Here's the next update!


"Oh my gosh I feel so stressed now," Sam groaned, dropping her head into her arms on the kitchen table.

Tucker passed her a mug of warm honey tea. "Don't worry to much about it right now. She's sick and staying up in her room probably sleeping the day away like normal teenagers do." All of a sudden he heard a dragon roar from outside in the city. His eyes distorted and his head jumped. "Did you hear that?"

Sam, disoriented from her stress, barely picked her head up. "No. What is it?"

As if on cue, Tucker saw out the living room window the sight of a giant ghost dragon flying right by the window, close to the streets, flying at maybe 70 miles per hour. It was a quick and swift view, but he knew he saw it. Me. Of course, he didn't know it was me. Instinctively he had covered Sam's eyes before she could notice anything . "Nothing." She's already stressed out enough. Seeing anything ghost-related at his point will just throw her off end!

Suddenly Shane and Nett came sprinting down the stairs with their book bags (full of ghost fighting tech). "We've gotta go now bye Dad bye Mrs. Manson!" Nett said in a fast-forward tone. He and Shane ran out the door and slammed it shut behind them, leaving a still bewildered Tucker covering Sam's eyes.

The mayor blinked, wondering what just happened. Ghost dragon from his childhood. Terrorizing Amity Park. His son and friend just went outside into the dangerous city. "Oh boy."

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"Where is she?" Nett shouted as they ran down the street. Another echoing roar.

"I'm guessing that way," Shane said stoically. They knew they were nearing their destination as they found more civilians running their opposite direction, screaming. It was like an action movie really. The terror. The screaming. The cars honking. Havoc everywhere.

Luckily enough the two had managed to corner her at the end of a dead end street, void of any people so they were alone. The dragon before them looked just about ready to fight them too. "Now what?" Shane said, taking a step back.

"I dunno, man. Usually this is where I ditch and run and leave Wendy to do all the work but," insert roar here, "well, you know." The ghost dragon went and took in a big breath, fists tightened and cheeks inflated. "RUN!" Shane and Nett jumped out of the way, dodging a shot of blue fire. It scorched the cement street under them, but only slightly. Nett landed in a bush while Shane rolled, landing on the edge of the street.

"Hey Manson! Wake up and look at who you're shooting!" The Dragon found its next target, shooting another giant blue fire ball which Shane had to dodge.

Nett shot his head up out of the bush. "The point is to get her to calm down! Not get her more angry!"

Shane continued running, panting. "No! To transform her back we have to get that stupid necklace off her!"

Nett's eyebrow lowered. "Now that I can do." He reached into his pocket and pulled out yet another new model phone. Coincidentally, it had a triangular pointed top. His expression looked distant as he starred at it. "Another new phone about to go to waste for the sake of saving Amity Park from ghosts... Eh, I never liked this one anyway." He pulled some more things out of the side of his bag. Two markers and a big rubber band and a paperclip. With a quick jumble of his hands, he managed to make a mini version of a bow, using his odd new phone as the arrow. "Projectile ready, angled up at one hundred and fifty-seven degrees. Low wind pressure in six seconds. Center and ready to shoot under countdown."

Shane did another roll, dodging another fire shot. "Quit geeking out and shoot the stupid phone already!"

"And fire!" Nett released his phone and it flew through the air, hitting the necklace on the dragon's neck with percise accuracy. Suddenly the chain behind the amulet napped off, falling to the ground and shrinking back to original size. The dragon, naked of its amulet, roared before glowing once more. It reverted back to human form, back to me.

Shane and Nett watched before running off to me. I was laying on the ground, unscathed but still barefoot and in my pajamas. I moaned a little, laying on the concrete before being forcibly overturned onto my back. "Agh, what hit me?"

"Manson are you alright?" Shane surprisingly asked first.

"I think," I answered, but I started going into another coughing fit, though.

"We have to get her indoors somewhere," Nett advised as he placed the retrieved amulet back inside his backpack.

