By Nyassa Kaiba
Sam took a deep breath and sighed. "Okay, here's what's going on. Black Velvet wants the secrets to the gates. She's gotten Ember and Skulker to help her. Now there are two people to target if she wants to learn, me, and I'm a trainee so I can't teach her much, and Plasmius." She turned to him, it was a question.
"I'm not training Black Velvet." Vlad replied. "She'll steal my secrets and kill me. And unlike a REAL ghost, I can be killed."
"Which leaves her with no teacher and nobody to show her how to get through a gate."
"Why does she want to anyway?" Danny asked.
"Let me put it this way." Vlad told him. "If she had the training, she could get out of a Fenton Thermos, break out of just about any device that your parents could make, as long as she has her gatekey."
"What's a gatekey?" Danny asked, question directed at Sam.
"Every gatekeeper has a sword, called a Gatekey. When you're in a place where you have to hide, the key transforms into a pendant shaped like its sword form." Sam explained.
"You remember that old story the Golden Compass?" ZP asked.
"Do I!" Danny exclaimed. He'd gotten detention from skipping his homework on that book.
"Well it's kind of like that." She explained. "You stick your key into the mass of the gate, and then you sort of… feel around with it for the dimension you're looking for. You'll see it in your mind. And then when you 'see' the one you want you use the key to push the door to that dimension open."
"Like I understood that?" Danny asked, leaning back against the wall. "Oh well, as long as it works. Wait a minute, if I had a gate key, could I get out of a Fenton Thermos if my parents accidentally pull me in?"
"You're not a gate keeper." Pointed out Vlad. "Sorry, but I find it important to point that out. A gatekey will ONLY work for the Gatekeeper it was made for. And if you're not a gatekeeper the magic will backfire on you and you'll be thrown into a random dimension with no way out."
"Darn, worth a try."
"Danny you're too intelligent to get stuck in one of those things." Sam replied.
"You have a surprising knack for both getting into and out of trouble." Vlad agreed. "You don't need more tricks."
"Of course YOU'D say that." Growled Danny. "It's only a matter of time until Valerie or somebody figures out how to build their own version and POW!"
Feralae sighed. "You can't use it unless you're a gatekeeper anyway. Suddenly an alarm went off. "Oh what'd I touch?"
"It's not you. That's the radar that mom and dad use to detect ghosts!" Danny exclaimed. He ran to a picture on the wall of the living room and pushed a few buttons. "Yup, three ghosts approaching the portal, too bad the thing is closed. I'll just run upstairs to check."
"I'm coming with you, they wouldn't attack if they didn't have a way out." Vlad pointed out.
"Oh no you don't." Feralae growled. "Not alone at least. Sorry, but I know your reputation."
Danny turned off the alarm and he, Feralae, ZP and Vlad went running upstairs. ZP ran to the control panel near the gate. "Neat tech! I'll see what I can do about shielding this baby." She tapped a few controls. "No luck. This is even beyond my level!"
Feralae pulled out her sword, chanting under her breath. The sword began to glow green. "Starbolts." She explained. "Very nifty trick I picked up from Starfire in the DC universe."
"Here they come!" ZP growled as the gate was slowly, agonizingly forced open. Ember was pushing one leaf of the door, Skulker was pushing the other. A female ghost dressed in black leather and velvet from head to tow came through, touting a sword, (though thankfully not a key.) She had long black hair down to her waist and bright, electric blue eyes. Ember and Skulker followed and the leaves of the Fenton Portal snapped shut behind them.
"Where's the boy?" Demanded the ghost dressed in leather.
"Looking for somebody?" Danny asked. He had gone totally ghost, eyes and hands glowing with energy.
"YOU are the least of my worries." The leather dressed ghost growled at him. "Aaaaah Plasmius. I came to ask for your…"
"I am NOT tutoring you in gatekeeping." Plasmius growled.
"Ah, but according to the rules you HAVE to take on an apprentice."
"According to the rules I CHOOSE an apprentice." Vlad replied.
"Come on, we're both evil ghosts…"
Vlad walked over and slapped her. "You spoiled rotten PRAT! I know what you're up to!"
The lady ghost growled. "You'll pay for that! Ember, Skulker! Get them! All of them!"
Ember charged over, choosing Feralae as an opponent. "You with the glowing sword! Fight me!"
Guitar and sword clashed as the opponents met. "Hey, a battle, I'm always raring for a fight!" Feralae growled. "You would be Ember right? Man have I got a surprise for you!" She closed her eyes, focusing even as her sword was forced back. "Neith, grant me your power! Help me douse this ember once and for all!"
"Oh you're clever." Ember sneered.
Feralae smiled and sang. "THaaaaankkk youuuuuu!"
Ember froze. Feralae grinned and kept singing. "Dance, for the light that's in your eyes, it should cause you no surprise, that we're drawn, to the night, to the freedom…"
"What is she…?" Danny started from where he was firing ectoplasmic blasts at Skulker.
"You figure it out!" Growled Vlad as he grappled with Black Velvet.
Ember's eyes began to whirl and her attacks began to lose force. "Soooo sleepy… what is…"
"There, in a sea of swimming stars, all the world you see is ours, there's no need, to leave till the dawning…"
Ember was frozen in place, eyes whirling with the hypnosis that Feralae had used on her. Feralae came forwards and smacked her with the pommel of her sword. Ember went down, but also snapped out of it. She got up, rubbing her face. "That was a dirty rotten trick!"
