"If he's in here he might have left the door unlocked." Paulina couldn't wait to see what was so important that he ignored them. They got to the door and looked at each other before Paulina stretched her hand out and tested the door…
It was locked. But Paulina wasn't swayed,
"Star, do you have a hairpin?"
"Of course I do, you know how my hair can be sometimes. That weird curl that just won't go away… So I keep them-"
"Star! No time for the back story, just give me the hairpin!" Star silently handed her the accessory and Paulina took it quickly. Then stared at the lock for a moment before swiftly bending and unbending the pin with an expertise that Star didn't know she could posses.
"Hey, Paulina?"
"Yeah Star? I'm kind of busy now. What was it? Right, left, left, left right, for the'98 standard? Or was it-"
"Paulina, how do you know how to do that?" Paulina paused and looked up,
"Just guessing my way through, unless you want to try it."
"No! It's just…"
"Just what Star?"
"What were you talking about with the whole right, left, left, right, thing? And the '98 standard?" Paulina frowned,
"Well, uh, you see…I…um, took a lock picking class when I was younger in case I was ever abducted?" Star didn't hear the mumbled, "Yeah, that sounds plausible…"
"Oh, okay then. Hey-" Paulina's head shot up,
"Star! Are you going to let me do this or not? Just be quiet and do something ELSE!" Star looked hurt for a moment before seeing the reason in Paulina's words and wandering off to explore. She went over to the mantelpiece and looked at the pictures hard, then she went to the kitchen again, staying well away from the fridge and the drawer with the thermos-full of evil hotdogs. She went to the pantry and poked it with her foot, then jumped back when it swung open. Nothing jumped out at her, so she walked in looking for a light-switch somewhere. Her left hand ended up with the light switch, and her right…She shuddered and wondered if she really wanted to know what she had accidentally put her hand on. When she switched on the light, she sighed in relief. It was only a pan of fudge. After extracting he hand from the icky goey mess, Star turned and looked for something to wipe it off on. 'Paper towels, paper towels, papertowels… Why don't they have paper towels?'She saw a napkin holder and decided that that was good enough, after wiping most of the brown sticky stuff off she turned to the sink and washed her hands. Then she remembered why she had come into the kitchen in the first place, food. 'Hmm… That fudge looked pretty good. I'm sure Danny won't mind if I take some. After all, he owes me for getting me attacked by evil hotdog earlier…' Then she paused, what if it ended up like the hotdogs? 'Nah, if they were going to attack me that would have done so by now.' With that she turned back to the pantry and reached for the fudge. As she lifted the pan out, she noticed something shiny under it, she balanced the pan on her left hand and grabbed for what seemed to be a key. She put it in her pocket, but just as she was walking out of the pantry door, an alarm went off.
"INTRUDER! INTRUDER! THEIFTHEIFTHEIF!!!" Star screamed and dropped the fudge pan, maybe the key was important or…"Thank you for returning the fudge! Have a good day!" Okay, Danny's parents were officially weird. She put the fudge back where it was and walked over to where Paulina was still fiddling with the lock. Then she remembered the key in her pocket, 'Maybe it goes to the door…' she walked over to Paulina and tapped her on the shoulder,
"What is it now Star?" Paulina looked up at Star,
"Well, I, uh, can I try?" Paulina looked up confused,
"You? Unlocking the door?" Star nodded nervously,
"Uh, yeah…is that okay?"
"Sure. My fingers were getting a bit tired anyways. Go ahead and try." Paulina emphasized the last word, then handed Star the hairpin.
"Why are you giving me that?"
"Uh, so you can open the door?" Star thought about it for a second, what if this wasn't the right key? Did she really want to make a fool of herself?
"Oh, sorry. I kinda spaced." She then snatched the key and leaded over the lock, 'Pleasepleaseplease work!' She inserted the key, it fit. Agonizingly slowly she turned the key. With a resounding 'click' the door gave way and opened. Star quickly put the key back in her pocket, and just in time, because Paulina walked up to her. Jaw hanging open, Paulina finally found her voice,
"H-how did you do that so quickly? I took lessons and it took me forever to find out where the mechanism wasn't…You're a natural!" All thoughts of telling Paulina that she had found the key vanished at the other girl's praise. Paulina thought Star was better at something than her! No way was she telling her that it wasn't true… Paulina was still gaping when Star started speaking,
"Well, do you want to see what's in there or not?" Paulina snapped back into focus,
"Uh, yeah…Of course. Let's go, you first though." Star was about to ask why when she remembered, "'Uh,' he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly for a second, "Well, there's some dangerous stuff down there, and I really don't want you guys to get hurt or something." So that's why. Miss Perfection wasn't being nice, she was keeping herself out of harm's way. Star rolled her eyed before starting down the stairs. Everything looked like it was made out of chrome, glass, and the same green stuff that was in Danny's room. There were several steel operating tables, covered in vials and beakers full of bubbling, dripping, frothing stuff. Paulina Stared in open wonderment while Star walked over to one of the tables in an awe-induced haze.
