hell and the World of Living. It didn't always work, something he still was a little bitter about, and had taken a lot of energy to activate, but... it had proved that it was possible to create an artificial portal. Personally, Sidney saw it more as a filter between the two overlapping dimensions but that was just his opinion.

The paper-manipulating Ghost's eyes suddenly widened in surprise as something occurred to him. 'Wait a minute... If this portal was designed to just open a window into the Ghost Zone... how could it have opened a path to a place like Hueco Mundo? It doesn't make any sense unless... Could it be possible that some cat messed with it?'

"It seems odd that someone like you would willingly break into the home of people who have built a business on Ghost Hunting. But, then again, they're not home, are they? It would be the perfect opportunity to find out what they know and study what technology they have so you can counter it, right?"

Sidney startled at the voice before he slowly turned away from his examination of the Ghost Portal. By doing such he caught sight someone that he had never seen before leaning on the wall near the staircase that led back upstairs. He did, however, recognize the attire the woman was dressed in. 'An Arrancar.' Only... she didn't have a mask fragment. "W-Who are you and what do you want?"

"I'm Emilou Apacci. What I want is simple—" In a flash, Apacci vanished from her previous position and reappeared in front of Sidney. Sidney startled and back up half a step which made the blue-haired Arrancar grin devilishly. "—information. And I think that you can give it to me."

Paper exploded out from Sidney in a thick wave, forcing Apacci backwards as Sidney moved closer to the Ghost Portal. With a slight gesture of his hands, the wave grew in intensity and quickly began to drag Apacci into itself. It wasn't enough as Apacci managed to pulse her reiryoku to blow the paper away from her and then used Sonido to move away, cursing to herself about her current limits as a trio of paper lances were just barely avoided.

"I don't think I know anything kooky enough that someone like you would want to know." Sidney stated as he brought his paper back and allowed it to coil around his feet like water as he waited for Apacci to make her move. "And I wouldn't tell you anyway. All you Arrancar are nothing but bullies."

Apacci scowled, "I guess I'll have to use force to get the information I want." A mere thought allowed her to materialize Cierva where there had been nothing and grabbed both chakram-like weapons out of the air before they could fall. "Prepare yourself then, Ghost. Pulsera Cuerno (Horn Bracelet)!"

With that exclamation, Apacci spun around a little before she released Cierva towards Sidney. The suddenness of the attack surprised Sidney, but he was able to bring forth a wall of paper to block the violently-rotating chakrams from reaching him. Which, considering the normal strength of Arrancar and their techniques, was surprising: his paper should not have been able to stop that.

'Damn old man.' Apacci thought before she released another pulse of her available reiryoku which then connected with Cierva. It took but a thought to have the chakrams pull back before splitting up, racing around both sides of the paper wall and towards the Ghost. "Don't think you've beat me yet!"

"I would never think like that."

Apacci spun around towards the source of the voice, wondering when the Ghost had managed to get behind her, only to meet a sea of white. She didn't even have a chance to yell before it converged on and trapped her within a rapidly-rotating tornado. She tried to call back Cierva so that they could disrupt the Ghost's technique but, instead, heard them clatter to the ground as the tornado started to tighten around her body.

"Papier Typhoon (Paper Typhoon)." Sidney stated as he warily watched his technique continue on, looking for any hints that the Arrancar had somehow managed to avoid or negate his attack. It wasn't likely as he had knocked away her weapons before they could disrupt it and his paper was spinning a rapid speed. It would take something faster than that and then slip out during a brief moment, a technique that drained reiryoku, or something stronger than it for the Arrancar to break out.

In the next moment, Sidney found a sandaled foot in his stomach before he was sent flying backwards. He quickly went intangible and phased through the wall, flying back towards the lab when he had managed to recover. He phased through the wall and, eyeing her somewhat surprised look, unleashed three consecutive waves of paper at her injured form. While she had apparently used that speed technique, Sonido, it hadn't been fast enough.

Gritting her teeth, Apacci brought up both of her recovered Cierva so that their flat sides were facing the Ghost's incoming attack before channeling her remaining reiryoku through them. Cierva gained a red tint before her spiritual energy spread forth, forming into a circular red shield. The first wave of the Ghost's paper crashed into it a couple of seconds later, but her shield held strong. "Hah! What did you think you were—?"

The shield shattered upon the impact of the combined mass of the second and third wave, surprising Apacci even as was caught up within it. She managed to get one leg out of the paper, but when she tried to get her second leg out, she found that she was unable to do so. She then tried to move her arm so that she could fire a Bala at the paper and burn it off. That didn't work either as paper wrapped around it and her other arm, forcibly pulling her back into it.

"I know enough about you cats to know that giving you a chance to attack is a bad thing. And I know that attacking you isn't so good either as you're supposed to be really resilient or something." Sidney stated as he watched as Apacci slowly begin to sink underneath the surface of his paper. "So I had to trap you. Thus... Piège papier (Paper Trap)."

"B-Bastard..." Apacci cursed.

