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Edward stared at the stretch of snow around him with dismay. Danny was thinking the same thing, only he knew where they were going.
"Remind me again why we're taking the rural rout?" Edward said, shaking the snow from his bad leg as it clung to him like sticky candy to clothing.
"Because, if we pass through the heart of the Ghost Zone, every ghost here is going to want one of two things," Danny explained. "One, they'll want to kill me, or two, they'll want to kill you."
"Right," Edward sighed, "and the reason why we don't have any transportation is?"
"Because I know where we can get one, but it's far out," Danny said. "Long time ago, I kind of crashed one of my parents' inventions down here. If I can make it run, we can be at Clockwork's in no time."
"If you can make it work?" those words didn't sound very uplifting to the vampire.
"Relax, if I can't, I can call on a friend for help," Danny tapped his temple as he turned to face Edward who was trudging behind him. "I'm not as stupid as you think I am."
"Then, in my perspective, your IQ has just been raised from a rock, to a tree."
"Glad to see you're loosening up," Danny said dryly while rolling his eyes. "You know, all of that negative energy is just inviting trouble."
"Negative energy," Edward mumbled under his breath mockingly. "You don't look very Asian to me."
"Actually, my mom is very Irish, her parents still live on the homeland, and my dad's side is one-hundred percent—um—boisterous. The Fentons pretty much take up residence anywhere there is good Bar-BQ, fudge, and a haunted house."
Edward had to stop himself from planting his palm into his face. Danny just couldn't take anything seriously; he now saw it as an impossibility. Danny picked up Edward's mood fairly quickly and looked over his shoulder at his somewhat reluctant companion.
"Sorry," the ghost apologized, "but, your mood is really bringing me down. Since I mostly suck up positive energy, and you're the only source around here to feed from, it's like you're making me starve. You don't have to be Mr. Doom and Gloom you know."
"I'm being reasonable!" Edward shouted, throwing his hands in the air in frustration. "I'm stuck in a different dimension away from my family, on top of that, this world is filled with transparent freaks who would love to suck me dry—and that's my job!"
"Ah! So you're feeling irony," Danny chuckled. "And so the hunter becomes the huntie. Must put some things in perspective for you huh?"
"Well, I'm never going to tease Bella about this again—that's for sure," Edward admitted. "I really don't find this amusing any more—I never did in the first place but now I really don't see the humor in it."
"I really understand," Danny said blandly, slowing down to walk side by side with Edward, "my parents are professional ghost hunters, and do you know who was number one on their enemies list?"
Edward's eyes widened as he stared at Danny incredulously.
"Your own parents hunted you?"
"They didn't know it was me," the ghost defended his parents quickly. "In all fairness, I took so many precautions to make sure they didn't find out about me. By the time I was ready to tell them, so many people were ready to hunt me and find out my secrets. It would just be safer for them to never find out."
"So, why are you not with them?" Edward asked, curious.
"That is a different story," Danny's lips had become very thin and his face masked into a look that was shocking to see on him—pain and anger. "I would appreciate it if you didn't ask."
Edward only nodded. He was so close to uncovering Danny's secrets, but it was no plain that the reason why Danny was now in this predicament with him was because his past was painful and he was trying to run from it. Edward knew from experience that running away from your troubles didn't help solve them. Of course he couldn't tell Danny that—trying to give the Halfa advice was like trying to make a cat take a bath—you could do it, but with great difficulty.
"There it is!" Danny shouted, pointing to a lump in the flat distance.
Danny ran over to it and Edward caught up with him to the best of his ability. His leg was good enough to walk on, but he was reduced to a hobble. He hated being confined like this, he felt completely useless!
When he caught up to Danny, the young ghost was trying to clean off a very ridiculous looking vehicle. Edward didn't miss the giant F on the side and the obviousness that it was built by crazy scientists.
"It's called the Spector Speeder," Danny explained when he caught Edward staring at it in dismay.
"Spector Speeder?"
"My dad named it," Danny winced. "Trust me, it's better than the Booooomerang, or the Fenton Ghost Weasel, or the Spector Deflector, or the Fenton Ghost Phones—actually, those came in really handy—"
"You're blathering again," Edward cut in, rolling his eyes.
"Right," Danny had the grace to look abashed and look down at his feet. "Well, I better get to work."
For the next few hours, Danny mumbled to himself and clanked around the crazy machine. One minute he would be under it, attaching some wire, then he would be on top of it, checking some gears or inside it throwing a switch. The whole process looked very complicated, Edward doubted that Rosalie could have kept up with the Halfa.
"How did you learn about this type of thing?" Edward asked, sitting down on a rock nearby and watching Danny work—it was the only thing to do in a frozen wasteland.
"Well, ghost hunting is a family business," Danny explained as he used his ghost powers to fuse a plate to the bottom of the speeder. "My parents wanted to make sure I would know everything I needed to about hunting ghosts. Naturally, I didn't want to know before I got ghost powers and when I got them, I wanted to stay as far away from the lab as possible, but, the knowledge helped in the end. After all, we'd still be trapped if I didn't know how to fix this hunk of junk. I'd rather have the modified one—but no, Jazz just had to ruin my fun."
"Who's Jazz?" Edward asked, never hearing the name before.
Danny hesitated, stopping in what he was doing as if confused and lost his concentration.
"No one important," Danny mumbled again and it was left at that.
It was a few more minutes before Danny tried to start the speeder again.
"Please work," he prayed quietly before pressing a few buttons.
The engine whirred silently for a moment, then the whole tub lifted from the ground and hovered right above the snow. Danny whooped from inside and gestured for Edward to join him.
"We are back in business," Danny cheered as Edward strapped himself in.
"You do know how to drive this thing right?" Edward asked, looking skeptical at all of the buttons and switches.
"No prob—we just need to disengage the—"
A giant inflatable likeness of a huge man in orange garb suddenly popped up in the driver's seat, right in Danny's lab and squishing the Halfa to the back of the chair. He phased through it to save himself suffocation by plastic.
"Hello everyone! This is your automated Jack Fenton pilot speaking. Remember, stay seated, buckle up, and pass the fudge!"
"Auto pilot," Danny finished his sentence lamely.
Edward saw a switch that said 'disengage Jack pilot', so he threw it and the thing began to deflate and slink back into the dash of the speeder.
"Thanks," Danny said and took control of the vehicle. "Now all we have to do is pass the Gorge of Eternal Pain, hook a right at Pariah's Castle, and avoid the Whirl Pool of Endless Nightmares and Pain."
"You're kidding right?" Edward asked, looking pale.
"Who's kidding?" Danny looked a little more serious than before as he guided the speeder away from the Far Frozen.