-Previously-

"I think we need to find Skulker and get him to talk."

…

"He's not invincible you know! Just because he's done this hero thing doesn't mean he's any harder to kill than you or me!"

…

"No. You guys weren't there to see this guy. He's strong… it's in the eyes… just trust me on this one,"

…

Danny tensed, swinging into battle position just as a net wrapped itself around him, tangling him in the air and sending him flying back.

"Tuck! Do something!"

That's when they realized Danny and his net had disappeared too. Whoever had Danny was now gone.

…

"Is there anything else we can do?"

"Not in here. The Fenton's didn't really make this for tracking ghosts,"

…

"Let's get out of here."

"But—"

"We're not doing anything except endangering ourselves by staying here!"

He turned the Speeder around, and started back towards the portal. Sam didn't argue, but she once again fought back an anxiety attack that was threatening to take over

---

Assassin

---

Danny hit the ground hard, flipping over himself several times before skidding to a halt. He didn't hear the clattering of his Fenton phone as it hit the floor. He gritted his teeth, waiting a few seconds to make sure he could still move. As soon as he realized nothing was broken, he became aware that he was still hopelessly tangled in the net.

Finally his captor made himself visible and landed on the ground in front of him, a metal clang echoing throughout the room.

"Have you gone completely insane?!" The familiar voice cried, annoyed. All Danny could see was the metal combat boots, but he already knew he had got what they came to the Ghost Zone for.

Danny felt the net phase away from his body, and suddenly his limbs were free again. He slowly sat up and slid his aching body over to a wall he could lean against. The poison, having been activated by the electricity was causing him to gasp painfully, and he was pretty sure he broke some of his stitches during the fall. Sure enough, she saw a dark stain on his black uniform spreading. He cursed.

"He got you pretty good didn't he?" Skulker said, examining the halfa in front of him gravely.

"Have you ever heard of a nonviolent discussion before?" Danny asked irritably. "Sam and Tuck are probably flipping out right now," he exclaimed looking around the room for his Fenton phone, finally realizing it had fallen out of his ear.

"I had to get you away from them. Everything I am about to say is confidential. If it get out in the Ghost Zone that I'm helping you, we'll both be dead."

Danny ignored him. "If you tell me, I tell Sam and Tuck." He looked up at Skulker, finally, and realized he had no idea where they were. They were in a huge rather sophisticated lab, with several beakers and Petri dishes strewn about with different contents, and a heavy aroma of gas. "Where are we?"

"I'm not sure," Skulker said, as Danny looked around. He looked at the wall he was leaning against, and was surprised to spot his earpiece only a few feet away. It looked like it had been smashed from the fall. Danny groaned, reaching over and picking it up. Some of the plastic was cracked, showing the frayed wires underneath.

"We could be anywhere, really," Skulker continued, oblivious to Danny's findings. "I just kind of dived into a door and this is where we ended up," he eyed what looked like a warning poster on the wall that wasn't English. "We might be in Russia."

"Russia!" Danny yelped. "How are we going to get back?!"

Skulker pointed to a swirling green vortex in the wall next to them. "That'll stay open as long as we're here."

Danny looked over at the swirling portal for a moment, before a thought struck him. He looked back up at Skulker. "Why did you bring me here?" He asked. Skulker couldn't have known they were looking for him.

"Because you obviously don't know when you're in danger," he shot back, crossing his arms.

"What are you tal—" Danny started, his eyebrows creasing, but Skulker cut him off.

"What were you thinking going in to the Ghost Zone? Do you have some sort of death wish?!" Skulker asked incredulously.

"No," Danny replied calmly, "I was coming to find you. I wanted to know why you saved me."

At first Skulker didn't seem to hear him and started, "You could have been—" but then what Danny said sunk in, and it seemed to completely knock him off balance. "Save- save you?" His robotic mouth worked to form words. "What makes you think that?" He cried.

"Well, that ghost was about to kill me and then you threw him out of the room," Danny said slowly. "So you saved me."

