Author's Note: Since this chapter and Chapter Nine are so short, I've decided to upload them on the same day. I hope you enjoy them both.


Chapter Eight: Don't Forget Me

"I don't understand," said Sam with a shake of her head. "This can't be right!" She looked down at the book and then at the numbers she had written down. "I can't find out where Danny is. It's almost, it's almost as if he isn't in this world anymore."

Tucker seemed concerned, as he sat cross-legged opposite Sam.
"Come on, Sam," he said. "You can't trust a couple of coins to find Danny," he said, but he didn't sound very convinced. He wanted to not believe what Sam had come up with, but her recent divination attempts had proved to be flawless. "You never used to believe in this sort of thing before."

Sam had always been very logical. She had always been intelligent and rational, thinking things through. One of the things she had never believed in was astrology and divination, though she knew about it and knew much about it. Though sometimes she practised at it, it was all for fun and she never took the answers seriously.

"No, I never did," replied Sam in agreement.

Sure, there were the times when she couldn't decide on what to do and used the divination attempts to decide for her. Yet, she had only done that for unimportant decisions, not the regular day unimportant decisions, but larger ones like whether to tell Danny how she really felt about him.

"But it works so well now," said Sam quietly. "Almost, it's almost as if someone out there is making it work." She wondered and then remembered what Danny had told her, about this kid he had met called Alex, and how the Blue Bow Army's actions had somehow trapped him. "Come to think of it, this only started when the Blue Bow took over the Roslyn Hospital."

One day, the Blue Bow Group came into town and took over the running of the Roslyn Hospital. They had changed the hospital and somehow managed to increase funding. Before they had come along, Roslyn had been a failing hospital and was on the verge of being closed down. Yet with Blue Bow's arrival, money flooded into it, a tower rose up to the north of the hospital building and the ruins of the old boarding school were transformed into the Maudsley Institute.

Sam sighed, as she turned to look at the calendar that hung from the wall. It had been four weeks since their failed attempt to sneak into the Roslyn Hospital, to liberate the ghost of Alex.

"It's almost a month now," she said. "I wonder how Jazz and the rest of Danny's family has been coping?"

"I'd imagine they're still upset," said Tucker.

"Yeah," agreed Sam quietly. "They would be, wouldn't they?"


The red-haired girl made her way along the path slowly, her sight more focused on the pristine white paving slabs of the sidewalk than as to where she was going.

Jazz couldn't help but feel sad. How could she feel anything but sad, now that her brother had gone? The way he had just disappeared without a trace… That was possibly the hardest thing for her to believe. What she wouldn't give to find her brother again, alive and well. She would give her soul for her brother, for young Daniel Fenton, so that he could return to his family.

Her parents were acting even more remote than they used to. Both started drowning themselves in their own work, forgetting about personal hygiene and even their daughter. The world was nothing to them. The world was nothing more than their work. It was almost as if they had forgotten the world outside, the way they continued to work regardless, round the clock, as if sleep was nothing.

That was their own way of coping with the sadness. That was their way of coping with losing their beloved son, by trying not to think about it. But Jazz knew that they missed him. Whenever they did sleep, she could hear her mother crying in her bedroom, crying herself to sleep.

Did Danny know how much they missed him? Did he know how much they loved him? Did he disappear, alone and sad and feeling unloved? Did he lose his…?

'No', thought Jazz, 'I can't think like that!' She couldn't let herself drown in sorrow. Jazz knew that she had to be brave, if not for herself, then for her parents. They had to continue on with their lives and carry on, in the belief that Danny would be found again and that he would be found alive and well. She couldn't dwell on the negative, on the possibility that Danny had lost his life.

Yet, it was very possible. Danny did, after all, have strange super powers that she didn't understand, that he must have somehow got from the accident in their parents' lab. Jazz knew how Danny used those super powers to battle ghostly forces and how his powers had gotten him into hospital not too long ago. Danny could have died; it was a very grave possibility.

"Danny?" exclaimed Jazz in surprise, as she stopped in her tracks. "Danny?"

That black-haired youth that disappeared into the crowd ahead looked so much like her little brother. Surely that was him? He was dressed pretty much like her brother would normally dress and the expression on his face was the same haunted and tired expression that normally adorned Danny's face.

"Danny!" called out Jazz, as she rushed towards the crowd. "Danny, over here!" She tried to make her way through the crowd. "Excuse me," she said, as she edged her way past. "Danny!" she cried out. "Danny! It's me, Jazz!" She could still see her brother moving his way through the crowd, yet he seemed to be getting away from her. "Please, get out of my way!" she nearly shouted at a nearby pedestrian, as she shoved her way past. "Danny!"

