Wow, I've never updated a fic so much in my life. I love how I've been just running with it. I hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I like writing it. Also, brownie points to anyone who figured out why I gave Johnny 13 the last name "Cade." Enjoy!

Chapter 5 A Bump in the Road

It had been a while since Johnny 13 and Ari had taken off further into the Ghost Zone, and the thrill of being on a motorcycle again had steadily worn off, mainly because she was not the one driving. Also, she wasn't very thrilled with having to hold onto a guy she didn't know.

"So where is it you wanted to go?" Johnny asked finally, looking over his shoulder at Ari.

"The St-Storage Room- wait!" Ari exclaimed. "Y-You mean, w-we've been driving around all this t-time, and we weren't even g-going in the r-right direction?"

"Relax, babe. We've got plenty of time to get there. I'm just letting my baby cruise for a bit, that's all," he eased, sounding like he was kicking up his feet on the couch instead of driving a motorcycle.

"My n-name's not b-babe. It's Ari," she mumbled off to the side.

"Hello Johnny," purred a seductive voice belonging to a female ghost with devil-horn orange hair and a sharp red business suit.

"What do you want, Spectra?" Johnny grumbled, irritated that the therapist ghost was there. He never really got over the crazy girl's night she took Kitty on. It really messed with his relationship with Kitty. If anything, she had made it worse, along with her friend Ember McLain. He almost never recovered from the fight he and Kitty had had that time. He was seriously worried he had lost her forever; she didn't speak to him for two weeks. So the fact that Spectra was here now was bad news.

"I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by and say hello," Spectra smiled before eying Ari riding behind him, lowering her black shades to reveal her frightening green eyes. "And who do we have here?" Ari shrunk further behind Johnny's back, hoping it wasn't too late for the ghost not to have seen her. She didn't like this ghost. She seemed too nice to be normal. Usually people she knew who were like that were not so nice on the inside. "Hmmm... she's human. What? You've started abducting human girls now?"

"None of your business, Penelope," Johnny fired back, using her first name as ammunition. She only smiled deviously, the insult having no effect.

"Oh Jonathan, please! There's no reason to be all sharp and barbed. I was just asking a question." She feigned a huff before moving closer towards Ari. "Well, whoever she is, she smells absolutely delicious." Spectra grinned, eying Ari like she was a meal. It was like she was the fat girl and Ari was the piece of cake.

"Back off, doll. She's with me, whether you like it or not," Johnny growled before also adding, "And don't call me Jonathan!"

"Oooh scary! Why are you so protective of her? She's just a human. Maybe I should tell Kitty that you're cheating on her again."

"You better not! I've had it with you getting between me and my girl! You have no right to be messing with our relationship!"

"No right? Please hon, I'm a therapist. It's my job to help young couples, so trust me when I say that what you're doing right now isn't good at all for your relationship with Kitty. Honestly, I'm surprised she hangs around with such a lowlife like you as much as she does. She could honestly do better," she observed, placing her hands sassily on her hips. "I could take the little snack- I mean girl, off your hands, and we'd have no problem. I'll just pretend that I didn't see anything."

Terrified out of her mind, Ari hid further behind Johnny, clinging to his jacket. This girl really was looking at Ari like she was a meal! Was she a vampire or something? It was a possibility. She didn't think ghosts were real a couple days ago, but after the adventures she'd had recently, she'd clearly been proven wrong before.

Johnny stopped his bike hesitantly, glancing back at Ari and Spectra. Was he honestly thinking about trading her? Even though Ari had just met Sidney, she trusted him and that meant trusting his judgment. That included trusting Johnny 13 to deliver her where she needed to go, but she recalled that Johnny had nearly backed out of the deal he had with Sidney, which meant that it was a fifty-fifty shot of him taking the deal. She didn't know who this Kitty person was, but Johnny clearly cared a lot for her. If she was wrong and Johnny traded her to Spectra, what was going to happen to her? Would she become some undead slave, like all those horror movies depicted vampire victims? The thought was too horrible for her to think about.

