Crossing the Zones

By Nyassa Kaiba

Notes: Right, I didn't mention it in the last chapter, but the song that Feralae sang to hypnotize Ember is MINE! It's called Dance, and if you REALLY wanna read it I'll post it. Otherwise it ain't goin up.

Chapter 3

Feralae fell asleep in the sleeping bag on Danny's floor that night. And it was then that her soul left her body. The first warning Feralae had was a jerking sensation. And she was floating. "What? What the…" The curse that she had been about to utter was stifled when Benten's voice called from above.

/Child, come, please, I must speak, but I cannot leave the gate chamber./ Benten told her.

Feralae, who was getting used to floating through walls by now, followed Benten's voice to the lab. Mr. Fenton had fallen asleep at his worktable, and somebody, probably Mrs. Fenton, had draped a blanket over his shoulders and replaced his tools with a pillow.

Benten had taken the form of a bentbacked old lady. She was what occultists call a triple goddess, that is to say she tended to appear in three forms, a child, a mother and a crone. Her child form was a girl about Feralae's age, which she had taken shortly before Slade's last attack on the tower. Her mother form was her dragon form, giving new meaning to the Japanese term Momagon (lit. Mother dragon). And this was her crone form, which had only appeared to her once, when Feralae had used Starfireand Raven'spowers to retrieve ZP from the digital void in the Lyoko universe.

"There you are child." Benten said with a smile. "I've been waiting for you."

"You could have picked a better way to do it." Feralae wiped imaginary dust from her shoulders. "You appear to Sam in dreams, couldn't you have done that to me?"

"A child should never question their goddess. However, since you are also a gatekeeper I will answer. One of Sam's special abilities is the ability to see things in her dreams. You do not have this ability, and I needed to get you up here without waking up Fenton-san." She gave a bow to Mr. Fenton's sleeping form.

"What information do you have?"

"Plasmius, for the moment, is trustworthy. I will give you fair warning when he decides to turn against you. You MUST train Sam to use her power. And no, I cannot tell you what it is."

"Let me guess, another stupid rule?"

"The rules are not stupid Feralae. They keep people like Plasmius and Sissy in line. Sissy would have stolen ZP's powers if the rule hadn't said that all gatekeepers must be shielded from each other."

"Not to mention her life." Commented Feralae with a growl. "Okay, next question, if I decide to mimick a ghosts powers, and I get the feeling I'll be doing that a lot soon, does that turn me INTO a ghost? Will I be affected by any of the Fenton Gadgets?"

"You turn into a ghost, you get ghost powers, everything that goes with it, including weakness to the Fenton thermos and other ghost hunting gear." Benten replied. "The same way if you were to use Odd's powers you get his limits on arrows and lifepoints."

So I'd show up on ghost scanners. Feralae thought. "Okay, if Black Velvet can't sway Vlad, then who else is there to target?"

"THAT is a good question. There's an elderly gatekeeper in the ghost zone named the Ghost Master. She's incredibly powerful ghostwise and gatekeeperwise. But I doubt that Black Velvet will be able to get to her. She's too remote, too isolated, and she's too powerful for even Plasmius to wrap his spectral brain around. Don't worry about her."

"Is it true that every gatekeeper has to have an apprentice?"

"Yes, it is true."

"And BV wants Plasmius as her master?"

"That appears to be the case." Benten replied. "It's in the rules."

"Another stupid rule." She sighed.

"So says the ten year-old as her fairy god parents…" Benten broke off at the glare from Feralae. "Okay, okay, but just like them, WE have a rulebook too and YOU have to follow it."

Feralae sighed. "Okay, now, your orders?"

"Easy, you need to teach Sam to use her powers, not a formal apprenticeship, but a… ah… crash course in gatekeepering." Replied Benten.

"Okay, but how does she figure out what her powers are?" Feralae asked. "If you won't tell me."

"AAAAAH but that's the important part. The point is the journey, and the lessons she learns along the way."

"So you want Sam to join me and ZP on our journey?"

"No, Sam is not to begin her journeying until she reaches journeyman level or finds a master."

"You are NOT making her train with Plasmius." Growled Feralae.

"Did I suggest it?" Asked Benten. "No, Ghost Master will teach her. For that, she needs to learn how to get into the zone on her own and come back. In fact, I think that will be her test, and since you suggested it…"

"So I have to take her to the ghost zone? Are you insane? Walker's patrols? Technus? Fright Knight? Think of all the nasties that are in there!"

"Afraid Feralae?" Asked Benten wisely.

"Fear has nothing to do with it." Feralae said stubbornly.

"Remember what happened to Raven when she didn't…"

"Admit she was afraid, I know." Feralae stated. "I'm not afraid of ghosts, or the supernatural, I see it every day, but HOW HOW HOW am I going to get past all the ghosts in there without being blasted?"

"Just five minutes in, and then you can come back. You don't have to search for the Ghost Master immediately." Benten told her. "Now, I think you deserve some sleep."

Feralae jerked awake, then rolled over and went back to sleep, content that she was in her own body now.

The next morning Mrs. Fenton knocked on Danny's door. "Kids, wake up. Feralae, your room is set up next door. Care to have a look?"

Feralae got up with a groan. "Man, I was sleeping like the dead."

"Speak for…snorrrreee… yourself." Danny muttered.

"DANNY FENTON GET UP NOW!" Mrs. Fenton shouted.

Feralae covered her ears. "HOLY CHEEZ!" She cried. "Could you be any louder?"

"Sorry dear, Danny sleeps rather heavily."

