A/N: Getting more exciting for ya? Hope so! It is for me! Waa-HOO! This story just hit over 200 reviews! My first story to do so! I'm SO excited, so please forgive me while I hyperventilate…..Now I think I calmed down…a little….…Now, a quick summary: Danny, Sam and Tucker have arrived at the hospital, searching for the answer of the next clues. Tucker is left behind because of his phobia while Danny and Sam dive downward through the ground to search the ruins of the original hospital. In the meantime, Sombre has been captured and is in the dungeon, and Jiva secretly helps Bhuto to escape the dungeon as well, for her own purposes, of course. And, of course, don't own nothin'! Here is Chapter 38. I dedicate it to my 200th reviewer, pearl84! Thanks to everyone as well for all their delicious thoughts! Enjoy!

Shadow of a Doubt—Chapter 38—Attack and Capture

Jiva did take care of everything as she had promised. With her powers, she had convinced her father to delay Bhuto's hearing for at least a fortnight. It was better than she had hoped. That would give her plenty of time to finalize her ultimate plans.

She had also swayed her father's feelings on her role in this matter, and used Bhuto's actions to her advantage. By the time she was finished with the Prophesy, he was certain that even though her decision to send Bhuto outside the Realm without the Prophesy's permission was rash, it was bold. And that it needed to be—and expected of their house—in order to retrieve the renegade called Sombre. She had definitely not only avoided his ire in the matter, but in fact, gained more admiration from him on her ingenuity.

As for making sure no Spectre would discover Bhuto was missing, she gave strict orders to the guards of the prison that Bhuto was to be held in solitary confinement; and the only contact that would be made to him was from either herself or the Prophesy. But again, she had made sure that her father would have no desire to contact Bhuto. She was certain that she would have no worries in this scheme.

As Jiva headed back to her chambers, she smiled triumphantly. All her plans seemed to be falling into place… Suddenly she halted and frowned in disgust at her next thought…Except for one. Spectro. But she silently smirked, assuring herself that this, too, would go in her favor. She was certain of what she would do. It would be as easy for her to take care of him as it had been to steer Phasma's mind away from her forbidding Spectro to keep her matters quiet.

Spectro, in the meanwhile, knew, of course, that Phasma would confront his daughter about Bhuto; and that Jiva would prevail, and handily escape Phasma' wrath unscathed… And he also knew that the princess would find out how Phasma had learned of it. But he was not worried about Phasma's being angry at him. Phasma trusted him. No, he knew he would have to deal with Jiva. But not now. And he had other, more important, worries. So, he gained Phasma's permission to check the troops at the farthest corners of their realm until he could figure out what he would do about Jiva and the new Spectre prisoner.

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Bhuto hurriedly flew through the Ghost Zone toward the place that the princess had burned into his mind. He looked ahead and a moment later, instinctively knew that this was the right place to stop. He produced his claws and tore a hole into the dimension. He did not know this flesh-town, but he knew that the princess would guide him through it all. He surprised himself when he hesitated at that moment at the entrance of the portal he had produced. Would the princess truly be pleased if he succeeded? But he brushed his doubt away and with more resolve, plunged right into it.

He scanned the surroundings and found himself in an even stranger flesh-dwelling place than the two previous ones to which he had been sent. This must be the 'Amity Park' of which the Princess had spoken. He looked to the distance and saw a large white building just ahead and knew that this was the flesh-wellness place where his princess wanted him to go.

As he soared to it, he kept to the natural shadows that made themselves available to him. He knew he had to take the Phantom by surprise in order to be successful. He was so intent on coming up with a quick plan that he didn't notice that he was headed right toward Tucker.

Tucker, meanwhile, was still wracking his brains over the clues. What else could he do since he couldn't do anything else? He sighed as he stared downward at the words on his PDA-even though he really didn't need to by this time-as he had already inadvertently memorized the last two stanzas:

"But in darkness b'low
The wellness place
In cornerstone show
No hint, no trace
But the only true case
The secret will b'stow."

