Yay! I love the "not-study game" and I wrote another chapter! I noticed quite a lot of people were angry about the whole Canadian accent thing. I didn't mean to offend anyone, and I also know a lot of Canadians who don't talk like that. I didn't know how else to describe the Dairy King's accent. Again, I am sorry.
I will also have to watch "MythBusters" I have only seen one episode of it (something about an exploding toilet) but I will keep an eye out for the salsa thing. Thanks for the info.
One more thing- this chapter will get very weird in some parts. Let me know if you think I shouldraise the rating.
Oops, I lied- one more thing- I put a little D/S 'ness' into this one because so many people asked me too, but just to warn y'all, I suck at writing romance'y' stuff, so I think it is kind of stupid. Let me know what you think. I always appreciate any reviews or flames, or whatever. Now enough of me, and onto the story:) YAY!
Sam opened her eyes, and her surroundings slowly came into focus. What happened? she thought to herself. She sat up with a groan and looked around. She was in her own home, but something felt oddly amiss; she clearly knew something wasn't right. She wasn't sure if it had to do with the emptiness of the place, or just a nervous feeling she had in her stomach. Was their encounter with Vlad Masters just a dream? She got up, and started walking to the kitchen when a knock came at the door.
"Now who could that be?" she said to herself as she went to answer it. She looked through the view hole in the door to see a big eye staring right back at her. It was so close she couldn't tell who it was. Hesitantly, she slowly opened the door. "Uh, hello?"
"HELLO BESTEST BUDDY IN THE WORLD!" a happy voice said, and Sam soon found herself engulfed in a tight hug. It didn't take her long to figure out that Paulina was the one at her door, embracing her in the most-suffocating hug she had ever experienced. In fact, there was a whole mob of kids, including Dash, Quan, Star, Donna, and a number of other people from the popular girl's social circle.
Enraged, Sam pushed her away. "What is your problem, Paulina?" she asked. "Are you trying to publicly mock me or something in your own 'unique' and special little way?"
"Mock you?" the girl said shocked. "I'd never make fun of you, Sam. You're my BEST FRIEND after all! We all just thought that since you were home, we'd take you shopping, in all my favorite clothes stores, and brighten up your wardrobe a bit. I think pink would really suit you. Then, I thought it would be fun to go get our hair done, and nails polished, and a pedicure and a foot massage and …" she continued blathering as Sam tried to figure out what was going on. She looked to the surrounding crowd.
"Why are you all really here?" She interrupted. "I don't imagine you all want to go shopping for girlie stuff."
"No way," Kwan said. "We'll tag along, but we just want to hang out with you."
"Why?"
"Because we all found out your family is loaded! You're the coolest!"
Sam stopped, her jaw hung low enough that one of her cats could have climbed into it. "So you are saying that you found out I am filthy rich, and want to be my friends because of it?"
"Yes," the crowd said in eerie, monotonous unison. "We want to be your friends for all the wrong reasons! We don't value you as a person and your individuality means nothing to us!"
"So come on!" Paulina said and dragged Sam out of her house. She was incredibly strong; impossibly strong, and Sam couldn't pull away.
"Let go of me, Paulina!" Sam yelled angrily.
"Oh, I'll never do that!" the girl said. Her voice got much lower, her eyes narrowed, and started glowing a dim shade of red. The sky suddenly turned dark, and massive swirling clouds appeared in the sky above them. The wind picked up and lightning struck a nearby tree. The light from the lightning seemed to distort Paulina's heavily made-up face, making her appear as some crazed monster as she smiled evilly and clutched Sam's arm. Perhaps this was no illusion. She looked to the crowd who all transformed into terrifying zombie-like creatures. Sam gasped and suddenly felt very defenseless as the monster looked at her face to face. "You are doomed to stay with us FOREVER and EVER and EVER!" she boomed. "AND EVER AND EVER AND EVER…"
"Nooooo!" Sam cried. "Get away from me! All of you!"
"NEVER! YOU ARE COMNG SHOPPING WITH US AND WILL BE OUR FRIEND FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY!" Paulina bellowed. In a flash, the sky suddenly returned to normal; as bright and sunny as it had been before. Paulina and the others also returned to normal. "Now won't that be fun?" she asked, then giggled and made a ridiculous high-pitched squeal of delight, as she dragged Sam down the street by her arm, followed by the crowd who would make sure she didn't somehow break away and escape.
