Danny was sweating nervously and rapidly as he stared at the newly created Bhyspawn in front of him what were Sam and Tucker a moment ago. The Bhyspawn started snarling as he slowly began to back away, not taking his eyes off them.

Suddenly, the Bhyspawn made a quick move and jumped right in front of Danny after he had backed away a foot or so. He jumped out of surprise when the two beasts were ready to start clawing him up.

"Calm down, you guys," Danny nervously said in a panicked voice. He gently put his hands out with his palms facing downwards as he simultaneously raised them up and down. "It's me, Danny. Remember? Your friend?"

The two Bhyspawn's only reply to this was a loud roar in Danny's face, causing his hair to get blown back and to have spit fly all over him.

"…or not?"

"They've lost the humanity to listen to your words!" the masked swordsman warned. "Let's hurry up and get out of here!"

"All right," Danny said in less than half a second. He got ready to fly off until one the Bhyspawn (the one that had been Tucker a short while ago) grabbed at his leg and pulled him to the ground, just as he was taking off.

Danny screamed, and then grunted as he struggled to get the new Bhyspawn shaken from his leg. After trying to pull his leg out from the Bhyspawn's grasp without much success, Danny did the one thing he did not want to do.

"Sorry, Tuck," Danny said in a low, but angry and determined voice. He fired a blast of ectoplasma into his friend's face.

The Bhyspawn screamed like a raging monster, but it let Danny go in the process. Danny flew away as fast as he could, much to the masked man's relief.

"All right!" yelled the masked person as Danny flew higher into the air with him. "Now let's go to some spot where neither Skyler nor Bhyrun can find us. We need to start discussing how we're going to finish off this thing once and for all!"

Danny nodded his head, but a huge problem popped into his head. "Where can we go? I don't know this neighborhood very well, and the only place I can think of is in my hotel room!"

"Then let's go to your hotel room," the masked person insisted.

Danny really didn't have any choice but to agree. There was nowhere else he knew of where he could hide from Bhyrun or Skyler. He began guiding the masked person through the air in the direction of the hotel, not really knowing what they were going to talk about there.

As Danny flew the masked man over to the hotel room where the three friends had been staying at, he looked at the cloud as he was flying by it. Then, everything that had happened that led up to this point started flowing through his head.

Why did Tucker have to find that bottle in the water, Danny asked himself as he flew passed the cloud. Why was he so stubborn on taking it when I told him to leave it in the lifeguard tower? Why did I trust Skyler when he asked me for help to attack that cloud?

Danny began getting into even deeper depression. He recalled how on the first day of his vacation, he and Sam were on the beach talking about how great it was to be away from school and tests. Now look at him. He was fighting a giant, dark cloud, along with two new villains: a strange being that looked human, but Danny had a feeling he wasn't; the other was an insane scientist who insisted becoming powerful was the only way to get a human's full potential.

Why did Toby have to be outside when that ghost attacked? Why did my dad have to make me baby-sit that night? Why couldn't Toby just leave the bottle alone like I asked? Why did the bottle have to smash open and cause all this?

Danny's insides began filling with rage when he thought more and more about how if one small detail had changed in everything he just recapped, then he wouldn't have to be in this situation now.

Finally, the two made it to Danny's hotel room. Danny grabbed the man's arm and made them both go intangible as they passed through the window and back into the room. Even though Danny was only recently in there, it felt like forever since he had even seen it. The beds, the carpet, the room itself all looked completely new to him. The Nintendo 64 controllers were thrown on the floor, the beds were unmade, and there were a few sets of clothes lying around.

"Gee, this place sure feels empty without Sam and Tucker," Danny whined. He reverted back to his human form but kept the same sorry expression on his face.

"Being upset isn't going to bring those two back to their normal form. I'm sure you know that?" the masked person asked.

Danny slowly turned around. He stuttered for the longest time before he finally said, "Yeah."

The masked person sat down on one of the beds. His gold suit seemed to glisten in the small bits of sunlight coming in from the window outside. His mouth was still the only visible part of him, but the mouth revealed that the masked man himself was just as concerned as Danny was. Possibly more.