"In the dark stone
The secret name will cry
Upon the throne
The Omen of Prophesy!"

He frowned and he could feel a headache coming on. He just couldn't figure this last part out! Maybe his friends would have better luck below. He suddenly grunted with exasperation. He wanted to be of some help to Danny and Sam, but just sitting here made him feel completely useless! He turned off his PDA and lay back on the ground, staring up at nothing in the clear sky.

But it didn't help at all. He grew even more restless with the excruciating wait, sat up, and turned his PDA back on. And because of his frustration, he punched some buttons more violently than he normally would have and stared at the clues again. But the words stared right back as blankly as he did. Suddenly, he heard some static on his Fenton phones. He relaxed a little, and his eyes refocused on the words displayed on his PDA. He knew that it was his friends calling!

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Just after Danny and Sam had left Tucker and phased through the ground, Danny created a ball of ectoplasmic energy light with his left hand. Remaining intangible, he held his girlfriend close as they slowly descended.

Sam looked around them as they floated downward and was amazed at this totally different world. There were open brown pockets of space intermingled with multi-layers of different shades of black or brown sand and dirt. She immediately noticed and didn't mind the familiar smell of the moist earth. She could feel the richness and life within the darker soil penetrate her senses like percolating coffee, calming her and reminding her how content she always felt when growing her plants. She grinned in delight.

Occasionally, they phased through rocks. Some of them were unremarkable, their dull grays muting any remote interest in them. But many of the rocks contained small amounts of crystalline-like material which, whenever they would meet Danny's light, instantly and happily greeted the young couple with waves of their sparkling silent laughter. And whenever they threw their colorful kisses at Sam, she softly giggled when they brushed her cheek.

As they delved deeper into the terra, Sam noticed that it was getting colder. She clung closer to Danny for warmth and smiled when he drew her even closer. When he did, it knocked her backpack strap off her shoulder and she unconsciously righted it back on.

"This place is awesome!" she finally uttered, her eyes twinkling as brightly as the crystals in the rocks that winked at her as she and Danny passed them.

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" Danny said, delighted that she was pleased. "But wait! There's more!"

She quickly scanned the area around them as they continued their descent, and the pocket of spaces changed a little. Some were small, others larger. Still others were as large as mini-caverns and Danny stopped when he reached one. Sam immediately saw several crystalline, icicle-like stalactites burst into all the colors of the rainbow when Danny's light enveloped them.

"Beautiful!" Sam breathlessly said. She had never noticed this wonderful world. They had traveled underground before when they were on the Freakshow's reality gauntlet adventure, but they had moved through it all so quickly all the underground scenery had only been a blur.

"Yeah, but not as beautiful as you!" Danny couldn't help but say. He was so happy that he could finally share this with her.

"Smooth. But we're on a mission, you know!" she said with a slight laugh, embarrassed at his remark. But she gave him a quick hug to assure him that she was pleased.

"I know, but I always wanted to show you this to you!" he replied with a twinkle in his eye that rivaled the twinkle from all the crystalline material in this area.

"Well, maybe we'll be able to explore it later. But I do love it!" she said again, still awed. She definitely wanted to come back here with him once they had solved the mystery.

They resumed their downward direction and Sam could hear muffled sounds of rushing water. An instant later, they entered an area that obviously contained an underground stream.

"And this is how I travel if I have to go underground for any length of time. Makes seeing the route more clearly."

"Yeah, cool," she excitedly replied, hardly able to utter more. She was still awed with trying to take everything in. She remembered that they had used a similar path in the past, but now that she could see what they had missed, she once more regretted that they had traveled through it too quickly to fully appreciate its beauty.

Finally, they had floated only a few yards more when Danny turned, and headed straight up.

Sam looked at Danny, confused by his action.

He smiled when she saw her puzzled expression and said, "We should be under the old hospital now. I would have gone straight to it when we were up higher, but I wanted to show you all this first!"

She smiled back and gave him another squeeze.

