Once again, I want to thank the people who have reviewed this story so far. Thank you two weirdIT and Leppers for reviewing this story, and my most recent reviewer, Hanyoucrazy411. Reviews give me motivation to write more and to keep going. (and thank you Leppers for reading Descendant's Curse) Please keep the reviews coming, they mean a lot to me!

--------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------

"Come on, keep at it!" Aria yelled as if she were an irritable High School gym coach. She insisted that Danny try his absolute hardest to make sure he was strong enough and was fast enough for when he would eventually take on Van Horrick and defeat him. Danny didn't see the point in this, but he didn't want to keep getting bugged by Aria, so he just went along with what she was commanding.

It seemed like hours before she even began to lighten up. Danny was getting pretty annoyed by Aria's attitude and felt he should say something sooner or later. After Aria forced him to go through vigorous work over and over again, he finally had enough.

"Look, why am I even listening to you!" Danny yelled. "Okay, I appreciate your help and all, but you don't have to treat me like you're some personal trainer trying to get me in shape to run the Boston Marathon!"

"But Danny," Aria whined, "we're talking about Count Xissil Van Horrick! He's…"

"I know," Danny moaned, interrupting her. "So powerful that no one wants to challenge him. But still, why are you putting me through this kind of work? Can't we call it a day?"

"Fine," Aria sighed. "You know, I think you might actually be strong enough now to take him on. When do you plan on fighting him?"

"I don't know!" Danny yelled. "I guess the next time he finds me...or I find him. Whichever comes first, I guess."

Aria had a very neutral expression on her face. "Hmmmm...all right, then. You can go home, now. Best of luck when you fight Van Horrick! You really seem like you're powerful enough to vanquish him!"

"All right," Danny said. "See ya!"

Danny turned his back on Aria and started flying through the Ghost Zone, but the flight back to his ghost portal was a long one. His entire body was aching after that torturous training session with Aria.

Danny watched as all the doors and random objects in the Ghost Zone floated by him as he continued to make his way back home. After the long flight, he finally saw the portal that would lead back into his basement.

The Ghost Boy went through the circular portal, and there was a bright flash. Less than a second later, he plopped down on the floor to his basement. He changed back into his human form and slowly limped his way up the stairs out of the basement. Once that walk was finished, he had yet another walk to make up the stairs to his room.

When Danny finally got to his room, he opened the door and slowly walked in. He looked at himself in the mirror to see if he physically looked any different. His face seemed a little red, and there were some dark circles under his eyes. His night-black hair looked a bit greasy from all the sweat.

"Ugh…" Danny groaned. He slowly walked over to his bed and sat down on it, but fell on it like he was a sack of bricks. His neck was killing him, and his arms were sore. His stomach also ached quite a bit. His legs were feeling like rubber. His entire body felt as if it had just undergone a long, excruciating workout.

"Man, I'm gonna sleep well tonight," Danny moaned to himself. He then fell backwards on his bed, only able to think about another morning tomorrow of having to wake up at 6:00. But then, a great thought came to him.

"Wait a minute!" Danny yelled, sitting up in bed, only to feel a great amount of pain in his side and abdomen after doing so. "Gah…tomorrow's Saturday, isn't it? That's great, I can't wait to have tomorrow off. Maybe I'll finally be able to relax."

The rest of the night passed by uneventfully. Danny tried to relax, and he was finally able to get around to playing some video games and watching some good Friday night primetime television shows.

Danny fell asleep and slept like a rock. He was in such a deep level of sleep after the stressful week he had that it was almost like he had been knocked out by a blow from a professional boxer.

Danny slowly woke up the next morning, almost two hours later than he would normally wake up on a weekend. He slowly got up and showered, then got into his regular day clothes. He was feeling more cheerful than usual, but he was much quieter, especially around his parents. He didn't even call either of his friends to see how they were doing.

After a quick breakfast, Danny went back to his room to play some more video games. He popped in Tales of Legendia and immediately started playing. As he was played the game and listened to a character named Chloe talk, he heard the phone ring. No sooner did the phone ring, but Maddie was heard screaming, "I'll get it!"

Danny didn't pay any attention to it as he continued playing the game.

"It's not a matter of interest. You know, you are extremely self-centered," Chloe said to another character on screen.

"And you know, you have a really bad voice actress," Danny replied in a snobby way to the game.

Just as Danny was about to hit a button to continue the game, Maddie stuck her head into Danny's bedroom door and screamed, "Danny! The phone's for you!"

Danny groaned and put the controller down on the ground, and then went over and took the portable phone out of his mom's hands. "Hello?"

"Ah, Danny," said the person on the other end. It was their new neighbor, Mr. Compton. "How are you doing on this fine Saturday morning?"

"Uh…great?" Danny said, feeling a little awkward. "What's up?"

"Well, you seemed like a fine young man when I met you for the first time earlier this week," Mr. Compton started.

"Thanks," Danny said, knowing that there had to be some catch to all of this. "Is that why you called?"

"No," Mr. Compton continued explaining, his voice seeming very calm. "Since you seem like such a nice boy, I thought it'd be nice to invite you over my house today so we could get to know each other a little better."

"Uh...I don't really know about that…" Danny said uneasily.

"Oh, come on," Mr. Compton insisted. "We're both ghost hunters, right? Maybe we could learn a thing or two from one another. What do you say?"

"I'll bet that's what this is all about," Danny thought to himself after he heard Mr. Compton make that last statement. "Hold on, let me ask my mom."

Danny put the phone down and looked at his mom. "Mom, Mr. Compton is inviting me over. Would it be okay if I went?"

"Of course it would!" Maddie said, getting very excited. "This would be a great opportunity for you to make friends with fellow ghost hunte…"

Maddie stopped in mid sentence and seemed like something was bothering her. Apparently, she just remembered the incident where Danny's secret was revealed earlier that week.