"I think that it's time I asked you some of my questions." Sidney pointedly ignored the title that Apacci had just given him and instead walked a little closer to the trapped Arrancar. "Why are you here? Are there any other Arrancar in Amity Park? If so, why? What brought you here?"

Apacci's mouth twisted into a sneer, "I'm not going to tell you anything."

Before Sidney could do anything else, the lights suddenly flickered on. No, that wasn't it: the lights weren't on. But then, why was the laboratory now being illuminated by light? Sidney eyes widened in realization—the Ghost Portal had somehow flared to life, obscuring the interior that Sidney had been examining with a dense wall of ectoplasm-infused reiryoku. The light was merely a byproduct of the unearthly glow cast by the portal.

A moment later, a large herd of ecto-bulls charged through the open Ghost Portal and, to Sidney's shock and disbelief, ran through the lab. He could only watch as they ran before, nearing the wall, they went intangible and phased through the thick material before vanishing completely.

'What just happened...?' Sidney wondered as he stared at the space where the ecto-bulls had just run through. 'More importantly... how did that happen?' Coming out of it, he noticed all of the trampled papers and the distinct lack of a certain blue-haired Arrancar. "Where did she...? Of course! She must've escaped while I was distracted."

XXXXXX

"Let go of me you stupid bulls!" Apacci yelled as she hit the bull that was unwillingly carrying her away on the head with the sharp end of Cierva. It didn't work, however, as the bull continued its relentless charge and ignored her attack, dragging her trapped form—as she was clearly stuck onto one of its horns somehow—along with it. "Let go! I mean it!"

Apacci was grateful that the bulls had, in their stampede from that weird device, had trampled through the Ghost's paper and disrupted his focus. The combination had allowed her to wiggle out but, before she could escape, she had been caught by one of the bulls whose horns had sunk into the paper still wrapped tightly around her legs. And then they had somehow been able to charge through the walls like they weren't even there, which was an experience in itself, and out into the town.

Frankly, though, all she wanted to do was get off.

"Let go, let go, let go, let go!"

"Wow..." An unwanted, horrifyingly familiar voice called out from the left of Apacci's unthinking and unknowing captor as the owner of said voice ran besides the beast, amused. "I never thought you would lower yourself to ride on livestock. Or that livestock would lower themselves by allowing you to ride them, Apacci."

Apacci glared at the woman, "Can it, Mila-Rose!"

"Oh? And here I thought that you would want my help." Mila-Rose said before she stopped running and stepped away, allowing the bulls to begin putting distance in-between herself and Apacci. "See you later then. And remember to have fun A-pa-cci~!

"Wait! Mila-Rose! Don't leave me with these things!" Apacci cried as the bull continued to carry her away. Mila-Rose gave her a look she could barely see due to the widening distance but, when she did, Apacci frowned and had to swallow an instinctual flare of emotion. It would be of no use to be stubborn or prideful in her current situation. "Okay, fine, you win! Can you please help me, Mila-Rose?!"

Mila-Rose allowed a victorious smile to appear on her face, "Of course I can, Apacci."

In the next moment, Mila-Rose vanished from her position through the use of Sonido and reappeared ten feet away from the heard of stampeding Ghost bulls. She lowered herself into a position that, when the bull carrying Apacci crashed into her, she could grab it on the sides. By doing this, she slowly brought the creature to a halt as her sandaled feet dug into the ground before stopping. Mila-Rose then infused her arms with her limited and hard-to-draw reiryoku to increase her strength before throwing the beast and Apacci into the air.

"What are you doing?!" Apacci screamed, "This isn't helping me at all!"

Mila-Rose scoffed before she disappeared again, reappearing beside Apacci and the bull as they fell towards the earth. With a simple tug, Apacci came free of the bull's horns. The paper on Apacci's legs began to fall off and flutter alongside the trio which made Apacci look at her fellow Arrancar in shock. Mila-Rose merely grabbed her mere inches away from the ground and used another application of Sonido to take them to safety.

Or at least, safety for Mila-Rose. Apacci, however was flattened by the Ghost bull as it landed on top of and knocked her to the concrete below. From that position, she heard Mila-Rose laughing at her and sent the brown-haired Arrancar a dirty look. Or, at least, she tried to. Her face was currently smashed against the concrete paving of a sidewalk while a tremendously heavy bull was sitting on her back.

'I'll get her back for this. That stupid Ghost, too.' Apacci thought vindictively as Mila-Rose's laughter only increased in volume. 'Stupid cow. Still... at least Sung-Sun isn't here. Who knows what she would say about this situation. Probably something like—'

"Just to think when my opinion of you couldn't get any lower..." Sung-Sun said with a small shake in her voice, as though she was struggling not to laugh. "... You do this. I can't believe how much an "udder" fool you've made of yourself."

The weight of the bull was suddenly removed from Apacci who had actually come to want it with the appearance of Sung-Sun. Knowing that it would only make itself worse on herself if she hesitated, she slowly got up off the ground. She then felt the pit of her stomach drop out from underneath her as, not only were both Sung-Sun and Mila-Rose there to bask in her humiliation, so was Tier. 'Why me?'