"Looks like you'd rather just help yourself than your friends," Johnny frowned before he looked back at the now hopeful girl riding behind him. While he didn't know Ari well, only knowing her first name and the fact that she knew a little bit about his bike, he could tell that she was scared and that she didn't belong here. Much like he had the need to roam the Ghost Zone and beyond, he knew that she needed to go home. Knowing that he had deprived his enemy of a meal, he smirked at Spectra's dumbfounded expression and decided to flaunt it in her face. "You seem to be gaining a few wrinkles lately, Penelope. What's the matter? Your real age catching up to ya?" His statement clearly got under her skin. Literally! Her skin visibly burned off, revealing a dark shadow creature with sharp teeth and red eyes.

"I'll show you wrinkles!" Spectra flared up as she lunged at the biker before he quickly sped off. She began dive-bombing the pair, sending ectoblasts of energy his way. Trying to serpentine and shake the specter off, he managed to swerve and dodge the blasts but couldn't shake her off his path.

"Shadow, attack!" Johnny ordered as a long, fearsome black shadow with green eyes shot out from under Johnny's motorcycle towards the ghost. It let out a ghostly shriek as it sped around Spectra, who tried to defend against its blows. Spectra's teeth gleamed a pearly white as she hissed and attacked the other shadow, scratching and fighting with it, tooth-and-nail. Ari's eyes widened at the spectacle, confused to see who was fighting who, the only difference between the two being the color of their eyes and slight difference in shape.

"Umm Johnny? D-Don't you think we s-should be w-wearing helmets f-for this?" Ari questioned fearfully, clutching onto his jacket like it was life support, her knuckles slowly turning white.

"Nah. Helmets are for chumps," Johnny waved off, like it wasn't a big deal to wear a helmet. But being without one made Ari a bit nervous, especially when they had to defend against attacking ghosts.

"Umm c-could I still get one pl-please?" she requested a bit more earnestly, now that they had just finished doing loop-de-loops on the warped paths of the Ghost Zone. She would have screamed, but she was honestly too terrified for noise.

"Fine," he sighed before summoned a small bit of ghostly energy from his bike, which converted some of its ectoplasm into a black helmet with green flames that formed on Ari's head. "Where was it you wanted to go to, again?"

"The S-Storage Room. Th-that's where Sidney said w-we should go," she stammered before Spectra and the shadow were sent flying forward, nearly knocking over Johnny's bike before he ran her over. Oh my god! "Sh-Shouldn't we be more worried about her?"

"Nah, she should busy for a while," Johnny waved as Spectra got up slowly, furious about Johnny running her over before his shadow tackled her from the side. "My shadow gives everyone it touches or passes through temporary bad luck, so that will at least buy us some time before it wears off. They don't call me Johnny 13 for nothin'."

"Uh huh..." Ari said, her eyes wide from both the fact that Spectra had gotten up from being run over and also the fact that Johnny's shadow was bad luck. The helmet she had was made out of Johnny's bike. Did that also mean that it was, there by association, a part of Johnny's shadow? Was that why they had such trouble right now? She looked forward towards the road and tried not to think about it, asking Johnny, "How m-much further?"

"Almost there. Hang on tight!" Johnny said with a determine look as his bike roared, somehow moving even faster than before. Green flames now scorched where they rode instead of smoke, leaving a fiery trail behind them. They were moving so fast, it was frightening! Ari couldn't help but close her eyes from the wind that blew at her face. She couldn't help but let out a small yell from the speed. It was terrifying! It was thrilling! It was exciting! It was also over before she knew it.

"We're here," he stated as he pulled his bike's kickstand down with his food. He about to get off his bike before he noticed, with a smirk, that Ari was still holding onto his jacket. "...You can let go of me now."