The ghost teen slowed their ascent when he thought they were closer to their designation. Suddenly, they were obviously in a man-made space.

"Whoa!" Sam blurted out, not quite ready for the sudden change in scenery.

"Looks like we found the old hospital!" Danny exclaimed as he made both of them solid again. He placed Sam down and said, "Let's give Tucker a quick call to let him know we got here, OK?"

Sam nodded in reply and Danny quickly called his friend on the Fenton phones.

"Hello?" Tucker said when he heard the static clear.

Danny quickly told him that they had made it to the old hospital and had had no trouble finding it, thanks to him.

Tucker was pleased, envious and exasperated all at once. But he tried to sound encouraging. "And at least I'm doing something useful. I'm staring at the clues!"

Danny chuckled and assured his friend that they would contact him again with any more news.

Just as they hung up, Tucker sighed in disappointment again. What was the sense of staring at the clues when he wanted to be with his friends? He closed the scroll file and began to search for other programs on his PDA.

Ever since he had obtained this high-tech PDA from the future Skultech during the Poisoned Ghost War with Danny's evil future self, the beret-wearing teen had made investigating new programs on this PDA a second hobby. The fact was that the programs seemed endless and equally intriguing; he was certain that he wouldn't get bored with them for a very long time.

Suddenly, the boy brightened at the newest program he just discovered. He pounded excitedly on the commands when, suddenly, he noticed that the sun was momentarily blocked. He looked up to investigate, but then the sun was back out again. "Funny", he thought to himself, scanning the sky. "There're no clouds."

But, of course, he hadn't noticed that it had been Bhuto flying over him that had shrouded the sun for that brief moment. The boy quickly dismissed the phenomenon with a shrug and returned to the program he was exploring. His eyes widened. It was one that could make the PDA emit an unusual energy ray. He looked at the code commands and gasped, "Hey, I can't believe that…that this is actually an invisibility power? And, man, I've never seen an invisibility power intensity with those parameters before!" He chuckled at his next thought. "Yeah, well, gee, I've never even knew that the ability to become invisible could be measured! Or even produced by anything else but ghosts. But then again, you never know what to expect with what Skultech came up with this PDA!" No longer exasperated, he smiled at his discovery and continued to experiment with it.

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After disconnecting with Tucker, Danny enlarged his energy orb and scanned the area. Old hospital equipment still lay scattered about, covered in years of decay and dirt that had filtered through the decrepit ceiling.

And just as Bhuto was passing over Tucker, Sam coughed on some dirt she had kicked up. She growled, "Man, they never even cleaned up this place before they built the new one. What a environmental nightmare!"

"Well, they probably just thought that all this stuff would make a great foundation for the new hospital," Danny said with a smirk, trying to calm his girlfriend.

She glared at him, but he chuckled again, "C'mon, Sam! Remember, we're on a mission!"

Before she could reply, he suddenly pointed behind her and said in excitement, "Speaking of 'foundation', what's that over there?"

Sam whipped around and scanned where he had pointed to. He enlarged his light for her to see. There, in the crumbling brick wall, a large dark block sat mutely beckoning them to draw nearer. The two teens crept closer. As they approached it, they could see that it had writing on it!

"That must be the cornerstone!" she shrieked in triumph. She maneuvered around the debris more quickly, with Danny floating closely behind her.

And just as they both drew near enough to examine their discovery, Danny's icy breath escaped from his mouth. But its warning was too late. Before the boy knew it, he was reeling from the blow that Bhuto gave him as the shadow ghost oozed into the area. Danny slammed into the opposite wall. He looked at his attacker and gasped. It was that same Spectre who was at Lake Shadesville and was working for Jiva! He barely reacted fast enough to avoid the red-and-black beam that Bhuto immediately thrust at him.

The teen instantly shot his own ice beams at the creature but the shadow ghost also successfully dodged them.

Sam immediately dove for cover behind some debris.

