I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.

Edited by Xbox432


Will was not happy. That was a phrase that was becoming more and more common to describe her morning moods ever since she had first moved to Heatherfield, and even more so ever since Danny Fenton had come along.

"I can't believe them. After everything that happened," she grumbled as she walked along the sidewalk towards school. Usually she would get a ride in the morning from her mom, but she figured that she needed the air to help her cool off before she did something she regretted.

The thing on her nerves that particular morning was yet another argument with the rest of the Guardians about telling Danny about what was going on, if not with Elyon than at least with the situation in Meridian along the lines of the resistance. Danny's skill and power would come in a lot handy taking down Phobos and his creeps.

Caleb had agreed with her, on the condition that they not mention the Infinite City to him. The Infinite City was an endless underground structure that worked its way through the entire world of Meridian, and also acted as the home base for the resistance since Phobos and his armies had yet to discover its existence, and Caleb wanted to keep it that way. Hay Lin had also given her support. Not being one to hold a grudge, the young Guardian of Air had changed her mind about Danny since he had helped them.

But the other Guardians had been more hesitant saying that they should just observe him for a little longer. At least until they knew his motives. They had agreed to drop open hostilities for Elyon's sake, but that was as far as they had gotten, leaving Will and Hay Lin out voted three to two.

"What makes them so sure he has any motives!? Do we even have motives!?" Will shouted and kicked an empty soda can that was in front of her. She watched as it flew through the air, then all her anger turned to embarrassment as it hit someone in the back of the head. "Oh, I am so sorry I didn't mean..." Will started when the boy turned around rubbing his head. "Ma... Matt!" Will managed to stammer out. Her face went red as a tomato as her crush looked at her.

"Oh Will. Nice shot," Matt joked as he bent down and picked up the can. Matt had shoulder length black hair and a slight tan that gave him a bit of a shaggy look, which helped him out as he was the lead singer and guitarist of a hopeful boys' band. "Sure hope you were mad at the can and not me."

"I'm sorry I was just... I mean..." Will was trying to think of what to say when Matt started chuckling, causing her to just drop into an embarrassed silence.

"Hey it's fine. If you asked my grandpa he would probably say I've done something to deserve it," Matt said, calming Will down enough for her to notice the box labeled rabbit food.

"I didn't know you owned a rabbit," Will said, hoping to change the subject.

"I don't, I'm just helping out at my grandpa's pet store," Matt said nodding towards the building on his right. "You should come by sometime, I mean, when you aren't too busy."

"Ye...yeah. I'll do that," Will said, trying to hide her blush.

"Hey, I'm just about done here so, um... do you want to walk to school together?" Matt asked avoiding eye contact.

"I... I'd love to," Will said smiling, then she mentally kicked herself for using the word love.

"Great, just let me grab my backpack," Matt said walking into the pet store to a chorus of various barks, meows, and squawks from its occupants.

Will smiled to herself. Her bad morning had just gotten a lot better.


"I can't believe that nobody even mentioned it," Elyon mumbled during lunch as she pushed the mystery meat back, it wasn't like she would actually eat the stuff.

Her mind was still stuck on the events of the night before, with the giant monster bug and Danny's daring rescue. She just couldn't believe that no word of what had happened at the carnival had leaked out. "Is there some kind of government division that sensors all of it?" She asked Danny.

"No, at least I don't think that there is," Danny said with a shrug. "People just don't want to talk about it, and if they do talk about it then it isn't the government that labels them as crazy and dangerous. It's just how people work. I was a non-believer too until my first encounter with something I couldn't wrap my head around. And even then I was in denial for several hours. You're taking things really well."

Elyon thought about what he had said. It was true that Elyon had read a lot of fantasy books over the years, but she had never believed a word of it. If she hadn't seen the creature with her own eyes and had it try to eat her, she wouldn't have believed in it either. And she hadn't exactly told anyone what she had seen out of fear that they wouldn't believe her. Was it all really just Human nature? Was that why Danny never told her to begin with, because she wouldn't have believed him?

"Irma!" Someone shouted. Elyon turned her head to see that Martin, the stereo typical nerd with glasses who had a massive crush on Irma, was running towards Irma with a tray full of food. He didn't see as Uriah, the local low life bully with the jelled up hair, stuck out his foot to trip him.

Martin ran straight into the out stretched leg and tripped, sending his tray of food straight at the unsuspecting girls. But the food all took a strange and unlikely route through the air as it seemed to be pushed back by an invisible force in order to fall straight on Uriah's head. Elyon blinked several times, convinced that she had been seeing things. She had thought she had seen a green shimmer on the food and tray just before they had changed directions.

But she was brought out of that train of thought as what seemed like the entire cafeteria started to laugh at Uriah's expense. Uriah bared his teeth in frustration and glared down at Martin. "Why don't be more careful, nerd boy!?" He shouted angrily, but Martin was too busy trying to find his glasses, which had fallen off when he fell down. "Just for that I'm going to have to pound on you!" Uriah brought back a fist to punch the confused nerd, but Danny had gotten up and moved between him and Martin.

"Hey he just tripped, how about you just let bygones be bygones and try to find a shower," Danny said keeping the friendly smile on his face, but Elyon thought that there was something sharp in his tone, like he was warning the other boy to back off.

"Hey I don't need any lip from the stupid new kid, so why don't you get lost Fentonio!" Uriah said trying to grab Danny's shirt, but Danny brushed the hand aside in a very none aggressive manner.

"You want to back off and just leave to clean yourself up." Danny said keeping direct eye contact with the bully. His voice had an unusual calm and friendly tone to it.

"I... I want to back... off?" Uriah said, starting to sound more than a little confused.

"That would probably be best, Uriah," Matt said angrily as he entered the picture, picking up Martin's glasses and giving them to the boy. "This whole thing is your fault anyways since you were the one that tripped Martin in the first place."

Uriah seemed to snap back into his usual mind set and glared at Matt. "I did no such thing, the clumsy dope just tripped by himself," Uriah said and took a step towards Matt with the clear intention of starting a fight. But just as he made to throw a punch Danny grabbed his wrist and twisted it causing the bully to give a yelp of pain and stagger. "Now you've asked for it new kid, I am going to pound you and guitar boy!" The cafeteria was ringing with chants of 'fight, fight, fight!'

Elyon didn't know what to do. She wasn't exactly worried. She knew enough about Matt to know that the boy could handle himself, and Danny could take on a giant monster armed with nothing but a shovel. But that didn't mean that they should beat up Uriah, or even that they would.

She wanted to stop everything but before she could another voice came in and squashed all the others. "What's going on here!?" Mr. Collins shouted.

The crowd of students parted to let the teacher through. Someone in the audience said. "Uriah was about to fight Matt and the new kid."

Collins glared down at the situation and then pulled the three students away to his office. Ignoring everyone that was trying to say that it was not Danny or Matt's fault.


"I am very disappointed in the three of you. You should know better than to start fights in school. Don't you blaa blaa blaaa bla..." Mr. Collins' words just faded into meaningless dribble as he talked. Danny had heard it all before. Teachers rarely cared to hear what the students had to say, believing that all kids would just make up lies in order to try to get themselves out of trouble.

He had almost managed to get Uriah to stop using his hypnotic suggestion, but the guy was scum through and through, and it was difficult to force someone to do something against their free will.

"The punishment for fighting in school is three days suspension," Mr. Collins concluded. Matt tried to protest while Uriah just scoffed, not really caring about the punishment.

Danny frowned. He wasn't about to explain to his parents that he was suspended for stopping a bully from beating up one of his classmates. 'You are going to go easy on us. None of us are going to be suspended and you won't call our parents.' Danny thought hard towards the mustached history teacher.

