They woke up later. Or at least Alex did. Her head hurt like someone had hit it with a baseball bat and a sledgehammer at the same time. The first thing she noticed was that only Myria, Octavia, and herself were conscious. AJ's hair was a mess, her was ponytail holder almost coming out, Hunter's wings were spread out like a parachute behind her, and Diamante would have screamed at herself if she was conscious. Her headband was spread like a visor on her eyes and there was a certain amount of scruffiness in her normal smooth brown hair.

But what struck her as odd was their clothes. They seemed to have changed into what looked like striped black and white jumpsuits. They seemed very ugly in her opinion. "Myria, what is this place?" She asked simply to Myria. Myria gave her a where-the-heck-have-you-been-for-the-last-thousand-years look. "It's called a prison," She said, a little annoyed.

"No, no, no, no," whispered Octavia madly. Her eyes were rapidly moving across their surroundings. "This is not good. Not good," She said, louder. Now the others were beginning to wake up. Instead of hurriedly checking over them so that they weren't hurt, Octavia started to hyperventilate.

"Tavi, what's wrong?" Alex said. "'What's wrong?' We're supposed to be out there and not in here!" She pointed at the green and purple sky, if you could even call it that. "How can you think this is okay?" The tiny girl shouted at her. Or at least as close as Octavia could get to yelling. It was more of a loud whisper than anything else. Finally waking up, Hunter and AJ got up slowly, but Diamante was already standing and brushing dust of her arms.

"Just calm down, Tavi," She said groggily,"Just explain why you're so freaked out." Octavia took a deep breath before she began. "Well, you know that blaster Danny was talking about? And how he said it sent a ghost to the Ghost Zone?" She waited until everybody nodded.

"Well," She quietly,"This is the Ghost Zone. The absolute most horrible place that ever existed in the history of eternity." For a second all girls exchanged unbelieving looks. It wasn't because they were stuck in a place called the Ghost Zone but that Octavia actually hated something.

"Tavi', you never told us 'bout this place," reasoned AJ,"What's so bad 'bout it?" Octavia said simply,"Well, you know how Danny captures ghosts in his thermos?" The girls nodded again. "Well, where do you think he puts him after he catches them?"

Suddenly it became apparent in Alex's mind. Octavia never actually told her about where she had been before they had met. And her fear and shyness around Danny was because she was afraid that if she did something wrong, he'd send her back here. But why was this a bad place?

"The Ghost Zone is the place where all ghosts are kept so that they don't wreck havoc on Earth," she continued, as if reading Alex's mind. "It's pretty much the opposite of Earth. So, physics, manners, and even logic are kind of useless here." But AJ still wasn't getting something.

"But why are we wearin' prison outfits?" AJ said, confused. "Because, you're in prison," said a voice in front of them,"And that's the rules." All six girls stared up at the figure in front of them. His skin was a skeletal white which made Hunter's complexion look normal. He was taller than AJ, and much more intimidating with his harsh expression.

"Uh sir," said Alex,"Might I ask the warden why were here?" "You're talking to him," The ghost said. "Well then, sir," He stopped her mid-sentence. "The name's Walker," He said simply. "Well, Mr. Walker, sir, my friends and I were wondering why we're in prison?" Suddenly Walker's expression darkened, something that seemed impossible to begin with. "Possession of other world objects, including weapons," He said darkly,"Isn't that right, sweetheart? He added, eying AJ in particular. Of all the girls, AJ carried the most weapons, including a scythe, a spear, and her rope.

"But this is the Ghost Zone, right? And we're not-" Diamante tried to say but Alex quickly put her hand on her friend's mouth. "What Diamante was saying is that shouldn't we get a trial?" Alex said quickly. Walker gave her a suspicious look but said,"No." And then he left.

Diamante waited until he was gone before saying,"Why'd you stop me! I could have gotten us out of here!" "Or gotten us unwanted attention! Girls," Alex said firmly,"if we want to get out of here, we need to be as invisible as possible. And that does not mean we can rely on Octavia to keep us actually invisible."

AJ sighed, obviously not pleased. "But ain't that gonna be a little hard for us? I mean, we don't exactly it anywhere. Not even at a middle school," She said. "I know it's going to be hard, but we can't depend on anyone to help us," Alex said darkly, "The Princesses might not even know how to get into the Ghost Zone, and Archer wouldn't have a clue."

"We need to be as open-minded as we can about this situation," She directed,"A way to get out could be right in front of us." A guard came over to their cell and opened the door. "Lunchtime," he said simply.

He lead them out of their shared cell, not even bothering to look at them. Alex had a strange feeling this prison wasn't the law enforcement she hoped to find. But no matter what, she was sure that they could get out of here. How they were going to get out of the Ghost Zone was a different matter.