Bhuto counterattacked with another powerful seal and Danny impulsively sent a just as powerful ice beam, which immediately crashed head-on into the Spectre ray. The impact rendered the Spectre ray harmless, but forcibly threw Danny backwards. He crashed into a desk chair that was right next to Sam, smashing it to pieces.

The teen lay there momentarily stunned and Bhuto smiled as he charged up another powerful beam.

Suddenly, Libro sprang out of Sam's backpack and lunged straight at Bhuto. But the shadow ghost was ready, striking the book squarely with the large red-and-black beam he had meant for the boy. Libro shook violently from the jolt as a puff of smoke escaped from the impact area. He immediately fell to the floor with a hard thud.

"Libro!" Sam screamed at the sight.

Bhuto jerked toward the girl, instantly shooting another red-and-black beam at her.

By then, Danny had recovered and gasped at Bhuto's attack. He instinctually soared upward while rapidly emitting ice beams from both of his eyes and hands, which rendered the shadow ghost's rays useless. He sighed in mental relief now that Sam was safe, but the boy couldn't understand why the creature was able to shoot not only red-and-black beams, but also multiple ones.

But Danny's distraction was enough for Bhuto to quickly scoop up Libro just as he thrust a new red-and-black ray at the teen. Danny charged up an ice shield in return, but it quickly shattered under the powerful blow, propelling sharp ice shards at him and the shadow ghost. Danny quickly avoided any injury by becoming intangible, but Bhuto yelled in pain as a few of the ice daggers tore at his shadow arm, which caused him to drop Libro.

Now Sam saw her chance. She jumped from her hiding place toward her friend, grabbing one of the legs of the broken office chair as she did.

But before she could reach Libro, Bhuto, smiling evilly at her rash attack, shot her crude weapon out of her hands and then aimed at her once more.

This time, Danny soared boldly right at the Spectre while reaching for and turning on his Blazers. But before he could shoot, Bhuto unexpectedly turned back toward him, spreading both arms apart so that one of them was still ready in attack at Sam while the other was now aimed at Danny. The boy jerked to a stop in mid-air, fearful that if he attacked the shadow ghost now, he would shoot Sam.

Still looking and aiming at Danny, Bhuto sneered, "Ah-ha, Phantom, now I have you and the Book! Too bad for you that your flesh-pet has meaning to you! I would not have hesitated to sacrifice it. Nor would I hesitate now if you do not do as I command."

"Let her go! I will do as you say," the boy responded. He knew that the shadow ghost wasn't bluffing about his boast.

Just then, something that Bhuto didn't expect happened. He was riveted by a sting in the back of his head. He roared in pain and instinctively shot upward, trying to avoid it. He would never have guessed how clever the Phantom's 'flesh-pet' was, nor that during his distracted—and cocky—conversation with Danny, Sam had pulled out the Fenton wrist ray that she always kept in her boot and fired at the shadow ghost.

Now it was Danny's turn to act. He immediately soared to his girl, grabbed her, made both of them intangible, and phased through an ancient desk for cover. "Please stay here!" he hurriedly whispered to her. Not waiting for her to answer and remaining intangible, Danny phased through the ground.

Bhuto yelled in both pain and anger. He produced his claws and thrashed at the old furniture, searching in rage for the two teens. He was just about to slice at the old desk shielding Sam when Danny phased out of the ground immediately below the shadow ghost and slammed a hard retaliatory fist into him, which knocked the Spectre into the ceiling.

Bhuto gasped just as Danny immediately followed with a shot from his Blazers. Bhuto barely avoided the greenish-white ray, and sent another red-and-black seal back at the boy before Danny could counterattack.

Danny darted away but not quickly enough this time to keep the ray from grazing his right arm. He instantly yelled in pain. He grasped the small, burning wound and shuddered at how powerful the effects of the ray still were even though he only took a small brunt of it. He was glad he hadn't gotten more of it. But he didn't stop. He shot another ray from his Blazers at the Spectre.

