Modern Day Ghost Girl

by MemoryWriter

Sam's daughter, Wendy Manson never knew her dad, so when she discovers her ghost powers, a ghost named Danny Phantom tells her she has one year to master her abilities before the ultimate evil arrives, not to mention her developing feelings for her ex-bestfriend Shane.

14. CyberDatePt3

Hi everyone!

Finally updated. I was finally able to finish spellchecking and revising all this! I swear I think it takes longer to do that than write the whole freaking chapter.

Nonetheless, I am content. Especially since it's so long. I meant to divide it into 2 chapters but then I went... eh, too much work. Besides, personally I like to read long chapters of fanfics soooo... perks for everyone who likes it that way too!

Another reason i updated today was because of the upcoming storm or, something. Being me, the boxed up nerd whho stays in her room all day on notebooks without TV hasn't heard, until now, that we're having a hurricane... and I felt so slow for not even BEING TOLD ABOUT IT BY ANYBODY : The nerve of my mom to not even tell me.

Then again I was late on the earthquake too... Few days ago I was at my friend's house. She was doing a k-pop dance cover and when the house started to shake I thought t was her fault... hehe were we wrong.

Well, hopefully everyone will be okay over the weekend! For those of you living near my area, BE CAREFUL TOO! Honestly, like I said, I just heard about the hurricane so I have no idea how serious it might or may not be (hopefully not). Plus, I finally have the motivation to learn how to use my TV so I can watch the news. Anyway, GOOD NIGHT!

x-x-x-x

With a mysterious new game out, Wendy must take it upon herself to solve Danny's new cryptic test involving 'technology'. Meanwhile, Wendy's cover story with her mom on ghost training is starting to fall, so now she must compete in soccer game with Crissy, Shane's girlfriend, while not being on the soccer team at all.

---

"Um, hey Mr. Folly...!" I greeted awkwardly with a confident tone and grin. Shane forced a smile too, but he only ended up looking unsure.

The man standing in front of us (coughcoughTHEMAYORcoughcough) looked unconvinced. "Do I know you kids? You look familiar."

No matter how okay I am with Nett's dad being the mayor of Amity Park, as a teen skipping school you can't help but feel a little... edgy. "It's Wendy, Wendy Manson?"

"Ah, that's it. You're Sam's kid," he smiled approvingly. "You know you really look like Sam it's scary."

"So I've been told," I said, almost sadly.

It was then he eyed Shane, and I felt myself tense up a bit. Now what was he gonna say? "Awww, don't tell me he's your boyfriend."

My face blanked as I felt Shane jump behind me. "Um... no Mr. Folly he's just another friend," I covered, feeling my tongue dry up at the mention of Shane being my boyfriend, despite our somewhat good terms.

Mayor Folly only ended up laughing. I didn't quite see the amusement in it, though. "Hahahaha! Man, you really are just like Sam- wait don't you guys have school?"

"Uh-"

"It's a day off," Shane said monotone, keeping his cool a lot easier than I was apparently. "Is Nett home?"

"Actually, yeah, he is," Mr. Folly said, almost as unsure as I looked. "He hasn't come out of his room since yesterday when he came home with this game. Must've pulled an all nighter or something so I let him stay home."

"You let him skip s-"

"Do you mind if we see him?" Shane interjected, coming up beside me and hitting my back in a manner that Mayor Tucker Folly failed to notice.

"It'd help if you can manage to get him out of his room. Come in." Finally getting passed the door after that long winded introduction, we came into a similar structure as my own home. It was somewhat bigger though, but that's to be expected of the Mayor's house. I saw a staircase and a door upstairs with a distant sign saying: NETT'S ROOM.

"Nett's just upstairs," Mr. Folly told us. "Just go on upstairs and see if you can get in. You guys thirsty or anything?"

"No we're good," I assured.

"I'll be in my study if you need me." And with a final smile he left for another room of the rather fancy house. But once Nett's dad was gone, Shane and I didn't hesitate to race up the stairs.

The wooden door appeared locked as Shane tried to push it open. He began to bang on it with a heavy fist. "Folly open up!" There was no response, worrying me and somewhat frustrating Shane. He gave one more bang to the door. "I said open up you nerd!"

"Oh quit it! We're in his house." Pushing him out of the way, I tried to turn the knob, even though I already knew it wouldn't open. Skipping to my second idea, I bent down to the doorknob, seeing a small hole. With a smirk I took out a small pin from my pocket and began picking at it with not as much concentration as I should have had.

I felt Shane hover beside me, starring rediculously at my work. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"What? It's realistic." I finally felt a click from the other end of the pin and I managed to push the door slightly open. "See?"

Jumping back to my feet we stormed into the room, finding it dimly lit. The room was a mess practically, but what got much of our attention were the multiple monitors on the left side of the dark room, all hooked up to some... thing I didn't even know what it was.

I held my mouth open. "Um... wow..."

"He is so getting teased for this later," Shane mentioned, only for me to finally remember we were looking for Nett. On my right I found him sitting on the floor in front of a rather regular sized Tv, also on the floor next to a high-tech gaming console. He was sitting there, just burning his eyes into the screen.

With slight hesitation Shane and I walked over to him. Nett was wearing strange futuristic-looking glasses/goggles of some sort along with a helmet over his head that must have come along with the game. Nett's body barely moved, let alone noticed us come inside the room at all.

I bent to my knee. "Hello? Earth to freaky genius?" I called, going around to his front and waving a hand in front of his face. "And he said he wasn't a game-freak." I studied his face. Was that... drool? "Um, Shane he looks kind of dead!" I called over.

Shane picked up the cover of the game Nett supposedly bought, what was it, MirrorFade Dementions or something? Shane inspected the front and back of it, looking for anything suspicious. "Well, looks like he's playing the game," he said, not finding the disc inside the case.

Turning around and moving out of the way of the Tv, I found a giant format on screen. Nett's fingers on the control appeared to move and the screen averted to a menu, a keyboard or something.

"O...kay what's he doing?" I asked, stepping back a bit. Even for ghost-related things this was a bit weird.

"He's typing something for us, Einstein," Shane told an unusually cowardice me. "nett... sucked in game... ghost... get help...Alright that kind of explains it."

"Ah now I get it! The kids who buy the game automatically get sucked into it and get trapped in the game!" I slowly realized, earning an obvious stare from Shane. "What? I'm slow. Anyway now that we know it's a ghost I need to go beat it up."

"By doing what, dare I ask?"

I took off Net's helmet and goggles. "I'm going into the game, duh."

"Whoa not so fast," he warned, grabbing hold of my arm. "You wanna get stuck in the game too without a plan? Just because we finally have evidence it's a ghost behind this doesn't mean we're going to win against it. We don't even know who it is."

"Like that's supposed to matter." I marched over to the door, closing it and locking it. "We know it's a bad guy, and us as the good guys are supposed to beat up the bad guy, get it?"

Shane groaned in frustration, running his hands through his shaggy hair. "See, this is why you need me around. You don't think straight." I frowned at him as I began to move various pieces of furniture against the door for a safer measure. "Just be patient until we're sure about this."

"Well what am I supposed to do now? Get help like Nett said? We are the help!"

Shane stared for a long while before giving in with a sigh. "Fine. We're both going into the game."

I arched an eyebrow as I leaned my body-weight against a table being pushed forward. "Say what?"

"Well it's better than you going alone." He then began to help me barricade the room by sealing off the curtains. "There's no telling what happened to Nett when he went in there. It's too risky to go solo on this."

"How protective of you," I frowned with sarcasm. "Fine then, whatever makes you feel better. Just hurry up already."

With the barricaded door finished, I placed the goggles over my eyes. Meanwhile, Shane went over to Nett's unmoving body, seeing his bare stare practically dazed and unmoving. Even his fingers on the controls were no longer mobile. Poking Net in the shoulder, the teen's body suddenly fell over in an imbalance. "Manson you might wanna-" No sooner he heard a thud in the distance. Lifting his head he found my collapsed body on the floor, the helmet and goggles equipped to my head. Shane sighed. "Never mind."

He sat back up and rushed over to my limp figure, being sure I wasn't laying in an uncomfortable position, assuming I could feel uncomfortability at all. Afterwards he carefully removed the goggles and helmet from my possession, bracing himself for the same outcome.

With a quick exhale Shane strapped the goggles on and fitted the helmet onto his head. At first he felt nothing, until a twitching pain in his brain began to go off. Then within moments of realizing it, his blurry vision began to dissipate, as much as he tried to fight loosing consciousness, which actually pained him. Shane's body began to stumble as he tried to maintain balance, but soon enough his legs gave out and he fell beside me, his hands going limp and eyes shut.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The feeling of having your mind digitized into a game felt even stranger than anaything I've ever felt before or could even hope to feel, which says something considering I've been possessed and invisible and intangible.