Beyond the crowd, the dark-haired youth had already made his way through and was walking with a blonde-haired woman towards the bus stop at the other end of the train station. They were getting impossibly far away and as Jazz tried to fight her way through the rush hour crowd, she found herself getting further and further away from the child that looked so much like her young brother.

"Danny!"


Sam felt strange riding on Tucker's scooter, holding on to him tight as they spluttered along the sidewalk towards the hotel room Suimsalp was staying in. She had done it many times before, but this time just felt strange. She didn't know why either. It was almost felt as if she had been forced to travel this way, even though it was of her own accord.

What was it about the light that played on Tucker's face. He never looked so dominating before, yet now he looked positively in charge.

"What's wrong with me?" wondered Sam with a shake of her head. "I don't feel myself."

A sigh escaped her lips, as she looked around her. The world seemed so bright, even though it was so cold and the air seemed so stagnant. What was it about that day that seemed so different, asides from the fact that Danny was missing? Why was it that the world seemed to be carrying on as if nothing had happened? Didn't they feel Danny's loss too? After all, was he not the Shou Ge Wang?

"Danny?"

"Huh? What was that?" asked Tucker, as he slowed the scooter down and turned to face Sam.

Sam was looking backwards at the bus that had just passed them, with a faint expression on her face.
"I thought," she began, only to trail off. Had she seen Danny sitting in that bus as it passed them or was it someone that just looked like him? Was it even someone that looked like him? "It's nothing," she said with a shake of her head. "I guess… I guess I was just seeing things."

Tucker frowned. Sam seeing things? Did he hear right? He was sure that Sam never saw something that wasn't there. She seemed far too level headed to let anything make her see things that weren't there.
"Oh, okay," he said in reply to her comment, not that one was needed. He just felt as if he needed to balance out the conversation, which seemed one-sided to him.

"Are we nearly there, yet?" asked Sam impatiently.

"I think so," was Tucker's reply, as he stopped the scooter at the corner underneath a blue-green signpost. "Let me just check the PDA." He reached back to reach into his backpack, only for Sam to shove it into his hand. "Thanks," he said brightly, before he scrolled through the options on the PDA and opened up the file containing the map. He made a noise of disapproval and then looked up at the sign and then around him. "We're nearly there. It's just 'round this corner and a few blocks down."

He handed the PDA back to Sam, whom shoved it into his backpack. Then he grabbed the handles of the scooter, started it up and turned round the corner. Tucker guided the sleek vehicle down the sidewalk, counting the blocks as they passed by.

"Ew, that's a hotel?" exclaimed Sam, as they came across a run-down block of apartments with a boarded-up windows and with a brick face that looked as if it had seen numerous fires. "I don't think squatters would even want to live there." She let go of Tucker and stepped off the scooter. Sam looked up the street then down it and then across to the other side. "You sure you got the right place?" asked Sam curiously.

"Thirty-seven Terrace Street?" exclaimed Tucker, as he looked at the number. "Nope. This is definitely the place."

"Must be a motel then," said Sam, as Tucker folded the scooter. She couldn't help but wrinkle her nose, as a strange but nauseating smell wafted in from the air in the general direction of their destination. "And I thought that Stink Ghost last month smelt bad." She sighed. "Come on, then, Tuck. Let's get a move on."

The two of them walked side by side up the steps of the building towards the battered-looking door that served as the front entrance. It was open, leading into a hallway that smelt of overcooked cabbage, peeling paint, cracked walls, cracked ceiling and with an ancient carpet that looked as if it had been exposed to the rain for seventy years. The entire length of the corridor seemed to be plunged into darkness, which wasn't helped by a grimy light bulb that struggled to shine through the layer of grime that coated it.

"Welcome to Scum Land," murmured Sam under her breath, as she stepped over the threshold. "So, which room is he in?"

"Wait a minute," said Tucker, as he delved into his pocket and brought out a scrap of paper. He read it carefully. "Room 07." He looked around him and then saw the reception desk set into the wall. "Hang on," he told Sam, before he walked up to it and peered over the desk. There didn't seem to be anyone around. "Hello!" he called out. "Anyone here?"

Sam laid a hand on Tucker's shoulder.
"Forget that," she told him. "It'd probably be quicker if we find the place ourselves. Now come on." Her grip tightened on Tucker, before she dragged him away from the reception desk.