Shane turned his head in all directions, looking for a temporary shelter. "The Fenton Works building is right there on the corner. We can stay over in the lab for a little bit until Manson's better."

Being only semi-conscious, I couldn't bring myself to walk, so Shane and Nett had to help drag me. My arms were fasted around their shoulders, my body hanging limb between them and my feet barely doing any work. The walk to the abandoned apartment wasn't all that far a distance, but for some reason it felt like hours before we made it to the stoop. We climbed up the front stairs and made out way down some more and into the lab.

"Danny!" Shane called. "Danny are you here!"

"He's out at the moment. Leave a message," said a familiar old voice. Three of Danny's old ghost vultures flew down from their ceiling pipe. They instantly caught sight of me ill self. "What's up with her?"

"Long story. Where's Danny?" Shane rushed.

"Like we said, he's out," said another vulture. "He's in the ghost zone and said he won't be back for quite some time."

"I guess it doesn't really matter if he's here or not," Nett said to Shane as he helped give me entirely to him. Afterwards Nett went into his bag and took out the cursed amulet. "You guys make yourselves useful and just throw this away somewhere, would ya?"

One of the three vultures took the cursed necklace as I moaned tiredly in Shane's arms. Shane with his free hand felt my forehead. "She's running a fever now."

"Well that's just great," Nett smiled sarcastically. "But how are we going to get her back up into her room without her Mom noticing?"

"You can leave that to us," said the vulture.

"You sure?" Nett asked.

"Can you fly and go intangible?" barked one of them. "Hmph, didn't think so."

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"Ah..." I blinked my eyes opened, feeling sore all over. My appetite was long gone and I felt so hot underneath all these layers of covers. But the only source of cold was coming from my forehead. A wet folded towel was placed there. 'Mom'.

Suddenly I remembered all the events that must've happened earlier today. Looking out my window, it was pitch blank beyond my room. Night. Oh yeah. Earlier today, I was training with Nett and Shane, using the amulet. "And I turned into a dragon because of Mom..."

Well, I'm over it now I think. Whatever I got so riled up about before, it's gone. She has her reasons for whatever she's doing, so I'll just forget about it for now. What I'm worried about now is Shane and Nett. What happened to them? It wasn't until the last minute I found their school bags over near the wall. 'So they're here.'

But I noticed something in Shane's bag. It was left open. Only a little. But I couldn't help but notice one thing I never thought I'd see - especially with Shane. I squinted my eyes just to be sure, but I knew I couldn't deny it. Especially since it's right there in sight. "Cigarettes...?"

There was a tiny box of them left in the small zipper compartment on the front of his bag. The box was open, missing a few cigarettes but still plenty left in the case. My face fell a little as I starred at it.

"Is she still asleep?" I heard someone whisper. My door creaked eerily open, and I noticed Nett sticking his head slowly in.

I pretending not to notice Shane's bag and I laughed a little to myself, seeing Nett's head unable to fit through the crack of the door opening. "Nah, I'm awake."

"Ah. Well then, up for some dinner?" Nett asked, opening the door fully, revealing him and Shane wearing some of Mom's and my kitchen aprons. Shane was holding a tray of food too, an unhappy and humiliating look on his face. Ha, if only I had a camera.

It hurt to laugh though, so all I could do was smile. "What on earth are you two dorks doing wearing those?"

"Your mom had to go to work about three hours ago, so we volunteered to stay and watch you," Nett grinned as he walked up to my bed.

"We dropped the amulet off at Danny's, and the Vultures made sure you got back to your room without your Mom knowing," Shane informed as he set the tray on a table near my bed. "Hungry?"

"No really," I replied apologetically.

"Good then, because whatever it is Nett and I whipped up for you probably tastes like crap," Shane admitted with a shrug.

Nett nodded sympathetically. "He's right."

I laughed a little again. "Thank you, you guys. Sorry though about all of this. I actually thought I could suppress emotions but, I guess I still have a lot of training to do," I admit with a frown.

