About a week later, Ghostwriter had everything prepared for the long voyage. Dani, Jazz and Tucker were all packed and ready to go and stood at the docks with Technus and Damian waiting for Ghostwriter to arrive so he could show them the ship they would be using for the journey.
Ghostwriter had finally arrived and said as he pointed to a huge ship sitting on the water with white sails, fantastic cabins below the deck and on the upper deck and jet engines, "Welcome and here's our ship; the Spectra 2000. Equipped with the latest technology and everything we need to head across the ocean"
Dani, Jazz and Tucker looked at the ship in awe as they headed towards it, never seeing anything like it in their lives. On the front of the ship were two moving Observant statues.
"Take a cruise you said! See the world you said! Now here we are stuck on the front of this stupid ship!" One of them complained.
"Well it could be worse. We could be stuck in the audience!" The other one joked, causing them both to laugh.
All of them boarded the ship and the crew were all busy loading the last of the supplies and everything for the voyage. Dani noticed the helm and walked up to it and just stood there admiring it.
"Is that the steering wheel?" Tucker asked as they joined her.
"Yep, but it's called the helm Tucker" Dani corrected.
"So how does it feel Captain Fenton?" Jazz said with a smile. Dani smiled and answered, "It feels like we're really doing it. That we're finally having an adventure"
"Well guys, I'm actually pretty hungry, plus it's about time for my 7 o'clock feeding. Let's go check out the kitchen" Tucker said, causing Dani and Jazz to sigh in annoyance as they knew that Tucker seemed to be always hungry.
They headed downstairs and looked around until finally, they managed to find the kitchen and as they entered, they could hear someone singing an old sailor song.
Hey! Ho! Up she rises
Hey! Ho! Up she rises
Hey! Ho! Up she rises
Early in the morning
They looked to see a ghost with a flaming green mow hawk sitting behind a counter peeling an apple with a knife as he continued to sing the song.
Put him in the long boat till' he's sober
Put him in the long boat till' he's sober
Put him in the long boat till' he's sober
Early in the morning
Tucker then cleared his throat to get his attention. He looked at them and suddenly glared as he snapped and raised his knife in a threatening way, "What have we here?! Stowaways!"
Dani changed into her ghost form and prepared to defend Jazz and Tucker if necessary as the ghost continued to snap at them like he was mad, "I'm afraid we shishkabob and barbeque stowaways!"
Just when it seemed like he was going to attack them, he suddenly began to laugh hysterically as he put his knife down and said, "I'm only kidding!"
Dani, Jazz and Tucker all sighed in relief and chuckled nervously as Dani changed back into her human form. The ghost then said, "My name is Skulker and I can guess that you three are part of my new kitchen staff?"
They nodded and smiled seeing that this ghost meant no harm to them. Skulker then said, "Hungry? Well here in my kitchen, you're always welcome to help yourselves"
"YES! THANK YOU!" Tucker said in excitement and suddenly ran right into the kitchen and began eating a whole cooked chicken very quickly.
"Well, he's got a healthy appetite" Skulker said and then tossed an apple to Jazz and Dani each.
"Thanks. My name is Jazz Fenton and the one eating the chicken is Tucker" Jazz said with a smile.
Tucker paused eating and said, "YO!"
He then went right back to eating the chicken. Dani then said, "And I'm Danielle Fenton sir, but you can just call me Dani"
"No need to call me sir young Fenton" Skulker said smiling back. "And I can see you're a half-ghost and I can only guess that Jazz here is your older sister. It's a pleasure to meet you all and as I said, I am Skulker at your service"
"But we're just the kitchen staff sir" Dani said still wanting to be polite.
Skulker frowned a little as he said with a bit of warning in his voice, "Skulker to his friends and believe me young lady, a friend you can trust is worth his weight in gold. There's many dark-hearted scoundrels in these ports"
"You mean…pirates?" Dani asked, causing Skulker's eyes to widen and whisper her to be quiet about that word.
Suddenly a ghost kid wearing a pirate costume floated in and said with a laugh, "Pirates? What an imagination!"
"Who the heck are you kid?" Jazz asked.
"Don't call me kid! I'm mature beyond my years!" The ghost kid snapped in annoyance and then blew a raspberry at her.
"Allow me to introduce my young friend Youngblood. I raised him since he was a baby and he's a fine young sailor friend a man could ask for" Skulker said with a small bit of pride.
"But I always read that sailors had talking parrots for friends" Jazz said with slight confusion.
"Talking parrots?" Skulker asked giving Jazz a strange look.
Youngblood however laughed and said sarcastically, "What an imagination! First pirates and now talking pirates? What's next? A singing, dancing mouse with his own amusement park?"