The rest of the motel didn't seem rather appetising either. Just walking through it made Sam want to never step foot in her own house with her current boots on ever again. In fact, even though she hadn't touched anything, she still felt as if she needed ten consecutive baths just to get the grime off her skin and even then, she'd need a few more baths and to mask herself in perfume to rid herself of the smell of overcooked cabbage.

"See?" said Sam, as she stopped at one particular door. "It wasn't that hard to find."

Tucker turned to look at the door. He was about to ask how Sam knew that that particular door was the one that belonged to the room Suimsalp was staying in, when he noticed the an area of the door that was cleaner than the rest, in the shape of what once must have been the room number that adorned it.
"Oh yeah," he said, trying not to sound very impressed by Sam's room finding skills.

He reached out himself and knocked on the door.
"Hello! Mr. Suimsalp!" he called out. "Hello! Is anyone in there?" Tucker waited a while. "It's me, T Man!"

"You called yourself, T Man?" asked Sam. "On the forums?"

"Well, Mr. T was taken," said Tucker in explanation.

There was something like a flash of light behind the doors. It flickered bright white, such a brilliant white that had a tint of blue in it, and seeped through the edges of the door, underneath it and above it and to its side and past the hinges. It was a strange light and soon as it had appeared, it subsided.

The door opened by a crack and someone peered out from behind it.
"Oh, it's you children," exclaimed the old man. "What do you want?"

"Please, Mr. Suimsalp, we need to talk to you," said Sam, as she shoved Tucker out of the way. "It's about D…" She was about to call him by his first name, but decided not to. "It's about the Shou Ge Wang. I think he's missing."

From behind the door, the old man sneered.
"Huh, of course he is," said Suimsalp in a tone of voice that suggested that everyone knew that particular fact. "But the rest of the Mao Shang are being stubborn. They won't even ask the Shi Ti'en Yen Wang to appoint a new Shou Ge Wang." He sighed. "If you don't mind, I don't want to talk about it." He then attempted to close the door.

Sam was too quick for him, however, and quickly slammed her hand against the door, pushing against it and keeping it open as much as possible.
"Please, Mr. Suimsalp, you've got to help us," she pleaded. "We need you to help us find him."

"Find him?" exclaimed Suimsalp. "Why should I help him? He's not Chinese. He should never have been the Shou Ge Wang. I say good riddance. We need a new Shou Ge Wang, anyway."

"Hey! That's harsh!" protested Tucker angrily.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, old man," said Sam in a threatening manner. "Now open the door and let us in." She suddenly realised that threatening Suimsalp would do her no good. What she needed was a new plan of action, something that would guarantee his aide, but what would that be? "Or do you think the Seals of the Si Ling will stay safe for much longer without the Shou Ge Wang there to protect them? And what about all those ghosts that are hanging around here instead of passing on to the other side? Don't you think there's a reason the Shi Ti'en Yen Wang chose the Shou Ge Wang to be an American? What would they think if they knew you weren't doing your duty by keeping your allegiance to the Shou Ge Wang?"

The door suddenly slammed shut, despite the pressure Sam applied to it in the opposite direction. There was suddenly the sound of a chain being moved before the door was opened once more, by a very irritated looking Suimsalp.
"Come in," he said reluctantly. "I don't know what the youth of today are coming to," he muttered under his breath as Sam and Tucker walked in.

"So, to what do I owe this visit?" asked Suimsalp, as he closed the door after them. "Can't an old man get some peace and quiet anymore?" He ushered them past the bathroom and into the small bedroom that looked as if it had been hit by a tornado. "Yes, I know you said you wanted to find the Shou Ge Wang," he said irritably before they could even say a word, "but what do you think you can do? Why bother me about it?"

"You're the only Mao Shang we can talk to," was Sam's reply, as she picked her way through the carpet, which crunched underfoot. "The others are either homicidal maniacs or locked up in a mental institute." She suddenly noticed that the room itself must have looked like this before Suimsalp booked it, as she noted that his clothes and his possessions were all neatly tidied away on one neatly made bed.

"Although if we knew your place was such a dump, we would have invited you to some café or ice cream parlour," admitted Tucker.

"Well, that's why I insisted on meeting your Shou Ge Wang in the park," explained Suimsalp irritably. "It's not my fault this place is a dump. It was like this when I got here and I'm not paying for the privilege of cleaning the place up for them." He shook his head. "Insolent young whipper-snappers. Treating an old man like this. Giving him the shoddiest room in the entire motel."