"AHHHHH!" Sam screamed as she tried desperately to escape. Well, I guess the soul shredder incident really did happen, and it did know one of my worst fears. At least I'm still alive. I just hope Tucker is okay, she thought, then continued screaming.
"AHHHHH, GET BACK!" Tucker was screaming as he was being chased around and around a small desert island with a lone palm tree in the center by an enormous floating pad and pencil. His PDA had disappeared, along with his cell phone and every other piece of technical gadgetry that he had owned that was on his person. His clothes had also disappeared, so he was left in nothing but his boxers.
Well this is all too familiar, he thought as he dodged the pencil's attack. At least no one can see me. This is humiliating and embarrassing. Not to mention, my blessed technology is gone- GONE! He tripped and landed face-down in the hot sand. He jumped up, spit the sand out of his mouth, and continued running.
"This stinks… and tastes horrible! AHHHHHH!" he yelled aloud. I hope Sam is okay, wherever she is. He then covered his ears as a loud voice entered his thoughts.
"ATTENTION SHOPPERS! 50 PERCENT OFF SALE ON ALL ELECTRONICS IN RADIO SHED! THANK YOU AND ENJOY YOUR SHOPPING EXPERIENCE." It said in a happy voice.
"I'm in a mall?" Tucker grabbed the pencil out of thin air, and swung it at the pad of paper in one fluid motion. Both fell to the ground momentarily, giving him a chance to gain some composure, get up, and look around. He gazed and saw nothing but water around him, with circling shark fins unnervingly close. But, as he walked along the shore of the small island, he noticed an odd rectangle in the distance. He would have normally mistaken it for sun glare, which was blindingly bright, but now it looked like a door. He squinted harder at it, and realized it was getting bigger- no closer- yes- it was growing bigger and getting closer. Was that what he thought it was? Yes! A door! A gate, perhaps. He could see out it now, clearly. The tiled floor, bright neon store signs- yes! He was in a mall, and he was in one of the shops.
"Okay, this is the weirdest mall I have ever been in. It must have to do with the fact that this is an alternate dimension where anything is possible and the laws of physics don't necessarily have to apply. Now if only I can get across this water and out…" The boy placed his toe in the water, adjusting to the temperature and preparing to swim, but no sooner had he done so, the sharks swam in closer. One came so close, that it could have hit him with its tail if it had tried. Another jumped out of the water and right onto the sand. It got up on its tail, and focused its big, black, beady eyes on him. The boy jumped back and cowered in fear.
"Just try it," the shark said with a sneer. "I dare you." It then jumped back in the water.
"Okay… I'm officially creeped out," Tucker said to himself as he backed away. The pencil and notepad were beginning to stir, and he didn't have much time before they resumed their chase. He threw them into the water, only to have them thrown back by the sharks. His adrenaline was pumping furiously through his body. He was afraid and alone and…" His own thoughts were interrupted when he looked out the door and across the hall. What he saw was the mother of all electronics stores- a Super Radio Shed. He would have fainted on the spot as he stared gawking and googlie-eyed at the massive super-store. "It's so close, but yet so far… MAN! This is torture! Why must I suffer like this? WHY!"
He then heard a distinctive scream that he immediately recognized as Sam's as she was quickly dragged past the store entrance by Paulina and her gang, except now she was being dragged by the foot, her back was dragging along the ground. Wait, was that who I thought it- ? No. Sam would never be wearing anything pink, let alone have her hair fixed up in a fancy style. It must have been a mirage.
Sam had seen Tucker in the brief moment where she passed the odd store's entrance. She had been dragged from one store to the next, had been held down while she had her hair and nails done, and had been forced to wear a humiliating pink ruffly shirt that Paulina had bought for her. She was completely out of breath, not to mention terrified of the mall itself- it was very creepy- it was dark and dank, and although she usually liked dark places, this one gave her the creeps. In addition, the decorative trees had faces and threw things at her while shouting rude remarks, and the wandering people were all zombies that seemed to want to eat her. Thank goodness she saw Tucker! She sighed in relief that he was alive and here with her too. She grabbed at the molding of the store's massive door which caused her momentum to stop. Paulina pulled harder, but Sam wouldn't let go.
"Tucker, is that you in there?" she called despite the fact that her foot felt like it was about to be pulled off.
