"Dr. Szayelaporro Granz? Are you in here?" Ginger said as she looked around for her superior. She searched around the lab for him until she spotted him working on his computer. "There you are, sir." She said as she came over, but he quickly hid his work.

"What do you want now, Ginger?" Szayelaporro said as he didn't sound pleased.

"Uh... Well... I wanted to remind you... There's... It's about the..." Ginger stuttered to find the words to say because she was too nervous.

"Spit it out already!" Szayelaporro said as he was not in the mood for her tomfoolery.

"I wanted to remind you about your invite to the event at the planetarium." Ginger said as she got the nerve. "You remember, right? You received an invitation for the celebration of it being opened for the past fifty years."

"I'm well aware of that, but I have no interest in such things." Szayelaporro said as he really didn't care and just focus on his work. "If you like that sort of thing so much, just go on and take my invite."

"Really?! I can?!" Ginger said as she was amazed she could attend a fancy event.

"Yes, yes. If it means you won't pester me anymore, just go on ahead. Maybe I can get more work done without you to annoy me." Szayelaporro said. Ginger really doesn't like that her boss treats her in such a way, but she didn't think there was really anything she could do about it. She just left him alone and went to attend the party. Although, her party mood was probably just killed because of him.

...

The Planetarium

The event that was happening at the planetarium was to mark the anniversary of the fiftieth it's been opened. It was just another one of those black tie events. People were dressed all fancy and were just trying to have a good time. It holding a space-theme to it did add to the fun of it.

"I can't believe we're actually celebrating this place being opened for fifty years. Is it really that big of a deal?" Rukia questioned as she and Ichigo attended the event.

"In a way. Fifty years is a pretty long time. They should be pleased with themselves that this place has remained opened for so long." Ichigo said.

"Perhaps, but I think someone is just throwing this party just because they're showing off." Rukia said. "I wish Renji could have come, but I guess a police officer's work is never done...just like a reporter. Thanks again for coming, Ichigo. I don't think I would have been able to get through this alone."

"No problem. At least we might get a great show out of it." Ichigo said.

"I think I'm about to get one right now." Rukia said as she spotted a couple girls coming over for Ichigo and putting their arms through his.

"Hi, Ichigo."

"What a coincidence. We found something that's...out of this world."

"I don't know about that, but I guess I found a couple heavenly bodies." Ichigo said with the girls getting all giddy.

"Come on. Let's go check out the stars." The girls pulled him along and left Rukia behind. She found this amusing, but now she's on her own. As for Ginger, she attended the party in Szayelaporro's place like he said. She was excited to be here, but she was a little anxious to be somewhere so fancy. She was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed and that she really didn't belong. This might be harder than she thought.

"Oh, I wouldn't know about being an astronaut." Ichigo said. "I don't think I'm really cutout for something like that." He said as he tried making small talk with the girls. While he was talking, he noticed Ginger trying to enjoy herself, but it looks like she's having a difficult time. Ichigo knew what it was like trying to be happy when you aren't. "Would you please excuse me?" He said as he excused himself and went on over to Ginger. Ginger was starting to feel like she didn't really fitin around here since she's just average and is surrounded by so many people.

"Maybe this was a mistake..." Ginger said as she tried turning around and leaving, but she ended up walking right into Ichigo. "I'm sorry. I... Oh my goodness! You're Ichigo Kurosaki! I'm very sorry! I... I..."

"Calm down. It was an accident." Ichigo said. "Are you okay? You look like you're about to have a panic attack." Ginger was so nervous and wasn't really sure what she should say. Ichigo could see she was getting anxious and had to do something to help her. "Come with me." He said as he took her hand and guided her away with Ginger getting so flustered. The two of them moved to a different part of the planetarium where they could look down on others, but they were alone. "I had a feeling you were nervous around all those people."

"I... I was..." Ginger said.

"Now, what's your name?" Ichigo asked.

"Ginger... Ginger Greyson."

"A pleasure to meet you. So, what brings you here?" Ichigo asked. "Do you know the people that work here or something?"

"No... My boss was invited, but he gave it to me... He only did that...to get rid of me." Ginger said.

"That's not nice. What does your boss do?" Ichigo questioned.

"He's a scientist. I act as his assistant." Ginger said. "Although... I... I don't know what he works... Something with animal DNA... He doesn't really tell me anything. He says...I only get in the way...and I should just do what he says"

"He doesn't sound like a nice boss. Why do you work for him?" Ichigo asked.

