Questioning

Rating: K+

Pairings: None

Ages: Danny is 14

Summary: the GiW Extreme Boot Camp for Ghost Hunters (G.E.B.C.G.H) did not prepare them for this. "Is the sky green here?" "I'm more concerned about the plant that's licking it's lips."

Extra Notes: A piece requested/challenged by Starpaw007.


"It still needs a bit of testing. We think we've figured out the proper chemical mix, but a few more calculations need to be done." A scientist, known as 112, stood nervously in front of his boss, Agent Alpha. The man was massive and intimidating and was definitely glaring at him from behind his dark glasses. The scientist twitched when the man's black mustache twitched.

"We're going to test it now."

"S-sir! There's no guarantee that the portal will stay stable!"

Agent Alpha huffed. "Who's volunteering again?"

"Um, Agents O and K, sir." The bespectacled man watched as Agent Alpha stroked his chin.

"Test it."

"But-"

"I SAID TEST IT AND THAT'S AN ORDER!" Agent Alpha shouted and 112 was certain the man was going to pop a vessel. He turned and bolted out the room.

"Yes sir!"

zz

"Have you accumulated all the gear we asked you to take?" Agent M asked as he watched O and K put their portable ghost shields in their coat pockets.

"Yes sir," Agent O answered.

Agent M looked over his shoulder as the doors of the ghost portal opened and showed a green haze of color.

"It's actually working…" A scientist declared in shock.

"Good luck boys. We'll need all the info we can get on those Ecto-scum, but remember that you're in their territory now," M spoke and saluted the two agents.

K and O nodded before they marched towards the portal. They gave each other a look and then walked into the Ghost Zone.

Warning. Warning. Fuel levels, low.

"What the hell is going on, 112!?"

"I think the mixture we used wasn't the right combination. The chemical reaction is taking place too quickly and burning up the materials faster than they should!"

They all watched as the green in the giant portal's window started to flicker and then fade out.

"Take cover!" 112 yelled and everyone dove behind blast shields that had been set up. The portal exploded from within, shaking everything in the room and causing a few members present to hear ringing in their ears. Liquid ectoplasm started to leak out from the portal and smoke spiraled upwards.

"What the hell happened!?"

Everyone whipped around to see Agent Alpha marching towards the test room. Agent Beta was at his side, writing down notes and glaring at them over her glasses.

"The portal malfunctioned sir," 112 answered. "We still need to look at the chemical mixture needed to power it."

Alpha was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Fine get on it."

"Yes sir!"

Agent M stood up. "Wait, what about Agents O and K?"

Alpha looked back. "Unless they can find their way to the Fenton's portal, then they're as good as dead. Either the ghosts will get them or dehydration will."

"But-"

"Does that mess of metal look like it's going to be ready before three days?" Alpha cut the man off. M slowly shook his head.

"Should I mark them off the registrar?" Beta asked.

"Yes, start the paper work," Alpha grunted as both agents walked back the way they came.

zz

The first thing they saw was a forest. Tall tan colored trunks reached up high above their heads and were topped with leaves of dark blue and purple hues. Red and green undergrowth, pink weeds, light blue grass filled in between all the crevasses and between every tree trunk, painting a vivid and very strange jungle.

Both men froze when they heard rustling above them only to see a group of floating yellow jellyfish come out from behind some leaf cover and dance through the air; green light flittered down through the trees, dappling their bells.

"Is this a ghost jungle?" Agent K asked momentarily stunned by the view.

"That's a thing?" Agent O replied in response, looking around them entirely to make sure nothing was sneaking up on them. He wasn't yet as fascinated by the landscape as K was. That was when he noticed the portal back home was flickering and wavering. His mouth popped open and he let out a cut off yelp as he stumbled back over to the portal. "Agent K! The Portal!" He managed to rasp out. K flinched and turned to run towards the disappearing portal. It winked out of existence right before they reached it. They both tripped and face-planted on the ground.

"Oof!" K let out a rush of air against his will.

"I've got a cleanliness breach…" O murmured and looked down at the grey dirt and blue grass stains that were all over his suit.

"I think that might be the least of our worries, K."

K stood up after O did and stared at the place the portal had been. "We're going to die, aren't we?"

O flinched and looked at his partner. "What on earth do you mean? They've got to be fixing the portal right now."

K sighed and shook his head. "You know as well as I do that the creation of a portal isn't that easy. It might even have exploded on the other side."

"We don't know that though," O countered.

"Well… no."

"I say we sit and wait. Get out your portable ghost shield and we'll be safe from ghosts until the portal opens up."

"Alright."

So the two agents found a spot and sat before K activated his ghost shield. They sat and waited for a long time. At one point they saw a ghost snake slithering through the underbrush and they eyed it nervously until it was suddenly attacked and swallowed whole by a large plant-like creature. It had a large water-lily like flower that was filled with teeth on the inside. It sat on a bed of thorny vines and had eyes dotted along those same vines. They watched with disgust as the plant's hundreds of eyes blinked at them and let a massive tongue fall out and pass over its large petals and teeth.

"This place is crazy. There's no way we could conquer it, if even the plants can eat men whole," O remarked bitterly.