"O-Oh, s-sorry," Ari blushed, not realizing she was still hanging on before gradually prying her fingers off. She had been hanging on so tightly, it was like her hands didn't want to unclasp anymore. Rubbing her knuckles slightly, she shivered from the excess adrenaline and reached out hesitantly before turning the doorknob. She was a little anxious in doing so, since her last experiences with doors weren't the best of ones, but her struggle was not in-vain, for what lay beyond the door was a purple colored treasure trove of real world items. It was an absolute sight for sore eyes! Scattered in the air were CDs, lunchboxes, with real food inside, canteens, and even- YES! TAMPONS! FINALLY! Ari floated up eagerly towards the feminine hygiene products, clasping them happily to her chest. No longer would she feel the awkwardness of uncleanliness!

"Uhh, what are those?" Johnny pointed, quickly pulling Ari out of her self-induced state of euphoria and into a large state of embarrassment.

"G-Girl things, you w-wouldn't understand!" she said quickly, turning a ripe shade of red as she stashed them into her satchel.

"Uh huh... so is there any reason why you're here or did you come just to loot the Storage Room?" Johnny asked, cocking an eyebrow in amusement.

"Oh! Umm... yes!" Ari blinked, trying to compose herself. "I'm looking for Desiree." As she said it, it only then occurred to her she had no idea what Desiree looked like. She turned towards the biker. "Umm... Johnny?"

"Yeah?"

"You... w-wouldn't happen to know Desiree, w-would you?"

"Yeah, I know of her."

"...Do you know w-what she h-happens to look like?" she asked with a sheepish grin.

"Yea- Wait," Johnny stopped short with an incredulous frown. "You mean I had to drive you all the way down to the Storage Room to find a ghost, and you didn't even know what she looked like?"

"I'm s-sorry! I've been a little pr-preoccupied lately!" Ari exclaimed bashfully. "You know, g-getting lost in the Ghost Zone and tr-trying not to die before my tw-twenty first birthday!"

"Twenty first birthday? Wait, how old are you?"

"Eighteen."

"Oh really?" he grinned. "By the way you act, I would have thought you were fourteen, maybe sixteen, tops."

"Please, Johnny. She's still way too young for you," Spectra rolled her eyes, now back in her human form and leaning against the doorway of the Storage Room, effectively blocking the exit. "You know," she began, sashaying towards the duo. "As one of Kitty's friends, I can't, in good conscious, let you break her heart. So it looks like I'm going to have to break you instead, along with your little tramp here." Ari's fear reflected in Spectra's tantalizing malice she held in her dark green eyes. "You should have taken my deal, Jonathan. That way you wouldn't be suffering right now."

"No way, man. I don't back out on my deals," Johnny said defiantly. "I'm a man of my word. Plus, do you realize how mad Kitty would be if she found out?"

"Who's Kitty?" Ari finally asked.

"I'm Kitty," clarified a pissed off seventies female ghost with choppy green hair and burning red eyes.

"Oh crud," Johnny deadpanned before flinching under his girlfriend's evil stare. Behind her was Spectra with a cocky, malicious grin.

"Guess who I ran into on my way here while you were off with the little tramp? Your girlfriend. Oops. Was I not supposed to let that little secret slip?" Spectra feigned surprise before chuckling evilly. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a black cloth in disgust. "Here's your little friend back." She released the weakened shadow that whimpered and weakly slunk back to Johnny like a beaten puppy dog. Johnny looked down briefly down as his shadow in concern before his glare momentarily returned back to Spectra.

"Johnny, who is she?" Kitty growled, pointing angrily towards Ari's direction.

"She's nobody, kitten. I owed a guy a favor and promised him I'd give her a ride out of here," Johnny grinned weakly. To everyone's surprise, he was actually telling the truth, but his nervousness sure wasn't helping convince his ghostly girlfriend otherwise.

"You picked up some other human floozy? Again?" Kitty spat.

"No! Kitty, I swear, it's the truth!"

"He's r-right!" Ari spoke up, not wanting another bloodbath. "H-He was just giving me a r-ride to the Storage Room to find Desiree! If I couldn't find her, h-he was going to try and take me home, I swear! Nothing happ-!"

