Author's Notes: Well I believe that last chapter made a statement and judging by the reviews and the jump in favorites and follows you all liked what it had to say. Special Thanks to Foxchick1 a frequent reviewer and supporter who actually PMed me to ask when I'd update, she's the reason why I decided to post it today instead sometime next week.

Chapter 4: A Half Ghost and The Grandmaster

Tsukune stared at the small screen in muted horror. He had made good on his promise to research Witches Knoll and came up with plenty. Apparently the place has been in a legal battle for time now. The government's urbanization plan wanted to tear it down but it was being met with heavy resistance from various environmental agencies.

Those agencies are fighting a losing battle trying to save that place but that doesn't matter. What does matter to him is the number of strange disappearances which occur in and around the place. Over 30 people he counted and that was just the ones who had people filing a missing person's report.

'30 people' he placed his head in his hands 'what now?'

He can't go to the police, not without proof and even if he had proof how are they supposed to deal with a witch?

The answer is they don't because they can't.

Tsukune doesn't know much about law enforcement but he's pretty sure dealing with a mythical being isn't part of protocol and in a war of guns against magic..well anyone who watches anime or read manga know how that battle would turn out.

….what about magic vs. ghost powers?

Who said that? Where did that thought even come from? That is a really dumb idea. He may have ghost powers but he's no hero, he could barely even control the damn things.

His eyes locked onto the screen, they hovered over the 30. For all he knew that number could be tripled in a few years or hell a couple of months if they ever brought a construction crew to demolish the place.

With great power comes great responsibilityTM

Ugh, he's going to get Danny back for introducing him to American comics.

"Agh" he tussled his hair, this thing was eating at him.

Sure going after the witch was the right thing to do but with self preservation in mind he would like not to be skewered by thorny plants or worse get eaten by one. Eventually Tsukune sighed and looked at the screen with a focused gaze but still undetermined.

If he was going to make a decision about this he needed a second opinion.

\\

D: You're kidding right?

Tsukune couldn't help but groan in exasperation 'I knew this would happen'

T: No I'm not! He typed back

Meanwhile in America

Danny, Sam and Tucker stared at the former's monitor with mixed feelings. Danny of course didn't want to believe it but then again he has ghost powers so anything should be possible but come on, an actual Witch!?

Sam was at a cross with her feelings. On one hand she was both appalled and worried that her friend was attacked by a witch but on the other hand WICTHES EXIST. That meant witchcraft was real and if this witch didn't apparently hate humans then she'd be on the next flight to Japan.

Tucker on the other hand was skeptical at best but if there was one thing he knew about Tsukune from interacting with him plus Danny's stories its that the Japanese boy is honest to a fault. It was just a gut feeling but he seems like a straight shooter to Tuck and unlike his cousin wouldn't make a joke about something like this.

Besides there is no way any 14 year old has enough acting skills to pull off the exasperated, downright tired expression he was currently seeing through the box window of Skype.

Danny eventually sighed and began typing "are you sure that's what you saw because if this is some kind of joke then its not a very believable one"

The trio waited as the message was put through a translator before being sent to Tsukune. Once he got it they saw his brow furrowed and he glared at them through the screen before typing.

T: I'm not if you don't believe me then look up Witches Knoll

They did just that and came upon pictures of the largest sunflower patch they've ever seen. The flowers were large beautiful and Sam had even more incentive to buy a plane ticket right then.

"Wow that's a lot of sunflowers" Danny commented.

"Yeah and big too" Tucker added "what'd they do lace their water with steroids?"

Sam scoffed "oh please, just because sunflowers don't grow big over here doesn't mean its unnatural. This is just what happens when we allow nature to grow without human interference"

"Well it look s like 'human interference' is gonna happen now" Danny cut in "looks like they want to tear it down and build some kind of mall"

"What!?" she leaned in closer shoving Danny's head away to read it then scowled "they can't do that! That place is probably the largest natural sunflower patch, it should be a national landmark! Why would they want to destroy it for some stupid mall!? It probably home to a lot of wildlife!"

"..and witches" Tucker added.

Then it hit them "you know I'd be pretty ticked if someone tried to tear my home down" Danny said

"She didn't attack Tsukune because he was human" Tucker began

"-she was protecting her home" Sam finished with some sympathy.

Well at least they were starting to get somewhere with this, maybe it was a misunderstanding either a mistake on the witch's part or because Tsukune freaked out seeing a witch for the first time. Either way it could be a misunderstanding.