Suddenly finding my center of gravity again, I opened my eyes, feeling myself standing in a strange barren land with a black sky and neon-outlined setting. "What...? " I was alone, and I felt strangely healthy, too. As if I had been given a rejuvenating medicine health boost of some sort. "Wait, this must be the game Nett fell into." I looked at my hands, seeing gloves on with strange combat-fitting robes on, along with neon colored glasses over my eyes. If anything I'd say I looked like a magician-costume wearer at comic conventions, but I knew definitely that was not the case here. "And if I'm here then that must mean that Shane-"

I heard a digitalizing-sound come up behind me. Turning around with an almost defensive position, I saw Shane's figure appear next to me from pixels until he gained color and structure. He, too, was in clothing he wasn't wearing back home. A sword was tucked away in a small sheath at his belt and he resembled something like a ninja... Man. Ninjas are cooler than magicians.

Shane opened his eyes, also appearing lost in this foreign world just as I was. "Where... Wendy?"

"Yeah I feel weird too." I gave him a few seconds to accustom to the feeling of being a game character. It did feel relatively different, and so did the tense atmosphere. "Anyway we really need to find Nett. Any idea how?"

Shane sent he then an accusing look. How many times did he look at me that way in this one day. "You think I'd know?" He straightened back up. "Alright, since we have no plan, let's just look for the first thing that grabs our attention and start from there."

"What is there to grab our attention? Nothing's here!" My screeching voice echoed throughout the digital setting we got ourselves into, but at that moment I felt my breath come out of me; that cold, goosebump cold that I used to get whenever a ghost was near. Receiving a worried look from Shane I returned with the same expression. "Okay we're in trouble."

And just as we anticipated, the sound of roars soared from the skies as hideous, deformed creatures with a giant single eye began to hover over us, about to land on us. By instinct Shane and I jumped back, only to land even further than we intended. Guess being in a game has its perks after all.

"These guys are ghosts?" Shane asked, stumped by how I could've sensed them.

"Ghost-made game, ghost-enemies, not that hard to figure out," I stated. They went to the sky again, attempting to land on us a second time. And just like before Shane and I dodged high into the air, unusual gravity slowly throwing us back down to the ground. "Any clue how to fight in this place?"

Shane reached for his sword with a hesitant grip. "I have a decent idea." With one of the monsters heading towards us head on, Shane shouted ran for the beast with the utmost confidence he would defeat it with his sword.

It may have just been because of the game, but at contact with the sword, Shane's monster had suddenly disappeared, defeated and de-pixelized, if that's the right term for the situation. I blinked my eyes in disbelief. "H-He won?" I may have been imagining things, but I saw a number on my sleeve, like a monitor computer. My face and Shane's were on the left, along with a number of hearts and multiple zeros. Shane's had just gone up a hundred. "Points. Typical."

"RAWWRRR!" Snapping back to reality, I saw the second cyclops of the duo charging straight for me. Oh my gosh oh my gosh what do I do what do I do?

"Manson fight!" Shane ordered.

"Working on that!"

Before the monster could smash me with a boulder (don't know where the boulder came from...) I dodged again, and all of a sudden I felt a small wand fall from my long sleeve; a magician's wand I supposed.

Landing on the ground I saw the monster ghost charging at me again, this time without the boulder. Well, can't hurt much to wing it. "Please please please please work!" I muttered to myself. "Um, GO!" I outstretched my arm with the small wand and as a result, before the cyclops could trample over me, it suddenly stopped a few feet away from me, or in other words one step away from stepping on me.

I opened my tightly shut eyes to see the monster frozen in place, its figure looking destabilized. I let out my held in breath, frozen myself from the dread of almost getting... killed I think? "I can not believe that worked..." However the 'freezing' of my monster appeared to be only temporary, as its static-like appearance began to fade away, and its struggling growls began to echo once more. In a panic I began waving my wand back and forth. "Paralyze paralyze paralyze paralyze!"

When nothing appeared to work, I braced myself for the pain of an attack in a video game, all until I heard the sound of a blade cut air. I opened my eyes once again and saw the monster split in half from Shane up above, until it disappeared and de-pixelized like the last. My breath was let go as Shane ran up to me. I expected a long heavy lecture about how horrible I just was. I could tell by his face. That oh so ticked off face I had grown accustomed to this week.

"What... was that?" he said.

"Well excuse me for having this stupid freezing-stick instead of some super samurai sword like you!"

"I see the two of you are still the same even in this world." ...Was that just Nett?

Turning around we sat Nett fly up to us on a techno bike of some sort, black with blue neon stripe-patterns across it. He looked relatively happy to see us, but seeing him with a cyber-gunman kind of look practically freaked me out a bit.

"Nice ride," Shane complimented, noticing the bike.

"Perks of getting over 5000 points," he grinned proudly. "So I assume you guys got my message?"

"Yeah about that," I started, walking up to him and taking the front of his shirt. "Next time, send us a message that at least says you're still breathing!"

"Sorry! It was all I could do!" Nett cried. How is it the girl in robes is able to threaten the man with the guns all over him. "This place sends out messages about the game to phones, you know, those NeusTechTowers advertisements. I thought if I could hack into my phone from here and send one of them to you guys you'd get it and know to come here."

"Well we're here. How do we get out?" Shane mentioned.

"We don't."

Both Shane and I starred at the boy, me still holding onto the front of his shirt. "Another note, next time TELL US THAT!"

"I only figured it out now!" he defended again, me letting him down. "I just came from Technus's base and got loads of info you wanna know."

I frowned. "Who the heck is Technus?"

"Your bad guy apparently." Nett typed over some buttons on his arm-computer and projected a hologram from it. A picture of a strange green-skinned scientist came up, appearing to be laughing maniacally. "This is the guy who created the game, I think. He's a ghost, obviously, and has power over technology."

"Also obviously," I finished for him. Well, it's a ghost no doubt. "But why would he want to get a bunch of kids here?"

"Huh? Oh no he just wants you."

Shane arched his eyebrows. "What makes you so sure?"

"You know for a villain he likes to say his evil plans out loud a lot. According to him, quote, 'IT WOULD SEEM THE GHOST GIRL HAS FINALLY ARRIVED IN MY SPECIFICALLY-MADE-TO-DEFEAT-HER WORLD, AND NOW MY PLAN CAN FINALLY COMMENCE!' unquote."

"That was... oddly specific," I reacted, a little unsure with the simplicity. "But if that's the case what about all the other kids? If they got sucked in here too then where is everybody? It's like when Mr. Lancer crashed the block party and everyone just left."

"Yeah, that's kind of what happened. They all lost their lifes," Nett explained, showing me his monitor and tapping on the hearts. "Those are our lives and you start out with three each. Loose'em all and you end up in a pod."

"You mean you loose."

"No you seriously end up in a pod," Nett corrected Shane. "In this world the only way out is to beat the game. If you loose all your lives before then, players end up in Technus's fortress in suspended animation pods that end up powering Technus. It's kind of like a prison for everyone who lost. And, seeing as there's practically no one here well, you get the picture."

"You mean all those people are his prisoners?" I asked in disbelief. "You've gotta be kidding me! Why don't you add more pressure on to me?"

"I could but I won't because you'll kick my butt and make me loose my last life."

"Hold on," Shane stopped. "You still have one life?"

"Duh how else am I here?" asked Nett. "And so, short-story version of the plan: Wendy must go to Technus's Fortress, beat him, and therefore end up rescuing everyone podded by Technus."

"Isn't there a plan B?" I asked without much hope.

"No not really."

"Ah." I starred into space for a moment, pondering how I was supposed to do this... with a magic stick... we're doomed.

"Did we fail to mention she can't fight here?" Shane spoke up, lifting my arm holding the wand. It's like he practically read my mind.

Nett starred disbeliving at me. "Say what?"

"This thing can only freeze people," I told him. "And not even for that long."

"What?" Nett panicked. "Ah man. We're doomed. I'm stuck here. We're stuck here. I'll never make out with a model. I'll never get my doctrine in science. I'll never see you two get married-"

"You wanna keep your last life, Folly?" Shane threatened after his last statement. Nett stopped his out-loud panic mode and Shane resumed towards me. "It's just a ghost like you said. Just beat him up how you normally would."

"By what whacking him with this twig of a weapon?"

"You're some magician. Use magic or something." That sounds even more outrageous than hearing 'use your dead-girl powers'. "Do you really have much of a choice now?"

"No..."

"Then come on. Nett take us to this fortress place."