"Who are you, anyway?" Danny said. He felt as if he simply had to ask that. His blue eyes were filled with confusion with a stone-serious expression on his tired face.

The masked figure looked up at the fourteen-year old, but stayed silent. "Danny, we have more important things to worry about, okay? You can trust me."

"All right," Danny said. "I really trust you."

"Then that's all we need to worry about right now," the masked person replied in an almost cold voice. "Now, we need to discuss how we plan on finishing Skyler and Bhyrun. Killing those two will ultimately guarantee the destruction of the giant cloud."

"That's great and all," Danny said annoyed, "but I've already told you, I'm not, I repeat, NOT killing Skyler. There has to be some other way to get him to lose all of his power without killing him."

"There is no other way!" the masked figure said. "If there was another way, I would know of it and do it myself. But right now, you're the only one who can take down Skyler and Bhyrun permanently. The odds against all of this falling on your shoulders is staggering; it's as if all this was destined to happen."

"Dude, what are you talking about?" Danny said in a confused, but angry voice. His fists were clenching up as the masked person continued to make absolutely no sense to him.

"If you do not know the answers now, you will in time," the masked person said.

"What's going on here?" Danny asked. "One moment you're acting like Mr. Big Show, and now you're talking like one of those NPCs in a Role-Playing game who speak in cryptic half-sentences and say the same thing, and don't even try to clarify it?"

"If you want to make jokes to silly games about this, we might as well end this discussion now. You and I are the only ones who can destroy this powerful being. I'm sure of it. All I'm doing is telling you what I need you to do so we can destroy Bhyrun forever."

"And I told you I'm not going to kill someone!"

"If that's what you insist on, then our discussion ends here."

Danny expected the masked man to start hovering in the air and leave the room, but he didn't. There was an extremely long and awkward silence after the masked man had decided Danny wasn't going to be of any more help.

After what seemed like the longest time, Danny finally sighed. He looked down at the floor and started rubbing his hand through his raven-black hair.

"I'll do it," he finally said.

"What was that?" the masked figure said as he looked up at Danny, making sure he understood what the Ghost Boy was saying.

"I'll do it," he repeated. "I'll kill Skyler if I have to."

"Where did this come from?"

"Don't get me wrong, I hate the idea of having to kill another person. But, Skyler has already indirectly caused the deaths of several innocent people, and there's no telling how many people will die if Bhyrun gets stronger with Skyler. I'd rather be directly responsible for the death of one person than indirectly responsible for thousands of people…I guess."

The masked man smiled and he stood up. "Very well, then. You've made the best decision, Ghost Child. Together, I know we can take down Bhyrun and make sure he doesn't cause the deaths of any more people."

Danny sighed. He knew he was about to get himself into a huge battle, and any hopes for a relaxing vacation were now thrown out the window.

Danny got up off the bed and started pacing around the room while looking at the floor. The carpet scraped under his feet as he dragged across it, and his hands were behind is back. He was sweaty and dirty from all the fighting, running and flying that he had done over the past few hours.

"Danny, I hope you realize how huge a responsibility it is that rests on your shoulders," the masked man said, not getting up off the bed. "Going out there and killing someone as powerful as Skyler, then destroying Bhyrun himself is no easy task. I hope you're ready to take it on."

"Don't talk like I'm in this alone," Danny scoffed. He turned his attention backed towards the masked man. "You're here to help me if I need it, aren't you? Wasn't that what you were trying to do when you saved me from Skyler an hour or so ago?"

"Yes, but only you can actually stop Bhyrun forever."

"Why me! And I thought you said you were the only one that could stop Bhyrun and Skyler and that you would need my help."

"Now is not the time for this discussion. You said you would go through with this and do whatever it takes to stop Skyler, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did," Danny said.

"And do you plan on sticking to your word?"

"Yeah."

"Very well then. Now, let's go out there and beat Skyler and Bhyrun with everything we got!" encouraged the masked figure.