The next morning dawned bright and clear. At 8:00 AM Sam met Tucker at the door, and led him back to her room, where they found Lydia waiting for them. Sam was already dressed in the hazmat jumpsuit.
GOOD MORNING Appeared on the blank paper.
"Hi!" said Tucker.
"Morning," yawned Sam.
I LOCATED THE VALLEY YESTERDAY, SO NOW I KNOW WHERE WE'RE GOING. ARE YOU READY?
Sam sighed. "Yeah, let's get it over with." She picked up her backpack, and put it on.
Lydia put her hood up, then stepped between them and put her arms around their waists. She turned the three of them intangible, and flew up through the ceiling. She headed toward the rising sun.
"Better turn us invisible too," said Sam, "We don't want anyone after us."
Lydia nodded, and they were no longer able to be seen by anyone as they flew over Amity Park.
dpdpdp
Twenty minutes later they landed in a clearing in the valley and became visible. Sam dropped her backpack, and Tucker pulled out his PDA. "I thought of something last night," he said, "Suppose the traps interfere with communications? How will Lydia let you know if she submits to you?"
There was a minute of silence, then Lydia bowed her head. She reached inside the folds of her cloak, and brought out a thin, black, four-foot piece of rope. She gave it to Sam.
Sam saw it had a silver clip on one end, and a loop on the other. She looked at Lydia.
"This is a leash!"
Lydia nodded, and pointed to Tuck's PDA.
FREAKSHOW MAKES ME CARRY IT. IF WE CAN'T COMMUNICATE, USE THE LEASH. IF I LET YOU PUT IT IN MY NOSE RING, YOU WILL KNOW I SUBMIT TO YOU. Tucker read aloud.
"Isn't that humiliating?" asked Tucker, embarrassed.
YES. BUT I AM A SLAVE, SO IT DOESN'T MATTER.
"Lydia, that's horrible!" said Sam, putting a hand to her mouth.
The Goth Ghost shrugged. I ONCE WORE IT FOR OVER A YEAR. I WAS FORBIDDEN TO TOUCH IT, AND HAD TO OBEY ANYBODY WHO TOOK THE HANDLE.
"Aw, man, I really wish I didn't know that," said Tucker, shivering.
"Me too," added Sam, "Lydia, why don't you go ahead and leave? It'll give you a head start while I get ready," said Sam.
"OKAY," Tucker read aloud, "IT SOUNDS WEIRD FOR THE HUNTED TO SAY THIS TO THE HUNTER, BUT I WISH YOU GOOD LUCK."
Sam grinned. "Don't take it the wrong way, but I wish you bad luck in the hunt."
Lydia laughed soundlessly, then gave a 'thumbs up'. She flew straight up some twenty feet,
then vanished.
"Help me get this stuff sorted out," said Sam, dumping the backpack.
Tucker helped Sam put on the weapons, traps, and controls, and worked to make them balanced and comfortable.
"You know, hearing that story just makes me want to free her all the more," said Sam.
"Yeah, NOBODY, even a ghost, should have to put up with that," said Tucker.
"Okay, I think I'm ready," Sam said at last.
LYDIA, SAM'S READY. ARE YOU? Tucker wrote.
"TELL HER TO COME AND GET ME. NYAHH NYAHH!" Tucker read aloud.
The two teens snickered, then turned serious. Sam hit a button on a gauntlet attached to her left arm, and a small black box on her back suddenly snapped wings out. She hit another of the buttons, and with a whine, the rocket pack activated. It's range and fuel were limited, but should suffice for this hunt.
She flew just above the trees making a wide circle around the valley. The eyepieces of her jumpsuit's goggles could detect a ghost, even if invisible. It's range was very limited, though. She also had a handheld detector for directional information.
About halfway around the valley, the detector gave a beep. Sam went to hover mode and swept it around, finally focusing on an area by a ten-foot waterfall. She pulled an energy pistol and charged it up.
She flew toward it until she saw a blurry object appear in her goggles. She fired several bolts of blue energy at the object and it moved away. Then it flew upwards. She got several more shots off, but they all missed the target.
Lydia turned visible, flung open her cloak, and several of her tattooed bats flew off of her and towards Sam. They flapped around her, screeching and spoiling her aim. Sam batted at them, but they were too agile to hit. One landed on her face, and another on her right hand, and started biting at her fingers to make her let go of the weapon.
"OWWWW!" yelled Sam, grabbing at the bat with her left hand. She got a grip and flung it away,
then started clawing at the one on her face. The other bat returned to her hand and bit again,
surprising Sam and making her drop the weapon. The third bat landed on her left hand, and started biting it.
It seemed the bats were winning, then Sam remembered something else she had. She hit the button on her belt, which was actually the Spectre Deflector, and the yellow field sprang up around her. All three bats were forced away.
Now that she could see, she flew down and found the weapon. She raised it toward where Lydia had been, but the goth ghost was gone, along with the bats.
She powered down the weapon, then went over to the waterfall. Where the bats had bitten was sore, but they didn't break the skin. She washed her hands and face, and took a long drink.
Resting a minute, she looked around. "This is a beautiful area. I'll have to come back and explore it," she thought.
"How's it going?" came Tucker's voice in her ear, via the Fenton Phones.
"Taking a break," Sam replied, "I had my first encounter with Lydia, and she won."
"I know, she's keeping me updated," Tucker replied.
"Tell her she won't be so lucky next time," said Sam with a grin.
There was a pause, then Tucker said, "She says, and I quote, 'Don't get cocky, kid.'"
Sam had to laugh at that. Then she stood up. "Okay, I'm continuing the chase." She powered up the weapon, and took off.
Several minutes later, the detector indicated a ghostly presence in a grove of trees. Sam landed nearby, and cautiously approached on foot.
Sam could see in her goggles what appeared to be Lydia with her back to her. She went behind a tree, and cautiously peeked around at the ghost. She took careful aim with the weapon, but before she could fire, was hit in the back by a green ray of ghost energy that knocked her to the ground.
She rolled over to see her quarry floating fifteen feet in the air, with an evil grin. She held her hand toward the trees, and her cloak flew from them to her. She put it back on. Sam realized she had been decoyed.
Sam started to take aim, but a ghost snake suddenly wrapped around her arm, spoiling her shot. Another wrapped around both legs, and a third tried to grab her free left arm. While pulling away from the snake, she glanced up to see Lydia had another energy blast ready.
The snake finally grabbed her arm, and pulled it to the ground. Sam lay helpless as Lydia took aim at her.
With all her strength, Sam managed to drop the weapon, and pull her right arm to the button on the belt. She activated the Deflector just in time to stop the energy blast. The snakes were thrown away from her as well.
She grabbed the weapon and rolled forward and into a crouching position. Dirt had gotten onto her goggles, so she made a best guess where Lydia was and fired several shots in that direction.
There was no response or sound, so she took the chance to wipe off the goggles. There was no sign of Lydia or her snakes.
Sam sat down heavily, panting. This was much harder than she thought it would be. But Lydia had warned her she would fight with all she had.
How much fight she had left remained to be seen...