The teacher paused before saying. "I'm going to go easy on you, so none of you are going to be suspended and I won't call your parents," he said causing Danny to grin, and Matt also gave a sigh of relief. That is until he said his next few words. "But you still need to be punished, so you will have to do a service to the school. You can either join the newspaper club..." Both Matt and Danny shivered at the thought. Danny didn't know about the newspaper club at this school, but he could easily remember the fan club ran the paper back at Casper. "...or you can help the janitor staff clean the halls tonight."

"Janitor!" Danny and Matt said at the same time.

"Wha?" Uriah said having not paid any attention.

'News.' Danny implanted the word into Uriah's head.

"News." Uriah said, scratching his head.

"Great! Then Daniel and Matthew will both clean the halls tonight and Uriah will help out the school newspaper club for the week," Mr. Collins said grinning.

"Say what!?" Uriah shouted in a panic, but Danny and Matt were already out of the room.

"Thank goodness we only have to clean up for one night," Matt said with a sigh of relief. "I was worried that he would suspend us. My parents would have probably forced me to quit my band as punishment if something like that happened."

"Yeah, I guess we did get off pretty easy," Danny said scratching his head. "Even though we didn't do anything wrong."

"Well that's the school system for you. Unfair on so many levels," Matt said shaking his head. "But I guess I should introduce myself. My name's Matt. Please don't call me Matthew, I hate that name." He said, reaching out to shake Danny's hand.

"Danny, not Daniel," Danny replied, taking the hand. "Guess we are going to be mopping up the school tonight."

"The great adventure awaits," Matt joked.

"There they are! Hey, Matt, Danny!" Will shouted running up with the rest of the fairy like girls along with Elyon.

"Are you two going to be alright? Collins isn't going to punish you guys is he?" Elyon asked concerned.

"Barely, we've got to help mop the halls and stuff tonight, but that's it. Uriah 'accidentally' chose to help the newspaper club for a week," Danny said chuckling.

"Oh man," Irma grumbled angrily. "As if being on the school paper wasn't bad enough already. Now I've got to do it with Uriah there too? Thanks a lot Taranee," Irma said glaring at the other girl. "I don't care that you signed up, but why did you have to drag me down with you?"

"Come on Irma, you're a creative person, and the paper needs to change. Right now it's so... so..." Taranee searched for the word.

"Incredibly lame," Elyon offered.

"Nail on the head there," Matt agreed getting a laugh out of the group.

Taranee was rolling her eyes at the others when the warning bell rang. "We need to get to class before we all get into trouble," she said as she walked off with the others following her.

Danny caught himself thinking that it could have been worse, and then immediately groaned as he realized he had jinxed it.


Cedric shifted through the halls of Heatherfield Middle School, being on guard as he made his way towards his target after sneaking in through a portal that Phobos had managed to get to open below the school cafeteria. He should have just pointed out that he could have entered through the front entrance, but it was best not to question the Prince's judgment.

He couldn't help cursing his luck being the one made to do this as he approached Elyon's locker. He was literally in the middle of enemy territory during the middle of the day simply because his Prince couldn't be patient enough to wait for nightfall like a normal villain. Sure the Prince was more than capable of deceit, he proved that much when he lured his parents to their deaths, but Phobos was far too used to sitting on top of his throne doing whatever he wished whenever he wished it to understand something like 'a time and a place'. And during the middle of the school day while all the girls were in their classes was neither the time, nor the place to try to steal the items needed for the Ceremony of the Amalgamation, which would make it easier to convince Elyon to join Phobos's side by tampering with her spirit.

And then there was the Ghost King. If that creature realized what Cedric was then he would more than likely be turned into a snake skin pimp coat faster than you could say 'Heart of Meridian'. Even the normal Human children spotting him could put him in a dangerous situation that could ruin his cover.

But somehow against all odds he had managed to get to Elyon's locker without anyone being alerted. His normal looking Human arm turned into the massive reptilian claw and he ripped the lock off of the girl's locker.

Shuffling through Elyon's things he quickly found what he needed. For the Ceremony of the Amalgamation to work Phobos would need to gather three symbols that represented Elyon; one of body, one of mind, and one of spirit. Cedric pulled a comb with more than a few of Elyon's straw colored hairs on it and a note book full of her notes for math class.

'These should be more than enough for her body and mind,' Cedric thought as he quickly left the school, glad that things were going his way.


"I don't get it, why would anyone break into my locker?" Elyon said as she looked in her locker and shifted through the contents. "And then just take my hair brush and the notes I took for math class?"

"Someone that has no idea who they are messing with..." Danny mumbled to himself, holding back the angry green from his eyes as he took a closer look. The lock hadn't been cut or pulled off with a crowbar, it seemed to have been twisted until the metal on the door gave way and then just ripped off. Not something a normal Human could do. 'Was it those fairy girls?' Danny thought, glancing in the direction of Cornelia, Irma, Will, and Hay Lin, and seeing them whispering among themselves.

But Danny threw out that idea. He had seen Cornelia using Elyon's locker just the day before. It wouldn't have been necessary for her to break the lock. Maybe he was just misreading everything. Not all of the events in the world had to be linked to the mystic elements.

"It was probably Uriah trying to get back at me for standing up to him. I'll see if I can't find anyone who knows where he was during that time. For now let's put your stuff in my locker. There's plenty of space," Danny said to Elyon, trying to stop her from freaking out from the unexplained theft. Elyon still looked a little shaken. "Hey don't worry about it. This is middle school. These kinds of things happen," Danny said with his usual grin. Elyon nodded gratefully and smiled back as they got to work.

Little did Danny know, but the Guardians had been having a similar conversation. "Do you think Danny did it?" Cornelia said watching as Danny helped Elyon move her stuff.

"Corny, he can move through solid objects, not much point him pulling the lock off the door," Irma said rolling her eyes. "And taking her brush and notebook seems a little creepy."

"Well he is a Ghost," Cornelia pointed out. "Creepy is probably in the job description."

"Cornelia, I don't think being a Ghost is a job," Hay Lin chuckled.

"We don't know if any of this has to do with anything," Will said dragging the discussion to a more logical path. "How about we talk to Hay Lin's grandma and see if she can make heads or tails of it?"

"Sounds good to me..." Irma said happily walking toward the exit but a hand grabbed her collar and pulled her back.

"Oh no you don't. We're going to the newspaper club, remember?" Taranee said as she started to drag the girl towards the club room.

"Help me..." Irma whined as she reached out to the others, but the girls offered her nothing but pitying looks.

"Cornelia?" Cornelia turned to see Elyon walking up to her. "Can we walk home together? I don't really feel conferrable going home alone right now and Danny has to stay after school for his detention," Elyon said rubbing her arms uncomfortably.

"Oh I would... um..." Cornelia said glancing towards Hay Lin and Will who both nodded. "Sure, I'd love to," she said putting an arm around her friend and walking towards the exit.

"Looks like it's just you and me for now," Hay Lin said grinning.

"Might just be better that way," Will mumbled as they started for Yan Lin's restaurant to get some answers.


There was a rather awkward silence between Elyon and Cornelia as they walked towards Elyon's house. No matter how much Cornelia hated admitting it to herself, the two of them had drifted apart in the last few weeks.

No matter how much she tried to act like she was still the same person she had ever been, Meridian had changed Cornelia. Seeing all of those people suffering, fighting for her life, being forced to join the other girls in order to stay safe. All of those things had changed her.

But there was her best friend looking around as if she expected a monster to jump out at her from the shadows. It was tearing Cornelia up inside to watch it. "Hey Elyon, it's alright. I'm sure it was just some prank or something," Cornelia said in what she could only hope was a convincing voice.

Elyon's shoulders sank and she looked down. "Danny said the same thing," She admitted, not noticing the frustrated look that crossed Cornelia's face at being compared to Danny. "But I don't think he believed it. He had that same look in his eyes that he had when that giant..." Elyon paused as if thinking about her words. "I mean... when that animatronic thing at the carnival went crazy," she finished.