D: What exactly happened?

Tsukune read the message and felt relief flood in. they were at least taking him seriously enough to want to know the full story. So he typed, recounting all that happened with him flying, then falling, trekking through the sunflower patch before being attacked by a giant man-eating plant monster when the witch revealed herself and finally how he flew away after blasting them both with a green energy beam.

Tsukune paused, he had almost completely forgotten about that. He briefly looked at his hand in concentration before a faint glow enveloped it and he immediately clenched his hand into a fist. The glow was immediately snuffed out like a candle light which was good, the last thing he needed was to blast a hole in his room.

After reading the entire story there was silence, there were only two things that stuck out in that story, the plant monster and "shot her with a green energy blast?" Sam looked to Danny.

Said boy shrugged "I don't know, I can't do that"

"Yet" Tucker added, unlike his friend he was very interested in the prospect of a new ghost power "we are so going to practice later" Danny rolled his eyes as he type.

D: We think she might've just been protecting her home. Any chance this was all a misunderstanding?

T: I read reports that said over 30 people have gone missing around that area

After reading that there was a resounding silence as they contemplated those written words before Danny typed again

D: You have to stop her

T: How?

D: You have powers, use them

T: And do what!?

D: Fight

They saw Tsukune placed his head on his hand with what they figured was an exasperated sigh. He then took a deep breath

T: Okay so maybe I fight her and maybe I win. Then what?

Danny went to type out of frustration at his cousin's hesitance to do what's right when Tucker spoke "he has a point dude"

"What do you mean?" Danny furrowed his brows

"Well it's not as if he could, you know" he motioned a finger across his throat "and that's if he could actually win."

"There's always the police?" Danny suggested

"Okay even if that did work what do you think they would do to a witch?" Sam chided

Danny didn't respond and he felt ashamed of suggesting it since they would hand her over to the government who would probably do the same things his parents said they would do to the first ghost they capture.

He suppressed a shudder

"Maybe he can convince her to stop" Sam suggested

"Yeah but how?"

"Look" she began "the only reason why she's doing this is to protect her home so what if her home wasn't in danger anymore?"

Both boys shared a look "uh, where are you going with this?" Danny questioned warily.

Sam grinned mischievously "I'm talking about corporate sabotage"

"Wow you're taking this eco-terrorism thing seriously aren't you?" tucker spoke.

"Of course!" she outright shoved Danny aside and typed her idea.

Tsukune read the message and gave them a blank look

T: I don't know what that means but I'll try to stop her

D: Good luck

Tsukune turned off the computer and sighed, he's been doing that a lot today.

So he will have to fight, well that's just perfect, at least he has a new power to fight with. There's still just one problem with that option – how is he supposed to fight a witch?

Hell, how is he supposed to fight…period.

Let it be known that Tsukune Aono is a wimp, he has no idea how to fight, has never been in a fight and always submits at the first sign of an altercation which makes him an easy mark for bullies. Sure he could probably wing it by using his powers but if he were to be honest Tsukune just isn't the type to take risks like that.

Maybe he would if someone close was being threatened, like his family…or a really cute girl but this one was all him. If he messed up then he'll probably die and though it might sound selfish he wasn't about to risk his life on a technicality for some random strangers. Besides if he fails then he would just be one more missing person among the many that will follow afterwards.

"Ah what did I get myself into?"

One day, he's been home for one day and he has to deal with this!

"If there's a God out there, he hates me"

He's 14 for heaven's sake! He shouldn't be worried about surviving a life and death battle with a witch he should be at home playing online games with his cousin. Well there is no way he cannot do it anymore so he'll at least need to know how to defend himself. Plus he'll have to practice with his powers but that's the least of his two worries at the moment.

The easiest way he knew for learning self defense was to join some kind of dojo which should be easier than actually asking his parents' permission. Oh that ought to be a lovely conversation.

The next day Tsukune went about searching for a dojo to join. It wasn't a problem though since there was literally an entire district of dojos for all forms of martial arts. Tsukune didn't really care much for what he learned as long as it made the odds of not dying greater. The problem he did eventually have was that none of the dojos actually fit his ideal for what a dojo is like.

When Tsukune thinks dojo he thinks something akin to a shaolin monastery with disciplined students like soldiers practicing with dedication. To top it all off their master would probably be something like an old wise sage or something.

Man the truth couldn't be any further from that ideal and most of the dojos fit the term 'all flair, no substance.'