"Yeah- thank goodness you're okay!" he called back.
"Okay? I'm on the shopping spree from hell with the people I hate most who are horrible, zombie-like monsters and don't care about my individuality!"
"Well I'm stuck on this desert island in my underwear with a giant pad and pencil chasing me, sharks in the water, the blaring sun, and no technology or gadgetry to help me escape!"
"Wait, I have an idea!" Sam cried, followed by a grunt as she tried to pull back toward Tucker. She let go of the wall, and the force of Paulina pulling on her caused them to be flung back, and fall on top of each other.
"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?" Paulina bellowed in that deep, other-worldly voice.
"I uh, want to look in that store." Sam pointed to where Tucker was. "I bet the sun will give you a nice tan, while I look around, at least."
Paulina and the gang turned and looked where Sam was pointing. "That's not a store," she said. "It's just where some other human kid was sent to live out his worst nightmare. It just happens to be in a room here in this Mall of Nightmares, as well."
Sam looked around quickly and noticed a Home DePan hardware store next to the Radio Shed. She put on her happiest false smile and squealed happily. "Then let's go shopping in there, guys! I'm soooo excited! Look- a sale on caulk and duct tape! It doesn't get better than that!" In fact, everything in the store glowed an eerie green, and many of the items were alive and snapped at anyone who picked them up. Practically, pulling Paulina, she ran to the store and promptly bought a very strong, long rope, that luckily, didn't try to fight her.
"Why did you buy that?" Kwan asked.
"Because I'm loaded and I can! YAY!" Sam said happily, and then resumed her normal frown and ran back out into the mall hallway, the demons were utterly baffled. She wasn't supposed to be acting this way.
"I guess we'll look around then," Paulina said, releasing Sam, and she and the others all started browsing the store. Sam ran out, threw the rope across the water to Tucker, who climbed the palm tree and tied it to the very top. Sam anchored her end of it to the bottom of a bench which growled at her, and she pulled it taught.
"Hurry!" Sam cried as Tucker grabbed the semi-conscious pencil, who wriggled, but stopped when Tucker whacked it against the tree's trunk. He then took it carefully, placed it over the rope, and held on to both sides.
"See ya, guys!" he called down to the sharks as he slid down the rope by the pencil and crashed to the floor of the mall where Sam was waiting. He threw the pencil into the water with the sharks, close behind, and both he and Sam closed the big metal doors to keep any of them from following them out. Tucker turned to Sam and gave her a big hug. "Thanks, Sam!" he said. It's lucky that we are in here together.
"Yeah, I suppose that since we were both struck with the sword in the same blow, we were sent to the same dimension, and our nightmares were combined," she said.
"So you are saying that each swing of the sword sends you to a new dimension of fear? And since we were both hit at the same time, we ended up in the same place?"
"I have no idea. It was just a postulation, and the only reasoning I could come up with right now" she answered. "I guess it was good in a way, since we could help each other out, though," she added with a smile, then handed Tucker some cash. "Now go buy yourself some clothes. I'll help you find some that won't eat you when you put them on. At least I learned something from that Paulina monster."
"WHAT!" Paulina yelled. She and her gang had come up right behind them carrying hammers, duct tape caulk, screw-drivers, etc. that were all hissing loudly. One hammer had eyes and large teeth that it was baring as Star held it up and all of them transformed into their demon selves. "YOU TRICKED US TO RESCUE HIM!" Paulina said angrily and balled up her fist and held an electrical cord with the other, which sparked brightly, practically catching on fire, which was also glowing green. "YOU WERE OUR FRIEND! NOW PREPARE TO DIE, SAMANTHA MANSON!" she looked at Tucker and added, "AND YOUR LITTLE FRIEND, TOO!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the two teens yelled and cowered, eyes closed, preparing for some horrible blow that would send them both to the Ghost Zone permanently, when Sam froze, and her eyes started to blaze a brilliant white. The light from her eyes lit up the dark corridor and the spooky tools and décor cringed while the others backed away, shielding their eyes. Her eyes then changed to a glowing, brilliant green, which Tucker recognized as those of Danny in his ghost mode, except her body flashed a bright blue, before returning to normal.
"Uh?" he asked Sam, her eyes were still green, but her body appeared normal. She got up.