"It worked didn't it?" Feralae asked with a smirk.
"What's your name?" Ember asked, curioiusly.
"Ostara." Feralae replied. "Not my real name, but if I told you THAT ZP would kill me."
"Who?"
"My master."
"Oh." Sword and guitar clashed again. "You're an apprentice gatekeeper. THAT explains it. Because your aura doesn't feel like a ghost and yet you're fighting like one!"
Feralae grinned, turning the clash into a parry. She turned the parry into a lunge and what would have been a devastating blow merely went through Ember's body. "You haven't fought a ghost before have you?"
"Nope." Feralae said as she brought her sword down into a butterfly strike. Ember parried and smacked her guitar right into Feralae's stomach. Great, she thought, how do I phase this thing?
Ember grinned as Feralae wheezed. She twisted the guitar around for another blow. Feralae figured out to go transparent in the knick of time and the guitar went right through her. Feralae got up and used her knees like springboards, pushing up from the ground and aiming a punch right in Ember's eye. Ember hadn't been expecting the blow and went flying, screaming, right through the wall.
Danny checked the clock. Oh great, his parents would be home in a few minutes. "OH GREAT! Mom and dad are going to be home soon!"
"Then we must end this NOW!" Growled Vlad as he sent Black Velvet flying. "They know YOU'RE a good guy, but they wouldn't be so sure about me!"
"Yeah, but they still don't know I'm a ghost." Danny protested as Skulker grabbed him by the leg and sent him flying through the wall.
Ember grinned. "Care to take this fight up a notch?"
"How do you propose?"
"Follow me!" Ember growled as she went sailing through the ceiling.
Feralae grinned and launched herself after her. The two of them flew through the air, grappling, guitar shouldered and sword sheathed. The ghost and ghost mimic twined through the air.
Taking the idea Danny and Skulker had also taken the battle to the roof, and, not wishing to get caught, Vlad had managed to force the fight to the street in front of Danny's house. It was then that Feralae spotted the car headed towards Danny's house. "DANNY RENTS TWO O CLOCK!" She cried at the top of her lungs.
Ember growled. "Hel-ooh! Your battle's with me remember?"
"I never forgot!" Feralae grinned. "Hey you're awfully pretty for somebody so evil you know that?"
"Stop trying to flatter me!" Ember growled.
"No, seriously. You ever try being a good guy… er… girl?"
"No and I don't intend to." Ember stuck her nose in the air. The battle had paused again. "Stop trying to distract me!" Ember shouted as she dove forward.
Feralae was thrown into Danny's Parent's car, which was making the final approach to Danny's house. Feralae managed to stay solid, but Ember went right through and ended up in the back seat. "YOU LITTLE RAT!" She shouted up and flew through the ceiling of said car.
Danny's mother screamed at the sight of the ghost appearing in HER new car and swerved to the side of the street, but by then Ember was gone. But the battle hadn't finished. Feralae had dropped Ember's power and was glaring at her from the top of the roof. "Care to call it quits Ember?" She asked at the ghost floating below her. Danny's parents were gawking up at the ghost.
"FINE! But this isn't OVER Ostara, not by a LONG shot!" Shouted Ember as she flew away. "Hmph, beaten by a human child, and an apprentice at that, how embarrassing."
Feralae shimmied down that building's drainpipe and hid in the shadows, catching her breath. Then she muttered. "Enma, judge of the dead!" Her hair turned white and she flew to Danny's house. She dropped into his room and dropped Danny's power, becoming visible. "Whew! Vlad left?" She asked.
"Yeah, but Black Velvet and Skulker escaped." Danny replied.
"Ember flew off, I guess she got tired of the fight." Feralae sighed. "They should be walking in the door in three… two… one…"
"Danny! We're home!" Danny's father called.
"Listen, I'm staying at Sam's house." ZP hissed at her under her breath. "Danny's volunteered to convince his parents to take you in, look small and pathetic and for heaven's sake DON'T let them see your gate key!"
"Danny, how were things?" Danny's mother asked.
"They were fine for awhile, but some ghosts came through the portal and trashed the lab." Danny sighed, dejectedly.
"I see, well young man, you certainly can't control when… wait a minute, the portal was locked!" Danny's mother said, alarmed.
"They shoved it OPEN." Danny replied.
"Then from now on the portal is to be deactivated when we aren't here! Is that plain young man?" Danny's mother asked.
"Crystal." Danny replied.
"Now, I've met Sam and Tucker, but who are these other two?"
"I'm ZP." ZP replied. "Sam's cousin, and this is my best friend Feralae."
"Hey."
"Listen, Feralae's stuck away from home, she has no place to go." Danny told his parents. "And she's pretty handy fighting ghosts, do you think she could stay?"
"You? Fight Ghosts? Such a little thing." Danny's mother said in a tone dripping with 'aw so cute and all alone' "You can't be more than Danny's age."
"Yeah, I'm almost fifteen." Feralae told her.
"Well, you won't have to fight ghosts around here Feralae. Maddie and I do all the fighting." Replied Mr. Fenton.
Feralae snorted. "So can I stay Mr. Fenton?"
"You can call me Jack, and yes, you can stay." Mr. Fenton replied.
"And you can call me Maddie okay?" Danny's mother told her.
And that was how Feralae, apprentice gatekeeper, came to stay at the Fenton Household.