"Alright..." Nett sounded unsure, but I'm sure all of us were. I guess the concept 'good guys always win' was still instilled in their minds and that was why they weren't as anxious about this as I was. For this Technus guy to be able to reach out and influence the real world scared me a little. Then again, Danny did say I'd have to learn to deal with managing my ghost-fighting life with my normal life. And for a while I thought I had that covered, until I realized what he meant was keeping everyone, everyone meaning everyone, safe. Not just me, Shane, or Nett.

... Being the good guys suck.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

As digital thunder clapped through the sky, I saw an evil castle-like building appear shortly away, rising quickly as we rod on Nett's virtual bike. "And here is Technus's fortress..." Nett introduced with fake positiveness. "Land of the doomed and the hopeless."

Shane looked around and back. "No monsters?"

"I got rid of them already last time I was here," Nett assured as he stopped his bike. We got off and walked ahead a little further. "Come on. He's waiting for you."

Hearing that made me gulp until Shane pushed me ahead. How was it I had the motivation to fight Skulker or that lunch lady ghost but just total cowardice when it came to this Technus? "So uh, Nett, you said that these podded players give Technus something like a power boost right?"

"Yeah."

"So how many are there?" As we entered the depths of the castle, the entire throne room consisted of a long blood-red carpet with technological pods lined up on ever inch of the walls. And in every one was a person, some recognizable from school even. As for the number... uh... yeah don't count on that.

Nett tried to move more slowly as he saw Shane and I taking this all in. "Now this is freaky..." I said uncomfortably. I then noticed Nett's look at us. "An why aren't you freaked out by all this?" Because if each of these pods make Technus even more powerful than he already is, then we're kind of screwed...

"Well I was just here! I'm not gonna gape at them again! It's creepy."

"Is there any other way to get them out?" Shane asked as we walked down the endless seeming hall.

"I tried finding a way. There's an item that you need to unlock a pod, like, a key-cube kind of thing. I've only heard of it from another player when I first got here but, I've never seen one before."

"How about getting out of here period. Any idea around that?" I asked, almost relying on a hopeful answer. .

"That I've been trying to work on," Nett nodded. "I tried using a cheat code I found to try and fuse an Extra Life with a Power Boost cube. It's taking me a while, but it's almost finished." I was kind of astounded by his knowledge of this technological game world, seeing as he was only here for so long. Then again, he had been stuck here longer than Shane and me. "And here we are..."

Entering through a bright light in a door, and quite litlerally, through a bright light, we ended up in a new setting without a door to return though. It looked like a lab/throne room, with a king at the front. Or rather I should assume, "Technus," Nett glared, Shane assuming a protective stance beside me.

"Ah, the mouse boy with the guns. About time you got here! And I thought pawns were supposed to work fast." The three of us glared. "SO! Which one of you us the little girl I am supposed to be facing off against today?"

Swallowing my fear I stepped out, quite boldly if I may say so myself. "That'd be me." Only now did I realize just how big a villain Technus was. I was supposed to defeat HIM? With a freezing stick? He's the size of Casper High! "Uh..."

"I see that you are astounded by my superiorness!" Technus stated quite vainly. Nett was right. This guy does say everything. "Either way, it is time to fight!"

Suddenly a familiar green electrical orb appeared in his ghostly hand, shooting it towards us. We all dodged, thankfully still with the feature of somewhat defying gravity. As Nett and Shane prepared their weapons, I unwillingly took out my magic wand, unsure of relying on it.

"Come get it!" Technus taunted, flexing his fingers.

Shane made the first blunt move and ran at Technus with a new, unseeable speed like that of a true Ninja. He had managed to harm Technus in some way, but not before being flicked away by a swing of Technus's hand and hitting a castle pillar. The crash that ensued created a pixel-like dust cloud that eventually cleared up, showing Shane in a vulnerable and pained state.

"Shane...!" Hearing a beep from my arm I looked, seeing one of the three hearts from Shane's line disappear. It was then I decided I couldn't have Nett and Shane fight this battle for me, not if it put them in danger. Instead I jumped from the tall stature where I was situated, grasping my wand with a hardened hold. "Alright, here goes nothing!"

I fell towards Technus and shot my arm with the wand, thinking powerful and hopeful thoughts. Instead what I saw was a pink beam shoot from the wand and to Technus, and miraculously I saw him grow probably a third of his height bigger. My face gaped as I landed on the ground, as did Nett and Shane. However I felt a surge through my body as well when my feet hit the ground, and glancing down at my arm I noticed I lost a heart-life from the fall. "Well that's cheap."

Nett stared up at the even taller Technus. "W-Wha..."

"You idiot! You just made him even more powerful!" Shane scolded across the room, which was a pretty far distance to begin with.

"Like I meant to give the bad guy a power boost!"

"What were you trying to do?"

"I was trying to freeze him! What else!"

"Is now really the best time to argue...?" Nett muttered, unable to be heard anyway.

"Such power coursing through my technological veins!" Technus announced, feeling his black and green metal forearms. "You know you're my favorite opponent, little girl!"

"I an NOT a LITTLE GIRL!" I retorted as I shot my wand again in reflex, only to end up shooting another colored beam at the boss ghost. It missed however, and the beam ended up hitting the ceiling above Technus, barely doing much to begin with. My mouth dropped open."Oh NOW it shoots the powerful laser beam!"

"And you still missed," added Shane.

"SHUT UP!"

Late in reaction, the laser that had shot from the wand had ended up creating a crack in the ceiling, and before too soon the stones and boulders began to collapse over Tecnhus. In a another gaming reflex Shane ran over at his special ability-speed and grabbed me, picking me up before I could be crushed by a falling boulder.

Just as quickly we headed to the back of the room where Nett was. "Okay, we probably have a minute before Technus comes back. How many lives did you guys loose?" Nett asked us. Shane looked to his arm as did I, and we both now had two lives left. Nett noticed. "Games like this require strategy. Any ideas?"

"None of us play games! How are we supposed to have ideas?" I yelled at the boy. A loud grumble from the stone pile erupted, causing the ground to shake, too, for effect. "Okay, he's big, he has ghost powers, and he has a lot of lives I bet. Anything from that?"

"Ghost powers," Shane just realized. "He has his ghost powers- don't you?"

I looked at my hand, trying to turn myself into a ghost. "I don't think I can here."

"That's because these aren't your real bodies," Nett mentioned. "Technus over there is as real as ever. We're just minds floating in his game."

Shane's face looked disbelieving. "Okay so Manson had her bad breath ability instead of her ghost powers. That's totally fair."

"For the last time you, it's GHOST. SENSE!"

"Would you two quit love-quarrelling and FOCUS ON SAVING OUR LIVES!"

"We are NOT LOVE-QUARRELLING!"

Another steady growl came from the pile of boulders. We didn't have much time left. Shane turned to Nett. "Hey Folly, how far along are you again on that contraption you've been working on? The one for getting us back into the real world?"

"If we're lucky it may work for just one person." Nett looked into his pocket and pulled out a small glowing object of some sort. It was really pretty to look at though. A soft floating white cube with an intermixed pink heart and a green star inside it. Just the sight of the innocent looking thing made me smile, however another earthquake beneath our feet quickly changed my mind. "Can you guys stall Technus for a little while? I need to work on it a little bit."

"How long do you need?" Shane asked, pulling out his sword as Tecnhus began to crawl out.

Nett was already working on it, typing into a floating holographic keyboard that suddenly appearing in mid air. "Just a few minutes."

"We can do that," Shane smirked cockily. With his other arm he elbowed me. "Here, get on my back."

"What?"

"I know we have an indescribable long-lasting hate for each other but I really don't feel like dying anytime soon. Do you?" My face remained the same. "I think my stats are higher so I have more jump and speed than you, and I'm the only one with a reliable weapon. It's no use leaving you alone."

"What about Nett? Shouldn't someone protect him while he's working?"

"I can take care of myself," Nett assured me, though I knew we were just leaving his safety purely in the hands of luck and chance. "Listen to Shane and stay with him. He and I can loose our lives but you need to keep yours if we want to have any chance at saving everyone."

As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. I forced myself to climb onto Shane's back and I grasped around his neck with my arms. With his hands supporting my legs, feeling totally awkward for the two of us, he jumped up high, making he hold on tighter.

"Good luck..." Nett whispered.

"Ugh..." Technus emerged from the rubble that surrounded him, and looking up he saw an attack coming. "Oh poop."

The height of which Shane flew was even farther than mine, near the ceiling to be precise. With one of his hands he took hold of his sword, and we began to fall. "Try to paralyze Technus so I can get a good blow on him."

"Don't count on it."