The first dojo he went to was really just a bunch of delinquents. They were big, muscled and the moment they saw him were a little too enthusiastic about having him join. Even the dojo's sensei was some kind of body builder with a scar who was only interested as far when he could pay tuition.

Not that Tsukune held it against him after all, how else was he supposed to pay for nice looking white tuxedo he wore. Tsukune would later compare that dojo to a gym with all that exercising equipment he saw laying around. Tsukune high tailed it out of there when he realized he was the only guy in there who didn't look like he was on steroids.

It went on like this for a while the dojos that weren't too expensive or didn't outright reject him just didn't feel like a dojo to him. Eventually he went through all the dojos in the district with no results. Looking back he felt the overwhelming disappointment of this entire day.

When he looked at the dojos in the district he could compare it to that home shopping channel his mother got hooked on last year. They advertise their gaudy, eye pleasing merchandises to desperate looking people who buy it at high prices but in reality is some 'low quality garbage.'

That's what his father said about the stuff his mother got tricked into buying. That was the year he saw his even tempered, good natured father truly pissed. It was not a pretty sight, his mother agreed and up to this day he's never seen his mother watch anything even related to home shopping.

"Huh" Tsukune blinked and looked around "where am I?"

Weird, he could've sworn he went the way he came in. He was still in the district since there were building with dojo signs but he didn't recognize the street he was on. The buildings looked abandoned and the signs worn.

'This place gives me the creeps' he thought which was funny since he was a ghost, well, half ghost but still.

His brown eyes scanned the area, he could turn back but it's a long way home plus he still needed to find a place to train his newly acquired ghost power anyway.

"Maybe I can go ghost in one of the building and fly away"

He blinked, go ghost? Geez Danny's rubbing off too much on him.

Tsukune walked down the street trying to find a corner, the further he went the more cold it got or at least to him anyway. It wasn't a temperature drop per se but he felt a chill ran down his spine, he still kept walking until

*Gasp* green mist escaped his mouth and his gaze automatically locked onto a clearly abandoned dojo which he noticed was old, really old.

The architecture of the building was something he's only seen in history books. The building itself was made out of wood that has rotted with age giving it a creepy almost haunted look. To cement this very belief the face of the building was covered with talismans.

Yep the type of talismans used by priests 'do those even work?' he wondered.

*Gasp* another puff of that green mist 'what is that?' he poked it 'warm'

He didn't know what it was but it was definitely his ghost powers. He also got the feeling it had to do with that dojo so against his better judgment Tsukune went closer to the building.

*Gasp* his eyes darted to what he saw was the silhouette of someone. He blinked and the silhouette was gone but now Tsukune was fearful.

'Okay c-calm down you turned half ghost last week, you met a witch yesterday so of course ghosts are real'

Still didn't stop him from being scared though.

He shook his head "what am I being scared for?" his brows furrowed "I'm part ghost if anything they'll probably be friendly" and if not he could always blast them with green energy. As a matter of fact- he looked around and once the coast was clear he transformed and attempted to fly inside.

Key word attempted

The moment he touched the building something like a couple volts of electricity ran through his body before he dropped unceremoniously to the ground.

"What-what was that?" he groaned slowly turning to his stomach to look at the door.

He could've sworn for split second he saw some kind of wall of…something before it turned invisible. His eyes widened before they narrowed on the talisman.

'No way'

He stood up and eyed the piece of paper with the word 'seal' written in kanji. Tsukune raised his hand where it turned intangible before slowly placing it on the seal. The result was almost instantaneous he yelped in pain before retracting his hand which felt numb. In fact Tsukune felt weaker than he did two minutes ago.

His eyes widened "it actually works" he eyed the paper talisman stuck to the door like a red tape before turning human again.

He released a breath before reaching for the talisman again, he closed his eyes when he felt paper on his finger tips but no pain. His eyes snapped open and he felt the talisman, it wasn't made out of any different material as far as he felt, just a regular piece of paper. He felt the edges and slowly peeled it off like scotch tape, funny he didn't even see any residue to suggest any adhesives were used to stick it to door.

Tsukune looked at the talisman and pocket it for future use.

Releasing a breath he slid open the door and went inside *Slam* the door shut the moment he fully stepped through and he went ghost by reflex. Tsukune's neon green eyes scanned the door then the environment. The place looked exactly like one would expect from an old abandoned dojo.

Dusty, musky, creepy and-

"State thy name and business?"

-Haunted

"AAAHHH!"

