Chapter 2.
Danny woke up and got ready for school the next morning. He figured that his sister was worried about him, as she drove him to school herself; a rare occurrence. He still didn't let anybody around his wounded shoulder, which was stiff after he had woken up. Along with that, he was snappy and even a bit tense as well.
It wasn't all that bad of a day either; he didn't have to worry about Dash giving him a hard time, and he got extra time on his assignments due tot his injury and having to write with his left hand which immediately proved itself difficult. There was one thing that puzzled him, however. Ghost activity was beginning to pick up again now that the giant beetle was gone, almost as if they had all been avoiding it. Almost right after his first class the Box ghost showed up and tried to cause trouble. If he wasn't so easy to catch in the first place, he might not have been able to capture him.
"Seriously, I'm fine!" was his response every time somebody asked him how he was or offered to help him with something, and the irritation grew a little in his voice every time he said it.
After lunch, another minor ghost decided to toy with him and his bad shoulder. "I'm going ghost!" he announced, morphing into his ghost form. It taunted him for a minute before the ghost boy gave chase, blasting ghost rays at it with his left fist. Pausing in mid air, he planned to give the final blow, but it was with his right hand. As he struck it forward, pain shot through him and he cried out in agony, the green bolt that had shot from his hand hitting the ceiling as he drew back. The ghost almost took advantage of the opportunity, but as it came at Danny, Tucker sucked it into the Fenton Thermos.
Seething, Danny landed and changed back into his human form, flexing his shoulder gently. "Jeez I'm worthless today!" he scolded himself, slamming his head into the nearest locker repeatedly before resting it against the chilly metal. "Feel better?" Tucker asked, but received a sharp glare from glowing green eyes in return. "How can I feel better when everything is going wrong?" he snapped back before walking off to his next class.
He suffered in silence for the rest of the day, only speaking when spoken to and only saying a word or two when he did. After school, Jasmine drove him back home. He just wanted to be alone. Once inside his home, he tossed his backpack into his room, not caring where it landed before going down to the lab.
He stood there in the middle of the room for a moment, just staring at the portal, it's yellow and black striped doors locked together securely. With a sigh, he turned away from it and began rummaging through the various drawers in the lab. He morphed back into his ghost side, strapping a wrist ray onto his right wrist and bandaging his shoulder to his torso to prevent it from moving too much. He quickly scribbled a short note down on a post-it and stuck it to one of the chrome counters before walking up to the ghost portal. Dialing in the password, he watched the heavy doors unlock themselves and slide open. Taking a deep breath, he dove through the swirling green energy that filled its frame. One the other side, he cautiously steered his way through the ghost zone, giving a wide girth around any ghosts he saw, no matter how small.
After several minutes of flying around and nearly getting lost, he found what he had been looking for, the snow crunching beneath his white boots as he landed in the Realm of the Far Frozen. Surely Frostbite knew something about the ghost he had fought. He began to walk towards where he thought their camp was, running into a patrol on his way. Frostbite wasn't with them however and they were skeptical of him, and didn't take any chances as they tied him up with strong rope and took him with them towards their settlement.
Thankfully, one of the first Far Frozen he saw was the unmistakable blue cloak of his old friend, and on his orders, he was untied. He seemed surprised to see him, and he glanced over at the half ghost's bandages that were wrapped around his wounded shoulder with a small flicker of worry present on his face. "Greetings, oh great one! What brings you here? Are you in need of assistance?" the yeti-like ghost said in his normal cheery yet wise tone. Skipping any formal greeting, Danny cut to the chase. "How much do you know about a giant bug ghost?" he questioned firmly, his expression unreadable. The beast's yellow eyes wandered for a moment in thought. "I've never witnessed such a creature, though if it's as grand as you say then I suspect the ghost hunter known as Skulker may know something of it," he said finally, his gaze returning to Danny who frowned at his reply.
"Of course, why did I expect it to be easy at all…" he grumbled to himself before addressing the chief. "Thanks. Sorry that I can't stay longer," he said, forcing his tone to be kinder so he didn't think that he was mad at him. The ghost waved as he took off. "No trouble at all!" he called before returning to what he was doing. Meanwhile, Danny headed towards Skulker's island, a determined look on his face.