Later that day, the sky had become gray. In a barren part of the jungle in a barren tree, three ghost vultures wearing red fezzes were just looking around.
"We've been sitting for hours; we could've been halfway to Florida by now."
"Well, what do you wanna do?"
"I don't know what you wanna do?"
"Hey, who's that coming here?"
The three turned to see Danny slowly flying the area, with his head down to the ground.
"What the heck is that?"
"How should I know?"
Danny stopped flying and settled on a large rock, taking a stick and dipping it in and out of the water.
"So, what do you wanna do?"
"I don't know? Hey now don't start that again."
"Come on let's have some fun with this poor sap."
The three flew off and crowded around Danny,
"Not much to look at is he?"
"Eh, what is there look like at on him anyway? He looks like a bag of bones."
"Yeah, broken bones. Not much of anything is he?" With that they all laughed but failed to see the tears running down Danny's cheeks.
"Yeah, go ahead," Danny snapped. "Laugh at me. See if I care!"
"Hey, what's his problem?"
The first vulture with the black sunglasses asked.
"I think we overdid it."
The third vulture with the pointed downward beak said.
"We were only having a bit of fun."
The second vulture said.
"Just look at him," the third vulture said. "He must be down on his luck."
"Yeah," the vulture with the sunglasses said, "otherwise, he wouldn't be in this neck of the jungle."
Feeling sorry, the three vultures flew over, as the lead vulture called out,
"Hey, kid, wait a minute!"
"Well, I hope you're here to apologize," Danny said. "If you're not, then just leave me alone."
"Eh, what's wrong, kid?" The vulture with the pointed downward beak said. "You look like you haven't got a friend in the world."
"No kidding." Danny replied, sadly.
"Well, what about a mother or father?" asked the third vulture.
"No," Danny said. "Nobody wants a freak around them."
"We know how you feel." the first vulture said.
"Nobody wants us around either," the third vulture said.
"We may look shabby." The first vulture said, "but we have hearts."
"And feelings too."
the second vulture added.
"And just to prove it to you," the third vulture added, "we're gonna let you join our little group."
"You can be an honorary vulture."
The first vulture said.
"Thanks for the offer, but I think I'd be better off alone."
He walked away from them and the vulture with the sunglasses said, "C'mon, kid, everybody's got to have friends. Hey, boys, are we his friends?"
The three all stood in a line and began to sing like a barbershop quartet.
We're your friends
We're your friends
We're your friends to the bitter end
The bitter end
When you're alone
When you're alone
The three vultures walked over to Danny, who was sitting on a rock, and tried to cheer him up.
Who comes around
Who comes around
To pluck you up
To pluck you up
"Come on, perk up kid!" The second vulture said, as the other's picked him up.
When you are down
When you are down
And when you're
All Three: Outside looking in,
Who's there to open the door?
That's what friends are for!
"Come on kid, we need a tenor!"
All three: Who's always eager to extend a friendly wing?
Danny smiled as they all offered their wings and he eagerly shook them. Maybe he could have friends after all, even if he was a halfa.
All three: That's what friends are for!
The vultures started dancing and Danny grinned and joined in by clapping his hands.
And when you're lost, in dire need,
Who's at your side at lightning speed?
As they were singing, they failed to realize that Skulker was nearby. Hearing the singing, he stopped and turned to see Danny dancing with the vultures.
We're friends with every creature coming down the pike
In fact we've never met an animal we didn't like!
The first vulture chuckled and said, "You take it, kid."
Danny: (joining in with the three) Didn't like!
The vultures balance on top of each other: So you can see
Can see
We're friends
We're friends
We're friends in need
Friends in need
And friends indeed
Friends indeed!
The first vulture started to stagger a little, as he said,
"Hey, take it easy, steady,
steady."
"W-W-Watch it!"
Forevermore!
B-Bore
Skulker smirked and decided to make his presence known, as he joined in.
Skulker: That's what friends
Everybody stopped their merrymaking and looked horrified when they saw Skulker, as he finished.
Skulker: Are for
The vultures fell on the ground, before they all hid behind Danny.
Skulker began clapping, as he said,
"Bravo, bravo! An extraordinary performance."
He then approached Danny, as he added,
"And thank you for detaining my victim."
"Uh, d-don't mention it," The vulture with the sunglasses said, with a gulp, "h-h-hunter."
Skulker chuckled and said, "Boo!"
The vultures freaked out and flew away, "Let's get outta here!"
"Gimme room, gangway!" they hid inside of a tree and they said, "Run, kid! Run!"
"Run?" Danny said. "Why should I run?"
Skulker looked surprised, but looked amused, as he said,
"Why should you run? Don't you not know who I am child?"
"I know who you are," Danny said. "You're Skulker."
"Exactly," Skulker said. "Then, you should also know that everyone runs from the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter."
"You don't scare me," Danny said, not even realizing that he was digging his own grave. "I don't run from anyone."
"Well, don't you have spirit for a runt," Skulker said with a creepy happy looking grin. "And such spirit like yours is deserving of a sporting chance. Now, I am going to close my eyes and count to 10. It makes the chase more interesting. For me that is."
He turned away and began to count,
"1, 2, 3."
