"Okay, Jazz." He said.
"And try to keep that eye closed, yeah? It's glowing," she told him. "It's a dead giveaway." He nodded, winking at her.
"Jazz!" called her mother. "We're heading out!" Maddie turned to Amity's refugees. In light of being literally abducted and nightmared by ghosts, they seemed pretty willing to listen to crack-pot ghost-hunters Jack "Loud and Emotionally-Inept" and Maddie "Angry Pseudo-Science" Fenton. Jazz was glad; she just with it was under better circumstances.
Although, Jazz realized moments later, her parents had never been in the Ghost Zone.
"We, um- Should go, uh. This way?" Jack tried.
Jazz took over. "It's okay, Dad. We go this way. Everyone! Follow me."
And she, with the help of the Kitty aspect of the Wes-Kitty body, began leading them to where the Fenton Ghost Portal should be.
. * . * .
Vlad, being filthily rich (emphasis on filthy, thought Tucker), bought a helicopter to fly back to Amity Park.
"No big deal," he'd said in face of Dash's starry-eyed delight.
When Vlad took the pilot's seat Sam and Tucker paused, look at each other, and said, "What."
"I'm a licensed pilot, didn't you know?" He looked far too smug. "Valerie, care to be my co-pilot?"
"Alright."
"We're all gonna die," woed Tucker.
"Shut up, nerd," warned Paulina. Dash cracked his knuckles.
"Yeah, shut up, nerd," echoed the bully.
. * . * .
Danny flew over Amity Park and silently seethed. White and gray as far the eye could see, it was devoid of life and motion, save for hail-fall. Storm clouds rumbled above and the city lay barren below.
He yelled. He shouted. He screamed. Anything to let out the tight feeling in his heart, the heavy feeling under his skull, the hopelessness in his throat.
His bellow was cut off as an arc of light barreled down from the heavens. Barely missing his very un-lightning-proof body, the bolt of lightning crashed into the ground. The boom shook the earth. The echo shook Danny. The sound rang in his ears. Tinnitus in the making.
Another bolt flung itself at him. Only marginally more prepared for it, he leaped out of the way. As more and more appeared, it became more and more difficult to dodge them.
And his luck struck out as one struck him. Danny went down, but not before seeing Vortex in all his glory, leering down at him.
. * . * .
Kwan threw an arm around Wes-Kitty's shoulder as if it was the most natural thing in the Ghost Zone. Wes startled at the contact, looking at Kwan in confusion. "What's up?" asked Wes.
Jazz thought for a moment that she saw Kwan's eyes flash red, but it was gone so quickly she was sure she imagined it.
"Just hangin' out in the Ghost Zone," replied Kwan, in a laid-back manner. It was eerily familiar to Jazz (and seemingly to Wes-Kitty, who relaxed at the display), but she could not for the life of her figure out from where. She'd never really hung out with Kwan- and besides, she and Wes were leading Amity Refuge from Nocturn's Lair, so she had more important things to think about.
Wes turned him and Kwan, still attached at the shoulders, a little to the left, so Jazz adjusted course, leading them that way. Kitty was a ghost; she knew where she was going; and if she knew, Wes knew.
"I'm so proud of you, Jazzy-pants!" said Jack, a bit too loudly for any normal person. That was her father for you.
. * . * .
A crack of thunder woke Paulina from her slumber. It was a good thing, too. Because-
The helicopter was not supposed to be falling, Paulina thought. So, why are they falling?
The helicopter spun in the air. The storm outside was too much for Mayor Master, it seemed.
As the aircraft rotated mid-air, Paulina got a clear look through the window. Of the ground. Approaching them at high velocity. Far too much velocity.
Closer and closer. So close. And-
And something was pulling her up, away from her death. She felt a tingling all over as if her skin was being tickled by a feather, and she saw materialize in front of her the outside of the helicopter, which continued down in its dead-fall.
She was floating in the air. She could not fly. And yet she was. Go me. I knew I was special, she thought.
"Oh my god!" panicked Dash, from somewhere above and behind her. She turned toward the sound and her heart almost stopped for a second time in less than five minutes.
Vlad Plasmius had her in his grip. She shrieked. She tried to punch out at him, but he caught her easily.
"Vlad! You revealed yourself! They know!' yelled Tucker, likewise in the grip of another Plasmius.
"Yes. I had no choice. I'm not heartless, you must know!" Tucker's Plasmius replied, calmly.
The Red Huntress had shown up at some point, realized Paulina belatedly, for said Huntress was gliding on her hoverboard feet from the cluster of Plasmius-held Tucker, Sam, Dash, and Paulina-
Where was Valerie? thought Paulina. Her eyes shot to the ground, scanning for any sight of her old friend.
"Valerie!" she called, near tears.
"Paulina!" called Val, from behind her. She looked and saw only the Red Huntress.
. * . * .
He didn't know how he managed, but he made it back to FentonWorks.
He phased through the front door and nearly passed out.
He stumbled down the stairs, though his feet barely touched the steps.
Ice and snow flooded the Lab.
The Portal was sheeted in ice.
Danny blasted it with green light.
The more energy he used, the more the green Ruinsletters distracted him.
The ice was peeling away, slowly but surely.
The Portal flared to life a moment later.
His eyes fluttered shut, but not before his blurred vision beheld a massive group of blurry people hopping through the plasma of FentonWorks Ghost Portal.