Tsukune flew up raising his fist in a clumsy defensive stance to see who spooked him. What he saw was an smaller bald green skinned man floating. The man wore a traditional karate gi, his balding head and mustache gave him a wise look. His black eyes bore into Tsukune's soul despite himself, it was like he was a five year old kid being caught by his father.

"Are you here to challenge me boy?"

"I- Uh" he looked around "what?"

The ghost narrowed his eyes causing the boy to become even more nervous. Then without warning the old man flew at him. Tsukune's eyes widened and he instinctively pushed his hands forward and (accidentally) fired two shots of ecto-blasts.

The old man's eyes widened but he deftly dodged them, he then looked at the two scorch marks then at Tsukune whose hands were still blazing. They stared at his hands for a while then locked eyes. The old ghost's eyes narrowed as an embarrassed flush came over Tsukune

"Uh I can explain.."

Several Minutes Later

Tsukune's body slammed into the tatami mat….again. He rolled to the side just as a fist crashed where his head was then launched himself at the old ghost swing a clumsy punch to his head. The old man grabbed his wrist with an almost bored expression and twisted it behind his back.

"Ow-ow-ow-ow" the boy went to his knees.

"What kind of game are you playing boy?"

"Argh!"

"Did you really think you could challenge me with this level of skill?"

Through the pain Tsukune's eyes flashed and he phased through his grip "wha-" was all the old ghost managed to say before he was punched in the face and blasted back.

To Tsukune's shock the ghost didn't go down rather he went into a horse stance as he slid across the floor. Once the blast receded he slowly exhaled and leveled a glare at Tsukune before going into an open palm stance.

"Come"

Tsukune shook his head rapidly "uh-uh"

The ghost narrowed his eyes "if you don't come at me then I will attack you"

"Why are we even fighting!?" he yelled.

The ghost blinked "what?" he then scowled "you came to my dojo and since you're not here as a student then you are here to challenge me"

"Student.." he mumbled

Wait a minute.

Seeing that the boy wasn't going to make a move the ghost rushed after him with a punch aimed at his face. At the last nanosecond though, the boy disappeared from his sight

'Impossible!'

It happened in slow motion, he was still in the middle of thrusting his fist while his eyes looked down to see the boy, their eyes met and he could see an unwavering fire that was not there before. Then he realized an important fact as his thrust finished

The boy was in a perfect position to counterattack!

The ghost went in for a block when the strangest thing happened

"PLEASE TAKE ME AS YOUR STUDENT!"

The ghost halted his movements to stare at the boy prostrating before him. He blinked slowly for a moment before uttering one word

"What?"

To Be Continued

Author's Notes: Annnnd Scene! Not gonna lie I was a little disappointed with how the chapter turned out…and it has nothing to do with you foxchick1. I envisioned so much more for a first meeting with the 'Grandmaster. Speaking of which my introduction of that ghost may be a convenience for Tsukune's situation and downright cliché but eh *shrugs shoulder* what can you do.

Now for anyone who thinks that Tsukune should be jumping into battle just remember that he is not Danny first of all and that their first encounters are different. With Danny's encounter the lunch lady was a direct threat to his school who he had to stop which he did and gained a victory that made him figure out what he wanted to do with his unwanted powers. Plus it also helped that he had a thermos and a place to store them once he wins.

Tsukune's issue is a bit different, he has no idea how he's going to fight Ruby, he doesn't have a place to keep her and really fighting a girl, an actual human girl is a lot more complicated, witch or not. Unlike Danny he can't just wing it, Tsukune doesn't have a hero complex, he doesn't feel like he's answering a higher calling using his powers to fight a witch and is truly only doing it because Danny urged him and he wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing there might be a chance people could get killed.

And finally Tsukune is, in fact, an indecisive coward.

I mean come on in the manga its obvious he and Moka like each other yet he doesn't say anything because he's afraid of hurting everyone else's feelings? That is cowardice and despite how it gets downplayed in the manga when he took a lesson in badass he still doesn't say his true feelings and let the girls practically walk all over him with their enviable/unwanted affections.

I make sure to make it clear in this story although its more justified since he's fourteen and doesn't have a snarky attitude and massive ego that seem to make Danny out to be fearless. In that respect Tsukune is more pragmatic in his approach to a life and death situation than Danny, so if he's going to fight he should learn how.

That's the end of my rant please leave a review of what you think because you might not see me until summer, f*cking finals coming up.