"What…what do you think's in these? It looks like the same stuff from Danny's room…"
"I don't know, but if it stains Danny's SO gonna pay…
Paulina replied automatically. At the back of the room was an octagonal doorway of some sort. They could see the sides of the yellow and black hazard-striped doors. Inside was a swirling black and green mass. It seemed see-through, but at the same time completely solid (1), like some sort of veil or wall that prevented them from seeing in farther in than two or three inches. It obscured everything, but at the same time kept everything sharp and clear. It swirled in a hypnotic manner that drew the two in like moths to a flame…or ghosts to the human world. The both mindlessly wandered towards it, oblivious to the dangers within. Both having the same compelline urge to discover what lay on the other side...Suddenly, they were snapped out of their haze when a female voice loudly announced, "Authorized access only, please step back until the Portal has closed. Thank you!" Star and Paulina blinked for a moment, returning to the real world. The image of the open portal permanently burned into their minds.
"Whoa…that was…"
"…amazing." Paulina finished, "I never knew anything could be so, so alluring."
"It just seemed so perfect. I needed it, it was like it took over my brain or something…Like I was possesed."
"I know what you mean Star," Star tore her gaze from the closed portal to look around the room.
"Hey, look Paulina! It' the same, uh, stuff that fell on you earlier!" Paulina looked around apprehensively,
"The goop?"
"No! The metal thingies that almost buried you alive! You know, behind the first door?" Paulina slowly nodded her head, deciding that there was less of a danger than the goop from upstairs. She too looked around the room. There were piles of inventions and gadgets, all with Jack's face on them somewhere. The cement floor and walls had green stains in various sized from things she couldn't even begin to guess.
"Geez, compared to the rest of them, Danny's actually pretty normal." Star looked up from whatever she was doing,
"Uh, yeah. You're right. Come here and look at this!" Paulina walked over there, careful not to touch anything. When she got to where Star was kneeling, she stooped over,
"Well? What's so important?"
"I was wondering, do you have any idea what a Fenton Ectoplasmic Super Sprayer Spreader does?"
"Uh, Star, I don't think we really want to find out…AHHH!!!" Paulina and Star jumped off to the side as the machine started spewing green slime-balls everywhere. "STAR! I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH ANYTHING!!!" Paulina yelled before she was nailed and went down. Star stood up, bad idea, and yelled back,
"NO YOU DIDN'T! STOP LYING-OOF!" then she too went down. Everything was chaos, until they heard the most wonderful thing ever to grace their ears, "Ammunition supply has been depleted, please refill soon." Both girls sighed, then looked around the now goop-covered room. Paulina spoke up first,
"Star, we are so dead. And the 'don't touch anything' was implied!"
"Well how was I supposed to know that? Come on, let's look for something to clean all of this up with." Paulina huffed,
"Well fine. But don't touch anything!" Star help up her hands,
"Okay, okay! Just don't bite my head off!" Paulina growled at her, then turned around and started gingerly picking goop off items with her fingers.
"Star, I am never going to be you lab partner again; cleaning up is too much work."
"But Paulina!" Star whined, "Who will be your partner? Or more importantly, mine!"
"Hmm…" Paulina tapped her chin for a moment before grinning devilishly, "Well there's always Nathan-"
"No way! I will never be that loser's partner!" Paulina raised her eyebrow,
"Or Tucker the Technogeek." Star gagged,
"I take it back, I'll take Nathan any day over that geek. He even hangs out with that goth freak and…"
"Danny?" Paulina finished. "You know, he's actually pretty good at chemistry. From his parents I guess," she shrugged, "I guess he could be my partner, I just wished he played sports. Then I'd be able to go to his games. Oh well, I guess that 'accidentally' setting his shirt on fire will have to do…"
"Uh, Paulina? Since when have you wanted to cheer Danny?"
"Since I saw him this morning. Don' t you think so too?" Star paused for a moment before agreeing,
"You're right. He is way up on the list now."