"Tucker? Thank goodness I found you! Where are we? Wait, where's Sam? And what happened to your clothes?" Sam's mouth spoke aloud, but Danny's voice came out.
"Danny?" Tucker asked, eyeing Sam hesitantly.
"Yeah?"
"Um, you're in Sam."
"I overshadowed her?" he said confusedly, then Tucker saw his friend phase out of Sam's body, and Sam's eyes returned to their normal shade of violet. "But I was just in the RV."
Sam groaned and held her head. "What happened?" she asked slowly then noticed Danny. "Danny!" She seemed to have forgotten about the strange feeling she just experienced and ran over and gave him a hug. "I'm so glad you're here,- but wait, how did you get here?"
"I'm uh, not entirely sure. I remember I was back in the RV, and then I had a vision of a dark place and…" he looked around and noticed the baffled demons staring wide-eyed at him that vaguely resembled his peers from school, despite their demon-like façades. He looked at them in confusion again, shook his head, and turned back to his friends.
"And what?" Sam asked.
"And them- about to attack me." He pointed to the demons. "But they shouted your name at me, Sam. Then I found myself here, inadvertently overshadowing you."
"It sounds like perhaps you have a new power," Tucker said. "You can see out of the eyes of people you are close to when they are feeling extremely scared. Then you seemed to have teleported, whether you meant to or not, into that person's body, apparently to wherever they are. That person was Sam in this case."
Danny hovered, dumbfounded. "So I was seeing what Sam saw?"
"I guess so."
"Well don't be doing that all the time, if you know what I mean…" Sam said, her eyes narrowed. Danny seemed utterly confused and didn't seem to catch her drift. She shook her head. "Never mind. I doubt I have anything to worry about from you," she said with a chuckle.
Danny finally realized what she had meant, then reassured her, "I only seemed to do it since you were extremely frightened."
"Well why couldn't you see what I saw? I was really scared too!" Tucker said.
"I don't know, maybe I'm still adapting to the power and can't pick and choose whose body I go to. I really have no idea," Danny answered, then inhaled and exhaled deeply. "So, uh, where are we?"
"Vlad had the Fright Knight's soul-shredder sword and slashed us with it. We ended up in this dimension to live out our worst fears." Sam said.
"Oh, I remember about that," Danny said. "But it isn't Halloween."
"It doesn't matter," Tucker said, "but that probably means you're next."
"Please sir, we must talk to Chip- this is EXTREMELY URGENT!" Timmy tried to convince the security guard to the Amity Arena, where the concert was being held. Unfortunately, the guard would not be swayed.
"Yeah, you and every other fan girl out there," he gestured to a large group of people who lined up early hoping to meet the pop-teen sensation.
"I'll die if I don't get to meet you, Chip!" One girl's voice said. He then was startled by another voice. He turned around.
"You'd better have a good excuse for being here, twerp," Vicky said. "Especially if you are in front of me!"
"AHH!" Timmy said as he backed away. He saw that Vicky was here with Dash and his friends, and that they all wanted to meet Chip too.
A female form emerged from the trailer. Her face was heavily made up, and her flaming blue hair shone brightly, as if it glowed with an aura of its own. "He's not coming out!" Ember said, then slammed a power chord on her guitar and the crowd dispersed without saying a word- as if under a strange, other-worldly type of control. Timmy got halfway down the block, when he realized what he was doing, then started making his way back, a little confused as to why he had started to leave. All of a sudden, a figure appeared in front of him, and Timmy jumped behind a garbage can and listened.
"Yes, three hours have passed and I am back to my old self!" Plasmius said after he had teleported back here from Wisconsin. He felt slightly happy with himself after sending Danny's friends into an eternal realm of fear.
"Now, all I have to do is get the boy, take him back to my lab, get some blood, make a serum for myself, drink it, gain the power he possesses, kill his father, marry his mom, and come back and watch a concert and the destruction of everything. Man, I have to get busy!"
"What!" Timmy blurted out, then covered his mouth, surprised at himself for his sudden outburst in such close proximity to such an evil dude.
Vlad turned and saw him, and his gaze alone seemed to paralyze the boy in fear. "Ah yes, I've seen you. Daniel seems awfully fond of you, kid- which gives me an idea. He turned invisible, and then possessed Timmy, his eyes turning the same red as Plasmius's, before they appeared normal. "Ha ha! Now with my small-boy cuteness I will get in close to Daniel and- " Timmy's voice was cut off by a… talking pink watch?