Skulker looked like he is in an awkward stage somewhere between defiance and embarrassment. "Well- I… I… is that it?" Skulker asked, giving into embarrassment and rubbing the back of his neck.

Danny looked at him strangely. "What?"

"Never mind," Skulker exhaled- something Danny knew he didn't need to do anymore, but it still seemed to help him relax. "I didn't think you would remember that."

Danny didn't say anything, but just examined the ghost in front of him for the first time. He looked tired. "Why?" He finally asked.

"Why did I save you?" Skulker repeated, buying himself time.

"Why did you risk your neck when you're one of the ones that wants me dead?" Danny shot back. Of course he would get down to the mystery ghost, but this question bugged him. There are a million reasons why a ghost wanted to kill him, but why would Skulker save him?

"Well… I can't have some other ghost barge in and kill my prey in one shot. That would stain my honor!" Skulker exclaimed, but it still didn't feel right.

"Then why haven't you killed me yet? Here I am, at your mercy! Why are you hesitating?" Danny questioned.

Skulker grunted, "don't tempt me," but then said, "there would be no honor in that. Another hunter has already wounded you. It would be like I was stealing his prize."

Danny shivered, "so wrong." He shook his head, but Skulker ignored him. "Then why haven't any of the other ghosts stepped in? They want to kill me as much as you do," Danny said suspiciously.

Skulker shifted uncomfortably, "I guess they're afraid."

"Afraid? Of me?" Danny asked stupidly.

"Not of you, dimwit! Of Assassin!"

---

Almost to the portal, Sam pulled up the map of the Ghost Zone one last time, searching desperately for any dots out of place. "This doesn't feel right… we can't just leave!" Sam exclaimed after a long silence.

"But what else can we do?" Tucker asked, exasperated. "Danny's the ghost fighter… hanging the Ghost Zone without him is suicide!"

Something flared in Sam. "We're ghost fighters too Tuck! We've handled ghosts on our own plenty of times!"

"But this is the Ghost Zone, Sam!" Tucker said. "Dude, if I ever let anything happen to you, Danny would kill me."

Sam snapped. "Is this because I'm the girl?!" She yelled.

Tucker looked over at her, not understanding. "… What?"

"Do you 'men' feel the need to protect me?! I'm not some sort of damsel in distress here! I've saved your butt dozens of times!" Sam howled.

Tucker's face froze as she said this. "Oh! T-that's not what I meant-" He quickly babbled, realizing he had awoken Sam's feministic side, but she cut him off.

"That's it. Give me the wheel," Sam demanded, pushing Tucker to the corner and grabbing the handles.

Tucker, smooched between the window and the seat, asked, "what are you doing?"

"There's a dot on Skulker's Island. We're going to go talk to him," Sam stated as if it was a fact.

"Talk to him?" Tucker repeated, disbelievingly, while crawling behind Sam to get to the passengers seat. "What if he doesn't want to 'talk'?" Tucker asked, buckling his seatbelt.

"Then we'll fight," Sam growled, her eyes looking determinedly ahead.

"And how exactly are we supposed to beat a ghost as powerful as Skulker without Danny?" Tucker asked, eyes wide and still unconvinced.

"The Fenton's are the best ghost hunters in the world, and this is considered one of their best inventions. I'm sure we can figure out a few tricks," Sam replied, monotone.

Tucker was speechless, so Sam continued. "I'm not going to leave Danny in here without getting some information first."

"It's like a vicious cycle!" Tucker exclaimed, laughing to himself.

Sam looked at him from the corner of her eye. "What's like a vicious cycle?"

"If anything happened to you, Danny would kill me, and if anything happens to him, you kill me!"

"We're not going to die, Tuck," Sam said, rolling her eyes and missing the point entirely.

"Why don't you two just get together already?!" Tucker groaned, sinking into his seat.

Too busy arguing, they did not see the red eyes tracking their progress to the island.

---

"Assassin?" Danny repeated. "Who's that?" Skulker just looked down at the bloodstain still spreading on Danny's suit, and Danny understood. "The guy that's trying to assassinate me is actually named Assassin?" He asked incredulously.