"It... It pays good..." Ginger said. "It would also help me... I want to be a scientist to help preserve some plant life. Plants are vital to our world, but people want to destroy it."

"That sounds great, but it sounds like your boss is all that nice to you." Ichigo said. "You should do something about it. Stand up to him or find someone who will appreciate your work."

"I... I can't..." Ginger said. "I'm not really one to confront people. I... I don't even like to raise my voice." When she said that, something in Ichigo clicked. Something about Ginger made him think of someone else he knew.

"I get it. I knew another girl that was like that, but she always seemed happy." Ichigo said. Feeling like he should do something to help Ginger, he decided that there was one thing he could try. "You say you study plant life to preserve them. What if I funded your research. I would just need to see what you have. That way, you won't have to deal with mean boss of yours."

"You would really do that?!" Ginger said as she couldn't believe this. "I... I don't know what to say. If we leave now, I can show you what I have."

"Great. Let's go." Ichigo said. Ginger seems like a nice girl that Ichigo wanted to help. This also sounds like a good business opportunity for him. That's why the two of them were leaving together.

...

Ichigo and Ginger

Ichigo and Ginger decided to skip the planetarium and decided to talk business. Ichigo drove Ginger back to where the lab was. The two of them pulled up to the building with Ginger getting out.

"Wait here. I'll go get my notes." Ginger said. "If my boss is still here, I'm not sure he's going to like being bothered."

"Don't worry about him." Ichigo said, but Ginger just went on ahead. Ginger went on inside and was heading for the lab. She made her way up and was inside with her being careful not to disturb the boss.

"Dr. Granz? Are you still here?" Ginger asked as she came inside, but there seemed to be no sign of him. Looks like Ginger finally lucked out. She went over to her plants and tried to get notes together. Once she got them, she heard some sort of door opening. She quickly hid herself and saw Szayelaporro leaving somewhere. "That's odd. That door is usually closed and he doesn't allow anyone down there." She saw a rare chance as she saw the mystery door was still opened. Curious as to what it was, she hurried on over to that door and made her way inside and saw it was a set of stairs heading down. Even more curious, Ginger made her way down to see what was down there. "Hello? Is there anyone down here?" She asked as she reached bottom to look around.

"RRAAARRRAAAGGGGHHHHH!" She heard a horrible sound and saw it was coming from a cage that had a sheet over it. She was starting to get scared, but she had to know what was in that cage or else it was going to bother her. She nervously walked over to the cage and tried to lift the sheet. She raised it just enough to see there was some sort of creature inside, but couldn't tell what it was. Just then, she saw a shadow come over her. She looked behind her and saw Szayelaporro was about to smash a pipe against her. Ginger acted fast and jumped out of the way and he hit the cage instead.

"What do you think you're doing down here?!" Szayelaporro said.

"I'm sorry!" Ginger cried as she tried running out of there.

"Get back here!" Szayelaporro called as he hurried after her. What neither of them noticed was that Szayelaporro just broke the lock that was on that cage. Ginger felt like she was running for her life as Szayelaporro came after her. "Stop right there!" He called as he reached out and grabbed a hold of her by her dress.

"Please let me go." Ginger cried as she tried to get free from him. "I don't even know what I saw down there. If I don't know what's down there, I can't tell anyone."

"I'm afraid I can't." Szayelaporro said. "The fact that you saw something down there means that this could be a problem. I can't have anyone know what I'm really working on. That means I can't take chances." It seemed like he intended to hurt her, but Ginger can't allow that. She tried to fight back and pushed him off with all her might and caused the top half of her dress to rip off. Once she got free, she ran and tried to hide somewhere. She hid behind her plants and tried to keep herself covered.

"You should know I didn't come here alone." Ginger said. "Ichigo Kurosaki gave me a lift back and he's just outside the building."

"You expect me to believe that Ichigo Kurosaki is with the likes of you." Szayelaporro said. Ginger was starting to fear for her life. She was about to make a run for it. She just had to get out of there. Ginger could see the door to her freedom and was going to make a run for it, but she didn't get the chance. Szayelaporro pushed the entire shelf down and caused all the plants with some chemicals right on top of her. All of it smashed right on top of her and it did not look good. The crashing sound was just barely heard by Ichigo outside and he had a feeling something was wrong.

"I guess I'm going to need a new assistant. One that will know her place." Szayelaporro said as he wasn't even sorry for what he did. Just then, he could hear something smashing against the wall down stairs. "Oh dear. I think my most out of control creation is starting to get free." He said, but wasn't really concerned. As for Ichigo, he was trying to figure out what was going on.