Cornelia felt a little sad that Elyon had felt the need to lie to her about the monster, but she figured that it couldn't be helped. "I guess I'm really just still a little weirded out by what happened there. I didn't manage to get a good night's sleep last night," Elyon admitted weakly.

"That's... understandable," Cornelia said thinking back to when she had first watched the gargoyle dragging Caleb back through the portal when the Guardian's had first gotten their powers. "But hey, everything's going to be alright. And if anything does happen, me and the girls have got your back," Cornelia said pulling Elyon in for a one armed hug.

"Thanks Cornelia," Elyon whispered with a small smile. But what could Cornelia do against monsters? She couldn't even handle normal sized bugs or animals. Her cat was eternally outside of her control.

It was Danny who really made Elyon feel safe. His calm experience mixed with his joking charm made everything feel like a fairy tale. And that in the end, they would all live happily ever after.

Too bad in fairy tales, it always gets worse before it gets better.


"The Ceremony of the Amalgamation," Yan Lin said, frowning as she sat down with the girls and Caleb around a table in the personal living space in the back of the restaurant, as Blunk crashed on a nearby coach watching TV and eating from a box of popcorn he found in the garbage behind a movie theater.

"Man, Irma's right, everything gets an evil sounding name these days," Will said wincing.

"The Ceremony of the Amalgamation is a ritual that uses symbols of the victim in order to weaken their spiritual resistance against the user," Yan Lin explained. "Hair for body, notes for mind, the final symbol is hardest to get, Phobos must capture her breath."

"If one of his creatures even thinks that he is getting that close to her, just let them try!" Caleb said angrily.

"I'm sure that you will do a great job, Caleb," Hay Lin said, trying not to roll her eyes and the young rebel leader. "But once he has performed the Ceremony of the Amalgamation, it will be as if a part of Elyon is already in Meridian. And her resistance to his emissary's appeals will be weakened."

There was a knock on the back door and Cornelia stepped in. "Hey guys," she said as she plopped down in the seat next to Caleb.

"How's the Princess?" Will asked, seeing the tired look on Cornelia's face that said she wanted to talk about something but didn't want to bring it up.

"Everything that happened with that giant bug has left her terrified," Cornelia reported. "Maybe we should tell her what's going on."

"Oh right, she's scared that monsters exist, so let's tell her that there is an entire world full of them that are targeting her," Will said with a sigh. "I can't imagine that going across well."

Cornelia looked angry for a second but then the look just fell away. "You're probably right on that one," she admitted. Before she would have been angrily protesting about leaving Elyon in the dark, but seeing how scared she was, Cornelia couldn't bring herself to tell her that she was going to be in constant danger.

"Then we are going to need someone to watch her," Hay Lin cut in. "Someone who doesn't go to school, or work, or have anything important to do." They all looked over to Blunk who to his credit immediately realized they were talking about him.

"Blunk do stake out, tale suspect, report HQ, and all for low low fee," Blunk said walking up to them with a happy grin. Hay Lin pulled out some old donuts and tossed them to Blunk. "Oh! Blunk on case!" The Passling said before running off.

"Oh god, just because I said we shouldn't tell her doesn't me I think we should let the wonder toad follow her," Cornelia said wincing.

"Well, it's the best we can do," Will said with a shrug. "Blunk is slippery and won't be spotted, so we only need to worry about is that she might smell him," Will joked. "But Blunk has his job, and we have ours. We need to close whatever portal Phobos's creature used so that he can't return, or if he is still here, then he can't get the symbols to his master," Will said as she pulled out a blank parchment.

She held the Heart of Kandrakar over the paper and it slowly revealed itself to be a map of the city with all the portals marked on it with glowing 'x's. The only one on the map at the moment, was one directly on the school.

"Oh no, another one in the school," Hay Lin said pointing out the 'x'.

"Phobos is shaping the Veil so that all the holes in it are near his sister," Yan Lin said seriously.

"Taranee and Irma are at the school right now," Will said in a moment of realization. Without Will there to use the Heart of Kandrakar on them, the two might as well be defenseless.

"Looks like we're going back to school," Hay Lin said as they picked up the map which was quickly fading back to being a normal piece of paper.

"Did you have to say it like that? Being in school after hours is so uncool," Cornelia said as they left the room, Caleb joining them as they went.

Yan Lin sighed as she went back to work. It always felt wrong to leave the job in the hands of the young girls. But there was no one else that could do it. The fate of the world rested on those girls... and maybe on one other.


Irma was officially in her own version of hell as the sun slowly started to set outside and yet she was still in school, and in the worst club imaginable. There were two major problems with the school newspaper. First, all the participants were idiots. And second, nothing ever happened at their school. It had to be one of the most boring places on Earth.

"This is really big," one of the two Grumper sisters said in an excited voice, Irma didn't really know which one it was. It wasn't that the red headed twins were identical or anything, they were different in both size and shape. Irma just found that they didn't really have distinct personalities, and since they always moved around together, there wasn't really a point in distinguishing between the two.

"Greger Marando wore her blue plaid skirt 'twice' this week!" The other said before they both squealed as if it was some big scandal.

"Okay... that isn't really a story," Taranee said, her voice not nearly as enthusiastic as it had been when the night had started.

"Just print it and let's go home," Irma begged as her head hit the desk. A large clanging sound come from the halls. "What as that?" Irma asked shortly interested in the slight mental stimulus.

There were more crashing sounds. "Well, Marten said he wasn't coming in until he had a huge story... so he's probably in the cafeteria and that was probably him knocking over all the pans," Taranee said brushing it all off.

But that wasn't entirely true.

Marten was hiding behind the counter underneath the hot plates as he heard something moving around the cafeteria tables. He wasn't the bravest of people, but he was desperate to find something that would impress Irma.

"A good reporter stays calm," Marten mumbled to himself as he tightened his sweaty hands around his camera. After a moment's prayer he jumped out from behind the counter, but there was nothing there. Everything looked absolutely normal.

But then one of the chairs was knocked over several feet, and then another and another in a row as something moved around unseen. Marten freaked and started taking picture after picture until the doors on the other side of the room were knocked open and whatever it was that Marten hadn't been able to see left.

Marten panted for a few seconds before a huge grin crossed his face. "I did it!" He shouted running out of the cafeteria. "I did it, I found the school Ghost!" He shouted not even registering Danny and Matt, who looked confused as he passed them.

"I think Marten might have finally lost it," Matt said sounding a little disappointed.

"Well, we still need to finish up the bathrooms," Danny replied with a shrug as he pushed along the mop cart. Danny raised an eyebrow at the word 'Ghost', but he couldn't sense anything, so he wasn't worried.

"Don't remind me," Matt said with a bit of a shiver. "Still better than the newspaper club though," he joked.

Marten ran into the newspaper club with a victorious grin on his face as he held up his camera. "Exclusive story! School Ghosts! Pictures to come!" He said proudly.

"What, you mean Danny?" Irma asked confused.

Taranee only rolled her eyes. "Marten, that's called air conditioning, it isn't a story," she said, starting to lose her patience with the others.

"Oh no, I saw it this time," Marten said confidently, before adding less confidently. "Well, I saw what it did, or what it had done... oh you'll see!" He said running back out of the room. He was going to go home to do some research on what he hadn't seen.

Irma and Taranee exchanged pitying looks as they went back to the boring meeting.


Will, Cornelia, and Hay Lin had snuck back into school with Caleb and had found the portal in a storage basement. The large swirling blue and white vortex gave off small electric sparks as air passed back and forth between Earth and Meridian.

"No matter how many times I see them, they still freak me out," Will said as she started to take out the Heart of Kandrakar. The small pink orb had been glowing a warm light pink ever since they had gotten to the school. A steady reminder that Danny was still around somewhere. "Let's just close the portal and get out of here."

