OMG! I am back from the dead! Blag! Nah, I'm just kidding. Sorry it took so long but I've had A LOT of shit to do recently. School and stuff like that. I had to go visit my dad too (which I am not happy about) so there's that. In summary, I am so sorry, but I'm writing when I can so give me a break. It's past midnight when I'm posting this so please be grateful.

I don't have much to say so I'm just going to say the disclaimer. I'm tired, it's late, I don't fucking own Danny Phantom. Now read...before I...lose conscious...ness... *snoring*

Chapter 8

Danny's eye twitched. Of all the vile, repulsive, absolutely insane things to happen, it had to be this. No sort of torture Danny had experienced before seemed to compare. It's name feared over dimensions and in between realms.

Paulina's complaining.

For the past three hours all the group had heard was non-stop complaining from the Latino girl. Somehow, she managed to complain about everything under the sun, well, ectoplasm, from her hair to her feet. Danny was beginning to consider shoving her into the Void, but as tempting as that was and that he could do it no problem, he opted not to. They were reaching a neutral territory anyways which would mean a break for the class, hopefully then the padding pool's whinging would diminish, at least for a small amount of time.

Sam, however, was not doing so well with the excessive and constant noise of Paulina's voice. Danny might of been jokingly considering it, maybe even mildly yet not enough to act on, while she was well in her way to get Danny to open a portal to the terrestrial realm in which the Void reside in and making sure that the soul of a certain person of their party would be joining in vast darkness that would eventually rip it to pieces and cease its existence. The goth would open the portal herself, but did not have the power, or skill, to do so, which was quite ironic when she thought about it. She, a goth, did not possess the skill to open a portal into the realm of eternal darkness. Sometimes the irony was quite hilarious, yet now was not one of those times.

Somehow, Valerie had managed to convince Paulina that if she didn't stop complaining than it would attract ghosts, giving off their position. Her complaining did, surprisingly, stop, but every now and then the group heard a loud groan or sigh from the girl which seemed just as bad as the complaining. Eventually they reached the rest spot after five and a half hours of walking in total. Once Danny said they could rest, the class did not need to be told twice. The class dropped on the ground, like a dead man after a fatal blow from a sword. Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie stood a while longer, walking over to a large rock at the edge of the path, approximately fifteen feet from the class. The class drank some water, and while they wanted to eat some of the rations they had, Danny had said not to for they had several days before they arrived at where Danny's supposed friend was. Until then they were in survivor mode, which was not as fun as they make it out to be in the movies.

The class all got into their own groups, the fact that they were trapped in an alternate dimension didn't mean they had to talk with their other peers. Danny and his friends relaxed a bit when they finally sat down; although, they were used to long periods of time where they were not able to rest, yet then they sat down they signed as the pressure that was on their feet vanish.

Danny and Sam held hands, his right in her left, and noticed something on one of her fingers. He took a glimpse and saw a familiar ring, the amethyst glowing in the ambient light of the Ghost Zone. He chuckled.

Sam turned to look at him and raised her eyebrow in question. "What are you doing?" She said, a small smile on her face. For some reason the smile stayed.

Danny chuckled again. "You're wearing your ring," He said, his lopsided grin on his face. Sam smiled a bit more.

"Well it's not on my ring finger, makes it a lot less suspicious. If anyone notices then they'll just think it's an accessory or something."

"Well they might be suspicious if they see a ring fit to be an engagement ring in the first place." Tucker said, deciding he wanted in on the conversation.

Valerie rolled her eyes. "That is an engagement ring, remember?" She said, point to the ring that Danny now had in his hand. The ghost boy twirled it around in his hand for a minute, admiring the craftsmanship he had put into it. He personally had wanted to make it himself, consulting many blacksmiths in Achaea and multiple Anglo-Saxon blacksmiths as well. In the end he had done it and Sam face when he did propose almost made his ice-core melt. He picked up Sam's hand, which she allowed, and he placed it on her ring finger this time. Sam made no move to change it.

"Yep, now we're just waiting for you to propose Tucker." Danny said once he put the ring on and just went back to holding her hand. Tucker blushed, his face more red than it's natural dark brown. Sam and Danny laughed, Valerie did too but was trying to conceal her own red-ish face.

Danny decided to relieve his friends of their embarrassment and instead studied their predicament. "So, judging by where we are right now we have about three days till we reach Pandora, where we'll stock up on supplies and there is no doubt that she would deliver us to the Far Frozen, where Frostbite will hook us up with transportation to get back to the Fenton Portal. If we leave and rest again after six more hours of walking, we might be able to shave off half a day-" Tucker chuckled.

"You said halfa day." Tucker laughed, no longer beat red, mirth gleaming in his eyes.

Sam rolled her eyes. "That aside, Danny you were saying?"