"Look, can you help us or not?" asked Sam and she sounded as if she was trying her best to keep her anger in check.

"I'd love to," was Suimsalp's reply, "but I seriously doubt you young 'uns would be able to do much."

Tucker wondered about Suimsalp for a moment. This old man was giving off the same vibes that Technus gave off. No, not ghostly vibes. It was the same 'old-man-trying-to-seem-young' gig that seemed to be Technus' one defining characteristic. Suimsalp was one of those who refused to acknowledge that he was old and out of date, just like Technus did. He wondered. Could he use that to his advantage? Could he somehow convince Suimsalp to help them through?

A smile spread across Tucker's lips.
"Yeah, I thought that as much," he said in reply to Suimsalp's words. "You can't help us because you can't."

"What?"

"You don't want to help us because you know you can't anymore," was Tucker's response to Suimsalp. "What with you being so old, I bet you've forgotten how."

Sam suddenly realised what Tucker was playing at. A few moments ago, she was ready to pound his head in for making things worse by insulting Suimsalp. However, she suddenly realised that Tucker's plan was just the ticket they needed.
"I guess you're right, Tuck," said Sam with a wink of her eye, which she concealed from Suimsalp. "This old guy's way over the hill." She turned her back at he old man. "Let's get out of here," she said to Tucker.

"Take that back!" shrieked the old man angrily. "Take that back!"

"Take what back?" asked Sam innocently, as she turned round to look at him in an obviously feigned innocent manner that Tucker could never have imitated.

"I'll show you!" shouted Suimsalp angrily, as he waved his cane at them. "I'll show you that I'm not over the hill!" He shuffled over to his bed where he dragged out his suitcase, muttering all the while he searched through the belongings piled inside it. "Ah, here it is!" he cried, as he tugged something out.

Tucker frowned. Was that what the old man was searching for? It certainly wasn't what he was expecting.
"A bunch of sticks?" he exclaimed, and began to wonder whether his idea was as good as he had thought it was. "What good are a bunch of sticks going to do us?" Maybe, Suimsalp really was over the hill and coming to see him was the worst mistake they had made so far.

The old man turned round to glare at Tucker.
"These will help us divine an answer to any question you ask," said Suimsalp, as he placed them in a cylindrical bamboo container. "Just take them, meditate on your answer and shake until one falls out. I will then tell you where you need to look from the answer the first stick provides."

An awkward smile spread across Tucker's face, as Suimsalp offered him the bamboo container with an expectant look on his face.
"Uh, Sam, I think you should do it," he told her. "You are closer to him."

"Closer? You're his best friend!" cried Sam.

"So are you!" protested Tucker.

"Well one of you has to do it!" cried Suimsalp angrily.

"Give me that!" cried Sam, before she snatched the bamboo container away from Tucker's hands. She couldn't believe they were arguing over who was closer to Danny. It was one of the most stupid things to argue about, especially seeing as it was also over who should shake the bamboo container. She inhaled deeply and cleared her mind of all thoughts, save for one about Danny before shaking the container furiously. She ignored the sound the sticks made as she shook the container and she ignored everything else.

"Okay, Sam, you can stop now," said Tucker, as he saw one stick fall out. He bent down and picked it up, only to have it snatched out of his hands again.

Suimsalp examined the writing on the stick closely, squinting at the Chinese characters written on it.
"Let me examine this," he told them, before pulling out a thick book from his suitcase. He flicked through the pages, all whilst mumbling some Chinese phrase under his breath, possibly the phrase that was written on the stick. "Ah," he exclaimed, as he stabbed a finger into one of the pages. "Yes, here we go."

Sam and Tucker waited with bated breath, which in hindsight was probably a bad idea. They waited and they waited and they continued to wait, as the old man sat there on the clean bed with the book on his lap. Anticipation grew, as they waited for the man to tell them the answer to their divining technique. They waited, as he read the words and they waited as he thought about the words. They waited as he looked over the words again and again and again, until their anticipation turned into impatience and their impatience into a raging inferno of anger.

"Well?" asked Sam insistently.

"According to this," began Suimsalp slowly and then he trailed off.

"Yeah?" said Tucker.

"According to this," repeated Suimsalp slowly, "there are forces working against you. Be observant and meditate regularly. Remember that you should choose the time and place to be forceful."

Sam felt that if she were a cartoon, there would be a cartoon black rain cloud over her head.
"What?" she exclaimed in disbelief. "That has nothing to do with Danny! What kind of second-rate divination technique is this?"