"That's enough Youngblood. Go on" Skulker said and then Youngblood left.
Skulker then stood up behind the counter as Tucker re-joined them with a full stomach. Skulker then said, "Alright. I'm gonna give you three a cook's tour of this fine ship"
"If you're gonna be the cook on this ship Skulker, I am definitely going to need bigger pants" Tucker said and then let out a loud belch, causing Skulker to laugh but the girls to cringe in disgust.
However when the counter door opened and all three of them could now see Skulker's whole body, they could now see he was made entirely of metal and machine, indicating he was indeed wearing a high tech battle suit making them gasp in fright as they remembered Fright Knight's warning to them before he fully died.
"What's the matter?" Skulker asked.
He then finally realised what they were gasping about and said, "Oh right. The suit. I lost almost my entire body during a battle against a Behemoth ghost back in the Ghost Zone and now I must forever be in this battle suit"
Skulker however then held up his right wrist where a hand should be, but instead there was a glowing green blade and said menacingly, "Look what that monster took away from me, in exchange for my own life"
He suddenly switched the blade for his regular hand and laughed at his own joke, but the others laughed nervously again. Suddenly a woman's voice could be heard over the speakers, "ALL HANDS ON DECK!"
"We better get up there" Skulker said and the three headed back to the deck.
The woman who had spoken over the speakers was 22 year old Valerie Gray, Damian Gray's daughter. She was wearing white pants with black boots with a black shirt and a blue jacket. She was the Captain's First Mate and the second in command of the ship.
"Alright! Look lively now. The captain will be here soon" Valerie commanded the crew.
As the crew assembled, Valerie suddenly heard a siren and said, "Get ready. The captain is about to arrive. Anyone who is caught fooling around, will suffer his wrath"
"Wrath? Is the captain bad tempered or something?" Jazz asked.
"Bad tempered?! The man is a raging volcano!" Valerie snapped and stood ready as a car pulled up at the docks.
At first a muscular looking man had exited the car and just when everyone believed he was the captain, he moved aside to reveal a 22 year old man wearing a white shirt with a red jacket, black pants and black boots. He had black ebony hair and piercing blue eyes.
Jazz and Dani's eyes widened in complete shock as they recognised the man standing before them and shouted in surprise, "DANNY?!"
Danny laughed at their shock a little and said, "Hey guys"
"He's the raging volcano? Though I guess when he's in his ghost form he can be" Dani whispered to Jazz and Tucker.
"I had no idea that Ghostwriter would hire Danny as the captain" Jazz said.
Danny walked aboard the ship as Valerie announced, "Welcome aboard Captain Daniel Jackson Fenton"
"Good day Valerie" Danny said as he acknowledged Valerie while walking onto the ship.
He then stood in front of Jazz and Dani and pulled them into a hug after not seeing his sisters for so long and said, "I have missed you guys so much"
"We've missed you too little brother" Jazz said as they pulled apart.
Danny then looked at Dani and said, "Dad would be very proud of you Dani"
"Thanks bro" Dani said with a smile before Danny walked off to check out the rest of the ship and the crew.
Skulker smiled at the three of them and walked over to talk to some of the rest of the crew. Jazz then whispered to Dani as they looked at Skulker, "He's wearing a high tech battle suit Dani"
"He seems alright Jazz. I mean Skulker's only a cook, so how dangerous could he be?" Dani asked.
Jazz then noticed Tucker was missing and asked, "Where's Tucker?"
The two then found Tucker collecting money from some miniature ghost tourists who were climbing aboard the ship for a cruise.
"Step right aboard folks for a fun pirate cruise!" Tucker said as he continued to collect money. "And yes, we do accept all major credit cards"
"Tucker! What are you doing?" Jazz asked.
"Well, if the map turns out to be a dud, this trip won't turn out to be a total loss financially speaking" Tucker answered. He continued to smile as he finished, "Plus, this cruise business is a real gold mine"
After the final supplies were packed onto the ship, Danny finally ordered Valerie, "Miss Gray, begin the voyage"
"Begin the voyage! Raise the gang plank! Prepare the engines! Release the ropes! Hard to starboard! Any man caught dawdling, will be shot on sight!" Valerie commanded and threatened.
"Uh Valerie? I didn't say that" Danny corrected. Valerie blushed in embarrassment and said, "Sorry. I got carried away"
"Set the sails" Danny then commanded.
The sails were released and the engines were turned on, the ship had then began to head out into the open water as the ghost tourists waved goodbye to their loved ones. The voyage for Pariah Dark's treasure had finally begun.