As gravity pulled us back down, Shane positioned himself so we were shooting towards Technus. As I held out my wand as Shane did his sword, we were caught of guard by the sudden rectangular green forcefield that was held up by Technus's palm. A forcefield. Technus can produce forcefields... THAT IS SO UNCOOL!

Our eyes widened. "Oh crud." Unable to brace for the impact, we both smashed into the imaginary ghostly wall, falling off it and downwards towards the floor (which was a long way down might I add). As we screamed, Shane grasped my body and put himself at the bottom, sustaining the crash of the impact. The landing itself looked more dramatic than it was intended to. Digital clouds of dust surrounded us in our crash sight from where Nett looked on.

Forcing myself, I lifted myself up near where Shane had collapsed. When he didn't open his eyes I started a second panic attack. "Shane? Shane are you okay? Say something."

Through my shaking of his body, he finally managed to wake up. "Okay... so he can produce forcefields while you can't?" Shane asked me, trying to sound more okay than he was. "And you say you're a full ghost."

'He took the fall for me.' I discretely glanced towards my arm where my computer was. Shane now had one life left.

"What a shame!" Technus bellowed, causing us to look up. "I looked forward to our match, little ghost girl. But it would appear you're having your comrades fight for you instead!" His hand glowed green for a second attack. "How un-noble of you."

Unable to suppress a growl from my lips, I griped my hands into fists. "If I had my powers I would so take you down." Well, there's my motivation.

"We're just stalling, remember?" Shane said, still sounding weak. He forced himself up, but I kept my hand at his back for support. "This is only until Folly can finish that thing of his so you can go home."

"But I can't just leave you guys-"

"It's so you can have a better chance at fighting," he cut off, again trying not to sound to weak. Was having one life left that painful? So unbearable? Nett looks fine now but Shane... "If you re-enter the game in your ghost form, maybe you'll have your ghost powers like Technus and actually stand a chance against him."

"We don't even know if it'll work that way."

Shane sent he a tired half smile, too much in pain to give a shrug. "What else can you do?"

Another crash from the rubble ensured as Technus tried to free the rest of himself. Seeing him begin to fire another giant ghost ray, I took hold of Shane's body and with all my strength I jumped as far and high as possible. The ensuring blow from the attack caused a crater on the castle floors where Shane and I had just barely escaped from. We landed back down, but the high jump landing caused me to loose my second life. I was careless again.

Back on the ground, I felt my gravity pull my body down more, and I was more tired out of no where too. Was that the result of having one life left? A third of your strength left to fight with? I had managed to land us at least behind a pillar on the side of the throne room, to hide from Technus as we tried to regain our strength, if that was possible.

"This is why I hate video games." I breathed heavily, sitting on a knee as Shane rested against the pillar, unable to support himself.

"It's done," Nett grinned, seeing the reformed object floating in his hands. Shane and I managed to hear him, but unfortunately so had Technus. We knew his next target.

"RUN NETT RUN!" I cried out, only to be held back miraculously by Shane from our hiding spot.

Firing a second crater-creating ghost attack by Technus, Nett was better off able to dodge than how we had. With Nett running across the room to avoid the explosion, Shane and I peaked out from behind our pillar, still too weak to help him in any way. "USE THIS!" he yelled, throwing the only escape key we had before being caught in the ensuring green explosion. I had managed to catch it, but just like that before our eyes, Nett had devirtualized. His body disappeared into pixels just as the first two monsters had when we first arrived.

"He's gone." The breath I had been holding finally escaped. I looked down at the gift Nett had given me. It glowed bright in the dark corner Shane and I hid, like a little soul or the spirit of a baby not even born yet.

"Where are you!" Tecnus's treacherous voice screeched. Another explosion set off, making Shane and I flinch. The first pillar down further away was blown off. "COME OUT!" The second pillar was destroyed, too. We were at the fifth.

Seeing where this was going, I looked to Shane desperate. "We have to move, now!"

"No, that's just what he wants. He wants us to come out of hiding, so he can face off against you." The third pillar was blown up, causing us to shut our eyes and ears until the explosion's smoke dissipated. "Use that thing Nett gave us and get out of here."

"But you'll-"

"I said go!"

"No!" I screamed at him. "Remember Skulker? How I left you because you told me to?" Memories of that scene, Skulker taunting me, it terrified me. "This may be some stupid test Danny's given me but am I just supposed to abandon you guys every time we reach a situation like this? Am I always so important that I'm the one who has to survive if we're all going to survive?"

"Yes!" he glared. "And it's not just because you're the one with powers that we want you safe all the time! It's because-!" The fourth pillar was gone, causing me to flinch in fear again from the closeness of the explosion. Knowing we'd be next, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Lifting my head I saw Shane's confident face. Despite his weariness, he had lost all pain and fear, unlike me who still held it all in. "Just go okay?"

Without any reply from me, Shane's incredible speed kicked in and his hand disappeared from my shoulder, and his body vanished from in front of me. I looked out from behind the pillar and saw Shane standing in the center of the throne room, exposing his last life. "That idiot..." I murmured.

"Yo Technus! Why not try some target practice?"

Technus's attention had been adverted to Shane now, but something about the look on Shane's face before he left me made me stay put, as if it would hurt him more if I came out of hiding.

"Oh, I understand," Technus smirked. "You came out of hiding here to protect the girl!" My eyes widened, as did Shane's. "And if that's the case..." he held his arm out toward the fifth pillar, where I stood motionless in fear. "...Then this must be her!"

Shane's eyes widened. "No!"

Before I could react to his attack, I instead braced myself for the loss of my last life. But instead I felt nothing, and a large wave of energy encircled me. I opened my eyes as I felt the ground start to shake under my feet. Stepping out from behind the pillar, I saw Shane standing in front of it, defending my hiding spot with his sword as a shield against Technus's beam. "S-Shane..."

With a struggling turn of his head, Shane looked to me with one eye open. "What the hell are you doing I said go already!"

My knees buckled. I was back in this scene again, with the people I care about being in danger... because of me. "But..."

I could see Shane's figure being moved back, with his sword being a wall between him and his last life. "I can't hold this out much longer. You can't run anywhere else from the explosion so you have to leave now!"

Forcing myself to erase my thoughts, I put my use into Nett's escape device and it's light encircled me as I began to slowly disappear, probably back into the real world. Shane and I had kept our gazes locked the entire time, and I knew that within ten seconds neither of us would be standing here anymore. "I'll be back," I assured, for him and me. "I swear it!"

My body disappeared into sparkling pixie dust, leaving Shane to fend for himself all alone. However, like me, his fear had disappeared completely.

The feeling was the same as when I first entered the gaming world. Unusual. But then, my body felt heavier, and my bones and limbs more present. Finding my eyes, I opened them, and I forced myself to sit up. "SHANE!"

But, I was no longer in the extravagant virtual throne room. I was back in Nett's dark room lit up by multiple blank screens and a dim lamp by the bed. The door was still locked, closed, and barricaded, just as we left it. Looking down, I saw Nett at my feet, fallen over sideways by the game console and the Tv. When I looked for Shane, I easily found him collapsed beside me, closer to me than Nett. The helmet and the glasses were covering his head.

I don't know why, but I ended up carefully removing the game-gear, showing his peaceful 'sleeping' head. Instead of resting on the cold wooden floor I set his head on my lap, pushing away some of the loose strands of his black hair. He was sweating, and he looked weak, hurt. I looked at Nett in the distance and found him relatively at peace.

"I left them..." I looked back down at Shane, wondering if there was a way I could ease his pain. "Shane! Shane wake up! Please!" As I clutched his hand, which refused to hold onto mine, I watched his face tense up until the very end, where his trembling had stopped, and the emotion over his face disappeared. I remembered the scene I had left him in with Technus. He was fending off that ghost ray explosion last I saw him. But now he must've...

"He's gone, too," I realized, feeling my hand loosening against his.

Remembering the old plan, I turned ghost and mentally prepared myself for returning into the game.

But before I could even notice, I the furniture in front of the door had began to move, and the door unlock from the outside. As it creaked open, my primitive instinct kicked in and I held Shane close to me, keeping my stance so Nett remained behind me, and my eyes shone desperate fear.

Tucker Folly finally pushed through into the room, and looking in confusement of the room's solitary darkness he spotted us. "W-What in the..." Reality hit me. "Danny?" It took me a second to register what he had said. He couldn't know Danny... could he? "Wait, you're not Danny so... you're a new ghost girl?"

I had been caught. As a ghost. "Mr. Folly..."

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After a bit of cleaning up, Nett's unconscious body was now resting in his bed, and Shane, he was resting downstairs on the couch, a rather more comfortable place than the floor.