"Agreed." Just then Paulina saw the Fenton Eco-plastic Superior Spread Spayer thingy start peeping, she backed away from it quickly, accidentally crashing into another table. Luckily for her, it was braced up against a wall, so it didn't fall over. Still, she froze, not wanting anything to go off. Star noticed her and started giggling,
"Star! What's your problem? Are you going to help me or not?" Paulina hissed angrily,
"It's just that, hehe, you're afraid of, hehehehehehe!"
"Well? What's behind me! A bazooka? A laser gun? Another goop sprayer thingy?"
"A, hehehe!, an old computer! Hehehe!" Paulina turned around,
"Oh, why didn't you just say that?"
"Be-because…Paulina? The computer's turning green!"
"What!" Paulina and Star both started backing up, hoping that nothing else would go off, until… 'Welcome to the Fenton Lab Public Computer! Ple3ase select user!' appeared on the screen along with some little floating ghost icons. "Oh, good. For a second I thought that- Star NO!" But it was too late, Star had already sat down at the table and clicked on the 'choose user' button on the screen. Paulina shielded her face with her arms and hunched down, prepared for the worst.
"Oh come on Paulina! It's just a computer, maybe it'll tell us where Danny went!" Star spun back around to face the computer again,
"Well…I guess it's okay. As long as you don't touch anything else."
"Good!" Star replied in an extremely excited voice, "Now, which user do I choose? Jack, Maddie, Jazz or Danny?"
"Danny of course, his password is obvious."
"Well, uh, what do you think it is?" Star asked confused, Paulina rolled her eyes,
" Paulina Fenton! Duh."
"Oh, okay! It…doesn't work."
"What? Did you capitalize? Try with a space in between, then with no space, then no capitalization."
"Okay. No, no, and no." Paulina was flabbergasted,
"What? How could he not…? I mean… Try, 'Goth Fenton'."
"Why?"
"Ugh, Star! The goth girl! Everyone calls them lovebirds for a reason! Although what he sees in her I'll never know…"
"Shouldn't we try her first name instead?"
"Nobody knows it 'cept Danny and the technogeek! And maybe Lancer…"
"It didn't work either. I know her name starts with an "S" though, Susan? No, to nice. Sandra? Too normal. Ssss…"
"Ssss…? Am I really that dumb looking?" (Haha, not answering!) Star gasped,
"Paulina! That's it! Sam!"
"Then try it!"
"It says, 'Sorry Jazz, try again.'"
"Let's try another. Maddie is his mom right?"
"Yeah, I think so since Jazz is his only sister."
"She sounds too smart. And we probably wouldn't even be able to pronounce Jazz's. Is there anyone else?"
"Yeah, 'Jack'."
"He's the guy in the horrible orange jumpsuit right? Yeah, I thought so." Paulina said without giving Star a chance to answer, "Well, he seems sort of childish. So his password has to be simple right?"
"Yes!" Star almost yelled, trying to get a word in the conversation, Paulina looked at her strangely,
"Shhh! Don't yell, someone might hear us! Anyways, any ideas? Hey, try 'ghost'."
"No, that's wrong. What about 'Fenton'? No, that's not it either. Hmm…" Star's thoughts wandered back to the pantry and the fudge alarm, 'No, it couldn't be…It's too simp- Yup that's it.' "Wait a minute Paulina, I think I have it." She typed in 'Fudge', when it didn't work she frowned, why else would there be an alarm on the fudge? Sure, the was sure it had been 'ghost', but that didn't work, so… 'What about Ghost Fudge?' She typed it in, and bit her lip, they were ghost hunters.
"Yes! I got it Paulina!" She whispered loudly when the computer said, 'Passowrd Accepted! Welcome Jack!" She turned and high 5'ed Paulina. "We're finally in!" The screen finally loaded, showing a picture of, can you believe it?, more ghosts. The files on the desktop attracted her attention, "Hey Paulina, what do you think 'Fenton Inventions' has in it?"
"How should I know?"
"Hmm. Do you think they've invented something to clean up the goop? I know I don't want to clean it up by hand." Paulina shuddered,
"Me neither. Check."
"Okay. 'Fenton Bazooka', hey Paulina, you were right! 'Fenton Thermos' malfunction. 'Specter Deflector' successful. 'Fenton Boooomerang' Malfunction, who comes up with these names? 'Fenton Weasel' successful. That's it! We need the weasel!" Come on! Let's go find it!"
"Uhhh, Star?" Paulina asked as she was dragged along behind her friend, "Maybe that's not such a good idea-"
"There it is!"
"There what is?