"Mom, you're embarrassing me." Danny growled as he heard her walk away.

"I have Ember blasting my ears off last night, I don't need her too." Feralae sighed. "I need to talk to Sam as soon as possible. I'm supposed to help her open her first portal."

"Where to?" Danny asked, curious.

"The ghost zone. There's a ghost of a martial arts mistress that's supposed to train her once she can make the jump. But for that she needs to learn how to actually USE that key."

"So Plasmius isn't supposed to train her?"

"That thought crossed your mind too hm? No, Benten was upset at even the thought." Feralae sighed. She fingered her own key. "Man, I'm barely trained myself and I have to train somebody else?"

"Don't worry, Sam's a fast learner." Danny assured her.

"DANIEL FENTON?" Danny's mother shouted.

"Ouch. Rock paper scissors for the shower."

"You go, I have to check out my room." Feralae sighed. She got up and went into the guest room that had been prepared for her stay.

It must once have been a library, because there were ghost books everywhere, even stacked on the desk. And a computer sat, dusty and unused on the desk next to the books. Feralae sat down at the desk and waited for Danny to finish with his shower.

There was a knock. "Hey." A girl with long orange hair came in. She was wearing normal school clothes. "I didn't get to introduce myself last night. I'm Jasmine, but everybody calls me Jazz."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Feralae." Feralae replied.

"So I've heard." Jazz commented. "Hey, as soon as you've showered, breakfast is on the table okay? And you'll be catching the bus to school with Danny."

Feralae nodded. "Gotcha." She sighed, lying back on the bed in the room.

"It feels soooo good to have somebody reasonably normal around." Jazz sighed. "Mom and dad are ghost crazed, Danny's just… well… weird." Feralae remembered hearing something about Jazz knowing Danny's secret.

Feralae chuckled. "I dunno, I can be quite weird when I wanna be." She chuckled.

"Not as weird as mom and dad." Jazz said, arching an eyebrow. "I guarantee you they're the essence of weirdness."

Feralae laughed. "I think I could get to like you Jazz, being the only NORMAL person here."

If ZP had been there she would have made a very rude remark.

Then Feralae's cellphone went off. It was ZP. "Hey ZP, what's up?"

"Had a midnight visitation?" Asked ZP.

"Yeah I had the most normal dream last night." Feralae said normal through gritted teeth.

"Oh, bad place?"

"Wrong place, wrong time. I'll see you at school okay? Sorry to have to hang up on you like this."

"Sam had a visitation last night, she's pretty upset and needs a favor of Danny."

"No prob, ZP, I'll tell Danny, talk to you then." Feralae hung up. "What were you saying?"

"You're one of THEM aren't you?" Asked Jazz, locking the door.

"One of what?" Feralae asked innocently.

"A halfa."

"A what?" Feralae demanded, though she knew the term.

"Don't play dumb! What I want to know is why you haven't come up on any of mom and dad's gadgets!" Jazz growled.

Feralae sighed, she'd get ZP for this later. "I'm not a ghost, really." She pulled out her key and held it, point down. "By the grace of the Gods…" She said softly. The area of the floor and bed she'd been sitting on began to glow in a circle around her. "By the grace and power of the dragon masters… reveal my true nature!"

The key extended into a broadsword. "WOAH!" Jazz cried, pulling back.

"Don't be afraid. I'm a gatekeeper, not a ghost." Feralae told her. "Its our job to monitor the boarders between dimensions. Following me so far?"

"I… I think so." Jazz said nervously.

"Well its about to get weirder. See, there's a network of gates between worlds. Kinda like your parent's portal, only it leads to anywhere, not JUST the ghost zone. The goddess in charge of the gate is the Japanese Goddess of the Arts, Benten. But there's also an order of monks called Gatekeepers who maintain the gates. There are rules to it, and there are evil gatekeepers as well as good ones. It's a rough life too, full of adventures."

"So what brings you to Amity Park?" Jazz asked.

"A trainee Gatekeeper needs to find a Master. Unfortunately that means going into the Ghost Zone, so ZP and I are on guard duty."

Jazz was rapidly adding things up. "I see. Don't tell mom and dad about any of this okay? But I think that Danny's a ghost… and he isn't telling us…"

Feralae almost fainted. "I won't tell, I can guess what they'd do."

Danny knocked on her door. "Feralae, I'm done with the shower, you can have it now."

"Thanks, I'm coming." She told him. Feralae turned to Jazz. "If you tell him that you know he'll probably have a heart attack."

Jazz nodded. "I haven't told a soul, I swear."

"Then don't tell a soul about me either." Feralae commented. She opened the door. "Danny, can I talk to you for a second?" She grabbed Danny and pulled him into the nearest closet. "DANNY!" She hissed. "Your sister's put two and two together! SHE KNOWS!"

Danny turned rather green and just about fainted. "Are you sure?" He whispered.

"Yes, she said, and I quote, 'Don't tell mom and dad about this okay, but I think Danny's a ghost and he isn't telling us.'"

"I am so toast." Danny sighed. "How did THAT subject come up?"

"She thought I was a ghost at first and confronted me on it. I had to show her my gate key to get her to lay off." Feralae sighed. "Then she confided that in me. And that's not all. ZP called, it seems that Sam had a visitation last night. Whatever Benten said it made her really upset."

"Look, we'll settle this at the bus stop okay?" Danny asked.

"Deal. I need to explain some of my orders to you more clearly too." They shook on it and walked out of the closet. Feralae went to her shower, and Danny to breakfast, and both of them were prepared for trouble.