Meanwhile, Mr. Folly, or Tucker as he wanted me to call him from then on for some reason, led me through the house. He had said he wanted to show me something; something important. I hadn't told him what happened to us, or anything relating to our secrets. All he had seen were the two boys lying on the floor, and then there's me: the ghost girl. If I could remember correctly, all he said was for me to help the guys into better places to rest, then to say that if I wanted help, to follow him.

I didn't quite understand what Mr. Folly's motives were, but what else could I do at the moment? I was caught? I was lost? Alone?

"So, stranger," Was this a new nickname for me? "You know I'm the mayor, right?"

"Y-Yes sir."

"The youngest man to have ever become mayor of Amity Park, right?"

"Yes sir."

He stopped in front of a door a the back of the house, a nice looking black painted door. A grand lock was put on its golden handle, and Tucker had appeared with a key at hand. "But you do not know why?"

"N... No sir."

The sound of the key unlocking the door sounded off eerily, and the sound of the door creaking open sounded even more eerie.

It was a dark room, but upon the door opening fully, a the room was suddenly a spy-network of some sort. It resembled something of the Fenton Works lab, but, smaller and... yeah just smaller. Cramped-looking too. 'It's not just Nett, it's his whole fricken family...'

Tucker turned around, seeing my face and frowned. "Come on, don't be that surprised."

"S-Sorry," I apologized as he walked in, and hesitantly I followed behind. The atmosphere of the small secret room amazed me. Was the Fenton Lab perhaps like this in its glory days? "Um, Mr. Folly? What is all this'?"

"'Mr. Folly' makes me sound old, even though I am. Like I said before it's Tucker." He was scoping for something in a metallic box under a desk. "That horrendous game's been on my list for a while, so I've been keeping an eye on it. But I never knew Nett bought it."

"Just yesterday," I felt to mention. "But, what made you suspicious of it?"

"NeusTechTowers gaming company? Never heard of it before and all of a sudden it's a mainstream target. It should sound suspicious but for some reason no one ever took it into consideration, well, except me anyway." He finally found an old early 2000's style PDA. "And besides, Neus Tech? Tech-nus sounds more right."

I took a moment to piece that little detail together. Neither Shane, Nett, or I had even noticed that even after entering the game and meeting Technus himself. "We really are slow," I said in astonishment, but then I starred up at Mr. Folly with a disbelieving look. "Wait you know Technus?"

Tucker set the helmet on his desk and all of a sudden, wires from it began to hook up to the PDA. "Let's just say I used to work with the Fentons on the subject of ghosts."

"Fentons?" I repeated. "You mean it's a family name?"

"Yup. The Fentons used to live in that big ol' apartment on that abandoned street up town." So, the Fentons were actually living people, the very family who lived in that ghost-infested building. How did I not realize it before? "Anyway, I'm going to assume you kind of have a decent idea of who they are?"

I had to pick my words carefully. I didn't know just how much he knew, so I can't be too loose with what I say. "Sort of." Could he recognize me as Wendy? Well, no, he would've said so. Or wouldn't he? Danggit, this is what I get for involving myself with a family of geniuses, and geniuses on ghosts at that. "So my son, Nett, and his friend Shane, they must be still stuck in the game, am I right?"

"Most likely."

"Was there a third one there in the room with you by any chance?"

Is he playing dumb or does he really not know it's me? "No, only those two."

"Hm, well, I suppose that's a good thing. The less people in danger the better." Somehow I frowned. They were in danger because of me. "Tell me, if you have any decent knowledge about the Fentons, do you know of any of the ghost-hunting equipment from their lab?"

I tried to recall Danny's previous lesson. Maybe I should've paid more attention to him. "There were these giant glove things, heavy. And... this belt made of metal."

"Ghost Gauntlets and the Spector Deflector," he stated, programing them into his PDA. "As long as you have recollection of them, I can program them into your helmet so they can be of use to you in the game." So that was what he was doing. "The Spector Deflector's supposed to harm any ghost it touches, but I'm reprogramming it's effects just for the game."

"So, what are they supposed to be able to do for me?"

"The Ghost Gauntlets should give you extreme physical power, and the Spector Deflector should be acting as a sort of shield for you if Tenchus were to ever get a hold of you." He continued to type some things in, and fast. "Technically the Spector Deflector would kind of back fire if worn by a ghost in the first place, but I'm reprogramming it for you."

"Um, thanks?"

He turned around as he waited for the screen to finish loading. "Do you know the boys personally?"

"Not... really." Well Wen, time to lie! "I've familiar with them though."

"But they got themselves stuck in the game nonetheless, and you tried to get them out."

Sure let's go with that. "Yes sir."

"And you're sure it's really Technus?"

"Positive."

All of a sudden, the screen on the PDA fused until the static-silver screen turned into the face of Technus. "MWA HA! I KNOW YOU ARE THERE, GHOST GIRL!"

"Yup that's him," Tucker frowned as I hovered over to see.

"I, TECHNUS, THE HIP AND COOL BOSS ENEMY HAS MANAGED TO TRACK YOU DOWN BACK INTO THE REAL WORLD! DO YOU FEAR ME MORE?"

"'Hip'?" I repeated, looking to Tucker for a possible answer.

"I see he hasn't changed," Tucker said.

"If you want your friends back, I suggest you RETURN AND FIGHT ME-!" He paused, seeing the second face in the screen, Tucker's. "Hey! You're the-"

"Ah hold your horses she's on her way," Tucker mouthed off before turning off Technus's connection. I starred ridiculously at Tucker who merely chuckled at my look. "When you've known Technus as long as I have, you tend to get a bit more comfortable with what you say around him."

Sure... "So, you're going to help me."

"You're one of the good guys aren't you?"

"Um, yeah but, seeing all this..." Mini ghost hunting lab?

"I've learned not all ghosts are bad," Tucker smiled. "Well, most of them are."

That or just really twisted and demented. "I'll get Shane and Nett back for sure."

"I'm counting on you. This is ghost-tech you're dealing with, though I don't think I really had to mention that to you." I smiled. "Now, when you're about to go into the game, put on the helmet and fly into the Tv. That's how you'll have to do it as a ghost."

"Go it." In a hurry to leave the lab, I took the helmet and turned intangible, flying through the ceiling and back into the room. The feeling of comfort in a teen's bedroom - never before had it felt this comforting. "And I thought my Mom was nerve wrecking for me."

I was about to put the helmet on, but I heard a familiar buzz from Shane's hoodie pocket. Hearing so, I couldn't help but bend down and take his phone out from his pocket. "Hm, a text from Crissy." Having no morals whatsoever at the moment I went to try and unlock his phone, which took me about ten seconds long.

Baby, where y u?

"Ugh, text and couple talk." With an inappropriate smirk I found the keypad and texted my first words into the reply box.

Sorry. I'm with Manson and Folly.

No that doesn't look right... Aha.

Srry. With Wendy. Busy. ttyl

Now that's impressive work, Wen. Pressing the touch screen SEND button I shut the phone off and slid it back into Shane's pocket. "Naturally I'm against texting, but this was must." Nothing like a little troublemaking on my behalf for getting back at Crissy for that stupid bet she made with me. Plus, not only will she get mad at this text, but Shane will suffer for it later too. Ha! It's like killing two birds with one stone! Man I kill me sometimes...

Anyway, I put on the helmet and goggles, starring at the still glowing Tv screen. "Well guys, wish me luck." Turning intangible once again, I flew into the Tv itself just as Tucker instructed. For now I'd worry about saving the guys. We'll worry about Nett's dad later.

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It didn't take too long to return to the video game world. I stood up and opened my eyes, feeling confident (for once) and powerful (also for once).

Being put into the game I could see Technus's castle in the distance as a tiny digital blur. However I noticed my familiar black and white ghost-colors, but my suit resembled something more of a knight than a magician from the last time I got stuck into the game. And no more wand either. Metalic grey and green wristbands rested over my wrists and a similar colored belt was situated around my waist as well. Aside from the pointy armor over my ghost suit, I swore I could've looked like a boy at that moment.

I frowned at that thought. "The least this game could've done was at least make me look like a girl."

Having better confidence in my flying, I darted in the direction of the castle without any fear of falling into the sky. Maybe it was because of my urgent need to make sure the guys were okay? Whatever the cause, I was making great time.

Arriving at the foot of the castle, I landed my feet on the ground and walked right in without any trouble. I passed through the familiar and eerie halls, both tall walls lined with pods and unconscious and defeated players. I had to admit, it felt really weird all alone. But the further I walked, the more I began to wonder if the guys had been podded, too. At that, I noticed a familiar, sleeping face in the pod to my left.

