The Fenton Van and the Fenton RV pulled up by City Hall (what is the difference, you ask? The Fenton RV is the one from "Bitter Reunions." The Fenton Van, from "Face to Face," looks like a cross between the Batmobile and Mr. Crocker's Fairy Detection Van with ghost-hunting gadgets). The dramatic clouds signalling a thunderstorm that had not been seen since last week began to build up on the horizon as the sun slowly set, painting a truly magnificent scene as a background for what was about to take place. Just a matter of seconds ago, an army of pirate ghosts had come up from the forest and struck Amity Park. With no one else to turn to, the mayor and the police force had called in Jack and Maddie.
"We got here as soon as we could," Jack jumped out of the Fenton Van. He had only his Ghost-Track goggles on, the Fenton Thermos and Fenton Fisher having gone missing and the Ghost Gloves among the items stolen by The Order, "I haven't been able to get a lot of my tools re-built, so this is all I could bring," he placed a cardboard box in the police chief's hand. Inside were a few lasers, a ghost-tracker, and a mouse.
"Where are most of the ghosts?" Maddie asked, stepping out of the Fenton RV.
"About five miles up that way," the mayor pointed north. The police, Maddie, and Jack took off. High above them, Danny was flying off towards where the ghosts were, Sam and Tucker breaking through the woods and stopping to catch their breath in the park.
---
Danny came down on one of the pirate-ghosts, kicking it to the street. He had seen his parents driving up towards him. Since there were so many ghosts he didn't think he had to worry about being recognised; he just hoped that they could see he was fighting the ghosts and not attack him. Two other pirate ghosts drew their swords and flew over to face him, grinning stupidly. Danny just fired an ectoplasmic energy blast in between them and they went flying. Several cars began to pull up, but none of them belonged to the police or Danny's parents. They also came from the opposite direction. They were black vans marked "Paranormalics."
"Oh, no! Not now!"
---
Jack, Maddie, and the police pulled up at the same time.
"Hey!" Jack shouted, "Who the heck are you people!?"
"Paranormalics, Mr. Fenton," a tall man with brownish-gold hair and a southern accent walked out, "Now that I'm in charge I decided it was high time to investigate this city. We received an anonymous tip about a ghost invasion, and it looks like we came just in time," he looked up at the spirits roaming around above them.
"And just who are you?"
"Ken Bruce, new head of Paranormalics. Alright men, take 'em down!" he shouted. Pulling out ectoplasmic lasers far more advanced than anything Jack had, Bruce's men opened fire, striking down ten ghosts and causing a mass panic amongst the paranormal beings. Some of the men pulled out bizarre-looking guns that fired off small devices with three needles arranged in a triangular shape. Once these hit a ghost, it was electrocuted and sucked into the device. Danny caught one of these before it fell to the ground. He could hear noises inside. The ghost was alive, and judging by the sounds, not in too much pain. Danny caught one ghost who was proving hard to capture and knocked him into a device, catching him. He did the same to another ghost with a kick. But soon he had other worries as he was almost blasted three times by a laser and had to retreat with The Order's ghosts.
"Hey!" Jack yelled at the soldier who had shot at Danny, "That ghost was trying to help!"
"Oh yeah," he began to set his laser down.
"Get after him, corporal," Bruce ordered.
"Yes sir," he ran off.
"He was trying to..." Jack was soon interrupted.
"Ghosts are ghosts, Mr. Fenton. Now if you'll excuse me," Bruce walked past him as Sam and Tucker finally made their way up, gasping for air.
---
Danny didn't have that much trouble manoeuvring around in the crowd since the ghosts were fairly far apart. The problem was that this, combined with his being the only ghost in black with his natural skin-colour, made him an easy target. After dodging two shots from the laser, he was hit in the shoulder, crashing down through a window of a large office-building.
"Ghosts!" a secretary shrieked as Danny slowly got up, examining his wound.
"Great," he rolled his eyes, "The same shoulder that was shot when we fought Frost. I'm gonna get some permanent damage to it if it gets shot again," he phased through the floor, exiting the building and going back to normal. The soldier who shot him was looking around the streets, trying to find him. He had a ghost-tracker with him.
"Ghost To Your Left," the computerised voice said. Danny slipped away as quickly as he could, heading over to the Fenton Van. After the incident with Frost, he had asked his dad to explain some of the gadgets. He hit one button, jamming the ghost-trackers of Paranormalics.
"Sir, something's wrong with our ghost-trackers," a tough-looking soldier who appeared to hold a higher rank than the others walked up to Bruce, who looked at the tracker.
"How many ghosts do we have in custody now, sergeant?"
"At least twenty-seven, sir. That one ghost made off with a few of them, and we couldn't find him."
"Oh well. We have enough to get some facts with a good interrogation. Gather your men and head out, sergeant," the Paranormalics men began collecting their small devices, packing away their lasers, and getting back into their vehicles.
"Sam, Tucker, have you two seen Danny?" Maddie asked.
"Right here, mom!" he stepped out from behind the Fenton Van, smiling nervously. This had been quite a day. Vlad had played a double agent, Velkan and many of The Order were still at large, and Bruce had his excuse for a state of emergency. And he had been there when it all happened.
---
"New news on the anti-ghost situation," the reporter was handed a piece of paper, "In light of the events in Amity Park yesterday, where the pirate ghosts who terrorised the town last week and their Public Ghost Enemy #1 attacked downtown, Ken Bruce, the newly appointed head of Paranormalics, has asked Congress to declare a state of emergency against all paranormal creatures in the country. Debate on whether or not a vote will actually take place is currently underway. President Hartman has said that he will refuse to sign any bill declaring such an emergency, arguing that the ghost prisoners of the Amity incident have confessed to belong to a group called The Order, and that The Order should be the target for Paranormalics. Meanwhile the search continues for General Gary Conrad, who, along with seventy-five Paranormalics agents and some valuable information and equipment, went missing just the other day. And now, in a less controversial story, billionaire Vlad Masters returned from a long vacation today..." Jack turned off the TV.
"Dirty rotten Paranormalics extremists," he muttered, "They don't know the first thing about ghost-hunting! Danny, where are you going?" he didn't even turn around; Jazz and Maddie were out and he heard the door opening.
"For a walk."
"OK," Jack headed off to the lab as Danny went outside.
---
Sam and Danny had agreed to meet in the park, Tucker and his family being out of town for the day. Sam was already there when Danny arrived, sitting on the bench and waiting patiently.
"Hey," she greeted him, "You saw the news?"
"Yeah," he sighed, "and Velkan's still out there and we have no idea where his base is."
"It's gotta be somewhere to the south. That's where all the ghosts were headed."
"Mm-hmm..." Danny mumbled, looking up at the sky. This had been quite the past few days. Things were likely to head downhill from here. And yet...everything seemed so settled, so calm, so...normal now.
"Danny?" Sam waved her hand in front of his face, "You OK?"
"Yeah," he smiled, "And I think everything else will be too," Sam returned the smile. Whatever came their way, they knew they'd be ready for it.
"A-HA!" a familiar stupid figure jumped out from the bushes in front of them, "I am The Box Ghost! Fear me, for I shall...oh, sorry," he took off his cap in apology, "If there is one thing The Box Ghost does not do, it is interrupt young couples. BEWARE!" he took off again.
"WE'RE NOT A COUPLE!!!" Danny and Sam shouted together.
THE END