Hay Lin and Cornelia nodded in agreement as their leader lifted up the Heart, but just before she closed the portal, Caleb stopped her. "Wait a second!" He shouted quickly as his flashlight shone over a sticky purple substance over in the corner of the room. Caleb kneeled next to it and took some of it in his hand rubbing it between his fingers. "Purple slime... that can only come from one thing; a Hermanuta Beast."

The Guardian's shivered a bit. "I'm afraid to ask," Hay Lin said weakly.

Caleb looked around the room but saw nothing. "Maybe it went back into the portal," ,e said, but then a few mops in the corner of the room exploded outwards and fell to the ground, startling everyone there. More things got knocked over and more purple slime appeared on objects in a trail that was moving through the clutter on the ground. "Or maybe not."

Suddenly Will felt like something had hit her head and she fell to the ground in a heap. "Will!" Hay Lin cried, checking on her friend.

"I... I didn't see anything," Will said rubbing her head and pulling her hand away in disgust as she found it covered in the purple slime.

"When it's upset it becomes invisible. Don't move," Caleb said calmly as he motioned for the others to stay still. Slowly a large boar like creature, the size of a full grown Labrador, came into the visible spectrum in the corner of the room. Its eyes were up on the end of tentacles, just like a snail's. Large quantities of purple slime poured from an open mouth that held two thick tusks near the back of its mouth.

"That's what did all this?" Cornelia said in disbelief. She was used to Meridian monsters being a lot bigger.

"It's a juvenal," Caleb assured her as he scratched his head.

"Oh can we keep it?" Hay Lin said smiling as she looked at the thing.

One of Cornelia's eyes twitched at the bad suggestion. "Oh sure, we can be the Guardian of the Veil, AND WATCH AFTER A WILD SLIMY INVISIBLE PIG!" She shouted angrily.

This turned out to be a bad move as the Hurmanuta Beast jumped and turned invisible again before ramming into Hay Lin and dragged her half way across the basement before knocking her against the far wall were she slid to the ground in a puddle of the purple slime.

"Oh... bad pig." Hay Lin moaned.

Will pulled the Heart of Kandrakar out again. "Guardian's Unite." She said and the ethereal lights gathered around the three girls, changing them into their guardian forms.

A trail made by the slime from the pig's mouth showed that it was running straight at Caleb, so Cornelia used her powers over earth to move bricks from the wall to make a shield in front of Caleb, which the invisible pig smashed into, knocking it down.

"Well this is fun. We need to surround it so we can move it towards the portal," Will instructed the other two guardians.

But before they could do anything the bricks were knocked about and Caleb was pulled off his feet and was being dragged about. "He's got my leg!" Caleb shouted as he struggled with the unseen menace.

"Leave him alone!" Cornelia shouted, grabbing onto Caleb's arm with Will and trying to drag him free, but it was no good, the pig had a death hold on the boy's leg.

Hay Lin watched for a few seconds before using her powers over air to make a miniature cyclone in the middle of the basement. Caleb and the girls were lifted off the ground and spun around in it as Hay Lin had fun.

"Wait, stop!" Caleb shouted. "It's gone!" Hay Lin stopped in surprise and they all fell to the ground.

Hearing a snorting sound they all looked to the stairs to see the pig for a few seconds before it turned invisible again. "After it!" Will shouted as they flew up the stairs. But their hearts sank as the double doors to the basement were knocked upon and something they couldn't see got out. "Oh great, who left the door unlocked?"

As they moved out of the basement they could see that all the walls were covered in the pig's purple slime. "Just great," Will said angrily as she transformed them all back into their normal forms.

"We'll have to find Irma and Taranee and see if we can't..." Hay Lin started but stopped as they heard two voice getting closer.

"Thank goodness we are finally done," Danny's voice said.

"You're telling me. I've got to get home before my parents flip. I never exactly told them about the detention," Matt's voice answered. "I have new found respect for that grouchy old Mrs. Filch."

"Clearly not much if you're still calling her 'grouchy old'," Danny laughed.

"Well whatever, all we have to do now is put the... stuff... away..." Matt's voice fell off as they turned the corner and saw the halls covered in slime. "Son of a..." He started but then he noticed Will standing there. "Oh, hey Will," he said cheerfully. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, we were just... uh... going to see Irma and Taranee. They said they needed some help with something," Hay Lin said since Will was too flushed to answer.

"The school hallway is covered in slime... I must be back in Amity Park again," Danny sighed as he inspected the mess.

"Better get to work then," Matt said as he pulled out a mop.

"We'll help," Will said grabbing a rag herself, quickly followed by Hay Lin and Caleb.

"We will?" Cornelia winced as she looked at all the slime. But soon she too joined in.

It was several hours before they managed to clean it all up. And they were all too tired to do anything more than just go home.

Will, Cornelia, and Hay Lin had all gained a new found hatred for pigs.


Annoyed. It was the word that Danny had decided on as he sat through what had to be the worst joke he had ever heard.

"So there I was, Ghosts to my left, Ghosts to my right! I fought! But I was out numbered..." Martin had for some reason gotten up in their world geography class and started blabbering on about Ghosts. Not that this was anything new to Danny, but the boy didn't know the first thing about Ghosts and his story was completely made up.

Danny was trying to concentrate on his own finger tapping against his desk in order to drown out the nerd's ramblings, but he was finding it more and more difficult by the second.

He didn't realize that the girls of WITCH were watching his reaction.

"Wow, he looks really mad," Hay Lin whispered to Will. "I think he might try to haunt Martin just out of spite."

"As fitting as that would be, I'm more worried about the Humpa... whatever it was called... the pig thing," Will said quietly as the teacher finally told Martin to shut up and get back to his seat. "Caleb watched the school all night but couldn't find any sign of it."

"Well, maybe it needed to sleep. It is just a juvenile, right? Even a crazy destructo pig needs to a nap every once and a while," Hay Lin suggested. No sooner has she finished than they heard a loud racket in the hallway.

"Looks like baby's waking up," Will groaned. Several people went to the halls to see purple slime splattered everywhere.

"Oh Ectoplasm!" Martin said excitedly before running off with camera in hand, only slowing down enough to shout back over his shoulder. "Sorry teacher! Class takes a back seat to the people's right to know the Truth!"

Everyone watched him go, some shaking their heads, others laughing. But none of them believing him.

"Moron," Danny mumbled. "He wouldn't know a Ghost if it was sitting right in front of him." Hay Lin heard him and began to giggle at the irony.


The girls sat huddled around the lunch table discussing the problem at hand. More and more 'sightings' of the invisible pig were spreading across the school as the day continued, but ironically enough, the fact that Martin was claiming it was Ghosts was decreasing peoples' belief that anything weird was really going on. Even the people who had been directly hit by the pig didn't believe in it.

"So far Martin has nothing, and what he says people don't believe," Irma reported with a small smirk.

"We're lucky he's so unpopular," Hay Lin said, shrugging as a few people nearby could be heard laughing about it.

"We've got to get that... pig... back home, but we can't let anyone see us do it as WITCH," Will said as she tried to come up with a plan.

But before she could think of anything, Martin came by and boldly sat down next to Irma who moved as far away from him as she could without leaving her seat. "Hey Honey, would you like me to tell you about my fight with the Ghosts?" Martin said in what he must have believed was a cool voice.

"I think I would rather jump off a building," Irma said rolling her eyes. "We all know you're full of it, Martin."

"What? No... there really was a Ghost! I saw it... well I didn't see it see it but..." Martin started to ramble.

"Oh sure, and it threw a desk at you, while you were in the cafeteria," Irma said sarcastically. "Just get lost Martin. There are no Ghosts at this school," Irma said, before remembering Danny. "Well, at least you don't know anything about Ghosts."