My eyes bulged painfully and dry as I ran to it, placing my hands over the glass. "Nett." And I saw Shane's pod just above Nett's. Hovering up a few feet, I pressed my hands against his pod, too, banging my fist and finding it failing. "I need to get you guys out of here."

Flying back a bit, I closed my fists and focused my ecto energy like Danny instructed. And flying forwards, I went to try and break the glass of Shane's pod. All it resulted with was my fingers feeling like they were cracking and my knuckles turning red under my gloves. Flying back once more, I went to try and kick Nett's pod open, only to get the same results. I landed on the ground with my head down, loosing my unusual confidence fairly quickly.

"Alright, so they won't break open." Lifting my head I reached for Nett's pod, trying to bang on it some more. "Nett! Can you hear me?" No response whatsoever. "If you wake up I'll treat you to five free Nasty Biggie Burgers on me!" Still no repsonse.

I floated up desperately to Shane's, too. "They really aren't going to wake up unless I beat this huh." I placed both my hands on the glass of Shane's pod. I felt a familiar tinge of guilt from the last time we were together. "Please! I know you can hear me Shane! Open your eyes!" Despite all the yelling, nothing seemed to change. I was about to give up on them, but suddenly I saw movement with Shane's head.

Tiredly his eyes opened from slumber, and his head once limped over slowly lifted. His gaze tried to meet mine, and in silence I tried to encourage him to fully wake up. He managed to see me I think, but before he could really wake up, his eyes closed again and his head fell back limp.

My smile faded into a frown. "I guess I'm on my own then." Slowly I drifted away from their pods, giving them final glances before flying to the head of the room towards the two large wooden corridors. I vowed to myself that I would definitely get them out of here. Then on my way down the room, I looked at my arm where a still present miniature screen showed three hearts. "Still three lives. So much for a ghost bonus."

I flew transparently through the doors and landed, seeing Technus up at his throne, politely waiting for my return.

He looked bored actually, sitting with his head resting on his hand. Seeing me, his head perked up and an evil scowl returned to his face. "And the ghost girl does return. I suppose you aren't a coward after all."

I griped my hands. "You're damn right I'm not a coward! And I will beat you, Technus if it is the last thing I do!" The wrist bands on my hands glowed, and suddenly they became two familiar giant gloves, also surprisingly light. "Wow, shouting your motives into the air really does help you."

"I'll be the judge of that!" Jumping up, he fired a large neon-colored beam, and I jumped out of the way. With the gloves I smashed them into the ground, resulting with a mini earthquake within the throne room. Sure Technus was floating, but the shaking round ended up causing the somehow fixed pillars to crumble one more, which wound up making a falling domino effect. It eventually reached Technus, who seemed merely scratched by the fallen debris.

Instead I went to fly towards him again in an attempt to punch him with the Ghost Gauntlets Tucker had granted me. Of course, I'm not that lucky. Nearing him, he merely dodged out of the way before my gloves collided with the wall behind him, both gloves stuck inside with me trapped. "Agh!" I couldn't pull them out, and I saw Technus's giant shadow overcome my own. "This is so not cool."

"I must say! Despite the heroic entry, you still show signs of a beginner! At least learn to hide those so you can at least appear threatening." With a single swat of his hand, my body flew to the side of the room, making a large dent in the wall before I fell down, gloves first. Suddenly they seemed much heavier than I remembered. When I opened my eyes, I heard a beep go off from my sleeve, and a heart disappeared from my gauge. "Two lives..."

"Already?" Technus teased, preparing to grind my ghostly figure to dust with his hovering fist.

Despite my defenseless appearance, I used my still remaining energy to turn intangible, and from his crushed-down fist I managed to escape, appearing back in visibility a short distance away in mid air. "Come on Wendy. Remember what Nett said: games require strategy." My mind drew a blank, and a depressing frown overcame my face. "I really need to cover strategy with Danny."

I spent more time dodging Technus's attacks. One of the advantages of him being so giant, was me being like one of those hard-to-catch house flies. Of course, stamina was still a surviving factor and it would be a matter of time that I'd run out of choice on this second chance.

Eventually, Technus did manage to grasp me in hold, but then I heard an almost silent beep come from the belt. What was it - Spector Deflector? Upon contact with it, a green electrical wave mixed with Technus, seeming to electrocute him almost. He ended up throwing me all the way across to the top of the room near an upper stained glass window. It broke, of course, and I fell all the way down. In an attempt to save my second to last life, I turned intangible and flew through the floor, appearing back up in a quick jump. It was then I felt glad I had that 'basic ability'.

Hey. Maybe I'm getting better at this fighting thing after all.

Technus eventually recovered from the shock, with what seemed to be a small headache. "You really are an annoying little girl aren't you."

"Annoying." I remembered how Shane used to call me that everyday. Seriously every day. "If I want to save those two idiots and pass Danny's test, I need to beat you first." And to do that, I have to find his weakness. Now Wendy, what could be the weakness, of a powerful, technology-run, ghost genius with a super large ego?

Then it hit me.

Technus noticed my suspicious, and mildly creepy, smirk. "What is with that look?" No reply. "At least say something! You're being interrogated by an evil villain so loose the smirk and answer me! Seriously it's mildly creepy."

I turned invisible, then reappeared behind Technus with the newly appeared Ghost Gauntlets. "Surprise." With a spinning kick against his face, Technus tumbled backwards, and with the Spector Deflector-thing, contact added twice the power. I went to go for a second attack afterwards. Technus put up a shield, but I managed to break it with the ghost gauntlets power.

The green ghost-glass shattered to pieces leaving Technus defenseless. He opened his eyes, his opponent no longer there. "Where did she go?"

"Aha." From behind the knocked over throne, I managed to find a plug outlet, and a very thin yet long black wire connected to Technus's back. "I always wondered why you never left the front of the room. All this time I just thought you were lazy." His eyes widened at my discovery of the plug. "Honestly I didn't know this was here. I was just looking for another hiding spot until I found it. And to think all modern technology was wireless nowadays. Who knew it'd be this easy?"

"H-Hey now. Why don't we talk this over?

Teasingly I poked the plug, earning a panicked expression on the ghost. He looked just about ready to pull his hair out.

"Quit that!"

"Opps." Looking the other way, I pulled the plug. "Hand slipped."

"NOOOO!" I stood up to prepare for another explosion of some sort. (I'm just used to them) Much to my luck, he merely de-digitized and disappeared into a cloud of pixels instead. Seconds of silence followed as I waited for something to happened. I looked left and right, expecting some big prize or some type of change. Anything. But aside from that, I was even more surprised with how easy that was.

Meanwhile, I wondered just what I was supposed to learn from this. Danny's tests always served purposes, so what was this one? Never play video games? But before I could even think about Shane and Nett, I disappeared like Technus.

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"Manson, Manson get a hold of yourself!" I felt my shoulders shaking while gravity pulled me down. Finally my eyes opened, and I smelled mint and, sweat? Hovering over my face was Shane, and Nett kneeling right beside me. "You really sleep like a log don't you," Shane frowned.

"You guys!" And just like that I shot up like a jolt of lightning had stricken. My arms encircled both of the boys' heads, and with suppressed groans their chins nestled against my shoulders in a bone crushing hug-headlock. "You're okay!"

"Second hug in a week. I think I'm gonna be nautious," Shane remarked.

Nett instead laughed and patted my back in return. "We're just glad you're okay. When we woke up and you were still out we got worried something had happened to you after you beat Technus."

Letting go of them finally, I set my hand on the floor to maintain balance while I sat. I was still in ghost form too. The helmet and goggles were already taken off my head, and the game was no longer on the Tv. I also noticed a broken disc beside the game console near it. "How did you know I beat Technus?"

"Um, we're awake?" Shane laughed as if it were a bad joke.

"Plus we sucked him into the thermos while you were out cold," Nett grinned, rattling the Fenton Thermos in hand. "Worst wake up call ever."

"So I guess everything's taken care of then." I released my held in breath I began to laugh to myself. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe we actually got out of that one!"

"Neither can I," Shane had to say.

"Ah lighten up dude. She saved our skins. Cut her some slack," Nett smiled. But without warning, Nett's dad opened the door, spying the three of us back up again, with me still in my ghost form. "Dad," Nett said speechless.

Shane too was caught off guard. "Um, we uh..."

From behind Nett's back I swiped the Fenton Thermos. "And I have beaten Technus!" I announced in my version of a heroic cartoon hero's voice. I saw Shane resist the urge to laugh. "Now I must, uh, take my leave now citizens!" I went to hover up and fly out of the room, forgetting how to go intangible and hitting the wall. With a throbbing head I glanced back, seeing the three starring. "I, uh, meant to do that." Turning intangible first, I flew out of the room and forced myself to transform back into a human to prevent falling upwards. Better to fall down one story than to float up a billion. "AGH!"