"Nobody knows his real name," Skulker said gravely, but his voice cracked.

Danny didn't miss it. He looked up at him, not sure what to make of it. "But you're not scared of him?" He asked slowly.

Skulker shifted nervously. "I… I… well, I mean of course! He's the biggest threat to the Ghost Zone since Pariah Dark!" He exclaimed.

"But you still risked your own neck against him to save me?" Danny asked, realizing this was staring to go in circles. He couldn't help but getting sarcastic. "I'm touched."

His enemy groaned in frustration. "I didn't save you because I like you, whelp!" Skulker growled. "I saved you because I think you're the only one who can defeat him!"

Now it was Danny's turn to be knocked off balance. "What? Me?! But he's nearly killed me three times before I've even seen him!" Danny reminded.

"Well you have a better chance than the rest of-" but a sudden beeping from his arm cut him off. He looked down and his form went ridged.

"Sorry… I need to take this." Skulker flipped open a latch on his arm, and a green light reflected up onto his face. Danny watched as his eyes flicked back and forth. He was reading a message.

It was when Skulker's expression went from stony to confused, and then to a look of horror before going back to a forced stony again. He looked up at Danny so briefly that Danny thought he might have imagined it. Then his fingers started flying across a keyboard under the screen.

"What does it say?" Danny asked finally.

Skulker didn't reply at first, but flicked the metal flap close sharply, and looked up at him, meeting his eye line only briefly before looking at the wall behind him. "It was nothing. Just a friend."

Danny shook his head in amazement. "You have friends? I would have never seen that one coming."

Skulker didn't even send Danny his usual scowl. Danny took note of his face carefully. Whoever had called his wasn't his friend.

"What did he want?" Danny asked carefully.

Skulker looked at him suspiciously. "None of your business whelp." Danny's eyebrows fell into a confused crease. Skulker was defensive… never a good sign. Skulker seemed to read his train of thought, because he sighed and then quickly said, "He wanted to go hunting. I told him I was busy. That's all."

Still, as the echoes of his voice died, something still didn't feel right, and Danny started to get an uneasy feeling in his gut.

---

"I don't want to talk about that right now," Sam mumbled, furious at herself for blushing at a time like this. "We're getting close to the island. We have to be on guard."

Tucker sighed. "You're right. But it would just be easier to deal with you two if you at least admitted that you liked each other," he commented with a little annoyance in his voice. "It's hard being monkey in the middle between you two."

"Not now Tuck," she growled between her teeth, still refusing to look at him. She leaned over the steering while as the island approached.

There was a speck in front of her. She blinked. She swore it wasn't there before. She tried to figure out what it was. Floating debris? They were still to far away to tell. It could even be Danny for all she could tell. "Hey Tuck…" she trailed off. Just then, it got into sensor range. Alarms started going off, and several screens popped up, and Sam had to squint through them to see ahead. Tucker sorted through all of them and as his eyes flicked across one page, his face went white.

"Sam! This guy's power is off the charts-"

Sam mouth went dry. She looked back towards the dot, but it was gone. "He's gone!" She exclaimed.

Tucker started pulling up another screen, crying "Where'd he—" but then it felt like they hit a wall. They went from going god knows how fast to zero in less than a second. The Speeder was jerked back with such force that Sam and Tucker felt like they were in a car accident. They weren't even able to scream. With a wet crack, Sam hit her head against the steering wheel while Tucker's seatbelt cut into his flesh.

Sam's world was black, speckled with red, and it felt like she could only see through a pinhole. She was looking out the driver side window, her body pressed against the seat. She didn't dare move her head. It felt like it had been split open by an axe. She groaned, pain forking through her in time with her heart.

She felt a tear trickling down her cheek. Gasping in agonizing breaths, she raised her hand and touched it lightly. When she drew it back, it was covered in red. "Sam!" Tucker cried from out of her vision, but then, with a sickening crack, they were hit again.

---

Danny watched Skulker get more and more uncomfortable, noticing how he wouldn't even meet his eye line at all any more. "Why do you think I'm the only one that can stop him? Aren't there plenty of ghost out there that are more powerful than me?"