"What but I... oh... you'll see!" He shouted getting up. "I'm going to find that Ghost, even if I have to stake out this joint, day and night!" He said, running off to do who knows what.

Irma rolled her eyes and turned back to the group who were glaring at her. "What?" She said with an innocent shrug.

"Great, how could this get worse?" Will said, her forehead hitting the table.


"Danny, is there a... you know. A Ghost at this school?" Elyon asked Danny at a different lunch table a few feet away from the other girls.

"Martin didn't see a Ghost. He's full of it," Danny said sounding sure of himself. He wasn't going to lie and say that there was no Ghost, but he knew that there wasn't any other than himself.

"But, what about all that ectoplasm stuff?" Elyon asked seeming a little worried.

"Oh that," Danny said pulling out a small baggy of the purple stuff. "It isn't ectoplasm. Ectoplasm has a very distinct smell because of its high nickel content, this stuff is just a type of mucus. Kind of like the phlegm that sometimes builds up in the back of your throat. Somebody probably just found instructions for making the stuff on the Internet and mixed in purple dye. This is all just one big prank."

"So, you're saying that this is all just one big act that Martin is putting on to try to get attention?" Elyon asked suddenly looking a little angry about having been freaked out.

"Most likely. The guy knows nothing about Ghosts. I'm actually feeling a little insulted," Danny said leaning back. Then Danny laughed. "I almost wish that a real Ghost would show up to scare him. It would serve him right."

"Thank goodness," Elyon said with a sigh.

Danny looked a little sadly towards her. "Don't worry. If anything did come snooping around. I'd protect you," He said a little embarrassed.

Elyon smiled. "Thanks Danny."


"Guys we need to get that portal closed. That's our job as Guardians," Will said when they had all gathered at the Silver Dragon.

"Not until we get the Hurmanuta Beast back in," Caleb interjected.

"Then we have to do it tonight. It's time for WITCH," Hay Lin said grinning, more than a little eager for action.

"Are you forgetting, Martin is camping out there all night to try to impress Irma," Taranee said rolling her eyes.

"Oh, and he's stubborn, nothing could get him to leave," Hay Lin grumbled as she sat back down.

"I can think of one thing that might," Cornelia said grinning at Irma from the corner of her eye. And Irma didn't like the look.


Danny had finally arrived home after having dinner with Elyon and escorting her home. He was prepared to just go up to his room and do his homework before turning in for the night, but he was stopped at the door when his father ran up to him and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Is it true!? Is there really a Ghost at your school!?" Jack shouted happily as he shook Danny back and forth.

"What? How could you have already heard about that?" Danny asked confused.

"Then it is true!" Jack shouted for joy. "Come on Danny-boy! We're going hunting!" Jack shouted as he practically carried Danny to the family Ghost assault vehicle.

Danny tried to explain to him that there was no Ghost, but his words fell on deaf ears. That night, the Fenton boys were going hunting. Whether Danny wanted to or not.


"No I won't do it! You can't make me!" Irma whined as they all worked together to drag her towards the computer room after school hours where Martin had set up camp.

"You say that, but you are already dressed up," Hay Lin pointed out. Irma was dressed in a nice but still casual red tank top with a nice jacket over it that was borrowed from Cornelia and a pair of tight jeans.

"You guys can't be serious. I'm not going to go on a date with Martin. It's too much. I don't care if it is in the name of being a Guardian of the Veil. He is an obnoxious creepy dork," Irma said. But Will and Cornelia had hooked their arms under hers and were attempting to carry her.

"Irma we need you to do this. Don't forget it is your fault that Martin is even here," Taranee said crossing her arms.

"No, it is your fault for giving him that inspirational journalist speech! If it wasn't for that he wouldn't have ran into the stupid pig in the first place!" Irma snapped at the Fire Guardian. She really didn't want to be forced to date Martin, if it was anyone but Martin she would have considered it, but not him.

It wasn't just that she didn't like nerds or people with glasses or anything so shallow. It was that he was a creeper who wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. Persistence is one thing, but stalking is another. And he was extremely public about it, at times making her look like the bad guy in her frustrated rejections.

"You might want to keep it down a few decibels if you don't want him to find out that we are all here," Caleb said a little worried. But no sooner had he said that then the computer room door opened and Martin's head stuck out of it with a camera.

"Where's the ghost?" He said looking around before spotting the girls. "Oh... Hello there ladies, what can I do you for," He said, giving off a little snorting sound. Irma winced as the embodiment of the 'forever alone' stereotype looked at her. "Aren't we looking lovely tonight? And by we, I mean you."

Irma couldn't go through with it. So she quickly decided to shoot everything down before the other girls even try to set it in motion. Screw the fate of the world, she would not have Martin going around saying that she was his girlfriend because of some stupid slimy pig.

"We came here to tell you to go home, Martin, and to stop wasting everyone's time." Irma said angrily as Will tried to elbow her in the gut, but she pressed on. Best to use oil while trying to burn down bridges. "There is no such thing as Ghosts. And no matter what happens you won't be able to force us to put up a story about it."

Martin looked like he had been slapped, but then a grin spread across his features. "No, Ghosts do exist. I can prove it!" He said moving back into the computer lab. The girls could hear several key strokes from their position outside of the room.

But before they could move the Heart of Kandrakar began to flare a light pink. "Oh no," Cornelia said as she saw Will trying to silence the accessory.

"Guess there really is a Ghost here now," Hay Lin said glancing around.

"Great, even more problems," Irma huffed. "As if getting rid of Martin wasn't going to be hard enough."

"I don't know. Do we have to worry about Danny seeing anything?" Caleb asked.

Before the argument over whether or not to trust Danny could break out again, Martin's voice came from inside of the computer lab. "Found it!" He snorted.

The girls looked at each other and shrugged before entering the room. Martin was sitting in front of one of the computers with a smug expression on his face as a Youtube video played.

The girls looked over his shoulder to watch the video.

It was being shot from first person by a man who was finding it very hard to hold the camera steady and in the shot were five large green skeleton monsters that were tearing up everything in arm's reach; shattering windows, flipping cars, uprooting street laps, etc.

"Holy shit, are you getting this?" Someone said from off screen and the camera bobbed slightly as if the person using it was nodding. Two of the skeletons seemed to have spotted the people with the camera and were moving in on them.

"Martin, this is just a clip from a poorly directed first person movie, like 'Clover Field' with worse graphics. Those aren't..." Will started but stopped as a wave of green energy basted one of the skeletons apart and a black and white blur flew in and kicked the remaining skeleton in the head, knocking its skull from its shoulders. The skeleton stumbled about as if trying to find its head until a second green ray shattered it as well.

The camera moved to show a young boy around their age in a black jumpsuit that radiated a faint white glow. He wore white gloves and boots and a white symbol on his chest that looked a bit like a 'D', his hair was a bleached white, and his vivid green eyes were looking towards the people with the camera. "It isn't safe here. You need to move," The boy said in a voice that seemed to echo around.

"Al... alright!" The man said, and the clip ended there.

"Will... is that Da..?" Hay Lin stopped mid question as Taranee gave her a sharp elbow to the ribs.

"This isn't just a clip from a movie. This is real proof of ghosts. And there is a lot of it," Martin said pulling up a list of over a hundred clips and images. "There is no mention of it on the commercial media, but it is all over the social network. They call him, 'the Amity Park Phantom'."

"As much of food for thought as that seems, there still is nothing going on at this school beyond just some prank," Irma said as soon as she recovered. "There are no Ghosts."

Suddenly the door was kicked hard enough to snap it off its hinges and sending it to the floor. Martin gave a girlish scream as a huge orange humanoid creature stepped through the door frame, having to duck to not hit its head. It straightened to a height of at least seven feet tall and towered over the room's shocked inhabitants. Caleb tried to punch the creature but it caught the fist in one if its enormous hands. Then it took a deep breath. "Did someone say GHOSTS!" It shouted loudly.