"Ginger! Is everything okay up there?! Can you hear me?!" Ichigo called. That was right when he heard something smash through the wall. He looked up the building and saw some sort of beat emerge with it having the front half of a leopard with the back half of a cougar and the wings and talons of an eagle. It was some sort of chimera. "What the hell?!" It gave off a horrifying roar before it took off to the sky and headed for the city. Not knowing what happened to Ginger, Ichigo had to do something about that creature now.

...

Downtown

The chimera headed into the city as it flew around the sky. A lot of people saw it and were terrified by it. Relying purely on instincts, the chimera dived down and smashed against a car. The chimera just kept attacking whatever was in its way. It might not be human, but Mugetsu knew he had to do something about it. Mugetsu showed up and dived down with him landing on the creature's back. Once that happened, it flailed around and tried to shake him off.

"Easy, whatever you are!" Mugetsu said as he tried to tame the beast, but this thing was not going to go down without a fight. It flew up to the sky and kept shaking around until it finally knocked Mugetsu off it's back. Mugetsu hit the ground rather hard, but the beast wasn't done with him just yet. It flew down at him and tried to attack with its talons. It tried to strike with one talon, but Mugetsu rolled out of the way. The chimera kept trying to stomp it with its talons, but Mugetsu kept rolling away from each of the talons. "Back off!" He called as he swung his sword and managed to cut the beast.

"AAAARRRRRGGGHHH!" The chimera winced in pain and enabled Mugetsu to escape, but he took a stance and readied to defend himself. The chimera leaped right at him. Mugetsu tried to stop it, but the creatures talons still smashed against him and pinned him to the ground. It did try using its fangs on him, but Mugetsu tried using his sword to hold it back. Mugetsu was doing the best he could, but it was strong. Luckily for him, helped arrived as Jushiro and his men showed up.

"Fire some warning shots! Scare it away from Mugetsu!" Jushiro ordered. His officers tried shooting around the beast and it did scare it away from Mugetsu. Mugetsu got out of there quickly and regrouped with Jushiro. "Are you alright?"

"More or less." Mugetsu said with the chimera turning to face them.

"What is that thing?" Jushiro questioned.

"Some sort of chimera, but I have no idea how it's even here." Mugetsu said.

"Well, I'm a little puzzled now. Animals aren't exactly our jurisdiction, but it is causing trouble. Not to mention it would be considered a very rare, endangered, and exotic animal." Jushiro said.

"Worry about sorting it all out later. We need to stop this thing." Mugetsu said. The chimera came at them and flew right over them, but they all tried to stay away from it's fangs and talons. "We should try to take it alive so we can study it and maybe learn where it came from."

"How do you suggest we do that against something so ferocious?" Jushiro questioned. Mugetsu thought that over until an idea came to him.

"Police officers still carry stun guns, don't they?" Mugetsu said with Jushiro seeing where he was going with this.

"Everyone! Grab your stun gun!" Jushiro called. "We're going to try and take the creature alive for studying!" Some of his men had one on them. The chimera was coming back around, but all of them were ready. As the chimera came back at them, each of them fired a shot from their stun gun and gave the chimera a small jolt of electricity. It screamed out in pain. It was actually tough as it endured against the shocks, but they all turned it up. The beast couldn't take it and dropped to the ground. "Well... This could be a paperwork nightmare."

"Figure it out later." Mugetsu said. "I want to figure out where this thing even came from." Mugetsu doesn't like that this thing even exists. He also didn't like that this thing came out of the same building that Ginger was just in. He needs to figure out where it came from, but he won't get the chance as Szayelaporro was there with a switch on him.

"I'll contact some people. Maybe we can..." Jushiro was discussing what they were going to do until Szayelaporro beat him to the punch. He pressed the button on the switch and the beast suddenly exploded. It's insides spread everywhere with whatever was inside dissolving...except for the blood. "What just happened?"

"It... It imploded somehow!" Mugetsu said as he was shocked and almost couldn't believe it. "What is going on around here?" Mugetsu didn't like what was going on, but he has no clues now. Whatever Szayelaporro is doing, he's making sure no one can trace anything back to him. Just what kind of madman is he?

...

Szayelaporro's Lab

Meanwhile, something was going on back at Szayelaporro's lab. He thought Ginger was hurt, maybe even dead, after what he just did to her. Chemicals and plants were mixing right over her body. Szayelaporro thought it finished her, but he will be in for a surprise as a hand was emerging right out of the mess, but what exactly happened to Ginger?