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"I know most electric appliances run from electrical sockets but that was just pathetic," said Nett. The three of us were at the Amity Park soccer field, by the bleachers actually. Nett and Shane were seated at the bottom from row, the rest of the seats filled up as if it were an actual home against visitor game. Well, I guess anyone from Casper High would want to see a battle of the sexes any day. Guess that also falls under the category of pathetic.

"So Manson, you ready for the game?" asked Gabriel, the captain of the boys soccer team.

He had provided me with a temporary borrow of the guys soccer uniform to play in. I nodded with a thankful grin. "Yeah. I'll be there in a minute." With a quick salute he went to run back to the team while kicking a soccer ball on the way.

"So your mom's here?" Shane asked me.

"Yup, up there near the top of the bleachers," I pointed out, seeing her in her black fall coat. She looked almost happy, excited even. Mom was never one for sports. I know. But part of me felt like really showing off, just for her. "Speaking of parents, how'd things go with Tucker-I mean, your dad?" I asked to Nett.

I noticed him pause because of my casual calling of his father, but he replied anyway. "It's all covered. Actually, he was pretty cool with Shane and me being... unconscious I guess."

"Did something happen that we don't know about?" Shane asked me with an interrogative look.

"Nothing I haven't told you guys already," I shrugged. "You sure you never knew about that secret ghost lab in the back of your house, Nett?"

"Nothing at all," Nett admitted with an innocent shrug. "But if anything we know now, it's that I really have to be careful with things at my place. My dad knows something probably we don't know."

"He might even know your secret," Shane pointed out.

I shook my head. "Nah. He doesn't know my ghost form is associated with 'Wendy Manson', well, as far as I know anyway. But for now he shouldn't be anything to worry about. It's not like he'll attack me or anything."

"Wendy come on!" called one of my teammates.

"Coming!" I smiled back at Shane and Nett before running onto the field. "Wish me luck."

"Do your best!" Nett cheered with a thumbs up while Shane remained silent. He wasn't in any position to root for me. He had Crissy after all. But while I was running off, suddenly they found me running back with almost twice the speed I had originally.

I appeared back in front of Shane. After two clicks I set my wristband on Shane's hands over his lap, and he looked up at me confused. "I never do swimming, fist fighting, or sports while wearing this. Hold onto it for me okay?" I whispered before running away without giving him a chance to oppose.

He wasn't going to anyway.

With Shane silent again, Nett looked to him with both a questioning yet knowing face. "What was that about?" he asked with a sly grin.

Shane looked at the corner of his eye then back at the field. "Nothing."

And so the game between the girls team and the boys team (plus me) began. It wasn't that difficult a sport, honestly. And I was even having fun with it. "GO WENDY!" Sam shouted from the bleachers.

"Sam?"

The young mother looked to her right and found her old friend Tucker making his way over. "Tucker?" Sam looked more surprised than happy, but she wasn't unhappy either.

"In the flesh," Tucker grinned. "I never took you for the super-loud-cheering-at-sports type."

"I'm cheering for my daughter," Sam said shamelessly, looking back out and seeing me almost make a goal if it wasn't for Crissy stealing the ball.

"She's really good out there," Tucker commented.

"Yeah," smiled Sam. "So what about you? Your kid isn't on the soccer team is he?"

"Nah. He's a techno-wizard just like his old man. Just thought I'd drop by and cheer Wendy on too. Nett mentioned the game a few days ago and suggested I come, too." He turned to his old crime fighting friend. "So how'd you been? It's been a while, you know."

"I've been fine," the woman replied, trying to focus more on the game than her own mindset.

Seeing the sudden tension washing over the former-goth, Tucker refrained from further 'catching up' and looked onto the game too. He managed to spot me kicking the ball with support and back up running on both sides of me. I scored a goal, receiving cheers and claps from the overseeing audience.

Meanwhile, Tucker saw the determined look on my face so far away, he found a similarity in it with the ghost girl he met the previous day. Same stare, facial bone structure. The word 'coincidence' popped up, but being the genius he was, he quickly began to piece things together.

'Wendy... ghost girl... could it...?'

"So how's Wendy?" Tucker asked.

"She's been doing fine too," Sam answered shortly. "She's been spending a lot of time with Nett and Shane though."

"Really. Guess she takes after you after all - hangin' with the guys."

A small satisfied smile stuck to the Manson's lips. "Guess so."

"No ghost-stuff happening around?" he asked. A sudden death glare was short secretly towards Tucker, and it was then he learned he hit a soft spot again. "Or, not. No ghost stuff has been happening around."

"And it should stay that way," Sam stated with her permanent frown.

'She wouldn't know,' thought Tucker. 'But being his daughter... it is possible that Wendy and the ghost girl could be...' Seeing where his thoughts were going, a confident and subtle laugh escaped the mayor's breath. "Nah." But despite this, he just couldn't erase his hypothesis on the matter. So for now, he figured he could just push it aside and enjoy the game, the normalcy another one of his old friends would have wanted to be enjoying, too.

The score was tied, and the time limit was running low, which meant the next goal would make the victory. No pressure there. Actually, there was no pressure at all. I was a mere ten seconds away from scoring this last one. I had total faith that my legs would not fail me. When I was the right distance away, I could kick the ball up, then do a second kick to fire the ball straight past the goalie. But before I could do so, Crissy came from behind in an attempt to steal the ball. "Oh no you don't."

She tried to kick the ball from my path, but somehow she instead aimed for my leg. The hidden and sneaky move caused me to trip over the all and skid along the grass. I tumbled over my back and eventually flat down on my side, a shrieking pain spiking up my body along the fall.

The shrill sound of a whistle echoed through and the game temporarily came to a stop. "TIME OUT!"

People from the stands stood up, including that of my mother and Tucker. From what I could see through my squinted eyes, all the players had stopped, and a crowd of the guys crowded around me. Teammates I barely even knew and they all had run to my aid. Had to say, that kind of made me happy.

"Wendy!" Through the crowd of boy soccer players, Nett and Shane had pushed through to the front. They saw the captain of the soccer team already helping me sit up. He had beaten them to it.

"Are you hurt?" Shane asked almost too quickly. I could hear Crissy outside this small gathering hmph and cross her arms, turning away from lack of attention.

"Ugh..." I groaned, feeling a pain at my side but it was nothing. "I'm okay, honest."

"Can you stand?" asked one of the other guys.

The captain, Gabriel, with my arm slung around his shoulder pushed to help the two of us stand. However when I went to support myself on my left foot, a surging pain caused me to collapse and almost fall all over again, had it not been for the captain's strong hold on me. Nett had noticed Shane glaring, whether it be at the 'accident' or at the jock's supportive hold around me. "I-I'm alright!"

"Bullcrap," Shane mouthed out with an intense glare at my eyes. I was about to retort something at him but seeing the way he looked at me rendered me at a loss for words.

"Are you kidding us?" Nett asked me with a similar concerned look the rest of the team was giving me. "You can barely stand how can you play soccer?"

"I..." No use fighting this one.

"Guess you won't be playing anymore," sighed the captain. He didn't sound disappointed, but he didn't sound happy, either. "We'll have to forfeit."

My head jumped. "Huh?"

"We're lacking a player," he said with his trademark jockey smile, trying not to show any signs of defeat. "Without enough players, we can't continue the game."

I somehow hoped that that was a joke, but I knew for a fact that the captain was right. I hung my head low. "I'm sorry." I wasn't all that disappointed that we'd be loosing a game, but rather over the fact I'd be loosing my wristband to Crissy. My... father's wristband.

Shane could see that, too.

"Hey don't be sorry," smiled one of the other guys. "If anything we should be sorry we let you down."

"Yeah. We know this is a grudge match between you and the girls soccer team's captain," agreed another. I lifted my head up at that mention.

"Besides, you're a really good player," added another teammate. "You have our respect."

"So don't go on saying you're sorry alright?" smirked the captain.

You think I'd be crying by now out of their kindness, but I'm just not that kind of person. At least not now. Despite what they said, I was still a little depressed. But for show I put up a convincing smile for them. "Thanks you guys..."

"Looks like Wen got herself a little fan club now," Nett whispered to Shane as a joke, only sparking a vein in the Johnson boy's head.

"Well, I guess there's nothing we can do about the game now," I sighed in defeat with the team and my two other friends. "Go tell the coach that-"

"-the game's still on," Shane interrupted, making us all look at him. "A substitution. That's allowed in the game, isn't it?" What was he...?