The lights in the room flicked on to revel that it was just a really tall man in an orange jumpsuit with a giant metal bazooka thrown over one shoulder. "That was a good punch. But you are going to need to do better than that if you want to be a real Ghost hunter, like me, JACK FENTON, the world's greatest Ghost Hunter!"

"Wha... what the heck is that thing!" Cornelia stammered as she backed away from the man. "His clothes are hideous."

"Oh wow, a real ghost hunter!" Martin snorted happily.

"Did he say Fenton?" Taranee pointed out.

"Dad, you're scaring them," they all turned to see Danny by the light switch looking at them all with a surprised expression, as if he hadn't expected to see them there.

"Nonsense, a Ghost Hunter isn't afraid of anything, other than your Aunt's pies," Jack said with a wide grin as he let go of Caleb's arm, leaving the rebel boy to try to shake some feeling back into it. "That's why you are all here right? To hunt GHOSTS!"

"Yessirrie," Martin said trying to stand at attention. The others were still trying to get over the orange rampaging grizzly bear that had just entered the room.

"Great!" Jack boomed then noticed the computer with the images of Phantom still up on the monitor. "I see you are already researching your enemy. Good, never forget that face. The Ghostboy," Jack said, the girls were shocked to hear the genuine hatred in the man's voice. "Some thought he was some kind of hero, but don't let them fool you. There is no such thing as a good ghost. They are all manipulative and evil creatures which kill you and rip off your faces!" He shouted angrily. "My one regret in life is never having captured that piece of ectoplasmic scum so that I could rip him apart molecule by molecule!" Will glanced over at Danny to see him looking away in shame, an expression of hurt edged into his face.

"Um... Mr. Fenton..." Taranee tried to interrupt him.

"Please, call me Jack," Jack said proudly.

"Sorry sir, but there are no Ghosts here and you really need to leave," Taranee said hoping that he would just go. There wasn't much the girls could do to force someone like him out the door without using their powers.

"I'll be the judge of..." Jack started but Danny cut him off.

"Dad," He said getting his father's attention. "You want to go back home to get the Ghost Detector. There is nothing more important to you right now than doing that." Danny's voice had a hypnotic tone to it as he forced eye contract with his father. "You are going to leave me here to look after things as you get it."

Jack had a dazed look but then shouted. "Danny! I need to go back to Fenton Works to get the Fenton Ghost Detector. Hold down the fort until I get back!" He said before running out the door.

"What just..." Martin started until Danny made eye contact with him.

"Martin, you want to go with him to get an interview for your article," Danny said forcefully.

"I... I want to go with Jack to get an interview from him for the newspaper," Martin said in a dreary tone.

Martin just stood there for a few seconds till Danny said. "Are you going or not?" To which Martin jumped and dashed out of the room after Jack.

"Oh... what just happened?" Taranee asked confused.

"I used hypnotic suggestion to get them to leave. I'm guessing that if you all are here then you have a good reason to believe that this isn't all just an elaborate prank," Danny stated, looking at them with eyes that were still more than a little sad. "You don't want people to see you running around as Fairies do you?"

"Well, no but..." Cornelia said scratching her head.

"They won't be coming back. My sister destroyed the Ghost detector a long time ago. And my dad could blabber on about Ghosts for days," Danny said sitting down. "So what is really going on here?"

"There is a hole to another world underneath the school and an invisible pig that drools purple slime came through and we need to send it back before shutting the portal," Hay Lin said quickly before anyone could stop her.

"Hay Lin, you weren't supposed to tell him that," Taranee said, glaring at the air guardian.

"But he could help," Will countered.

"But we don't know if we can trust him," Cornelia said turning to Irma. "Come on Irma say something."

"Ok, thank you for getting rid of Martin with your Jedi mind powers," Irma said grinning.

"Irma!" Taranee said putting a hand to her forehead.

"What? We needed Martin gone and he did it. I'm grateful," Irma said shrugging. "It's not like I suddenly trust him."

"We don't need to tell him anything. He just has to help us capture the Hurmanuta Beast and send it back to Meridian," Caleb added his own two cents.

"You do realize I'm sitting right here," Danny said, a little annoyed that they were talking about him like he wasn't even there.

"We're wasting time," Will said pulling out the Heart of Kandrakar which was burning like a small star. "Guardian's unite," she said. The orbs of light appeared around the five girls and turned them into their Guardian forms. "We'll split up to find the... pig thing. Hay Lin, you're with Irma, Caleb and Taranee will be with Cornelia and I'll search with Danny," Will said with finality.

"What!? You can't be serious!" Cornelia said angrily.

"I thought we all agreed to stop treating Danny like he was a monster. So I am going to. If you don't like it, tough," Will said. The two Guardians glared at each other until Will just walked straight up to Danny, grabbed his arm and dragged him out with her. The boy too confused to react.

"So much for unity," Hay Lin sighed, sounding a bit like her grandmother.


Danny kept a few feet between himself and Will as they moved through the hallways of the school at night searching for the invisible pig. Pent up frustration was quite literally flowing off of the girl in waves.

Danny was personally shocked that he hadn't noticed that she had powers when they had first met. She had no self-control and her mystic energies picked up her emotions and broadcasted them to everyone and everything that could sense them.

"You sure it was okay to do that?" Danny asked curiously, "They are your friends after all."

"It's fine!" Will snapped as she marched along and into the art room to check for anything have been disturbed.

"Yeesh, sorry I asked," Danny said backing up a little more as the girl's emotions flared.

But the fires of frustration started to die down into a regretful draft. "Sorry," she murmured.

"Hey, you're just worked up about what's going on. Can't blame you for that. Happens to the best of us," Danny said with a shrug, before he stopped at a water painting of what looked like a man with a banana for a head eating peanuts. "I never did understand art."

"That isn't what I... I mean. I'm sorry for how we treated you and... you know... attacked you and all," Will said awkwardly.

Danny laughed a bit. "You clearly don't know much about Ghosts if you think that I would take offense to something like that. Out of the hundreds of Ghosts I have met, it would be easier to list off the ones who didn't attack me at first. Pandora... alright I'm done listing them off now," He joked.

"What!? But I thought you were supposed to be the Ghost King," Will said, her eyes widening in surprise.

"The title of 'Ghost King' doesn't really mean much other than you are the most powerful guy around," Danny said, shrugging as he made to leave the room, "It isn't like I have subjects or anything. If I wanted a Ghost to do something for me, I would have to force him to. They tend to not care about anything but their own obsessions."

"So, are most Ghosts evil then?" Will asked, she didn't want to insult Danny, but she didn't know a thing about Ghosts.

"That is a hard questions to answer. I wouldn't exactly say that they fit into the model of good or evil," Danny said, scratching his head, "I would say that they are all under the category of 'it depends'."

"Could you possibly be more vague there?" Will said, a little bit of her frustration returning to her aura.

"Calm down," Danny chuckled waving the girl down as he tried to think of what to say. "How to put this... Alright, think of a Ghost as like a rain cloud. The cloud will make rain because it is simply its nature and nothing will change its mind from doing it. If you were in the middle of a drought, then the rain cloud would be considered good. But on the other hand, if it was your wedding day then you would probably hate that stupid jerk for raining on your parade. Of course, not all Ghosts are as simple as a rain cloud, and there are very few instances were a hurricane is a good thing. But there are Ghosts that just want to be left alone. You just never see them."