"Perhaps you weren't meditating hard enough on the question," was Suimsalp's suggestion.

"I was meditating so hard, I felt my brain twist into different shapes," shouted Sam, as she waved a fist threateningly in the old man's general direction. "Isn't there something else we can do?"

Suimsalp shook his head sadly.
"I'm afraid there is not," he told them. "You must realise that the Shou Ge Wang is gone now and only he himself knows where he is. There is no point in trying to find him. He will return when he is ready." He looked behind him and then towards the book. "However, the sticks have told us something. One of the Seals of the Si Ling is in danger. You must go and protect it from whatever forces are trying to capture it."

"Us?" exclaimed Tucker in disbelief. "Why us?"

"It's the Shou Ge Wang's job," was Suimsalp's reply, "but seeing as he's not here and you are…"

"You're sending us kids off to do an adult's job?" protested Tucker.

"Like you did with Danny," said Sam.

"It is not my fault," said Suimsalp dismissively. "I was not the one to choose him as Shou Ge Wang and it is certainly not me that gave him all those responsibilities." He turned round to look out the window. "It is raining," he said calmly. "It is already happening. Someone is attacking the Seal of Long Wang, Guardian of the East." He shook his head and sighed. "You must go now before it is too late." Suimsalp turned round and saw the stares he was getting from both Sam and Tucker. "What are you looking at me like that for?" he asked irritably, but received no reply save for the continued application of cold stares. "Fine, fine," he sighed. "I will come with."


"Why can't I see it?" murmured Zeross and his deep voice echoed around him as loud as Thunder. "Why can I not see the Image of Our Ideal Future?" He raised a hand waveringly towards the concave mirror, despite him being seated too far away to even reach it. "What is wrong?" he cried out. "Why is there no reception at all? I do not understand. What has happened?"

Fordyce scratched himself, as he stood on Zeross' left side. His scalp still itched slightly, even though he had taken off his wig. That, though, was the bearable itch. There was yet another itch that he wished to satisfy, a hunger to be more precise, one that could not be satisfied just yet.
"Beats me," was Fordyce's reply.

"It's almost as if the Shou Ge Wang isn't in this world anymore," mused O'Donnell. "Strange."

"What in tarnation are you talking about?" asked Fordyce angrily, though there was a slight hint of worry in his voice.

"The Shou Ge Wang is a source of interference to the Fate Determination Machine, is he not?" asked O'Donnell rhetorically. "Well, he is not just a source of interference, he is also a stabiliser." He then turned to glare at Fordyce with an accusing stare that made it seem as if he suspected Fordyce had something to do with the Harvest King's disappearance.

"What are you blabbering on about, man?" cried Fordyce angrily.

Zeross sighed.
"Inside that glass sphere, Fordyce," he began, "is a Ghost Portal. You know that, of course, don't you?" He himself turned to face Fordyce and watched as the bald doctor nodded awkwardly, as if he was afraid of Zeross. "Well, the Ghost Portal is small so as to prevent ghosts from entering, but just large enough to allow Schumann Resonance Frequencies to escape."

"As you know, the Fate Determination Machine runs on these Schumann Resonance Frequencies," continued O'Donnell in the Professor's stead. "However, physics states that any waves going through a small hole will diffract. This diffraction coupled with reflection makes the Resonance waves rebound to create noise. Noise is unwanted. However, the Harvest King's brainwaves act to cancel out Schumann Resonance Frequencies and can cancel out the noise. Unfortunately, a conscious Harvest King's brain has so much activity going on that the brainwaves cancel out all the Schumann Resonance Waves. That is why we wish to subdue his brain activity and dull it down, so that it won't cancel out all the Resonance Waves."

"Now there is so much signal that I cannot see a single thing," growled Zeross angrily. "It is like the Harvest King has disappeared altogether. We need him back."

Fordyce laughed.
"So, he's just like a woman," he joked and then got bemused glares. He thought he'd better explain the joke to them. "Well, you can't live with 'im, you can't live without 'im." He then laughed, only to trail off as he continued receiving those glares from both O'Donnell and Zeross.

"Anyway," continued O'Donnell as if Fordyce hadn't said a thing, "I don't think it will matter that much, Sifu. When the Life Ghost is complete, we will have no need for the Harvest King at all."

Zeross frowned.
"No need?" he exclaimed in surprise. He didn't like the sound of that. "What do you mean by that?" he asked O'Donnell. "Of course, we need the Harvest King! We need him to stabilise the Fate Determination reactions."

"The Life Ghost will do that," was O'Donnell's dismissive reply.

