Phantom watched with a warring mind as the all too familiar silhouette of Spectra flickered into being before him. His emotions were in such a state of turmoil that his vision blurred, making it hard to see the ghost as her body was transported from the Ghost Zone to the physical plane. Phantom struggled to keep a focused mindset.

She intrudes upon the safety of mankind!

She blesses us with her presence!

Phantom's head reeled. The voices in his subconscious . . . had returned? But how?

What are you doing here? I thought you were destroyed with Shadow Phantom!

We exist as a part of you. Our fates are sealed. Intertwined as one.

Our paths are the same. Forever.

What are you talking about?

"What the – where am I?"

Phantom looked up at the curvy figure floating in front of him. Part of him was enraged. The other was delighted.

"You're in Amity Park . . . again," Phantom replied. "I wished you here."

Spectra glared at the source of the voice before recognizing Phantom. "You?" she said in bewilderment. "You wished me here?"

"Yeah. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but everyone's wishes have been coming true lately."

"Mother," Spectra whispered. "Well why me? If I recall, you tried to kill me the last time we met."

Phantom sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Remember the incident with me turning into a monster a few days ago?"

"A few days ago?"

"I meant in the literal sense."

" . . . A few days ago?"

"When I turned into Shadow Phantom."

"Oh, so that's what you called yourself," Spectra grinned. "Pretty lame if you ask me."

Phantom sighed. "After that whole thing passed, something's been nagging at me. Up until now I couldn't figure out what it was."

"And it is . . . ?"

The ghost boy looked to the skies for some sort of intervention. Nothing happened. "I still like you."

Spectra floated in place, stunned by the words that had just emerged from Phantom's mouth.

"You can't be serious."

"I am."

"You tried to kill me!"

"You tried to kill Sam!"

"Well electrocuting someone to the point of demolecularization seems a bit drastic, don't you think?"

"No, not really."

Spectra flew around Phantom, studying him from her vantage point. "So you still like me, huh?"

"I think so. And I need to know why."

"Is that why you pulled me out here? To ask me why you still like me?"

"I guess so."

"Well," Spectra flew in close and rested her hands on the ghost boy's shoulders. "I could think of many reasons any guy would like me. In your case, though, I'm at a bit of a loss, seeing as how you tried to kill me."

"Do you know anyone who would know?"

Spectra flew around back in front of Danny. "You could try asking my father."

"And where would I find him?"

"From what you've told me, that should be the easiest problem to overcome." Spectra winked at Phantom. "Now then, I wish I was back in the Ghost Zone."

"Your heart's desire is my command!"

A swirling green vortex opened up in the sky feet above Spectra's head. She flew into it before it sealed and disappeared from sight. Phantom looked after her, part of him saddened, the other relieved. He sat atop the building long after the sun had gone down. The sounds of the city had given way to the sounds of combat as the GIW fought off legions of mismatched creatures concocted by the imaginations of children all over the town. The ghost boy pondered what Spectra had said about finding her father, but dismissed it. He wasn't up for fighting anyone – or anything – else. With an uncharacteristic amount of laziness, Phantom took to the skies and made his way home.

Reject your feelings for her.

NO! EMBRACE THEM!

You've already failed Sam once.

For a greater love!

For a manipulated love.

Please, just shut up. I'm not in the mood.

Agents 002 and 089 entered the GIWHQ. Their steps were uncoordinated. Their postures were slouched. Wariness was visible even through their rock solid expressions and imposing sunglasses. In short, they were beat. Twenty four straight hours of combating make believe creatures would do that to any man.

"You know something?" Jackson said tiredly.

"What's that?"

"I don't think even half of those things existed in any sort of fictional works."

"I agree," the Caucasian man said as he opened the door to their office. "I don't remember reading about evil azalea bushes in X-Men comics."

"Or little yellow dinosaurs that turn into giant skeletons."

"Nope, that one checks out," Mike sighed as he collapsed into his chair.

"No way," Jackson followed suit and plopped down on the couch.

"Way. That was Agumon. Digivolved into Greymon. Then to Skull Greymon. I think that's the wrong order, but I'm not the one who wished for it, am I?"

"Why do you know this stuff?"

"One of us has to. And speaking of this stuff, did we get all the Transformers to the cryo-chamber?"

"Yes. And thank God we did. Megatron was starting to wake up just as we got him here."

"I thought I told you to keep religion out of the workplace, soldier. Causes more problems than we need, especially at the moment," a low, menacing voice said from the open door. Jackson and Mike looked at the doorway in shock and struggled to stand up. "Please, stay seated. You two deserve that much."

"Agent X," Mike said to the tall, burly African American man in the doorway. "We didn't know you were making an inspection."

"Didn't announce it, son. This isn't something I want all the underlings to be eavesdropping in on." Agent X kicked the door behind him, closing it. "You two are being upgraded."

"A promotion?" Mike asked. His body was no longer as exhausted as it had been.

"You could call it that. You will be stripped of your Agent status and assigned an Operative letter as soon as I leave this room."