Danny smiled. "Thank you. Anyways, it might be able for us to cut off half a day," Cue the chuckle, "Which might be helpful when stay at Pandora's. Her and Frostbite are going to want to make us stay the night at least, Pandora more so, so if we do that then we can get there in maybe less than two days. It really depends on the speed of the class."

Once Danny finished his though, they nodded. Once again they leaned back, keeping a sharp eye out just in case.

Meanwhile, the rest of the class spoke within their own social circles, no one daring to go near the other groups, especially Danny and his friends. Honestly, they thought it was kind of weird, Danny was ridiculed and bullied for being weak and virtually worthless yet they always revered to Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie (once she had joined the once been trio) as Danny being the leader of the group. The four probably knew it to, and for some reason hearing Danny's name in the role of a leader made sense actually. They weren't sure why, it just did, it felt natural, and they didn't seem to mind that either. All of them were wondering who was the enigma that was Danny and his friends, an unsolved question that would most likely remained unsolved. They glanced over at the group and noticed that Danny seemed to be talking about something, but they didn't know of what. The group of four were smiling and laughing and, as ironic as it was, seemed much more...alive in the realm of the dead. More questions arose.

Maddie was, at the moment, glaring at a random door, which Danny had explained that they lead into a ghost's lair or maybe even a different time period or place in the human realm, but she wasn't thinking about that. Her son was the reason she was glaring at the innocent door, as if her eyes would disintegrate it to ash. She and Jack had planned this trip as an excuse to go into the portal in their basement. They had never been before then out of virtually nowhere Danny and his friends appeared to know everything and were challenging everything she knows and worked for. Jack was merely confused, not angry, at how his son knew more than him. How much did Danny really know? How does he know? They had tried to ask when they started walking but he somehow dodged every question like a shadow in the light, just as he always does. The orange clad man sighed, all his thinking about his son, more than he had done in years, was making him hungry. He was really wanting some fudge right now.

Their musing was cut short when Danny stood up, his frame tall and more confident than they had seen him in the human realm. He called out to say that break was over and that the next stop was a neutral territory about six hours away. The class groaned at this but picked up their haul and trudged on after the raven-hair enigma and his friends. Maddie's scowl deepened.

The path was long, they could see it winding in the distance. Danny had said something about how the gravity around the path could be a bit sketchy so they had to be careful not to wander off. At first they didn't see the reason why Danny told them this, the path was pretty wide when they first began walking; however, there were parts that became more narrow, causing the class to squeeze together in fright and so not to fall off. it was then they decided not to question Danny about what he and his friends knew. Well, and the fact that the was he and his friends walked showed they did not want to be disturbed. It was why Paulina has stopped her complaining...for the most part that is.

Hours past. The students' feet were beginning to ache again, moans of distress filled the air. Mr. Lancer ended up having to be carried by Jack, who was also a bit winded. His wife was in the same boat as him.

Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie continued to walk, not bothered in the slightest it seemed. They would have questioned this, but all their energy was going towards making sure their legs didn't give way like a certain teacher of theirs. Man, those boots have some major ankle support.

Just after the fourth hour past, Danny and Sam stopped suddenly, Tucker and Valerie paused not even a second later. The class confused, wondering if they were at the neutral spot already despite only having walked four hours instead of six, and even more confused when they realized something else. Was that Fenton's breath or something?

What happened next was a blur. The four leading them were still, resembling statues almost, then they dropped into fighting stances, similar to the ones they had seen at Fentonworks only earlier. Tucker's right arm was out in front of his, his hand posed over his forearm where the bulk was. Valerie's hand was also hovering over the red bracelet on her wrist, body tense and alert. Danny and Sam were in more of the typical fighting stance, fists raised, and even though they weren't moving the class could tell they were on their toes, ready to strike. The class unconsciously backed up a few steps, even Maddie's foot retraced its last move. What happened next, however, just added on one more thing to the list of 'weird shit that has happened making them question everything they know about Danny and his friends.'

"Dipstick? What are you doing here?" The eyes of almost every student virtually popped out of their heads. They knew that voice, they knew it too well. The familiar flaming blue hair pulled up into a high ponytail, light grayish blue skin, and purple guitar with neon blue flames slung over her back.

"Ember?" The four asked, relaxing from their positions.