"The weasel! Come on, the sooner this gunk is cleaned up the better!" The 'weasel' looked more like a small vacuum than anything else, but as long as it worked Paulina didn't care. Star aimed it , then told Paulina that she was ready. Paulina flipped the switch on and all hell broke loose. There was a huge sucking sound and everything flew at them. The glass vials and beakers, the slime, and…after it had been sucked in, they flew at the portal. The noise stopped when the weasel attached itself to the portal door, then began expanding at an alarmingly fast rate. Paulina jumped onto it and flicked the 'off' switch. The bag began to deflate and the girls looked at each other.
"Wow…" Star finally breathed out, she then braced herself on the door and pulled hard. With a sucking sound the gadget detached itself from the wall. "Phew! For a moment I thought we were…going…to get caught…Darn." All of the tables had been swept clean. And when they looked at themselves, they were covered in small cuts from the beakers and vials that had hit them.
"Ow!" Paulina cried as she stretched out, "We should have just cleaned it up ourselves. Now they'll definitely know we've been down here!"
"How about we at least sweep up some of the stuff the weasel didn't pick up?"
"Okay. Maybe that's the broom closet." Paulina motioned to a door to their right,
"Sure." Star walked up and twisted the knob, to her surprise a keypad popped up. She looked at Paulina, "Do you want to try the same password?"
"No, even his dad couldn't be that dumb. Maybe someone entered it in the computer."
"I don't think that Jack would do it, I'm surprised he even came up with a password that he can remember. Maybe Maddie?"
"Mayb- hey, do you see something on the door?" Star said squinting, both girls walked over to it and peered at it closely. "It says 'Danny's Keep Out' I thought he slept upstairs…"
"He does. Maybe it's just his room for, uh, videogames? I bet the technogeek convinced him to get one."
"But Paulina! We already tried his account!"
"Hmm…" Paulina looked around the room
"Paulina? What're you looking for?"
"A security camera. It could have picked up Danny typing in the password."
"Oh, what if he's in there?"
"Then I guess he'll be in there. Found it." Paulina pointed up at the ceiling where an inconspicuous little camera was attached. "Come on, the computer probably has the files we want." The two girls went back to the computer and began looking through files. Finally they found it, deciding that it might be better to view something from a few days before, they clicked on the icon for Thursday. After all, two days was enough wasn't it? Star started scrolling down, looking for the file she wanted,
"Thursday, Thursday, Thursday…Ah! Found it! Come on Paulina, let's watch." The screen cleared and started playing the video. Nothing happened. It only showed the lab, a bit messier that when they first walked in, but still the same. "How about we fast forward it?" Paulina nodded her head, after a few minutes she yelled, "Stop! You just passed something! Go back!" Star rewinded at a much slower rate and saw what she had missed. She stopped and pushed play.
'Danny, the goth girl, and the technogeek walked in. Danny and the technogeek started rummaging through the inventions and the goth girl sat down at the computer and opened up a manila folder. Then she turned on the computer and clicked on Danny's icon. The password box opened and she started typing something in,' Paulina and Star squinted, trying to see that it was… 9-27-2004 (this is going to be the day he went into the portal) "Weird…" Paulina muttered… 'Sam logged on and clicked on one of the folders, then one of the subfolders, then one of the subfolders, and etc. It seemed to go on forever until she finally found what she was looking for.
"Geez Danny, why'd you have to make your ghost files so hard to get to?" Danny walked up to her and leaned on the back of the chair,
"You know why Sam. What're you doing in there anyways?"
"Updating your ghost files. Now shoo, you and Tucker are supposed to be collecting the more annoying and successful weapons."
"Fine." Danny sighed loudly and pushed himself off before heading back towards the techno- Er, Tucker. This continued for a long while, then Sam got up and started helping the boys. After what seemed like an eternity, the three of them picked up armfuls of the things they had collected and brought them upstairs and out of view. They heard Tucker start complaining, and then his mutter of, "Unfair! Not all of us have superstrength…" After that everything just faded out, and the screen went black.' Paulina spoke up first,
"Uh, did he just say 'superstrength?'"
"Yeah…"
"Well after this morning, I wouldn't be too surprised if he did."
"Same. Let's try yesterday, he might have gone in there." Star went back to the files and looked for Friday, after a few seconds she smiled triumphantly and played it. She didn't have to fast-forward as much, and sat down to enjoy the show.
A man and a woman in horrible blue and orange jumpsuits walked onto the screen; most likely Jack and Maddie. They started working on some machines and stayed that way for awhile. Finally, Jack held it up triumphantly, and started waving it around. It turned out to be what had sprayed them earlier; Maddie finally got him to stop after a minute or two.