"What's the occasion?" Jackson asked.

"The junior agents we have on the field are responding better to operatives than to senior agents. Currently, the only operatives that exist are L, M and N. L is responsible for recruiting SPOOK 005, M is responsible for recruiting SPOOK 006 and L managed to scrounge up the remains of a prototype ghost portal discovered at Wisconsin University. The Letter, as the other Agents are calling it, is bestowed upon exceptional officers for exceptional achievements."

"What would ours be, sir?" Mike inquired.

"As if you have to ask," the larger man chuckled. "You're the first two Agents to engage a human-ghost hybrid. You even managed to avoid hostile confrontation with it."

"I believe you mean him, sir. Phantom isn't called the ghost boy for nothing."

"I'll keep that in mind, Mike, when one of them murders your whole family."

The other two Agents fell silent. Nobody ever prodded the past out of fellow Agents as each were hand selected by a higher power based off of spectral encounters that occurred during their younger years. Not much was known about the enigmatic Agent X, but his passion was driven solely by revenge. And that was all than anyone needed to know.

"Now then. I will send someone by with the papers authenticating the upgrade within the hour."

"Yes sir, thank you, sir," Mike said with a tired salute. Jackson mimicked the gesture.

"As you were, gentlemen," Agent X turned and walked from the room, leaving the two newly-appointed Operatives alone in their office.

"- and then she said," Tucker said enthusiastically.

Danny held the receiver away from his ear, as Tucker's voice had steadily risen in the measly twenty seconds they had been on the phone. He sat at his computer staring at the Figgle homepage with a blank expression. His mind was too restless to allot any of its attention to the drivel spewing from Tucker's mouth.

You have been tainted!

Cleansed!

She is an enemy!

Angel!

Kill her!

Love her!

Make her beg for your mercy!

Make her beg for your -

Whoa, whoa, hold up there . . . me. Let's not get carried away.

Ah! The conscious mind allies with my influence!

The hell I do! Your little escapade almost got everyone killed!

He allies with me!

Yeah right, making love to a shadow ghost is just what I want to do.

A shadow ghost that is curvy in all the right places. Besides, I never went into specifics.

You're part of me – my mind and . . . stuff like that.

That's correct! He knows of your perversions before you grotesquely communicate them to him, you fiend.

That's only because he's thinking them first!

Because we exist as one!

Damn it shut the heck up! Between you morons and Tucker, I'm losing my mind!

"Danny? You there, dude?"

"Yeah, I'm here Tucker. Go ahead; what was the thing now about the . . . thing?"

"You weren't even listening, were you?"

"Alright, truth time." Danny cleared his throat. "The shadow ghost that messed me up? It left two parts of its subconscious influence behind. So while you've been talking, tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumbass were having a shouting match in my brain."

"Wow. Sucks to be you."

"Sometimes. No, I take that back. Most of the time."

"Care to tell me what they were arguing about?"

"Spectra."

"Ooh, touchy feely emotional stuff. Ok, I'll let you three have your discussion about Spectra's boobs. I'm going to bed, you know, after hitting the town with Star and Paulina. It can really," Tucker snickered, "tucker you out!"

"Good night," Danny said before hanging up. "Wait, how did he know we were talking about Spectra?"

What else is there to talk about?

Plenty!

Guys? Uh, me's? Can you please shut up? I want to go to bed.

Very well, but we must agree on at least one thing first.

Unlikely, but go ahead and try.

. . . She is very well endowed.

Agreed. If we weren't already in a relationship with Sam we would hit that. And not violently.

Indeed.

Well we – I mean I'm not in a relationship with Sam.

Then why are we sitting around here?!

BECAUSE SPECTRA IS A HEATHEN!

Guys, come on, seriously.

Oh, right. Sorry.

Sincerest apologies.

Danny pulled his blanket up to his chin, ignoring the independent voices in his head. The warm material covered his prone form while his mattress cradled him. Before too long Danny Fenton was sound asleep, safely secluded from the incessant nagging of his others.

To Be Continued

A/N

You didn't think I, the mighty Grumbles, forgot about this, did you? Ha ha HA! Writers' block. Seriously, I've been bogged down lately. Here's a small update for your troubles.

-Got contacts, learned how to use properly.
-Reserved Halo 3 Legendary edition
-Reserved John Woo Presents STRANGLEHOLD
-Disocvered a HARDWARE FAILURE in my 360, pending repair
-Saw Transformers 5 times, Superbad once, Rush Hour 3 once
-Getting pumped for my senior year of high school.

So yeah . . . I think my biggest problem is that I REALLY want to get to the late 2nd - early 3rd season, but I'm stuck back here with a whole crapload of stuff I still need to write all essential to the overall continuity.

Sorry this chapter is so short, and I can't make any guarantees for later ones. But at least I did it, right?
Oh yeah, reviewer 2100 decides how the character from the 700th reviewer contest bites it. That's way far off, so I'm sure the Paper Shredder will have plenty of time to amuse you. As soon as I figure out how to stick him in this mess.

Ha ha HA! Oasis.