"What are you talking about, Timmy?" Wanda the watch asked. "Where did that big jerk go anyway?"
"Uh, wh- who or what are you?" Vlad asked through Timmy. I think I suddenly came down with a case of short-term memory loss."
"Yeah, I hear that's contagious," his green hat said. "We're your fairy-godparents, Timmy- we make all your wishes come true. You wished for superpowers, you're helping Danny, and all that stuff. Remember now?" Cosmo asked.
"Oh yeah," Vlad said as the small boy smirked. So they must have been the real thing. I'll never doubt Skulker again! "Any wish I want, you say?"
"The boy has a point," the Paulina demon said, as she and her group advanced toward the three of them. Danny flew up in the air, prepared to fight, when he suddenly dropped to the ground, and the blue energy rings appeared, transforming him back into his human self.
"What happened?" Danny asked, and tried to transform again, but could not. He felt his strength leaving him, and his vulnerability increasing.
"Look at that! So, Danny Fenton is the ghost boy," everyone said at once. "We can't wait to tell everyone, so they will shun you forever."
"Wait, no!" Danny yelled. "Please don't!"
He was suddenly hit with that all-too-familiar net as Sam and Tucker were thrown backwards and behind a display case that snarled at them, towards the demons as they attacked. The net wrapped itself around him, and he felt like he was back in Crocker's van. He struggled, but as with the real net, he couldn't budge. Unfortunately, there was no hole in the net either. Great, he thought. My powers are gone, my friends are in danger, and I was probably just shot by Skulker with this darn net again and- his thoughts were cut off when he saw who had fired the netting at him, and his blood ran even colder than it did in his ghost form. It was his mother.
"YES!" She cried. "Take that, ghost kid!" she said happily as she picked up the net, and slung the immobile Danny over her shoulder and carried him out of the mall and back to their house, except now the giant sign outside of it read "Masters Works." He was also surprised that she didn't seem to recognize him. Despite this, Danny still had a feeling of dread as she opened the door and shouted, "Honey, I'm home! Guess what, dear? I captured the ghost!"
"That's excellent news, Maddie," the voice of Vlad Masters said as he approached and gave the boy a happy smile, but his eyes flashed evilly for a brief second, and his lips curled up into a sneer as he eyed the boy. "Good work, Butterbiscuit," he said affectionately to his 'wife' after giving her a kiss. Danny looked in horror at the two of them, who seemed quite happy, and started to struggle as Vlad touched him with a small instrument and the world (or this strange dimension, at least) went dark.
Danny awoke, feeling sick to his stomach. He was too weak too open his eyes, but he felt funny; slightly cool, and as if he had been pushed into a giant tub of Jell-O. He also felt sharp pinches throughout his body, which were somewhat painful. He directed a great deal of his remaining energy to open his eyes, and as they eventually did, his surroundings slowly but surely came into focus.
He found he was suspended somehow in a cylindrical glass chamber filled with a purplish-colored ectoplasm, which made everything around him appear that color as he looked through it. He was completely submerged in it, and he noticed that there were wires and tubes connected to his body in various places- his neck, arms, torso, and legs. He realized he was not drowning because he was in his intangible ghost form, where he technically didn't breathe anyway. When one phases through rock or the ground, you can't really breathe at all. He didn't know how the tubes were staying attached to him, or why he couldn't phase out of the transparent chamber despite being intangible. He tried to figure out how to get out, but became frustrated when he found he couldn't move while he was in this place. He felt like he was in a giant test tube. He tried to turn into his solid, even invisible forms, but found he could not- it was as if some unknown force was holding him in this particular phase and preventing him from escaping.
He looked around to the outside of the glass. He was in their basement- he could even see the Fenton Portal, now the 'Masters Portal,' and both Maddie and Vlad were there, looking lovingly at each other and taking notes of the computers' readouts on their test subject. Maddie then got up, approached Danny, eyed him curiously, jotted some notes, and backed away from the wide-eyed boy before her. Just then, a young teenaged girl ran down the stairs. Her long red hair vaguely reminded him of Jazz.
"Mom, I'm hungry!" she screamed. "Make me some food NOW!" Danny looked at her- it was true that she looked oddly like his sister, but she was extremely ill-mannered.