"Come on Jack, let's wait until the kids get home before you end up breaking it or it goes missing. Okay?" came the voice of the woman,
"Okay! Do you have a cookie?"
"Yes, yes, now go up to the kitchen and look in the bread box." The girls shuddered, thinking of what was now in the bread box. The man ran and clomped up the stairs, a few seconds later Maddie walked to the foot of the stairs and yelled up, "And don't eat all of the fudge! You have to leave some for the kids this time!" a muffled, 'Awww!' was heard from above. Maddie continued to tidy up, and after the lab looked a bit neater, she too turned to go upstairs. Star started fast-forwarding, deciding that they wouldn't come down until Danny and/or Jazz got home. At 3:00 p.m. she stopped it, there was no one there. She fast-forwarded it another fifteen minutes, still nothing. Where were Danny and Jazz? After another half an hour (in the video) of fast-forwarding, someone finally came on screen. It was Danny.
"-kay, okay! Be there in a minute Dad!"
"Stop Star, I want to know all of it. Rewind a minute or two." Star looked a little confused at this, but complied.
The door slammed upstairs, and they could hear someone above them clomping around excitedly,
"Hey Danny-boy! How was school? Want to see my new invention?!"
"Uh, sure Dad. In a minute though, I have to do something in the lab."
"But you're going to see the new invention! Why'd you bring your friends?"
"Because they're my friends Dad. I'm going to the lab now."
"No, don't! You'll see the invention!"
"I promise not to look at the invention pile Dad, okay?"
"Okay, but no peeking!"
"Okay, okay Dad. Be there in a minute." A second or two later Danny walked down the stairs and headed straight to the Portal. He gave a wary glance to the invention table and then kept going. As he neared, a hand-print analyzer popped up and he put his hand on it. The portal opened and he opened his bag. Reaching inside he took out a thermos. But it wasn't just any thermos, it was the same as the one Paulina ha used in the kitchen. He pointed in at the now open portal and pressed a button on it. The blue light came out again, but this time instead of sucking something in, it spewed something out. They vaguely made out the shapes of a blob in blue overalls and something metallic before their view was blocked by the veil-like thing.
"And stay out Skulker! It's the fifth time this week, when're you going to give up?"
"Not until I have your pelt on the wall gh…" Paulina and Star looked at each other, 'What had he been trying to say?' Danny rolled his eyes,
"Whatever Skulker." Then he turned around and walked back up the stairs, or at least tried to. Before he could put his foot on the step he had to jump to the side to avoid being stampeded by his Dad. Ironically he landed in front of the door. Jack, who was holding a Fenton Bazooka at the time and wearing some sort of goggles, swung around to see him…and fired. Danny dropped into a crouched position with almost inhuman speed, it was as if he had done this before. Unfortunately, the door didn't have the same luck. The key-pad was blasted point blanch.
"Dad! What is your problem?!"
"Danny?" Jack sounded confused, "But the Fenton Ghost Detector Goggles said there was a ghost there. You're not being overshadowed are you?"
"No Dad." Danny said, getting up and rolling his eyes, then he noticed the lock behind him. "Dad! You blasted my lock!"
"Don't worry Danny! I'm sure it's just fine. Let me see!" jack went over and typed something in, the door opened. "See? I told you!"
"Uh, Dad? How did you know my password?"
"Oh, I just typed in mine! Like Father like Son huh?"
"It was 'Ghost Fudge' wasn't it?"
"Yeah! Why?"
"That's not my password Dad."
"Then how come it opened?"
"'Cause you broke it."
"How do you know?" Danny walked over to the keypad,
"Look Dad, '123'." The door opened, "'ABC'" the door opened again, "You type in anything and it opens. Darn, I'm going to have to replace that lock now…Why'd you come down here anyways?"
"The Ghost Detector said that there was some ghost activities down here…" He pouted, "I guess they're both more flukes." Danny gave his dad a sympathetic glance,
"Sorry Dad." Jack turned and went back up the stairs. The girls almost didn't hear Danny mutter, "Now all I have to do is destroy them so they'll stop going off around me when I'm hu…" Once again, his voice faded out as he went up the stairs.
Paulina and Star slowly exited out of the security camera footage then looked at each other. Now they knew how to get in.
Yes! Finally, an update! I know it's been awhile, but I think the length is enough to make up for that! If I don't get enough reviews, I don't think people like it, and I won't update anymore…SO REVIEW PLEASE!!!
(1) Did any of you ever notice that? From the lab, the ghost zone portal is all swirly and solid, and from the ghost zone it's all swirly and solid...