"Shut up, you tramp! I wasn't talking to you!" Kitty snapped as she slammed her purse hard into Ari's face, knocking her into several midair summersaults before she slammed against an old locker. Ari held her jaw tearfully as she looked up at the angered girlfriend. "You've better hope you've got a better excuse than that, Johnny!"

"Yeah, Kitty. Let's here another excuse for why he was having a human girl cling onto him the entire time on the way back to her house," Spectra added, feeding the flames of Kitty's hatred.

"If you think I'm letting you drive back to her place, you've got another thing coming, Johnny 13!" Kitty spat before turning towards her friend. "Thanks for telling me, Spectra. You can have her."

"No problem," Spectra grinned before she suddenly flew down towards Ari and grabbed tightly onto her shoulders. Ari shrunk down her neck, expecting a horrible bite to the neck with those sharp teeth. What she received next... was way worse. Images of the last few days relayed into her mind. The move, the fight, the divorce, the loneliness... Every trauma, every broken heart, every blow-crushing failure, every sad, painful memory... they all flooded up to the surface all at once! Even the misery of her PMS was supercharging the experience! It was like every happy memory Ari had ever had was drained from her memory, leaving nothing but misery for company for the evil ghost to feed on.

"Mmmm~ I've never tasted such a concoction of angst and misery. It's addictive! I might get hooked to feeding off of you, darling!" Spectra grinned sardonically as more green energy syphoned off of Ari into her.

"J-Johnny... help... me," Ari gasped weakly, reaching out for the biker.

"It's either her or me, Johnny," Kitty pouted angrily, Johnny looking nervously back and forth between the two girls. There was no contest.

"Alright Kitty, you win," he sighed, holding both his hands up in defeat, causing Ari to look up at him in shock. "Sorry, Ari. I fulfilled my promise. I'm not risking my neck anymore for you."

"Actually, you lot won't be riskin' your necks for anyone anytime soon," said a masculine voice with a Texan accent. Suddenly green blasts were fired, cuffing the biker ghost's wrists with green spectral handcuffs. "'Cause your necks are about to be fitted with nooses."

Two more blasts were sent screaming their way, cuffing Kitty and Spectra, effectively knocking the latter off of Ari, who laid collapsed against a desk. Weak and emotionally drained, Ari looked up at her savior. The Texan voice belonged to tall white ghost who resembled a skeleton, only with a more chiseled jawbone and a fuller figure. His green eyes peered down at the group from underneath his black cowboy hat as he pulled out a glowing green book from underneath his white trench coat and licked his thumb before turning over the sections in his book.

"Speeding in a no speed zone, reckless driving, public disturbance, harming a human without cause," the Texan listed off from his book, Ari staring hopefully at her savior before his eyes met up with Ari's in a disgusted glare. "Stealing unauthorized, unworldly materials. You folks were just itchin' to break the rules today, weren't ya?"

"What am I being arrested for?!" Kitty questioned.

"Simple," the ghost replied. "You're an accomplice, both to a reckless driver and a premeditated murderer."

"What!?" Ari yelped before looking back incredulously at Kitty. "Wh-Why?! I've never even m-met you before!"

"Quiet, you!" the law enforcer shouted. "There may be disorder in this world, but there will be order in my prison."

"Pr-Prison!?" Ari stuttered with wide eyes.

"Yes, ma'am. Aside from the numerous infractions you and your friends have already committed, you're also in violation of trespassing in the Ghost Zone-"

"But I didn't mean to-!" Ari blubbered before he continued.

"Whether you meant to or not don't mean diddly-squat to me. Accidents are just crimes waiting to happen. And thanks to the Phantom kid, I now have the equipment to restrain humans and ghosts." He grinned as he pulled out a pair of handcuffs that cops usually would carry and cuffed them to her wrists. "And these here are real beauties. They only unlock when they hear a voice command from yours truly, which means no more escapes or rough housing unless I say so."

Ari couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had never committed a crime in her life and now she was going to prison- to make matters even worse- a ghost prison!

This day was quickly turning into one of the worst days of her life.