Desiree turned to Ember, who was putting her guitar in carrying position on her back.
"I am very powerful in the human world, but here I am limited by the natural conditions.
I will help as I can," said Desiree, "State your wish."
Ember was silent for a few seconds, deciding how to phrase it. "I wish to have my memories of my human life returned."
"STOP!" boomed a very loud voice from above them.
They all looked up, and were shocked to see an enormous ghost, at least a hundred feet tall,
towering over them. It was a typical formless entity, black, with glowing green eyes, and red mouth.
Desiree stepped back. "Guardian!" she exclaimed.
Danny transformed into ghost mode.
"DO NOT GRANT THAT WISH!" it said.
"I- it is too late! The wish has been made! I do not have any choice now! I must grant it!
I MUST!" said Desiree, trembling.
"THEN I AM VERY SORRY, DESIREE, BUT TO PREVENT IT, I MUST DESTROY YOU!" said the Guardian. It slammed its "hands" together, where they merged and morphed into the shape of a hammer's head. It was raised over the Guardian's head, and brought down toward Desiree with all the force the Guardian could muster.
Desiree cowered down, and put her arms over her head.
Danny ran over to her, and threw up his ectoplasmic shield-bubble covering them both. He concentrated, making it as thick and strong as possible.
The hammer-head came down and met the bubble. Danny felt a sharp pain in his side, and exclaimed in surprise. He glanced at Desiree, but she was still hunkering down. The bubble began to bulge inward from the force of the hammer blow, and the pain Danny felt increased.
But he didn't give in.
Suddenly the hammer-head rebounded, snapping up, and catching the Guardian in the chin. It staggered back, yelling in pain, then fell like giant redwood.
Danny released the bubble and collapsed to his knees, holding his side. He transformed back to human. Desiree looked up, about to thank him for keeping her intact. Seeing Danny in distress, she immediately grabbed him and helped him lie down.
Tucker, Sam, and Ember ran up, and knelt beside Danny, who was groaning.
"Ember," said Desiree, softly. The rocker ghost girl looked up at her.
"As you wish it, so shall it be," said Desiree, motioning with her hands. Green fog surrounded Ember, then dissapated.
Ember stood up, and memories flooded back into her. Her eyes grew wide. "Oh, no..." she said, softly, and sat down. Ectoplasmic tears drifted from her. She closed her eyes, and put her face in her hands. She began to cry.
Desiree put her hand on Danny's back. "Ghost chi... Danny, quickly. Wish for me to make you well."
Danny groaned again, and held his side tighter. His eyes were closed, and he had started sweating, and was very pale.
"Danny, do it now," she said, a note of urgency in her voice.
"What's wrong with him?" asked Sam, gazing at the Wishing Ghost.
"The... what is the word... feedback from the Guardian's blow to his shield has ruptured his internal organs. If it is not attended to now, his human form will die," explained Desiree. "But for me to help him, he must wish it."
Sam immediately turned her attention to Danny. "DANNY! WAKE UP! NOW!" she said, wanting to shake him, but not daring to.
"Ohhh...what?" groaned Danny.
"Wish to be healed, NOW!" said Tucker.
"Okay, okay, don't yell," said Danny, not opening his eyes. "I wish I was healed."
"As you wish it, so shall it be," said Desiree, with relief in her voice. She gestured,
and the same green fog surrounded Danny. Then it was gone.
Danny sat up, gingerly touching his side. It didn't hurt any more. "Thank you," he said,
looking up at Desiree.
She smiled. "Three times now you have saved me, putting yourself in danger. This is the very least I could do."
Attracted by crying, Sam turned her attention to her ghost friend.
"Ember? What's wrong?" she asked, kneeling down beside her.
"McLauren," was the reply, through her fingers.
"What?" said Sam, confused.
"My name is Ember McLauren. At least, it was when I was alive," she said.
The others stared at her.
"That's true," said a strange voice behind them.
Startled, they all turned around. The Guardian stood there, in the same amorphous shape,
but now human sized. He was gazing at Ember.
"What do you want?" asked Danny, preparing to transform. "Another chance to hurt Desiree?"
The strange ghost shook its head. "No. There is no point to that, now. The damage has been done." It looked at Desiree. "I am very glad I did not actually hurt you." It turned its attention to Danny. "And you, ghost child. Are you well? My blow was very powerful."
"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks to Desiree," Danny answered, still on guard.
"Who are you anyway, man?" asked Tucker.
"Man? No, I am no man. I am the Guardian. I protect the Ghost Zone against threats from the living universe," it answered.
"What kind of threat is Ember's memory?" asked Sam, standing in front of the ghost girl, who was still crying.
"She is not the threat," answered the Guardian, "Her father is."
"That's right," said Ember, quietly, and all attention turned to her.
Ember sighed. "Several years ago, my parents bought a house and moved in. My father was interested in ghosts, and he took the house because there is a natural portal in it. About a year later, my mother died of a heart attack. My father blamed it on ghosts scaring her to death."
"No ghost was guilty of such a thing," said the Guardian, "It was a tragedy, but a natural one."
"He became obsessed with getting revenge. He studied everything he could find about ghosts,
and even consulted with your parents, Danny. He spent every cent we had and built a bomb that he claimed could destroy every ghost," said Ember.
"That was when he came to my attention," said the Guardian. "I appeared to him, and tried to explain the truth, but he refused to listen. He started to activate the bomb. I tried to stop him, but he had protected the device from ghostly influence somehow."
The Guardian looked sad. "My power is very great in the Ghost Zone, but in the living world I have almost nothing." He looked at Ember. "I had no choice but to take the action I did.
I tore her spirit from her body, and threw it into the Ghost Zone."
There was, excuse the pun, dead silence.
"I thought that, if he knew his daughter was there, he would not seek to destroy the Ghost Zone. And I was right. He abandoned the bomb for her body. Then he looked at me, and vowed that when he had his daughter's spirit back, the Ghost Zone would be destroyed."
The Guardian shook his head. "Afterwards I returned to the Ghost Zone. I have never been happy with the situation, or my solution. But I kept an eye on her."
"I guess the shock locked away my memories," said Ember, and the Guardian nodded. "Now I know that I remembered my name wrong. That was when Desiree granted my wish. She gave me knowledge of the Ghost Zone, and my nature. I wandered aimlessly until I happened across some travelling ghost musicians."
"Yes," said the Guardian. "Being a tabula rasa (blank slate) allowed a previously unknown talent for the guitar and music to surface. I ordered Nicolai Technus to fashion a guitar for her, hoping it would keep her busy, and she would not find out about her life.
I soon had other, more pressing concerns to worry about, and allowed her to go to the back burner, so to speak. While I was busy, Vlad Plasmius found her, and took her back to the living world."
The Guardian looked at them. "And you know the story from there. The question is, what happens now?"
"I-- I need to go home," said Ember.
"We'll go with you, and make sure that bomb doesn't go off," said Danny.
"I was hoping you would say that," said the Guardian, smiling.
"You trust us with something this big?" said Tucker.
"Yes," answered the Guardian. "I have been watching Danny since he became a Halfa, and I know he means what he says. All of you as well. Besides, this is something it is best that humans resolve."
The Guardian looked around like it was orienting itself, then pointed in a certain direction.
A lime-green line emerged from its finger, and disappeared into the distance. "Follow that line, and it will take you to the portal in her house. I must go."
It turned and studied Desiree for a long moment, then looked embarrassed. It flew up and away, over the rise and above Skulker's lair, and was gone.