This is probably going to be shorter then Criteria now that i look at the plan-but it will be just as good.

Chapter 2—RUN!

Jack groaned, slowly sitting up and rubbing his head. It felt like he had just been run over with the Assault Vehicle. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was on a flat plain of some kind. There was nothing in sight other than grass and a line of trees that looked to be at least a mile out of reach. When he looked up, hoping to see where he was by the position of the sun, but there was no sun—only green, green, and more green. He was in the Ghost Zone.

"Rotten ghosts!" he yelled into the air, fist waving.

His shout was answered with a groan over to his right. He looked down and saw Phantom beginning to push himself up off of the ground, but he fell back on his chest, knocking the wind out of himself and coughing. Phantom tried again and succeeded in pushing himself onto his knees. He rubbed the back of his head as if he was in pain, and look around to get his bearings.

"You!" Jack shouted at him, getting the ghost's attention rather quickly. "You brought me here!"

"Oh yeah, I brought you here then knocked myself out and giving myself a headache large enough that it feels like it's going to split my skull in two," Phantom snapped sarcastically. "Oh yeah, I'm a kidnapping genius!"

Jack wasn't too sure how to respond to that. He was quiet as Phantom shakily got to his legs and jumped, only to be brought back down to earth again with a painful landing on his front. Phantom was quick to get up and hold his nose. He sat down and lifted his head to the sky, pinching the bridge of his nose and wincing. Jack noticed that there were green smudges around the ghost's face.

"You broke your nose?" Jack asked incredulously.

"Shut up," Phantom sniped in a high voice. "Something's wrong with me."

"Like what?"

"Like I can't fly," Phantom seemed to focus on something and brought his other hand up to his eyes. "Can't go invisible either," he looked to be concentrating again, but his face fell a second later. "I can't summon up my energy. My powers are gone."

Jack was about to whoop for joy, but then realized that they were in the Ghost Zone—surrounded by ghosts who would love to tear them to pieces. Yeah, this was not a good thing. Jack had realized that he had been counting on Phantom to get him out of here, because he couldn't do it on his own and with no weapons he was doomed—now that Phantom didn't have his powers for some strange reason—they were both doomed.

"This is bad," Jack said, beginning to voice his thoughts. "Do you know where we are at least?"

"I don't think I've seen this place before, but I bet I know who put us here," Phantom's eyes narrowed in the distance.

Jack turned to see what the ghost was looking at and froze. It was that mechanical hunter from before—Skulker. He seemed to be decked out in something rather flamboyant and over the top—meaning supped up battle armor and more weapons that Jack could ever hope to come up with. Skulker was riding some sort of large grey beast that kind of resembled a rat and a lizard crossed together, he was striding it on his boots while handling the reins that controlled the head.

"RUN!" Phantom shouted then took his own advice.

Jack followed him, not really caring if Phantom was a ghost or not—he clearly wasn't the threat here. Phantom was making a bee line for the trees and Jack saw why. That hulking thing of a creature was too big to follow them in there; if they made it, Skulker would have to get off and follow them on foot.

"Keep running!" Phantom shouted again, looking over his shoulder and gaining speed.

Jack looked too and saw the Skulker gaining on them much quicker then he thought. He put on an extra burst of speed and sprinted for the trees. That thing was nearly upon them now, the ground shaking with the enormous strides of the beast and heavy beats of its breath could be heard as well.

Phantom made it to the trees first and jumped into their safety. Jack was about to follow but he tripped on something and fell onto his face. He turned onto his back, just in time to see the creature loom over him and open its mouth to expose large sharp hungry fangs. Jack prepared to be eaten, but a cold hand grabbed his shoulder and before he knew it, Jack was being dragged into the trees.

Jack opened his eyes with the sense of motion. He looked up to see Phantom's green eyes looking down on him.

"Get up, we aren't safe yet," he said, getting out of the way so Jack could get up himself.

They jogged a ways before Phantom had to stop and rest. Jack didn't complain, he was pretty beat himself, only when he sat down did he realize just how tired he was. Now that they were still, Jack decided to look around.

They were in a jungle, the trees loomed up high and imposing, the leaves bigger then Jack's whole body, and the rocks cold and blue underneath them. He couldn't see the green sky because the trees blocked it, but something was providing light in this atmosphere. There were no shadows that Jack could see, other than his own and Phantom's. He also noticed that it was a bit cooler here then it had been out on the plain. What he also noticed was a lack of a water source, a food supply, and shelter.

Not good.

"We got to find shelter," Jack said, looking at Phantom.

"Yeah, I think it's getting pretty close to night fall," Phantom agreed, to Jack's shock. "I don't want to think what will happen if we're left out in the open at night."

Seeing his point, Jack got up and started to walk. Phantom followed, but he was sagging behind. Jack glanced back at Phantom over his shoulder every once and awhile, just to make sure the ghost was there. Why he bothered he wasn't sure. Phantom was a ghost; he would be fine when he got his powers back, but what if he didn't? That question troubled Jack. Phantom might be useful to him out here in the Ghost Zone. Besides, if Phantom lost his powers, what would that mean for him?

Jack decided not to answer that—it scared him too much.

After a time, Jack felt extremely tired. He didn't know if that Zone had a night time, but his instincts told him it was night time back home. He yawned, stretching his arms over his head. He stopped to look back and see how Phantom was faring, but he didn't see the ghost anywhere.

"Phantom!" Jack called, wincing for once at how loud his voice was.

He really didn't need that other ghost to find him, but he just had to find Phantom—he felt it in his gut that he was going to die without that spook's help.

"Phantom!" he yelled again.

With no answer, Jack began to retrace his steps along the path. When he rounded a bend, he saw Phantom, panting as he leaned against a tree. He looked very unstable and weak as he hung there against the bark.

"Are you okay?" he asked, shocked to see sweat on Phantom's face as the ghost turned to face him.

"I don't know," the ghost whispered, sounding weak. "I can't run anymore Jack."

"Then we'll walk. Come on, I think I saw a cave up ahead a few meters."

Phantom nodded then pushed himself from the tree to follow Jack. The ghost hunter had to slow his pace to match Phantom's stumbling strides, but they managed to reach the cave that Jack was talking about.

It was a small hole against a rock hill side, but it was well hidden from any prying eyes. The interior was rocky, cold, and unpleasant with a musky scent of some animal that had long abandoned it. Phantom really didn't seem to care as he crawled in and collapsed on one side of the cramped space. Jack crawled in after him, just barely fitting his bulk through the hole then just nearly missing his head on the low ceiling.

He positioned himself on the opposite wall and watched Phantom for a second. The ghost was taking very shuddering breaths as if he had just run across the world. His face was paler then normal and his face was shiny with sweat. He looked utterly exhausted; and Jack supposed that was normal. After all, Phantom probably relied on his powers the whole time, never using his body for much else. The ghost wasn't use to doing all of this walking and running—he was use to flying and gliding. In Jack's mind, Phantom just became more of a burden then an asset.