Poindexter's Encyclopedia:

"Welcome to another exciting edition of "Poindexer's Encyclopedia"!" Sidney greeted as his intangible form rose out from beneath the stage floor before becoming tangible again. The audience began to cheer while others began to exclaim over what he had just done. "You guys want to know how I did that? Well, sure! That'll tie in perfectly with what we'll be talking about tonight."

Sidney then removed a remote control from his pocket and floated to the side before pointing the remote at a descending screen. "Today we'll be talking more about Ghosts. More specifically, we'll be talking about the natural abilities of a Ghost."

The audience erupted in noise at that admission. People in it began to look around at their fellow audience members and begin to chatter, excitedly talking to each other. It was easy enough to understand how Ghosts were formed and how they discovered and learned to control their unique powers—similar to a Shinigami or an Arrancar's Zanpakuto but without a mental representation/inner spirit—the other abilities that Ghosts had access to were harder to understand.

"As you all know, a Ghost is made out of reiryoku-infused ectoplasm that forms around the memories of an individual that enters the Ghost Zone. What you don't know is how Ghosts are able to perform or have access to the abilities we do—flight, intangibility, invisibility, and possession."

A picture appeared on the screen just then. It was of an intangible Ghost halfway through phasing through a wall.

"A Ghost is able to go "intangible" when they open a portal around their bodies that places them within a space between the Ghost Zone and the World of Living. In this state, a Ghost cannot be hurt by anything in those separate dimensions as they seem to phase through any and every attack sent at them." Sidney explained to his audience. "It cannot be held forever as both dimensions will begin to press on the Ghost from both sides, so it often used in short bursts to avoid damage or escape from a situation a Ghost gets caught in."

It took a couple of seconds for the first picture to fade and be replaced by the second; just enough time for the audience to begin digesting and slowly coming to understand what Sidney had just told them. When they did, they looked back up towards Sidney and saw that the picture on the screen was actually two. One was of the same Ghost in an alley while the next picture simply showed the alley.

"The next ability that Ghosts can use is invisibility. This is actually just a more advanced version of a Ghost's ability to control the ectoplasm that makes up their body. With it, they manipulate the ectoplasm in their body to blend in—in coloring and seemingly texture—with the area around themselves. It doesn't protect a Ghost from attacks, but it does allow them to hide, spy on people, and launch surprise attacks." Sidney said.

By the time that Sidney had finished speaking, the pictures on the screen had already faded and been replaced by another series of pictures. The first of these pictures showed a Ghost floating in the air above a Human on a random street. The next picture showed the Ghost diving towards the Human and the Human turning around. The third picture showed the Human's eyes widened but the Ghost gone. Finally, the last picture showed the Human's eyes glowing an ectoplasmic green.

"Possession is an ability that allows a Ghost to overshadow a victim of their choice." Sidney said with a small frown. "Ghosts can use this ability by breaking themselves down into a cloud of ectoplasm that quickly enters their victim through the nose, ears, or mouth. From there, the Ghost's ectoplasm will quickly wrap around and take over the victim's mind."

The audience was silent at this explanation. It was a scary thought, thinking that there was an entire race of supernatural beings that could invade their bodies and take control of them. Several began to think of ways that they could prevent themselves from becoming a victim; maybe they should give the Fenton family a call? They had begun to distribute Anti-Ghost technology so, surely, they had to have something that stopped Ghosts from possessing them.

Right?

"The final basic ability that a Ghost has access to is flight. Every spiritual race has, over time, developed their own way of staying in the air to allow them an advantage in battle. Shinigami and Arrancar spread out a thin layer of their reiryoku underneath their feet and Quincy utilize a version of their Hirenyaku technique to manifest a visible platform underneath them." Sidney began as a picture of a flying Ghost appeared on the screen. "Ghosts, however, don't do that. Instead, they manipulate their bodies' ectoplasm so that it is light enough for them to float in the air. Moving in that state allows them to fly around."

A/N: Author's Note: Well, that's the end of that chapter. It might not have been the most interesting chapter, but things are starting to pick up. The Fenton's have met Vlad who, despite his love for Maddie, is smart enough not to show his hatred of Jack too much. Aizen's Arrancar have discovered Ghosts through the use of their technology, the internet, reading the newspapers. Tier & Co. are getting closer to the identity of the Arrancar they are chasing (even if they are just confirming the identities of the "High-Spec Humans")... and Apacci got carried away by Ghost bulls after losing to Sidney.

Bet you guys didn't see that coming!

But, seriously, we want to clear some things up. Tier & Co. have a limited access to their powers and are sealed within their Gigai. Not only does that mean their techniques, speed, and strength are reduced... they don't have their Hierro to protect themselves with. They can materialize their Zanpakuto and utilize basic techniques with them (even if they are much harder to do than normally) but they cannot release them.