"But I thought you said the Life Ghost resonates in the same phase as that of the Schumann Resonance of the Earth and the ghosts," said Zeross sternly.

"The Life Ghost can distort the SR Waves around her," explained O'Donnell.

"That means she'll have to stay in the Fate Determination Machine!" exclaimed Zeross in horror. "O'Donnell! I won't have that!"

"You are far too selfish, Professor," sighed O'Donnell with a sad shake of his head. "To use the Fate Determination Machine to control death so you could bring back your own granddaughter?" He sighed once more, as he walked past Zeross and over to the edge of the balcony. "If you bring back your granddaughter, who will be the Life Ghost? Who will be the one to ensure the Fate Determination Machine works?" he asked, as he stood there with his back to Professor Zeross. "Surely, you realise that it is in the best interest of all doctors to be able to control the Forces of Death?"

Zeross shook visibly with anger, as he sat there in his wheelchair.
"Are you suggesting that my granddaughter must never be brought back to this world?" he asked angrily. "Are you saying that she's nothing more than a tool?"

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, it has often been said," continued O'Donnell calmly. "Doctors everywhere are failing at their task to save lives in one aspect or another. They cannot save all the lives there are to save out there. We, however, will change that. By using the machine to overrule the actions of the Shi Ti'en Yen Wang, we will control death and we will decide how dies or not. Is that not what you wanted, Sifu?"

"Not at the expense of my granddaughter!" protested Zeross angrily.

Fordyce smiled, as he stood in front of the old man. He grabbed both arms of Zeross' wheelchair, before leaning into smile asininely at his mentor.
"I'm sorry, Sifu," apologised Fordyce insincerely, "but you no longer have a say in this matter." He then reached out and ripped a plastic tube right out of the oxygen tank behind it. "Goodbye, Sifu."


It was raining heavily around the Amity Park Public Swimming Pool and the great snake-like ghost that floated over the pool wasn't helping matters much either. The thing was a strange ghost. It looked like a snake rising out of a basket, but it had arms with five-clawed hands and a head like a Chinese dragon with a flowing beard and the type of whiskers you see on fish.

The red-clad ghost hunter dodged another shower of sharp hailstones, before aiming her gun straight up at the Water Ghost.
"Eat this, scaly!" cried the hunter in an enraged but unmistakably feminine voice, before she opened fire. She watched in disbelief as a shield of water appeared in front of the Water Ghost and blocked the beam of energy from her gun. "No way!" she cried, before the ghost swept down and knocked her off her feet with one sweep of its claws.

"Stupid ghost," she cried angrily, as she leapt back to her feet. "No one gets the better of Valerie! What?" The ghost was no longer floating above pool. Was it possible that it had dived underneath? She edged slowly towards it, her gun aimed towards the water and peered over the edge into the watery deep. "Come on out, ugly," she called out to the ghost, as she walked around the pool. "I know you're in there."

Suddenly, the Water Ghost burst out of the water, accompanied by several sharp spikes of ice that flew straight at Valerie. She dodged them all, chopping some out of the air to shatter against her fist or against the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Water Ghost swoop down towards her. She dived out of the way and then when she had gained enough distance, she aimed her rifle straight at the Water Ghost and fired a blast of energy straight at it.

The Water Ghost cried out as the blast ripped off its right arm. It writhed like a snake that had just had its head cut off, before diving backwards into the pool.

An eerie silenced followed soon after, disturbed only by the patter of raindrops on the concrete and on the roofs of the changing rooms. There was an eerie stillness or at least, there would have been were it not for the falling raindrops that served to dampen down everything, but slid reluctantly off of Valerie's suit. Nothing living moved. Nothing living made a sound.

A column of water rose up out of the water, before curving in the air and falling straight down towards Valerie. She was unable to dodge it. The wave of water crashed on top of her, sweeping her off her feet and away from the pool. And as she was submerged in the water, she saw the Water Ghost swimming straight at her, cutting its way through the water, its arms held by its sides to streamline its movement.

But she had blown its arm off, hadn't she?

Now that she thought about it, this ghost did seem to have an elemental theme going on. Was it possible that water healed this ghost and if so, how was she going to defeat it if it could just jump back into the pool and heal all of its wounds? What she needed was a way to capture it, a way to seal it off from the source of its power, from the water that even now surrounded her.

What Valerie needed was some way of defeating this Water Ghost. After all, she had to do it. A load of money was riding on this capture and of course, that money would get her one step closer to achieving her dreams of revenge…