Author's Note:
Oi. Welcome! This is a more serious story because I don't quite have the energy to do crack right now. The idea came from a story of Cordria's (Judge, Jury, Executioner), but any actual relation to that is minimal. I mean, most of the relation is "Hey, let's throw Maddie into the Ghost Zone!". So, whatever.

This isn't going to be a very long fic, (expect 3 - 5 chapters) but I'm looking forward to putting it on figurative paper.

-Sudo

World on a Plate
A fanfic by Pseudinymous

~ 1 ~
- Exploring -

It was a dark and lonely place in here.

And yet, it was also blindingly bright, horrifically green, a sea of unnaturalness that drifted about in its sickening ways. Maddie was as fascinated by it as she was unsettled — the scientist within her yearned to go further, to gain a greater understanding, while the more human parts of her mind were urging her hands to turn the Spectre Speeder around right now and go back through the portal. How could she not love a place that drew such primal conflict within her? Sure, it was a strange kind of love, but—

Oh. A dead end.

Maddie had been too busy looking out of the side window to see out the windscreen properly, and had needed to halt the Speeder with a magnificent jolt. Narrowly she avoided crushing the vehicle into a twisted chunk of metal against solid rock — the island straight in front of her was massive, and somehow she had missed it coming.

But, this didn't phase her.

Maddie threw the stick into reverse, and began to navigate around that hulking mass of land. Grass that wouldn't have been out of place in the Real World grew over the edges and held clumps of soil together with its roots above, sturdy and thick. Even out here, somehow some sort of fundamentally biological nature existed. It indicated that the eerie green glow that permeated the Zone was enough for a sustainable photosynthesis process, and that there must have been water somewhere.

That was, unless the grass was a rouse. Perhaps the grass was instead made of ectoplasm, even if it didn't exhibit that trademark incandescent light. This warranted further investigation.

The ghost hunter drove the Spectre Speeder to the top of the plateau. All was quiet here, and the island was otherwise barren aside from the fresh flush of grassy shoots. No ghosts were around at all (Maddie wouldn't have risked it if there were), so, and hesitantly, she opened the door and took a step outside. Her feet made a soft and satisfying thump as they hit the ground, and she kneeled down with a glass bottle in her hand. Maddie would take a sample of this alien grass back to the lab, and she would analyse it as one of her many curiosities.

Jack didn't take interest in this sort of thing. It really was a shame that all he cared about was the ghosts themselves, because so many other questions existed about this place that would never be answered purely by ghost hunting. Why was there oxygen? If there is no centre mass for gravity, then what is the downwards force that ensured falling meant falling (at least conceivably) forever? Did each point in the Ghost Zone have a definite mirror point to the real world, or could two portals be opened in the same place but lead to different areas? How did the Ghost Zone form, and why was it here? She suspected those last two questions were like asking how the universe came to be, but as a scientist she wanted to ask them, anyway.

… As a human, too, she still wanted to ask.

The grass and dirt was easier to pull out than she'd expected, and Maddie was able to take a heaping clump in her hand and throw it straight into the jar, no need for any tools or shovels. She screwed the lid on tight, put it back in the Speeder, and began to climb in.

"Hello!" someone greeted brightly from the driver's seat.

Maddie's hand was nearly on her heart. How had she failed to notice? A ghost had gotten behind her, gotten into the Spectre Speeder, and was now giving her the most aggravating happy smile she had ever known. A second later she was reaching for her gun, only to find it had for all practical purposes disappeared.

Her eyes were wide. She looked at the ghost properly, now, horror filling her. Fighting and escape plans filled her mind. But it stared back with boyish eyes, a friendly tone, and… a very feminine face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to —"

"Get out of the vehicle!" Maddie snarled, her hands curled into dangerous-looking fists, and her stance changed to match. If nothing else, it was effective. The ghost yelped, but instead of getting out it managed to jump further backwards into the Speeder, where it curled up in the passenger seat and held its hands protectively over its head.

It was unlike anything Maddie had ever seen. She was totally unarmed and probably quite unable to hurt the ghost in question, but even this was enough to give it the fright of its metaphorical life. A deep maternal pang nearly made the hunter feel sorry for it, of all things, which of course meant a surge of disgust shot through her system to keep that feeling company.

But now came the real question: What to do?

The ghost was terrified of her. It hadn't uncurled itself from that foetal position since she'd yelled at it, and the shivering made it look as though it was suffering from a severe case of hypothermia. Perhaps this was some sort of trap? And yet, that was not a smell this situation reeked of. The gun the ghost had stolen lay discarded inside the Speeder, easily within her reach. She could grab it and shoot the ghost at a moment's notice, and this would (at least in theory) end the confrontation once and for all.

Was that right, though?

She had to treat every ghost as though it was dangerous — it was the only safe way to go about things, and in her experience it was the correct assumption 9.9 times out of 10 anyway. But this one was pathetic. Her gut told her there wasn't any bluff to call.

… In spite of herself, she found the call to science teasing her to take this further, to get to the bottom of this strange appearance. Perhaps she could capture the ghost and use it.

Slowly, Maddie got back into the Speeder. Her expression was steady, but not welcoming.

"What do you want?" she asked.