Again, Bhuto just avoided the boy's newest shot. He was surprised that his blow to the boy hadn't stopped him. This was not a good omen. He suddenly thought that it was best if he just try to take the book for now. He quickly spied the book and swooped downward, grabbing the book just as he twisted his body violently back at the boy, firing another red-and-black seal as he did. But Bhuto's aim was wide with his desperation to escape and completely missed Danny.

Danny, in turn, tried to fire an ice beam at the fleeing shadow ghost but it was thin and also wild because of Danny's dizziness. He knew he couldn't go after Bhuto right now with how light-headed and weak he felt. But he was also glad that the wound wasn't bad enough to fully befuddle him. He felt only a little dazed. His head spun as he flew off balance down to Sam, who had seen everything that happened and had begun to cry, knowing that Bhuto had escaped with Libro in his possession.

The boy was distressed at seeing his girl cry. He reflexively took her into his arms and said, "I'm sorry, Sam! Uh, I think his beam hit me again, uhm, didn't they? Uhm, I really tried to stop him, but I can't go after him right now. I'm too dizzy and I can't think straight."

"I know you tried!" she answered between her sobs. "It's just that I'm afraid for Libro. Why do they want him?"

"I don't know," the boy begun, before another blurry thought struck him, "But, uhm, I just thought of something that Sombre sorta said. Or was it Johnny 13?" He shook his head, trying to clear it. It didn't matter who said it. He continued, trying to ignore his haziness. "But it was about a book..A strange book that, uh, that the Spectre rebels used to fight Varjo and his army. Do you think that has something to do with it?"

Sam blinked through her tears at him. She didn't recall that bit of information. But, of course, she hadn't heard it all then when Sombre was telling his story to them because her Fenton phones weren't working very well at the time. Her boyfriend must be wrong. After all, he had been wounded again, which would explain why he wasn't making any sense. She looked at his eyes. They weren't focusing well, but he didn't seem that confused. What if he was right? She immediately thought the worse and blurted out, "Then that means they want to destroy him!" She began to sob again. Danny held her tighter. To see her this distressedl really shook him up. His mind began to rapidly clear.

He pulled her gently away, looked assuredly into her eyes, and even though his mind was still slightly muddled, pressed on, "I don't think so, Sam. If they did, then I think Bhuto…" He startled when the name of the ghost riveted through him. He blurted out, "That's right! His name is…Bhuto, isn't it? Yes, I'm sure it is! Uh, well, I think Bhuto would have all ready destroyed Libro since he had the chance, instead of taking him. But I don't know why else they would want him." He gave her another hug; and then pulling away from her again, he looked her right in the eyes and added, "I promise I'll go get him back when I feel better, OK?" He drew her nearer once more and held her tight. She clung back and stopped crying.

"Hey, you guys, what's happening?" They finally heard Tucker say over his Fenton phones. It had been quite a while since they had last called him.

"Lots!" Danny replied, and then added, "Give us a minute, OK?"

"OK," Tucker worriedly said.

Danny looked at Sam, who was brushing away her tears. She nodded slightly, muttering, "I'm alright. Let's get back to Tucker."

Her boyfriend wrapped his arm firmly around her waist, made them both intangible and shot upward. As they phased through the old hospital and hurried into the underground terrain, Sam was still too upset to care that the underground paradise passed by her in a blur.

They broke through the surface in no time. They immediately became solid and flew to Tucker, not hesitating to tell him what had happened. Their friend gasped at the news.

"And as soon as get my strength back, I'm going after him!" Danny vowed, reflexively drawing his hand up to his forehead again. He still felt a little woozy.

"But exactly where are the Spectre?" Tucker asked.

Danny answered, "I don't know. But I know who can help me to find them! I'm going to see Frostbite and ask him if I can borrow the Infi-Map. But in the meantime…," He shook his head trying to shake the dizziness away. "…I'm going to need a 'time out'."

Sam and Tucker could see from his still slightly unfocused eyes that their friend was right. But they were glad that he didn't seem as confused by this attack like the others.

They headed home.

And as soon as Danny had gotten to his house, he went straight to bed and fell asleep a lot quicker than he usually did.