The popstar, now floating in front of them, rolled her eye. "Yes, it's me. Introductions over. Now the real question is what the hell you guys are doing here? First, you didn't show up on Friday which confused everyone, you mom was going to send out a search party to look for you guys! Dani's worried too but mentioned that something must of happened so you wouldn't visit." When Maddie heard this, she was puzzled. Why was this ghost talking to her son, and then mention her? She didn't recall anything about a search party either. The rest of the class, including Mr. Lancer, was wondering what they were talking about in the first place. Dani? Search party? What the hell? Jack was more curious about studying the ghost, wondering how it portrayed such...emotion? But ghosts couldn't show emotion, it was impossible. Yet Jack couldn't help but wonder…

"Dani?" Danny said, cutting Ember off, "Is she okay?" Everyone swore they could hear concern in his voice. Sam, Tucker, and Valerie shared the same look Danny wore. Whoever this 'Dani' person was, the class realized, they were important.

Ember rolled her eyes again. "She's fine, misses you four though. Then again, she always misses you guys when you aren't here. But she's still as alive as she can be." For some reason, the five, including Ember, began to laugh. Everyone who wasn't confused was now.

"Anyways," Ember said once she stopped laughing, "Why do you have a bunch of full humans with you? And where's my little Jazzy?" The last sentence was said with care, soft and sweet. It sounded strange and the class couldn't help but wonder if they were talking about Danny's older sister. Maddie and Jack, however, knew they were talking about Jazz. They were disgusted that a ghost said that. No one even registered the 'full humans' thing.

Danny sighed, launching into the spill about the field trip, what happened with the crash, and how they were having to walk now. Ember listened intently.

"That is weird...I can check out the crash sight if you want me too. You know, see if there's any shells or something like that." Ember said after a moment of thinking.

Danny nodded. "Yeah, that would be really good. The Speeder should be in between the Bourbeau's and Carman Delisle's lair." Danny said.

"Hey, if you do see anything, bring it to me. I can try to analyze it to see what true damage or maybe even who caused it." Tucker chimed in, his PDA suddenly in his hand.

"I can do that, Techno nerd."

"It's Techno GEEK."

"Yeah, whatever you said nerd." She said. Before Tucker could reply, she spoke again. "So how is my Jazzy? I haven't heard from her for a while." The same caring tone was back.

"She's fine Ember," Sam said, "A flu was going around on her campus and a lot of people got it, including Jazz but she's fine now." Ember physically relaxed at this. "The college decided to postpone exams until everyone was well again so they're taking them this week. I think she's in one right now."

Ember nodded, looking somehow more relieved than when she showed up, and turned to leave only to be stopped by Danny.

"Wait, before you go," He began. Ember turned to face the four. "Can you tell us what's going on? For about two weeks there have been no ghost attacks, no lost spirits, not even the Box Ghost has shown up! Then we actually get to the Zone to find it virtually abandoned! I have the right to know what's going on here!" Danny said, straight to the point.

Ember rolled her eyes one last time and gave an exasperated sigh. "Well, if you put it that way...it was supposed to be a surprise though-"

"Ember, you know I hate surprises." Danny's face showed unamusement.

"Yeah, yeah. Anyways, it was supposed to be awesome and stuff. Pretty much everyone is preparing for it."

Danny's head was slightly tilted to the right, a confused look on his face. The class could tell Sam, Tucker, and Valerie were confused too, each trying to figure out what the popstar was talking about.

Ember's eyes went wide. "Oh my god, I can't believe it...You forgot you own corona-mhm!" Ember's words were cut short by a dark skinned hand covering her mouth.

Danny was stoick for a second before his own eyes went wide. "Gamó̱to!" (Translation: "Fuck!")

Sam, Tucker, and Val eyed each other and Ember burst out laughing.

"No way! Oh my god! This is too good! Ha! You-you for-forgot Haha!" Eventually Ember calmed down and was now wiping imaginary tears from her eyes.

Sam groaned. "Ember…" Her voice took on a more menacing tone.

"Okay! Okay! I'm going! Still!" It was Sam who rolled her eyes this time.

Danny broke out of his own musing. "We'll see you later Ember."

Ember smirked at this. "See you later Dipstick!" And then she was gone.

Danny sighed and turned to the class, and without saying anything, motioned for them to continue. He turned and took his place at the front, his friends flanking his sides like before. The class followed yet again, the questions dancing in their mind and filling every crevice. They said nothing though and continued to walk along the path leading who knows where.

Throughout it all, no one noticed Sam's ring which now rested on a different finger than it had that morning.

Hey! Like I said earlier I am so sorry for taking so long! School can be a pain in the ass. Apparently teachers don't know about the importance of fanfiction. Anyways, now you know what Sam's ring is! *screams*

I have no shoutouts but again thank you to everyone who read and reviewed and all that good stuff!

I HAVE MORE QUESTION!

What was Ember about to say?

Where are the rest of the ghosts? Here's a hint, not all of them are preparing for the super secret thing that is going to happen! There is something...evil...lurking around the zone. *maniacal laughing*

Well, I am off to bed! I will update as soon as I can and I'll see ya when I see ya! PEACE!

~Kitty ='u'=

Chapter 9