Danny began to walk, as Skulker continued, "4…"
Skulker chanced a look and saw Danny getting into fighting position,
"You're trying my patience," Skulker said impatient.
Tucker and Clockwork arrived, just as Skulker finished,
"5-6-7-8-9-10!"
He lunged towards Danny with a wave of his glowing green blade, only Danny jumped aside and flung him over his shoulder. He had enough of this guy hunting him and he was not going to give the hunter the satisfaction. He shot a net at Danny which got him dead on,
"Pity. I was hoping you would put up more of a fight,"
"Oh, don't worry," Danny said as he broke out of the net like it was plastic, "I will."
Danny flew forward and punched Skulker right in the face, throwing him back into the tree. The ghost gave off a predatory grin and started to activate his laser cannon. Clockwork used his staff to shoot out more of his blue energy, throwing Skulker a ways away from Danny.
"Clockwork!"
"Leave the boy be Skulker."
"No. Not till I have his pelt resting at the foot of my bed."
"First 'eww' and second: not gonna happen."
Tucker came in and tried to fight him, only to be thrown aside like a rag doll.
"You dare try to attack me, human! Well, once I'm finished with the ghost child you can be my first human trophy."
Danny felt a big surge of anger run through him. He got up and hit Skulker in the face with a strong blast and accompanied that with other fight moves Clockwork had taught him as he yelled,
"Get away from him Bonehead!"
"Let him have it, kid!" the vultures started cheering him on.
"Hit him!"
Tucker yelled,
"Somebody do something with Danny!"
"Come on, guys!"
The vultures flew over and lifted Danny off of the ground. Tucker got blown back by Clockwork and they turned to see Skulker looking down on them menacingly,
"I'll kill you for this!"
Danny saw what was happening and said,
"Let go! They need help!"
Suddenly, a lightning bolt hid a dead tree, setting it on fire and the four landed.
"Fire! That's the only thing tin can there is afraid of!"
"Get the fire, we'll do the rest!"
Danny ran to the tree and grabbed a burning branch. Meanwhile, Skulker knocked Clockwork out and was about to slay Tucker until the vultures flew towards Skulker.
"CHARGE!" They yelled, as they began flying around Skulker, who began shooting at them. "Punch and blow!"
"Stay out of this, you mangy fools!"
Skulker said, as he shot at them.
"Yeah, yeah, missed by a mile he did!"
As they were distracting Skulker, Danny ran up behind Skulker with the burning branch, only Skulker swiped at him in the chest, losing the branch as it went right into the waterhole. Skulker saw the PDA and looked down at the similar model on his arm in awe,
"This technology…I wonder.."
He ripped out the old model and placed Tucker's PDA on his arm. Green wires erupted out and attached themselves to his body armor.
"Hey, I have three more payments on that!"
Tucker said seeing the ghost with his PDA. Skulker blasted him away. Danny flew straight for him, but Skulker shot out some anti-ghost handcuffs to both Danny's wrists and his ankles. He flew right at the tree with a hard bang, sliding down the trunk.
"Oh brilliant Tucker. Your PDA has made the bad guy more bad."
Clockwork said drolly.
"How was I to know my PDA was ghost compatible?" Tuck replied.
Clockwork shot blue energy at the cuffs and Danny was free. Danny sent an ecto-blast which Skulker blocked, but failed to see Clockwork come at him with amazing force as he rammed his body into the ghosts and he was thrown back a ways. Danny looked around and he saw another of Tucker's PDAs. He grabbed the tiny machine and saw the screen light up.
"Tucker how do you work this thing?"
Tucker saw Danny holding his PDA. He got up to his feet and ran over,
"Distract him and I'll handle this."
Danny went and punched Skulker in the face. The ghost narrowed his eyes to slits as well as Danny and the two began to fight to the death. Tucker fumbled with his PDA. Danny nearly got nicked with a knife as he stumbled back and landed flat on his back. Skulker grabbed the neck of his shirt and brought him up to his face,
"Time to meet your end ghost child."
A ringing brought him out of his thoughts and saw,
"Go to the library and look up the eating habits of a purple back gorilla?"
Wings popped out of Skulker's back and he was force-flying away.
"You ok, Danny?"
Tucker extended a hand to help him up, Danny happily took it and was on his feet.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome…"
Tucker looked ashamed. He sighed and said,
"Danny…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say what I said. You're not a freak , Danny. You're my best friend and the only one I've really ever had. I was just scared at the thought of losing you to Skulker that I didn't think."
Danny smiled and nodded his head,
"I understand. I didn't want to leave the Ghost Zone because I was afraid if people knew what I am they would try to kill me."
"There may be people that don't understand, but once they get to know you, they will accept you for you."
Danny and Tucker embraced in a brotherly hug. Clockwork was smiling proudly.
"You sure you're ok?"
Danny asked.
"Who, me?" Tucker said. "Sure I am. I never felt…" He got up, but staggered a little, as he said, "Better."
"You sure had us worried," Danny said.
"Ahh, I'm fine," Tucker said, as he, Danny, and Clockwork began to walk away. "He was too easy anyway."
The vultures smiled, as they watched Danny leave,
"Gonna be boring again now that he's gone."
"Yeah…so what we gonna do?"
"I don't know? Hey now don't start that again."