A/N: I had a few people try to guess what happened to Sam. Hehehe, none of you were close!--laughs insanely-- things are just gonna get stranger!

Chapter Twenty

Trials One, Two, and Three:

Prologue

Danny flew through the Ghost Zone, trying to find Vlad's portal. Don't worry, Sam, he thought. I screwed up once. I won't again.

He continued on, searching for the portal. Once he'd found it, he wasted no time and entered. To his surprise, the lab felt very cold. It was dark. Not to mention the strange feeling of being a very large space. Looks Like Vlad had done some redecorating. "Hello?' he called. He was answered by the sound of his echo and the sound of a strange mechanical-like sound. Kind of like a robot moving around or something. He took a few hesitant steps back away from the sound and found himself backing into what seemed to be something solid. A wall, but not as wide. A sort of column?

He turned towards it and gazed up to the top. Some sort of light shone down. It wasn't too high, but he still couldn't see who or what it was. He walked backwards away from the column. He found that there were three columns, holding up whatever was at the top as a sort of tripod. "What is this," he mumbled. The sound was amplified by the space of the room he was in.

"Danny? Is that you? Get me down from here!" came the startled voice. Danny gasped.

"Sam?" he cried out.

A loud chuckling caught both teens attentions. They tried to pin-point the location of the laugh but it was much too hard with all the echoes. Then, off to the far edge of the place, lights began to turn on. It illuminated the whole area. It only made things even creepier. This place looked like some sort of carnival. Robots, lying dormant, were everywhere in sight. It seemed as if he were in an open area, looking up at the sky. But that wasn't possible, was it? He was pretty sure he'd entered the ghost portal into Vlad's lab, but now he was in the open? But the echoes were bouncing off walls. So he had to be inside somewhere. Thanks to Vlad, this didn't make any sense anymore. It never did, actually, but you get the point.

"Vlad, where are you!" Danny shouted into the air. For some reason, even the wind seemed to pick up. This couldn't be an illusion. It was too real.

"Right here, dear boy," Vlad said. "I am not there exactly, but I can see and hear everything that you are doing and saying."

"Coward," Danny hissed. "Let Sam go!"

"Not until you pass the tests," Vlad said.

"What tests?" Danny questioned.

"Three trials, Daniel, you must pass them all in order to save your friend," Vlad said. "If you shall fail, then she will die and you will have to join me or perish as well. If you should refused to take the trials, then she will die and so on."

"Not if I get to her first," Danny thought, looking up to the top of the columns, where they met.

"Do not play with her life, Daniel, before you even get half-way up there, the electricity will kill her."

Danny took this to heart, looking up at the top. He figured he'd be able to catch sight of Sam if he were far enough, but he had to focus on this trial thing.

"What do I need to do?" he asked quietly.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"What do I need to do, you bastard!" Danny shouted.

"Now, now, Daniel, you wouldn't want me to accidentally kill your friend before you even begin, do you?" Vlad asked. He laughed at Danny's hardened expression. His anger only made him more powerful. Poor child, if he only knew the true story to this. It was not just to test his skill, but for Vlad's own benefit as well. "First, Daniel, you must go through the first test. I call it Robotic Nightmare. All the robots around you are designed to destroy you. You need to find a way to destroy all of them, or risk wasting your precious time searching for the detonator that will send all of them in self-destruct, making you the automatic winner of the round."

"What if I don't make it? And what's this about time?" Danny asked.

"You have exactly three hours for each trial, Daniel, if you should not complete the task by then, the detonator for this round will go off and explode the robots and the surge of electrical power will kill Samantha," Vlad answered simply. "If you should fail to destroy every robot before the time runs out, then the same thing will occur."

"Okay, and the second round?" Danny asked.

"The second round, I believe, is fairly simple," Vlad said. "In this round you must survive an environment filled with unworldly creatures. You will be able to use a few ghost weapons in that round if you like. But if you do use the weapons, your time will be shortened one hour."

"Are the creatures ghosts?" Danny asked.

"Yes, they are."

"The third round?"

"The third round is what decides it all," Vlad said. "That round is a race against the clock. You will be given only thirty minutes to reach the end of the round. It is like a race track, Daniel, with opponents scattering all over the place. Remember, if you are not fully alert, then you may as well kiss your own life and Samantha's good-bye."

"Sounds simple enough," Danny mumbled. "But how do I know I can trust you?"

"From the beginning of each round, you can see Samantha at the top of the tripod. If any harm should come to her should you not fail, then every robot, every creature, every clock will stop and allow you to roam freely with no limitations."

"So if you betray me, then you'll be giving yourself a one-way ticket to your own doom?" Danny asked rhetorically. "Not bad."

"Do you accept the challenges?" Vlad questioned. Danny looked up towards the top of the tripod. He looked forward again, a confident smile on his face, hands turned to fists.

"You better believe it." The words were filled with confidence, self-trust. He was sure he could defeat Vlad at his own game.

"Good," Vlad said. In a split-second, Danny found himself being surrounded by a light, then his form flickered. He appeared again at the far side of the 'playing field.' From there, he could see Sam almost perfectly. She was far-away, of course, but at least he could see her. He was still in the carnival place too. He noticed, also, that Sam was being held in a circle-like contraption. She was tied into place by the wrists and ankles by a certain type of energy source. The source was glowing blue so it was hard to miss.

"Don't worry, Sam, I'm gonna beat Vlad and save you," he said.

"The time will start now," Vlad announced. Out towards Sam, a giant screen lit up. Green numbers flashed at him: 3.00.00. "May the games begin."

The clock began to run and everywhere around him, Danny heard the robots come to life. He smirked, his hands glowing green, but then...

"What the heck?" Danny shouted, his hands flickered off. Their glow disappeared. He looked up around him for an answer.

"Oh I must have forgotten to mention this," Vlad said. "Your powers will soon be gone, Daniel, use your time wisely."

Danny lowered his glance and looked forward. Robots sensed him and were forming a sort of barrier to keep him from going nay further.

"Have fun." That was Vlad's last words until the end of this round.

E/N: I give you the new prologue. This starts somewhat another story within the story. It's called: Trials One, Two, and Three. I love the number three.

--Airamé Phantom