"Of course there are, but they don't like to get directly involved with these kind of things. In fact, if Assassin is successful, a few might ally themselves with him." Skulker said solemnly.

"What do you mean by successful?" Danny asked slowly, as if afraid where this was going, starting to fiddle with the earpiece in his hand subconsciously.

"I… well…" he hesitated, seeming like he didn't want to talk about it, but then remembered the kind of favor he was asking of Danny. "He wants to establish another monarchy in the Ghost Zone, like how it was back in old days. And he wants to be the king of it…"

"So why should I care?" Danny asked, twirling the earpiece between his fingers.

"Don't you see?! He thinks that if he defeats you, the one who defeated the last ghost king, that he will be the new ruler! And he's right!"

"And how am I supposed to stop him?!" Danny asked, exasperated. "I destroyed the Ecto-suite after took control of Jazz, and that was the only thing that could give me the power to defeat Pariah Dark! And it nearly killed me! You have to remember that I'm still alive!" Danny cried.

"This is your advantage." Skulker said, and pressed a button on his chest. A compartment opened on his shoulder, and he pulled out something very familiar. Danny felt his jaw drop.

"How did you get one of those?!"

---

Sam knew she wasn't in a good condition. Her nerves screamed in protest, but she forced her head to turn back front, to see what was going on. With glazed eyes, Sam noted dully that there was a figure in front of them, a ghost, and it appeared like he was trying to break the windshield. Tucker reached forward, about to press a button, but then with the distinct sound of shattering, glass was everywhere.

Sam barely noted the pricks of pain, nearly unconscious. Tucker cried out next to her, but she didn't care. She just wanted to sleep.

Tucker wasn't in great shape himself. He was pretty sure he had whiplash from the initial attack, and now he had multiple new cuts from the windshield breaking in. His arm was the worst. His yellow shirt was so torn and stained it was nearly unrecognizable. Sam seemed to have missed the worst of the glass, but there was a gash on her head from where she hit the steering wheel. She didn't look good, but he couldn't worry about her now.

Tucker was realizing all of this in a millisecond, meanwhile seizing up the ghost, smiling sickly in front of him. Tucker knew if he didn't do something, both him and Sam were going to die. Using his good arm, he lashed out for a promising looking button again. With a satisfying hiss, a missile shot out at the ghost. However, the ghost's sharpened teeth merely smiled at him. Knowing that Tucker was watching, he pushed a small coat of arms on his plated chest. A huge ghost ray fired from it, deflecting the missile back at them.

Tucker watched in horror as the missile came charging back towards the Speeder. There was nothing he could do. He ducked, like how they had always showed in airplane safety demonstrations.

Sam wasn't aware of the missile charging towards them, but she knew she was only seconds from going unconscious. The darkness was wrapping around her like a warm blanket, numbing all of the pain.

She knew Danny was their only hope to get them out of this, and she worked to form his name on her lips, in one last desperate plea. She wasn't sure if she had even gotten it out or not, because just then there was a blinding flash and a wave of excruciating heat, and she knew no more.

---

TBC…

Okay. I thought last update my life was hectic, with my friend going to the hospital once, but for this update… Well let me think.

Times that by… *thinking* six, with me being always the one holding her and calling for help each time, while my friend was having a mixture of seizures, panic attacks, and fainting spells. She's finally gotten better though, but she had to leave school on "medical leave." Then one girl in my dorm nearly cut off her finger right next to me and later fainted with blood loss, so that was fun. Umm… Junior year exams were ROUGH, and… my mom's boyfriend finally proposed!!! That was today actually. SQUEE!!!

So now it's finally SUMMER! YESSSSS! I'm just so… happy! *cries tears of joy*

Oh yeah! Sorry for the long "previously," but I felt it was necessary since it's been so long since I last updated.

Thank you for all the reviews!!! I actually have a lot of time to reply to all of your reviews, but I have a new book idea that I am furiously typing, so I'm going to get back to that. But thank you thank you thank you! It's you guys that keep me going!

Please Review!