No amount of magic could open a portal out of here, even if she knew how. And she doubted Octavia could open a portal. After all, if she could, they wouldn't be here still. Trying to sort her thoughts, Alex followed the guard into a new room. It certainly was a prison cafeteria.

The bleak and some scarred faces of the prisoners sat at tables. A few faces turned into their directions as the door opened. But Alex followed their eyes, and they seemed to be looking at the guards. Somehow, that didn't make her feel any better. In fact, she felt awkward. She was a tiny twelve year old nerd who could barely fly even with help. But these were ghosts who had been sent here because they were stronger and used their powers for evil.

Hunter nudged her with her elbow, knocking her out of train of thought. "Over there," She whispered. Following her eyes, Alex spotted what Hunter was looking at and nearly screamed. Sitting at a table, surrounded by fugitives, was a large form with an unforgiving look in his eyes.

Skulker, the name rang in her ears like a bad memory. Hunter was looking just as scared as she was; After all, this was the same ghost who they had helped put in here and they weren't exactly the best of friends. "Just don't tell Octavia and don't look at him. I think he can smell fear," Alex said back.

Like a pack, with Octavia in the middle, they made their way up for food. The lunch lady didn't react at the new girl except for when she splashed a strange mixed of mashed potatoes and perhaps chicken noodle soup on Myria's tray and it splashed on her shirt, which made her smirk.

They sat down at a table, trying to avoid making eye contact. When they sat down, Alex said,"Don't try to talk to them. Most of these ghosts were sent here by Danny, so none of them can be good." "Speakin' of which, dont'cha think it's a bit strange that Danny's never told ya guys 'bout this?" asked AJ. "What do you mean?" Hunter asked in retaliation.

"Well, you guys said that he told ya about ghosts in general, right?" AJ asked again. "Well no," Hunter said sheepishly,"In fact, I think we told him more about us then he for us." "Well that's great. You get the chance to talk to the one guy that actually knows about the Ghost Zone and you don't even bother to ask whether there's, oh I don't know, another dimension that is the complete opposite of Earth that contains every ghost!" said Diamante, aggavated.

"Now, just calm down Dia," said AJ calmly,"It's obvious that Alex has thought of a way to get us out of not only here but the Ghost Zone. Ain't that right, 'Lex?" Alex tensed at not only the fact AJ mispronounced her name as 'Lex', which was often associated with Lexi which was a name she despised with a burning passion, but that they thought she had a plan.

"Actually," She got out, before all the girls paled. "What's wrong?" She asked, confused. Diamante cleared her throat, and choked,"Well, we were all expecting you to know what to do, since, well, you are the one who usually knows about these kinds of things, so I guess we all thought you'd know what to do..."

Her voice trailed off, but her point was made clear. Alex blushed that they had thought of her that way, but felt ashamed at the same time. "I don't have a plan," She said plainly. Their reactions were fairly mixed; AJ and Hunter clenched their teeth (Hunter's fangs seemed to painfully touch her lip which couldn't have felt very good), Myria gulped and paled, while Diamante and Octavia looked as if they might faint.

"But that doesn't mean were stuck here, girls! If there's one thing I learned about us, we can do anything together," Alex added, trying to ease her friend's nerves. "No offense Alex," said Hunter. Alex was surprised to her hear actually call her Alex, especially in a situation like this. "I already knew we could do anything. But we're still just six middle school girls that are way over our heads, and who should be screaming over a boy band rather than stuck in a other-worldly paranormal prison!" Hunter said. Alex stared her directly her in the eyes. They were locked for a second, but Hunter looked away. As long as she had known Hunter, Alex had never seen her so, so lost.

"Listen, Hunter," She said,"We're not Girl Scouts. We're the Princess's personal friends and apprentices. We're a lot more than a bunch of middle school girls. And we're more than six girls over their heads. We've fought monsters, battled the spirit of chaos, and are even friends with a robot, a spy, a boy genius, and so many more!"
Hunter may have smiled. But her blonde hair covered her face now. Alex also remembered that things had changed in those two little weeks since they had met Danny. A lot of things. They weren't just six friends any more. They were six protectors of the magical and human world, and they still had to deal with just regular girl problems. "I just wish they had an instruction manual for being heroes," Hunter muttered.

She turned back to the others, a fanged smile on her pale face. "Uh girls," Octavia said,"I don't mean to be pushy, but there's something you should see." Octavia had gotten up from the table after Hunter had made her instruction manual comment. "You've found something to help us get out of here?" asked Diamante.

"Uh, not exactly," Octavia said quietly. The others came over to her. They all followed her eyes and soon they were six mouths open in surprise. On the wall was a 'Wanted' poster. And you didn't have to be as smart as Alex to see the writing on the wall. Because, on the poster, was a sign that said, Wanted; Danny Phantom. And the picture didn't just show the white-haired ghost boy. He was on there, naturally, but there was another picture of a scrawny human teenager. And under that, it read, The Halfa.