"Every Ghost has its obsession. A purpose which it will fulfill regardless of the consequences. So a Ghost who is obsessed with hunting will hunt no matter how bad things turn out because of it. He might hunt down and kill a dangerous beast that was threatening people's lives, or he might hunt an endangered species to extinction. To the Ghosts, it isn't a moral choice, it's just existence. That's why there is no real Ghost King. Even if laws and social contracts were established, no Ghost would follow them. That's why the Ghost Zone is in a constant state of chaos," Danny finished explaining.

"Is that it?" Will said, as she looked away and into one of the science lab rooms. She was having a hard time wrapping her mind around it. Not good or evil, just existence. But then she remembered the question that she really wanted to ask. "What's a Halfa?"

Danny froze mid step. "Where did you hear that word?" Danny asked.

"I... I just heard it in a vision. Is that a problem?" Will asked a little defensively.

Danny didn't answer for a moment, as if thinking whether or not it was a problem. "No... not really," he finally said, before continuing as if nothing had happened. "A Halfa is a Human who is bathed in the essence of the Ghost Zone and because something akin to a Ghost themselves."

"So... you're Human then?" Will said. It was more of a statement than a question. "That explains why you go to school. I doubt even the Ghosts would be caught dead in a place like this."

"You'd be surprised," Danny chuckled. "Many Ghosts find themselves bound to schools. After all, it is a place of misery and regret. Not to mention the worst food on the planet. I hardly noticed when they replaced the mystery meat with actual mud."

"Oh the burdens of the teenage years," Will said, rolling her eyes a bit. "So when did you get your powers?"

"When I died of course," Danny said, as they moved into the cafeteria. "It was a bit over a year ago. I was caught in an artificial portal and drowned in Ghost energy as I was electrocuted literally half to death." Will winced at the description. "What about you? How long have you and the other girls been Fairies? I'd say a month, maybe two, that's how long it took for the general population in Amity Park to start to admit to themselves that something was up, at the end of the second month."

"Fairies? Is that what you think we are?" Will said with a raised eyebrow.

"It isn't like I have any better explanation. I know you are carrying around a Mystic Heart, but I don't really know much about Earth's Mystic Heart," Danny said. He couldn't see her, since she was standing behind him, but he noticed Will's energy react to him stating that she had a mystic heart. "I suppose it's possible that it isn't Earth's and you are some kind of alien from another dimension, but as you already pointed out, even Ghosts wouldn't be caught dead in school."

"I didn't realize you knew we had a Heart," Will said, deciding not to contradict him on what Heart it was.

"You hit me in the forehead with it back in the alleyway, remember? And you just used it earlier today to transform, or whatever it is that you did," Danny laughed. "Kind of hard to overlook. It does glow pink."

"Well we aren't Fairies." Will snapped, trying to get away from the subject of the heart. "We are the Guardians of the Veil."

"Really? And you've had that job for how long?" Danny asked curiously. He was a bit surprised to hear the word Veil, but resigned himself to the fact that she wasn't talking about the Veil he had created around the Ghost Zone. It wouldn't be a stretch to believe that there were other Veils in existence.

"... about a month," Will admitted weakly.

"No wonder you can hardly fight," Danny mumbled, ticking Will off a little.

"Oh yeah well..." Will started but Danny clapped a hand over her mouth. She struggled and finally managed to pull it off before glaring at him. "What was that for?"

"The pig," Danny said pointing towards a spot in the corner of the room. Will squinted but couldn't see anything.

"What are you talking about? There's nothing there," Will said.

Danny sighed. "Don't tell me you can't even see Aether. You really are new at all this," he mumbled, very aware of how annoyed he was making her, but getting a strange kick out of messing with her. "Alright, most of the most basic mystic abilities are self-guided. All you need to do is know the theory behind them and then you can do it. So just follow my instructions." Will glared at him, feeling the Heart of Kandrakar burning with indignation, but she nodded. "Aether is the basis of spirit that all beings have. People with mystical powers have an unusually large amount of it. So if you can see the Aether, you can see any creature, even if it is invisible. It is a basic skill for anyone who ever expects to fight on even footing with a Ghost."

"Alright, so how do I do it?" Will asked getting impatient. She half believed that Danny was just messing with her and that the pig wasn't there.

"It's simple, Aether reacts to mystical energy, just gather energy like you would for one of those pink beams and focus the energy like a lens over your eyes," Danny instructed. "That's it, that's all it takes."

Will frowned. She had never held onto the energy she had gotten from the Heart before, just used it like an energy beam or made a short trail of the stuff to act as a small shield. But she wasn't about to admit that. So she closed her eyes and concentrated, feeling the warm energy moving around behind her eyelids. When she opened them again, the brown of her eyes had turned to a swirling pink and the world seemed to be bursting with a new kind of focus.

She stumbled but Danny caught her. "Suppose I should have told you to sit down first. It is a little disorienting the first few times but it will soon become natural to you. Just like flying must have been," Danny said. Will could only think back to her first attempt at flying. It had ended up horribly, but later the next day it had felt so natural for her to be in the skies. "Now try looking," Danny said, pointing towards the same spot as before.

Will looked over and gasped as she saw the faded purple outline of the pig thing.

"So now the blind girl sees. I must be a miracle worker," Danny joked as Will tried to cover up her shock.

"Ha ha, very funny. Let's just hurry up and catch it before it notices us," Will said taking to the air, but she was pulled back by a hand around her ankle.

"Hold on there, you don't need to be so gung ho about it. He's just a little animal, not a violent beast," Danny said calmly as he walked forward straight to the invisible pig.

The pig tensed as if it was going to run, but then Will saw silvery blue wisps came off of Danny move towards the pig. It was Danny's own Aether, moving off of him by his own will. Will didn't know how she knew that, but she knew. The moment the tendrils of Aether energy touched the pig it immediately calmed down.

Danny reached out and started to pat the creatures head as it returned to the visible spectrum. "How did you do that?" Will asked confused.

Danny grinned. "Aether is the essence of spirit, it can carry emotions in it. I just used my own emotions to calm this little guy down," Danny said. Then he winced as he noticed all of the purple drool getting all over his pants. He lifted a slime covered hand and attempted to shake the stuff off. "Oh man. It's Cujo all over again. Only less cute." Will laughed at his expense, but secretly she was envious. Danny had so much experience over her that it was embarrassing. She couldn't help but think that they were insane to have ever believed that they could fight him and win.

"Hey Danny... would you consider... I mean, if it isn't too much trouble..." Will was struggling to find the words she wanted when an explosion sounded from the halls and knocked the question out of her mind.

The slime pig squealed and jumped up before running out the cafeteria door, turning invisible as it went.

Only one question occupied Will's mind at that moment. "What now?"


Cornelia was mad. She couldn't accept that Will had just openly blown off any of their opinions and ran off to search the school alongside a creature that could steal the power of the Heart of Kandrakar and leave them all powerless.

"I can't believe her. She's acting more like a spoiled brat than a leader. All because she was the one that Yan Lin gave the Heart doesn't mean she can do whatever she wants," Cornelia grumbled as she stomped through the halls, not even remembering what she was even there for.

"Cornelia, can you please slow down, we're supposed to be looking for the Hurmanuta Beast," Taranee said, trying to calm her down without arguing with her. "The sooner we find it, the sooner we can get back together and go home."

Cornelia was about the start yelling at the Fire Guardian when they all heard several low heavy thuds along with the sound of books hitting the floor. It was coming from the library. "At least it wasn't hard to find," Caleb said as they moved to the Library's double doors.

As they pushed the doors open they found that the whole room was a wreck. Several bookcases had been pushed over and there was very little of the carpeted floor that wasn't covered in purple slime. "Oh, why did it have to be the library," Taranee pouted as they moved into the room, the girls taking to the air to avoid stepping in the slime.

"How did that little pig do all of this?" Cornelia asked, temporarily forgetting her frustration with her leader to her disgust at all the slime.

"I don't know. This seems like a lot of damage for just a juvenal," Caleb admitted as he walked around some crushed tables.