"My goodness, you're right, honey. It's getting late. I'll go get make some dinner," Maddie said and ran upstairs to fix up some food.
"Hurry up!" the girl shrieked.
"Thanks, dearest." Vlad called after her as he watched his daughter walk over to Danny and eye him curiously.
"He doesn't look that dangerous and scary," she said in a snobbish, know-it-all tone.
"Darling, why don't you go upstairs and help your mother set the table," her father said. She gave him a rebellious look, but he countered it with an equally-lethal one of his own. She soon complied and went upstairs. Vlad approached Danny who glared back at him.
"Hello Daniel. I am aware that you cannot speak or move, so I will answer all the questions that I am sure you are pondering aloud for you. First of all, yes, I do know you and I still do have evil ghost powers, as does your 'sister.' Maddie is not aware of this. It's our father-daughter secret. In this dimension, your old man met with an…untimely death in a freak backwash incident soon after the Proto Portal exploded, so here, you never existed. I know about you because, well, this is your worst nightmare where anything can happen! Ha ha! Yes, I am married to your mother, and we are very happy together and I intend to rub it in. Secondly, I am about to adopt you as my own son, and lastly, once I hit this button (he gestured to a large, red one next to the vat) it will cause you to fall completely under my control whenever I want. Since you will not do what I would want in the real world, I will control your mind and make you do whatever I feel like here…son." With that he laughed in a way that only Vlad Masters could.
Danny was horrified. He had to stop Vlad from pushing that button. He couldn't live as a son/evil slave here with this fake family. Luckily, Maddie did it for him when she called him up to dinner. "I'll be back soon, son."
Oh no! This is my worst nightmare! Danny thought frantically as he tried harder and harder to move, or do anything. It was no use. And even though Vlad isn't real here, it is as if he is. He felt his body go even limper when he heard someone whisper his name. He weakly looked up and saw Sam and Tucker creeping down the stairs. They must have snuck in through an open window upstairs, somehow made it through the kitchen undetected before Maddie had gone up, (luckily they didn't trigger any alarms), and avoided anyone going up to dinner. Danny wasn't going to question how exactly they accomplished all this, but was just happy to see them.
They got closer and looked at him and in this terrible condition. His body was shimmering, and he was half transparent, stuck in his intangible mode. "Don't worry, Danny, we'll have you out in no time." Tucker said. "After ditching those demons, this should be no sweat."
"Hang in there Danny," Sam reassured him quietly as they both got to work studying the buttons. Danny hoped they wouldn't push the one Vlad had referred to, and his frantic eyes told them to hurry.
"This is ridiculous!" Tucker said. "If I had my PDA…or clothes, for the matter, I could override all of this!" He slammed his fist down on the console in frustration and to their surprise, the tank drained and opened by splitting apart and in half. Danny collapsed onto the floor, instantly becoming human again and promptly began a bout of uncontrollable coughing and wheezing. The tubes and wires disappeared, however his body was shaking uncontrollably. Sam and Tucker knew they had to get out of there right away.
"We were lucky enough to sneak past the Masters' upstairs, but we definitely won't by having to carry him," Tucker said.
"But there's no other way out!" Sam said. "Plus, he said he would be back soon. It's a miracle he hasn't heard us yet."
Danny raised a shaky hand and pointed weakly at the portal after he had stopped coughing. The others nodded.
"It's our only chance!" Sam said.
"But what if it goes to some strange alternate version of the Ghost Zone?" Tucker asked.
"Who cares? It gets us out of here!" Sam said
They headed to the portal. Suddenly they heard Vlad.
"I'm going downstairs, honey!" He called to Maddie.
"No, not now! Tucker and Sam said as they tried hurriedly to activate the portal. These controls were slightly different from the ones they were used to.
"We need to stall him, or a distraction, or SOMETHING!" Sam said when all of a sudden they heard the doorbell ring, followed by a loud bang on the door and a surprised exclamation from the family.
"HELLO BESTEST BUDDIES IN THE WORLD!" they heard Paulina and the others shout from the front of the house.
"How convenient and lucky for us! They should keep the Masters family busy for a while!" Tucker said as he figured out the right button to push. The gateway opened and the two friends picked up Danny, who was still only semi-conscious, and jumped through it.