"It's possible," admitted the captain, still supporting my body. No sooner he caught on with Shane's idea, too. "You gonna take Wendy's place, Johnson?" I watched Shane to see his reaction. Was he really? The captain whistled. "Your girlfriend ain't gonna be too happy about this, man."

"I know," Shane admitted with a shrug.

Nett and I exchanged secret glances. And they say me being nice is something. Before I knew it, I saw Shane taking off his shirt while one of the other players tossed him a soccer uniform shirt for the game. I was seated on a bench while Nett handed me an ice pack. "Thanks."

"No problem." We saw the soccer team telling Shane the low down. Did he even know how to play the game? "Does Shane filling in for you weird you out as much as it does me?"

"Do you really have to ask?" Nett said. I saw the guys nod, and with that the game was about to begin. I could see the look on Crissy's face. Competitiveness? Betrayal? Jealousy? Ooh that last one really sounds good right now.

The whistle sounded off, and the crowd's cheers resumed once again behind us. I kept my eyes on Shane the entire time, watching his movements. Despite him never really playing soccer, he looked actually capable of winning the game... for me. I held the ice pack against my ankle, more distracted by Shane's act of kindness than the injury.

"He's really going out of his way for you," Nett noticed. "Anything I should know about?"

"I told him about my bracelet the other day."

Nett looked surprised. "The one your dad used to have?"

"Yup." Shane maneuvered around the girl-players surrounding him for the ball. He passed it to another player. "That must be why he's playing for me."

Nett gave a short whistle. "And you're sure you guys hate each other."

"Of course I'm sure," I said casually. "But..." I sighed. "But nothing." It goes without saying, Shane won the game for me.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

I rested in my bedroom with bandages around my ankle. Mom had propped it up on a pillow for me and made me some old home-made soup, as if it were to help make me feel better. It wasn't like I had a fever or anything.

My door opened again, and Mom popped her head in. "Knock knock."

"Hi Mom," I smiled, putting down my spoon into the bowl on my side table. "Thanks for the soup by the way."

She sat herself at the end of my bed. "How you feeling?"

"No better than when I fell but, better," I assured. She had let me take the day off from school to rest, spelling out how worried she was about me. "Still, sorry about the game."

"What do you have to be sorry about? You didn't do anything wrong."

I frowned, nonetheless. "Still, I wanted to win since you were coming to watch."

"Aw." She came over and puling me in for a hug. Being my my Mom's arms always managed to make me feel safe, even from ghosts. "I know I'm never really around for you when you might need me, but if you ever do want to talk about anything or want me to do something for you, never hesitate to ask okay?"

Even telling you a ghost? "Back at ya, Mom," I smiled, holding her arm in front of my check.

However in saying that, unknowingly that caused my mom to think back to the same person she thought about while speaking with Tucker at the game. In thinking so, she looked down to my wrist and noticed it unusually bare that day. "Hey, where's your bracelet?"

My happy moment ended then and there. "My what?"

Lucky for me, despite not being at school, I was saved by the bell. The doorbell anyway. Able to leave Mom's question unanswered, she stood up to go over to my window and look out. Down on the stoop she saw two familiar boys just let out from school. "It's Nett and Shane. Want me to send them up?"

I hesitated for only a moment. "Yeah. That'd be nice," I nodded with a smile. As she returned it, she hurried to answer the door. She never did like keeping people waiting. When she gone, I looked down at my naked wrist, thinking about my beloved wristband which I had entrusted to Shane before the game. Looks like by winning he kept it safe after all.

It wasn't long afterwards until I heard the guys' heavy footsteps come up the stairs and towards my room. They peeked in the same way Mom did before entering fully. "Will the witch let us enter her chambers?" Shane joked with a bored expression while Nett grinned with a bright look.

"You're lucky I can't walk," I threatened with an ironic, welcoming smile. As the two walked in and tossed their bags to the corner of the room near the door, I tried to position myself into a more comfortable sitting position.

"So how's the life of the bedridden?" Nett asked me, sitting on one end of the bed while Shane stood against the wall nearby. "Do you have to use crutches? Can you park in those disabled people parking spots? Can you use those slow motorized cart-bikes in the supermarket?" I laughed at his stupid questions, and I noticed Shane give Nett a 'really?' look. "Geez it's called pulling a joke. So really kiddo, how you feelin'?"

"Bored," I sighed with an eye roll. "Danny's ghost birds even dropped by and said Danny wanted me to practice my invisibility while I was recovering."

"That's Danny for ya," Nett agreed, and with that we looked to Shane who hasn't said a word since the 'witch' comment.

I turned my upper torso towards him. "And what about you? Just because I have to use crutches for the next few days doesn't mean I can't take insults. Come on give me your best shot. Call me something offensive or disturbing."

Shane looked rather irritated by my attempt at conversation. He kept his hands in his pockets and turned his head away. "You're even more annoying crippled."

I laughed through a silent breather in my nose. "Now was that so hard?"

Nett noticed the self-though chemistry flowing through and thought it'd be best to leave us of a while. "I'm gonna go see Mrs. M. and check if there's any food downstairs." Nett gave me a discrete wink before getting up to 'give us some alone time.' Though he'd already turned around, I responded with a glare. Just who does he think he is? Cupid? Nett even went to close the door behind him to ensure our privacy.

"I thought that dweeb would never leave," Shane sighed, causing my head to jump. Shane carefuly sat down near me, near my knee on the bed. He took something out of his pocket and showed my wrist band.

"You still have it," I smiled as I grabbed it from him, starring at it like it were the greatest treasure in the world.

"It's yours isn't it?" he shrugged, denying me a heart-warming smile as I snapped it back onto my wrist. "So how's your leg? After the game Folly and I barely say you at all what with all the doctors bringing you around the place."

"Just a sprained ankle," I said, looking at my bandaged foot. "I should be up and about in a day or two with a real cast Mom said."

"Ah only that long? I was hoping for at least a week's worth of vacation from you."

Without much effort I slapped a small pillow against his back. "Gee thanks," I managed to laugh. "And uh... thanks for substituting for me in the game yesterday."

"It was total sabotage. It wasn't fair to you," he said, denying his kindness.

"You knew Crissy tripped me?"

"Knew? I saw her," he said as if it were obvious. "Of course we got into an argument at school today for me taking your side in the game, so obviously I have you to blame for that."

All I could provide was a sheepish and apologetic smile. "Sorry."

"And quit saying sorry already. It's really annoying." He stood up from the bed to hide his face, whatever was on it. After about ten seconds he turned back around to see me looking down at my bracelet while wearing a small, nostalgic smile. Eventually he gathered up enough courage to ask. "... You thinking about your dad?"

"Yeah..." I looked up. "Some days I really wanna ask my mom about him, but, then I'll just loose the nerve." I played with the wristband, twirling it around my wrist. I will never take it for granted again. "What kind of person do you think he could've been, my dad, if he never died."

Shane thought about it for a second after a loud exhale. "He'd probably be like you. Stubborn, hardheaded, idiodic sometimes."

"Wow. You haven't even met the man and already you're insulting him."

Shane shrugged. "Force of habit with your kind. Oh." He reached for a second thing in his pockets. I couldn't see what it was in his hand, but I noticed a thin silver chain seeping through his fingers.

Seeing the small star-shaped charm I instantly remembered. "Is that Crissy's?" I asked almost in disbelief.

Shane sat down again on my bed in the same spot. "The guys team won didn't they? So you win the bet."

I starred at Shane's hand longer, and I began to wonder what exactly I had missed at school. "Shane I didn't really want it you know-"

"I know," he interrupted with the same motionless expression. "But a bet's a bet isn't it?"

Curiously I pondered over whether this was really Crissy's doing or Shane's. She did say the necklace was a gift from Shane didn't she? "And Crissy's okay with it?"

"Of course not," he almost laughed, amused. When he saw me just starring down still at his hand, he sighed and stood back up, going around back to hook the necklace around my neck. "Here. You deserve it anyway. Like I said, you won."

"But..." Technically I lost and he won, but still, even if it was Crissy I felt wrong for taking the necklace.

Shane finally managed to hook the chain and stood back to look at me. "There, you're finally starting to look like a girl with that on." I looked down at my shirt instantly and eyed the necklace in my fingers, almost panicking. "Just hold onto it okay? Crissy will get over it if I just get her another one anyway."

What a cheap girlfriend, I thought. Lost in my thoughts, I barely noticed Shane walk over to the farther end of the room to get his bag, around the same time Nett entered through the door with a bag of chips. "Where're you going?" Nett asked as Shane walked passed the nerd. Nett then went to look at me with a questioning look, to which I had no answer for.

Instead I groaned and held my head back, feeling a pillow underneath from behind. "Guys are so confusing..."