Will be publishing as a new story soon, mopre to be explained then.

-Juni

I flew above the night clouds of Seattle, sighing is I read the now sweaty piece of paper I had unraveled from my palm. The thing had been in my pocket for days, but I had never gotten the time to actually read it until now.

90230 Misty Front Way, Apt. 369 it read. An address. An address someone wanted to meet me at, according to the words of the person who gave it to me.

I zoomed over King Street, right past Amelia's Pizza Parlor and Bucky's Music Store and onto John Avenue. You could say that I knew the city by heat by now, seeing as how a family friend had moved back over here in the last six months. She was gone now, of course; but that was a different story.

The apartment building described in the note was old and raggedy, almost up for sale after a fire had hit it, half of it still in shambles form the flames.

In truth, I didn't even know why I was doing this. Why the hell was I following some strange note given to me by stranger?

I sighed. Being reckless was something I'd been doing a lot lately. Maybe Jazz was right. Maybe all this stress really was getting to me. I was hot and sticky, not from my indecision, but from the temperature in this place.

It was freaking hot in here!

I led myself down the hallways, stopping cold in my tracks as I reached my destination. The room's door was propped full open, little light entering from it as I realized that half the wall was charred off. A lump of misplaced belongings was huddled in the corner.

"You're here." A voice told me from my side. "Good. I don't have that much time."

"Who— What do you want?"

"Listen closely." It said, items shuffling to reveal the form of a man.

"Your ghost powers were never gone, Daniel." He told me. "they were only dormant."

"Who are you?" I asked. "What are you talking about?" I was freaking out. Beads of sweat ran down my face, my breathing hard as I moved closer. Now I was nervous.

"Tell me Daniel," he said. "how is it possible for one to live once more if they have already died?"

My voice came out in a whisper. "Died?" I croaked. Had I misheard what he had said?

"Yes." He said soberly.

"You're lying."I said, but a part of me knew that he was telling the truth. Horrible memories of pain erupted in my mind at the thought of evidence that he was.

There wasn't any. Whoever this guy was, wherever he came from… he obviously knew a lot about me. More than I knew about myself. With a sudden jolt, I broke from my reverie.

"I could be," he said, voice low. "But then again, I guess only you would know… my situation was different than yours, after all." He stood up from where he'd been sitting in the rubble, letting me see his tattered jacket and fedora. I still couldn't get a view of his face.

"Who are you?" I repeated in a strong tone.

"Oh, I think you already know, my boy; but that's beside the point. Time is running out."

"Time?"

"They won't be safe for much longer, Daniel." He said." Do you really think that only your mother and father's skills will save them? They won't, Daniel. Rest assured that this is something much larger than you can comprehend. This isn't just the world, it's the universe. The very fabric of existence will shred unless you act fast! Open your mind, Daniel!"

I did.

"…Plasmius." I said. The name rolled off my tongue smoothly, as if I'd been wanting to say it all along and it was just pining to come out. "How are you-"

"That's not important. What's important is that you use your skills, Danny… Your knowledge, everything that you have learned and use it for the better, or all will be lost."

"…What do you mean?" I asked slowly, this had to be another one of his schemes, it just had to.

"You must hurry, Daniel. It will be too late if you do not. It will be then that you will realize that you were the catalyst to a great catastrophe."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because," he said, his voice making it sound like his next statement was obvious. "sometimes the hero must save himself before he saves the world." He lifted his hat up, letting me see the unquestionable truth within his indigo eyes, before suddenly grabbing my shoulders.

"You must leave. Return to Amity. Don't come back here."

"But—" I protested, only to be cut off.

"Go!" His eyes burned an irritated red as he pointed to the sky. "Now!"

Without another word, I flew up towards the horizon.

It was freezing as a walked on the gray sidewalk, its color matching that of the dreary sky. Late November wind ran against my face, making the nearby leaves dance. My eyes darted up to the gleaming shine of the Ops Center as I reached the curb. Fentonworks.

Home.

All the questions I'd had in my mind suddenly vanished as new emotions overwhelmed me. It felt good to be here. I wrapped my had around the doorknob, a sad smile spreading across my face as I caught the familiar aroma of Mom's homemade cookies in the air. Another scent came along with it, this one familiar, too. Ectoplasm.

"Mom?" I called as I slowly swung the door open. She glanced over at me from the entrance to the kitchen, dark bags hanging below her eyes.

She half-smiled. "Danny." She said. "How was that meeting?"

"It… didn't go as planned."

"Well, I'm sure it wasn't that bad, was it?" setting a tray on the table, she walked over to where I was slumped in the foyer, and started fingering with my hair, which she didn't even have to reach up to touch. I hated it when she did that.

With a sigh, I asked her where Dad was, though I already knew the answer.

"He's in the basement. We've… met some complications with the ectoplasmic residue samples that we've been studying. They've been acting up."

"What do you mean?" I asked, voice nervous. "How are they acting up? I thought that you and Dad had solved it all—"

"We don't know, Danny. Everything we've tried just makes it worse! Nothing, not even the Ecto Dejecto shows any positive reaction towards the samples! "

"You've got to be kidding me!" I exclaimed. They'd spent so much time, so much effort and sweat into their experiments these past few months, and it all came out for nothing?

"No, Danny. " she said, "I don't think we'll ever be able to find a solution at this rate."

My anger melded into a mix of fear at her words. I suddenly couldn't stop thinking about all the things that could go wrong if… if…

"Mom…" I whispered gravely, fists clenching, "You can't give up."