But then Caleb slipped on a puddle of slime and skidded across the floor before hitting something invisible. "Huh, what the..." Caleb said to himself as he got up to his feet and started to pat at the air in front of him. He paled. "This isn't the baby," he said as he quickly backed away. The girls gasped as large hoof prints appeared in the slime in front of Caleb and the air shimmered to revel a massive pig twice the size of a large rhino, with the same bobbing eyes on the end of gooey tendrils and purple mucus as the baby from the night before. "It's the mother."

The Hurmanuta Beast squealed at the teens, sending purple goo flying all over them as it showed off two massive tusks. It started to charge. "Caleb!" Cornelia shouted as she waved her arm to move the scattered pieces of table in between Caleb and the rampaging beast.

It hardly slowed the creature down, but it did give Caleb enough time to move out of the way. "Let's get out of here!" Taranee shouted and the three head to the doors rushing out of the room. But the Hurmanuta Beast wasn't about to give up that easily. It rammed the double doors, smashing them off their hinges and then ran through the hallway towards the girls and rebel leader.

"Leave us alone," Cornelia cried trying to move the floor tiles to discourage the thing, but only succeeding in getting it to stumble and run into a wall smashing the plaster covering off of a support beam before it continued its chase.

"Go away!" Taranee shouted throwing fireballs at the beast, but they simple bounced off of the things thick skin and hit the ground with small explosions.

"Corny, Taranee, what's with the noise... holy pigs!" Irma shouted as she turned the corner with Hay Lin and saw the giant chasing their friends.

"Don't just stand there! Help!" Cornelia cried.

"Right," Hay Lin said as Irma began to cover the floor with water. Taranee and Cornelia grabbed onto Caleb's arms and lifted him over the wet spot. Then when the pig got to it, Hay Lin let out a gust of wind that spun the creature around causing it to skid along the wet surface and ram into a trophy case, dislodging a large cup that landed over the things eyes. Irma and Hay Lin couldn't help but laugh at it until it shock the cup off its head and screamed in rage.

"Doesn't this thing ever give up?" Taranee whined as they all had to dodge its next charge.

"What the heck is going on!? We had just got the pig and then you all..." Will shouted as she came from the cafeteria but stopped as she saw the full grown Hurmanuta Beast. "Holy pig!"

"Hey, I already used that joke, make your own!" Irma shouted to their leader.

Will tried to shoot a ray of energy from the Heart of Kandrakar, but it had no effect on the massive creature other than upsetting its lidless eyes.

The Hurmanuta Beast screamed and rushed Will who dived out of the way but ended up being hit when the pig swung its head, knocking her against the wall. "Will!" The other girls shouted.

The creature turned its attention towards the girl preparing to change but was distracted when it was hit in one of its eyes by a hand full of purple slime.

"Here piggy piggy piggy," Danny chuckled as he stood in the middle of the doorway to the cafeteria, still in his Human form. The pig growled and turned towards the boy, stamping on the ground. "Will, here is your next lesson, so watch carefully," Danny instructed the red haired guardian. "Using your Aether, as a weapon."

Will watched as Danny pushed his hands into his pockets and closed his eyes. Using her newly discovered vision, she watched as dark green Aether gathered around his body.

The pig squealed and rushed towards Danny who didn't even move. Danny's eyes opened, flashing a venomous green and Will saw a massive wave of the dark green Aether push out of the Ring of Rage and cover the Hurmanuta Beast's body.

The beast slowed as it moved towards Danny. Its eyes began to sway on the ends of their tendrils before falling to either side of its face. The creature's knees buckled and it fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

"Did... did you just kill it with a look?" Irma asked, a mixture of impressed and terrified.

Danny just laughed. "No, she only fainted. She'll wake up in a while," Danny said sounding a little emotionless. "I overwhelmed her with fear so that she fainted from shock. It's nothing fatal."

Danny walked over to a point close to the creature's side and bending down. "It's alright little guy. Your mother will be fine," He said gently. All the girls other than Will were shocked at the baby Hurmanuta Beast returned to the visible spectrum right next to its mother.

An awkward moment passed before Will finally broke the silence. "So, are going to just wait for the big mamma to wake up, or are we going to get it back into the portal? I'd like to go home tonight," Will said crossing her arms.


Danny had transformed in order to carry the giant pig creature to the blue and white portal, the smaller Hurmanuta Beast following its mother. Once they were both through Will used the Heart of Kandrakar to close the portal.

She turned to see Danny heading out of the basement but called out to him. "Hey, wait a minute!" she shouted causing in to turn back to the group. "I... I just wanted to say thanks for helping us out," she said a little awkwardly.

"Don't mention it, I had hard times when I was first starting out," Danny said with a shrug. "I assume you will tell me what's going on when you're ready. Just try not to attack me again," he said before turning off and disappearing from sight. Will seeing his outline as he flew through the air and out of the room.


Will detransformed the girls as they walked out of the basement. "Is anyone else hungry?" Hay Lin asked, seemingly unaware that they were walking through a field of purple goo. "I'm just saying because we didn't have any dinner."

Cornelia growled. "I just want to go home and take a nice long bath."

"I just want to forget that this ever happened," Taranee sighed. "but my readers won't when they see all this." They all looked at the damages from the mother's rampage.

They were all complaining. Everyone but Will. "Hey Will, you in there?" Irma said tapping on Will's forehead with one finger.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Just have some things on my mind," Will said before turning away from the group. "Let's all just head home. There isn't much we can do here now," she said, getting several sounds of agreement as she left.

Will split off from the rest of the group on the walk home and was alone in relative silence. She was thinking about Danny. His experience that far outmatched their own, and she could only think one thing. 'What else could he teach me?'

As much as she hated to admit it, beyond awakening the other girl's powers, she was the weakest fighter, and the team's biggest liability. She didn't have the power to generate earthquakes or the call up a flood to wash away the bad guys or a tornado to blow them away. The blasts of energy she could throw had about as much affect as flinging rocks and her shields were tiny and couldn't withstand a strong hit.

"Will?" Will was dragged out of her thought and looked to see Matt standing on an open doorway.

"Matt... what are you doing here?" Will asked, suddenly back to being the shy girl.

"My grandpa's store, remember," Matt said pointing up at the pet store sign above him. Loud yapping was coming from inside the store.

"Matt, get back in here, I need a hand!" someone who could only be Matt's grandpa shouted from inside the store.

"Sorry, I can't talk," Matt said moving back into the store. Will waited a second before following him in. The animals were going crazy and a large shaggy dog was on a table struggling against Matt and his grandpa, a kindly looking old man with graying hair that was thinning at the top.

"Calm down boy, they are just shots, they will only take a moment," Matt's grandpa said as he struggled with the dog.

Will thought back to what Danny said about using Aether to calm down animals. 'If Danny could do it, does that mean I can?' She wondered as she stepped forward and placed a hand on the dog's head. "It's alright, you don't need to worry," Will said calmly. If anyone could have seen the girl's Aether, they would see massive waves of warm pink light dancing about the girl's body.

The dog calmed down almost instantly and all the other animals stopped making noise as well. Matt stared at Will slack jawed, unable to explain what he was feeling. She looked the same as she always had, but for some reason she seemed radiant in the dimly light room.

A few moments later Matt's grandpa had given the dog its shots and turned to her. "You sure have a way with animals young Missy," he said grinning.

"Yeah... you were amazing," Matt said, a look of bewilderment on his face.

"Th... thanks," Will said, blushing and pushing a bit of hair out of her face. Matt's grandfather seemed astatic that she knew his grandson and offered Will a part time job.

Will agreed and left the store grinning. She had done it. She had managed to copy Danny's method of calming animals. And that is what sealed it for her. She didn't care what the other girls would think about it. She wouldn't even ask them. She was going to ask Danny to train her.