"I for one think you can suppress your emotions. Pretty well, actually," Nett said. "You were doing pretty well with Shane insulting you without expression until we, overheard your mom downstairs with my dad. Um, that's understandable to get upset about."

"Did you know what they were talking about, anyway?" Shane asked to both Nett and me.

We shook out heads. "Not a clue," I sighed. "It's okay though. I'll find out whenever I'm ready. Meanwhile with you guys are you okay? Did I do anything bad while I was a dragon? I didn't hurt you did I?"

"No no we're fine," Nett assured. "But you owe me a new phone."

Shane sat down beside where I lay. "So, how's our ghost-menace feeling?"

"Slightly better," I said, trying to convince myself I was getting better. I even sat up and removed the towel from my forehead. Big msitake, but i wanted to try to get better as soon as possible. Can't quite deny I felt totally stick to my stomach now. "It's Saturday tomorrow. What time's training in the morning again?"

"Training?" Nett scoffed. "You're not training tomorrow with Danny - look at you. You look like my grandmother after New Years." I'm going to assume that means 'not good'.

"Rest," Shane urged, pushing me back down into bed. Normally I could've resisted but my body unwillingly laid down anyway. "No school, no training. Why can't you do what normal kids do and just sleep in for once?"

"We're not normal kids, remember?" I furrowed my eyebrows as Shane set the new moist towel over my head again. I remembered the smokes in his bag again as I stared up at Shane, adjusting the folded towel for me. This guy, one of my long time 'friends', has been smoking? How could I not have known? Good thing I was sick then. They can't tell 'tiredness' from 'sadness'.

"Folly, can you got wet the old towel downstairs for me?" Shane asked. Nett nodded and took the old forehead-towel and left the room without without a word. It was just me and Shane, now.

"I'm going to train tomorrow," I finalized as I starred down at my feet under the covers, trying to forget my previous thoughts.

"No you won't," Shane rebutted, using the towel to wipe the sweat from the sides of my face.

I glared up at him. "You guys can't tell me what to do. You won't be here anyway, so I can just sneak out if I want to train."

Shane narrowed his eyebrows at me. "Why you-" Shane stopped himself. I could tell I was frustrating him, but I have to train.

"Time's gone by so fast already," I started saying, as if to reason my blind determination. "Who knows how much longer these next few months will last. I need to keep training with Danny and stop wasting days in bed like this..."

Shane couldn't help but understand where I was coming from with that said. he gave out a small sigh. "But you can't exhaust yourself, you know. You'll just get worse and you'll never get better."

I know I'm being stubborn and immature, but I just don't want to rest. That's not me. "...Shane, can I ask you something?" I ask, suddenly throwing away our previous 'hatred' of each other.

"What?"

"... How long have you been smoking?" I felt him jump a little, but I avoided his gaze. "I saw them in your bag."

He heard Shane exhale. "I thought Nett told you for a second."

"Nope," I assure, kind of upset he didn't. That neither of them didn't. "But why, though? Not to state the obvious or anything but smoking's bad for you, you know."

"I don't want to hear this talk from you."

"Well too bad 'cause you're gonna," I state. "Look, I'm not just gonna come out and say 'I want you to stop smoking', because clearly I can't tell you what to do. Not my place, you know?" He gave me a questioning look. "But... it makes me sad to think that you do, anyway." I looked up, at his eyes with a purely curious and needful glance. "How long have you been smoking, anyway?" I wasn't going to admit it just yet, but... I felt worried... for him.

Shane went to pull his legs up onto the bed, looking like he was trying to think of an answer. A reasonable answer. "I wasn't always smoking. Maybe for the past three weeks or so." That long? "But you don't have to worry, you know. I only smoke every other day. It's nothing big."

"Nothing big?" I repeat in disbelief. Everything he says sounds like he's trying to assure me, but it's only making me more anxious. "Shane."