They appeared in a familiar setting. A green etherium, glowing doors, and many spirits hovering, apparently preparing for something big and causing a lot of commotion, were everywhere. It was impossible to count the number of ghosts present.
"Guys, I know where we are," Tucker said excitedly. "This is the real Ghost Zone! Look! I have my clothes and blessed technology back. You have returned to me, my precious!" he stroked his PDA affectionately.
"And I have my old clothes and hair back too," Sam said happily. "But Danny still looks half dead."
"Well isn't he?"
Sam glared. "Not funny, Tucker. Let's get him out of here."
"I guess that portal led us back here. Perhaps all the zones and dimensions are linked together somehow through similar gateways or portals. I don't know, but I don't care. We're back now, and the Fenton Portal should be this way. He directed them all towards the Portal, and they snuck past all the hovering ghosts by stealthily making their way along the landmasses that were present. They overheard one conversation between two of them, who they recognized as Walker's cronies, and listened in.
"…Yeah, that Danny kid thinks that we are going to destroy the world if he doesn't listen to Plasmius." The first specter said. "I knew that fake conversation that we knew Wulf overheard was going to trick him into telling Danny Phantom about a 'big army' attacking. He actually believed it- the old chump! How ridiculous!"
"If he really knew that Ember was going to control that shiny-teeth kid, into helping her to convince the humans to do it for us by that mind control stuff she does, he might actually be able to stop us," the other replied with a mischievous grin.
"Yeah, won't it be funny that the humans will be forced to destroy everything they ever knew and worked for? Then, we will make them all slaves or make them live in the Ghost Zone! No wait, our slaves in the Ghost Zone! YES! That way, we'll all be able to leave this dreadful place and come back to live on Earth without all those pesky humans in the way. Oh, how I've waited for that day."
"Plus, all this destruction and mindlessness will serve as a big enough distraction for Plasmius to do what he planned to do with that Phantom kid, whether he gets mind- controlled or not."
"Ooh- this will be a great show! All we have to do is sit back and watch. Are you going to the concert?"
"Of course, so is just about everyone- we'll be invisible, and help things along if people resist the mind-control. It will be fun at least, to stir up some trouble if need be."
They continued talking while Sam and Tucker listened in horror. This was even worse than having the ghosts destroy the world. They were planning to have Ember brainwash everyone into doing it themselves! They knew they had to go and stop that concert.
When they finally reached the portal hovering above them, they knew they would have to fly, and none of the ghosts here would be willing to help them.
"Danny, you have to wake up and fly. It's not far at all," Sam begged, gently shaking him. "Please!" It looked like it took a tremendous effort for him to open his eyes, but he did so, and nodded. They helped him sit up, and he concentrated. The rings appeared, but then disappeared without changing him. He cringed, as if he was still in some discomfort from the chamber. He was also still too tired. He tried harder, and the second time, he managed to transform completely.
"Well a least his powers are back," Tucker said.
Danny slowly hovered up, and Sam and Tucker held on to him as he slowly made his way up to the floating portal and out. Once out, Tucker hit a button that slammed the portal closed, and Danny fell to the floor, but still managed to retain his ghost form. He was recovering quickly.
"Thanks Danny!" his friends cried. Sam held his head in her lap, his white hair brushing up against her arm, waiting for him to get up. Luckily, his strength seemed to be returning rapidly.
"I'm so glad to be back out here," Sam said, embracing him in a hug. She pecked him on the cheek, and he instantly sat up and his strength seemed to return completely. He stared wide-eyed and blushed slightly, but shakily stood up, a goofy smile forming on his face as he leaned against his friends who were helping him up.
"Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty," Tucker said. "You feeling any better?"
"I am now, just give me a minute and I should be totally fine. That certainly was one of my worst nightmares, but I think losing you guys or my family would be THE worst of them all."
"Same here," Sam replied, her face seemed to blush a little too.
Tucker looked from one to the other, and smiled. He knew they were destined for each other, whether they knew it yet or not. Plus, they were the perfect couple in his opinion anyway. His thoughts shifted to Valerie for a moment, but he changed the subject. "So, what are we going to do now?"
"Well we have to stop a concert, of course," Tucker replied.
"Why?" Danny asked.
"We'll tell you on the way. We had heard some ghosts talking."
"Alright- let's find the others and then get over there," Danny replied, changing back into a human.