"…well, you'll make a new friend!" Maddie said, trying to recover.

"Mom, do I have to?"

"Yes! Tell Mr. Compton you'll be glad to come over and ask if he wants you to bring anything."

Danny groaned, then began talking back into the phone. "Yes, it's fine. Want me to bring anything over?"

"No, nothing except your ghost hunting knowledge," Mr. Compton said in his British accent.

"All right, I'll be over in a few minutes," Danny said. Groaning, he hit the hang up button and gave his mom an unhappy look.

But, it wasn't like he actually had much of a choice. In a matter of moments, he was out the door and walking across the street to the Comptons' house. He knocked on the wooden door and heard footsteps walking quickly towards it.

Mr. Compton opened the door and smiled down at Danny. "Danny, how good to see you! Come on in."

Danny nervously walked in, not taking his eyes off Mr. Compton. The house was a pretty large one with dirty wooden floors, and there was dark paint on the walls. He slowly walked around, taking in everything that was around him. The furniture definitely looked like it would belong in an upper class British home.

"So, how have you been?" Danny asked, trying to get a conversation going.

"Oh, I've been just fine," Mr. Compton said politely. "So, you want to see any of my cool ghost hunting gadgets?"

"Uh…sure," Danny said.

Mr. Compton took a key out of his pocket and opened a locked door. He opened it, and when they went in, it looked more like a torture chamber to Danny. The walls were lined with items with sharp spikes attached to them, as well as some things that looked like they could give electric shots and quite a few bazookas. There was even one giant ghost hunting suit in the corner of the room that looked really dangerous.

"So, what do you think?" Mr. Compton said, smiling. "Impressive, don't you think?"

"Um, yeah…" Danny nervously said, wanting to get out of the room as fast as possible. Right now, the entire house seemed freaky. It was almost like a haunted house, with the creaky floorboards and the dark, grim walls.

"So, would you happen to know anything about ghost hunting?" Mr. Compton asked. "I'm sure your parents must have rubbed some of their knowledge off on you."

"Uh…of course they did!" Danny said, not being able to stop stammering. "They, uh, taught me how to defend myself in case a ghost attacked!"

"Really?" Mr. Compton asked. "How do you defend yourself?"

"Well, there's this weapon called a Fenton Bazooka, and a Fenton Thermos that can trap ghosts in it! Yeah, that's where a lot of ghosts go once they get captured by us!"

Danny was trying to sound as natural as possible and as calm and cool as possible, but for some reason, he couldn't. He was nervous that something was going to go wrong, or that he was going to say something stupid and reveal himself as part ghost. His parents would still love him even if they found out his secret, but a ghost hunting neighbor was another story. Danny would hate to think that Mr. Compton found out his secret.

"So, read any good books lately?" Danny asked nervously and abruptly, trying to change the subject. "I haven't, but I've sure seen some great movies! Have you seen Spider-man 2? Awesome movie, that was!"

Mr. Compton looked at Danny in a very confused way. "Are you all right, Danny? You seem a bit…uneasy."

"Uneasy?" Danny asked. He had a very fake smile on his face, and his nervous face gave away its insincerity. For some reason, he didn't feel comfortable at all talking to Mr. Compton about ghost hunting, especially since he didn't want Mr. Compton to know his secret.

"Yes. Do you want some water or something?" Mr. Compton politely offered, his neutral face looking a little worried.

"Water? Uh, sure. Thanks."

Mr. Compton went out into the kitchen and returned a minute later with a tall glass of tap water. He handed it to Danny, and Danny began taking a few sips of the lukewarm water. He swallowed hard, wanting to leave the house as quickly as possible.

"Hey, how about them Red Sox?" Danny asked. "Pretty good postseason in 2004, don't ya think?"

"I'm afraid I'm not familiar with your country's past time," Mr. Compton said with a low tone.

"Oh, great," Danny said. Just as he was trying to think of something to say, something popped out of his mouth: a puff of blue smoke. That meant that there had to be a ghost nearby.

"No!" Danny thought to himself. "Not here, not now. Not in front of Mr. Compton…"

"Is something wrong, Danny?" Mr. Compton asked, looking at Danny with a seemingly very concerned expression.

"Uh, I'll be right back, I just remembered something I gotta do outside!" Danny yelled. He bolted out of the door and ran behind to the back of Mr. Compton's house. He morphed into his ghost side and started flying through the air, looking for the ghost that had just triggered his senses. "Come out, wherever you are."

Danny flew around, looking for a while before he finally peeked around a corner and thought he saw the tail of a ghost fly behind another corner of the house.

"Ah ha!" he yelled excited. "Now I got you!"

He flew over to the opposite corner that he saw the ghost fly behind and was ready to head it off. "All right, come out and face me!" Danny yelled.

Then Danny felt something hit him, and he was suddenly knocked unconscious. He fell on the ground, seeing nothing but black everywhere.

And that's exactly what he woke up to. Danny found himself slumped on the floor in some very dark room. The floor was cold, and it was made of stone, so it was very uncomfortable to be lying down on.

After a bit of groaning, Danny was able to lift himself off the ground. He looked around and saw that the entire room was dark with stone walls and floors. There was a window, and looking through it to see where he was now was the first thing Danny did. What he saw came as shock.

He was no longer in the real world, but now he was in the ghost zone. He got an eyeful of a purple abyss with swirling green parts in it, but there were no random items floating around in it, almost like a completely isolated place.

"Wait a minute! There's only one place I can think of in the ghost zone that is isolated like this!" Danny exclaimed breathlessly when he realized there was nothing floating around. "I can't be…am I actually inside Count Xissil Van Horrick's mansion?"