"I know what you're thinking," Shane says. "But... I need an outlet, you know? To release stress. Nett has his weirdo video games and you have your miraculous ghost powers and action-movie ghost fighting to release any stress you have. And, well... I needed something too."

I scoff. "And what, getting high is your outlet? Shane I don't think that-"

"I know. It's not the smartest thing to do but... what else can I do? I can't meditate. I can't fight. I'm just... there. It sounds really stupid but, smoking sort of makes you just forget your problems, you know? Makes you forget for even a little while things you can't really ever forget."

"I know," I frown solemnly. "... My Mom used to smoke a long time ago."

"Really?" Shane looks pretty surprised. I'd be too if I just found out. The way Samantha Manson looks now, she looks totally drug free. "There was this one long period of time where she got really depressed. About my Dad I think. I was probably around five or six so I can't remember too much about it."

"You never told me that."

"I didn't think it was something you needed to know. Plus I probably didn't get the seriousness of it at the time, so I must've just thought she was real sick or something. She smoked a lot to try and forget about my dad, but it just ended up deteriorating her health since she did it often. At first not so much, but she got addicted to it over time."

"How'd she stop?"

"She ended up having to get surgery on her lungs for something I can't remember," I say, trying to recall these foggy memories. "I stayed with my grandma while Mom as recovering, but she never smoked after that. No one ever told me the details, but I think I almost lost my Mom that day."

"Wow."

"So you can't blame me for being a little concerned about you," I say with a trying half smile. I can't imagine the stuff Shane must think about to want to resort to smoking to forget about them. "I bet you were going to smoke tomorrow, too?"

"You know me so well," Shane admits with very dry humor about him. "But hey, tell you what. Tomorrow, if you promise to stay in bed and not go training in any way shape or form, then I won't smoke tomorrow."

Yeah, tomorrow, not forever. But I'll take what I can get. "Deal."

He gave me a skeptic look. "But how can I trust that you won't just sneak out of bed anyway and leave your house?"

I held in a laugh. "Same to you, smart one. I probably would stay I bed anyway, but how do I know you won't smoke tomorrow, either?" Shane held the same smirk as I did on his face. It would appear we've reached a predicament. "You know what? Since I'll supposedly be staying in bed tomorrow, and you'll supposedly not be smoking, we'll have nothing to do on Saturday."

"Yeah?"

"So you have to stay here, with me," I tell as if it was the worst possible thing I could say to the boy. "I watch you, you watch me, we both win," I reason. "We're not exactly each other's best company sure, but it gets the job done. We both make sure we get what we want: Me staying in and you not smoking."

Shane exhales slowly, starring at me the entire time. He looks up at the ceiling first before making his final decision. "Looks like we'll be hanging out tomorrow."

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Hanging out. With Shane. Planned. ... I really am sick. I sit in my bed, looking through Mom's Supernatural Book. Occasionally if Mom would ever come up to visit me I would hide it under my pillow or something. Luckily she doesn't come often.

I hear the doorbell ring, signaling that Shane must've arrived. I hear Mom downstairs getting the door, and the two of them exchanging small talk before she sends him upstairs. "Wendy Shane's here!" she calls out for me, but I already know.

Shane enters the room after two small knocks. He doesn't even wait for me to say 'come in'. "Hey," he said warily.

"Hey," I say back. There's an awkward tension in the room, but part of me feels slightly grateful that at least he won't be smoking today. "So... what do you want to do?"

"I have no idea," Shane admits with a laugh, making me laugh in turn. It so awkward between us its funny. When was the last time we ever really go together to just hang out? "I brought two of my old TorGame Handholds."

"A Handhold?" I repeat with a hint of anxiousness. "No one plays those anymore, Shane what are you doing with those?"

I see him pull two out of his school bag. A dark blue one and a red one. Both have scuff marks from years of age, and the red one has a faded cupcake sticker on it. I remember because it was mine. "I figured that when I got here today we'd probably get real bored real fast. So I brought a bunch of junk for us to possibly do."

"But seriously TorGame Handhelds? Let me see." He came over to the bed and gave me my red one. I remember how when we were little, playing video games on these were all the rage, until new things came out like 3d video games and graphics. Handhelds video games died out pretty quickly after our childhood. "How do you have mine? I forgot I even owned one."

"We played once and you left yours in my bag I think when we were at the park," Shane tries to recall.

"Oh do they still have RaceSpace inside?"

"Both do," Shane replies, clicking the back of his Handheld and popping a RaceSpace game chip out. "Wanna play?"

"Wanna loose?"

"Oh you're on," he laughs as we both turn them on, ready to relive our childhood.

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Meanwhile back at FentonWorks, the ghost portal opened and Danny flew out of it. The three vultures above notice and fly down to greet their comrade. "Welcome back."

"What took so long?" one asks. "When you say you'll be back in a sec, that doesn't mean the same as I'll be back in a day."

"Sorry. Spectra's hypnotism took longer than I expected it to."

"Spectra?" one bird repeats with an arched eyebrow. "Oh no. Don't tell me you took her up on that proposition of hers."

"And you missed Wendy's visit, too."

"So what if I did? I found out some pretty interesting things about my life while visiting Spectra and- Wait. What? Wendy? What was she doing here I thought she was sick."

One of the old ghost birds make a baffled sound. "Sick? She looked dead to me. Or almost dead anyway."

"What happened," Danny says darkly.

"It would seem the kids came across this little trinket." One of the birds fly down from the ceiling, dropping the amulet from his claws. It lands right over Danny's shoulders and around his neck.

Danny looks at it for a moment before realizing what it was. Remembering what it was. "The Amulet of Aragon? How'd the kids get ahold of this?"

"Yup. Some dangerous dark magic there," notes the bird. "But she's fine now. Resting again. So, tell us about this trip of yours to Spectra's."

"Like I said, just some interesting things about my life."

"... Yeah like?"

"Well, I had a good life, apparently. A wife, too. I can't remember what she looks like, but Spectra says she was real beautiful. But... Mm."

"What happened? What?"

"Its how you died, wasn't it," said the head leader of the bird trio. "I know very well about Spectra's hypnotism. You remember everything you shouldn't. You were killed, weren't you."

"I died so young," Danny admits, looking at himself in a mirror across the lab. "And I left so much behind. So many more years taken away from me."

"You alright?"

"I'll be fine. It's just a lot to take in. And now I have so many more questions - more than I originally did before Spectra's hypnotism."

"See, this is what happens when you visit that shrink. You should either be able to remember everything or nothing at all. It's better that way Daniel, you know that."

"I know but I- AGH." Danny grabs his head and closes his eyes. His levitation gives out on him and he lands on the tiles below him, on his knees. The birds hover over him in concern.

Danny. Danny what's wrong?" one asks in his usual heavy accent.

"I-I don't know!" Danny grits through his teeth. More mental images flash through his head, similar to the ones during his hypnotism. Spectra warned him of this, of random flashbacks initiated by certain actions that occur around him.

Black and White images played out in the dark. He was in a car, conversing with a woman. A very beautiful woman he couldn't identify. She was in the passenger seat and his hands on the steering wheel. They were talking, because her mouth was moving. But everything was mute. She laughed. Still mute.

The next thing he knows, feelings of vibrations everywhere come out, and the car swivels off the road. He imagines himself and the woman screaming, and then a quick movement occurs. Smoke covers each glass window, and everything hurts. Everything is sore around him. He turns to the side and sees the passenger seat empty, the door open and it is facing the sky. The car is overturned. And then, everything is hot. Everything burs. Everything smells of smoke. Everything is burning.

"Agh!" Danny yells out again, shooting his eyes open. By but by that time, his vision is blurred. Everything around him is smaller. The birds at tiny, at his feet. Danny is a dragon, wearing the Amulet of Aragon - trigger by his steadfast emotions of panic and grief over his own death.

And then he is gone.