K was silent though, watching with barely contained awe as the plant closed all it's eyes, hid it's teeth and tongue within it's blossom and seemingly turned into a harmless looking plant. "It still follows similar hunting methods some animal predators and fly-eating plants use… It shouldn't be able to do that…"

"What are you talking about?" O asked in confusion.

"Oh I um…" There was a moment of silence. "Fine. I was kinda interested in Botany when I was at community college and my older brother was a vet, and he used to tell me about various things he learned when he was studying to be a vet."

"Huh…" Another semi-awkward silence. "I was a furious chess player from middle school all the way into college."

Before anymore could be said a loud roar echoed through the jungle and caused a group of purple and grey birds, which were previously invisible, to fly away.

"At least it sounded like it was far away…" O expressed, shifting nervously.

"We need to leave. We've waited for nearly five hours. They aren't going to fix it quickly and for all we know the portal will open up in a new location," K spoke. "There's no guarantee that the shield will hold against anything the Ghost Zone throws at us."

O was quiet for a moment and then nodded. "You're right. We need to move."

Agent K shut down and stored his portable ghost shield as O looked around, trying to decide which way to start walking. Eventually they picked the direction that looked like it had a game trail of some sort and started walking. They kept their hands close to their blaster holsters and nervously eyed the ghostly creatures all around them as they went.

zz

"It's been another few hours…" K murmured, dropping his arm that had his white watch on it.

O didn't reply and simply kept walking, even if he was starting to fret over K's remarks about them possibly dying here. Would they become ghosts? Surely not… He refused to even think about it further. He looked up at that time and froze, causing K to run into him.

"Uof! Hey! Can't you warn me next time, O?" K then noticed that his partner wasn't reacting and for a moment, he thought that a ghost had somehow overshadowed him despite his ghost belt being on. Eventually he followed O's fixed gaze and felt his own mouth open at the sight before them.

A beautiful blue creature stood before them on a rocky bluff. It had a long white mane that flowed down from it's forehead to it's back and then all the way to the end of a lizard like tail. There were golden markings on it's body that would pulse into existence and then fade just as quickly. They looped around it's eye sockets and hugged muscles and even threaded it's way into the being's mane. A large single jagged horn stuck out from it's forehead, it's hooves were cloven and it's eyes were a hue of red that was incredibly vivid and couldn't be compared to anything they knew. It gazed at them before it walked slowly down the rocks, causing sparks of fire to dance near it's hooves.

Once the being was in front of them, it turned and started to walk a particular direction. It stopped and waited, looking over it's shoulder at the two men.

"I think… I think it wants us to follow it," K muttered.

"You do realize we can't trust a ghost. That's rule 19 in the Guys in White handbook."

K frowned, conflicted. "I think that thing is a Kirin or a Qilin. They're supposedly good omens in Asian cultures." O lifted a brow. "My grandmother was Chinese."

"Seriously?"

"It shows in my brother more."

"If you say so."

They flinched when they heard a shrill noise and saw that the Kirin was still staring at them. "We need to follow it."

"But what if it lead us to our doom?" O asked with a bit of frustration.

"What if it attacks us because we didn't follow it? I'd rather find our way out of a trap than bring too much attention to ourselves by fighting a beast like it."

If they had been watching the Kirin, they would've seen it roll it's eyes. Eventually they began to follow it. After what seemed like forever, they broke from the jungle and saw the other islands that floated in the Zone and the roads that connected between some of them. O spied some ghosts that seemed to be part of a caravan of some type, seeing as ghostly camels, donkeys, and oxen all pulled the various carts. Various men all rode on their beasts of burden or in their carts.

It was possible that they could force the ghosts to take them out of the Zone. They didn't seem to be very powerful ghosts. O reached and pulled out a hand-held device that could pick up the levels of ghosts and found that the strongest in the group was a mere level 3.

"We could take them…" O murmured and looked over to see K looking around.

"I guess the Kirin disappeared."

"It is a ghost."

"True."

Carefully the men made their way down to the road, unfortunately K tripped and caused both men to tumble down the hillside and into the path in front of the ghosts. One of the oxen got spooked and caused the other animals to shuffle about nervously until their masters could calm them.

Then one of them spoke. It was smooth and nearly angelic.

"Humans in the Zone? How intriguing. I'm guessing you poor souls are lost, correct? May we be of any help?"

It took a moment before K could compose himself, still shocked by how lovely the man's voice was. In fact, now that he looked at all of the men in the caravan, they all were unbelievably gorgeous with their long hair and symmetrical faces. A blond near the back, whom had dark brown eyes looked at a tanner man with chocolate hair and vivid green eyes. They both grinned and then laughed quietly to themselves.

"I suppose we should explain as you seem confused. My name is Adil. We are a caravan of Dijinn. We trade between the Regions in the Zone. We're actually on our way to Ra's Realm." Adil had olive skin and very dark hair, his eyes were a dark blue-grey.

"Dijinn?" O asked in confusion.

"That is why are beauty is not matched by any man. No mortal could be as perfect as us." The blond expressed from the back.

"I don't know Anwar, I think I saw a dark hair on your head."

"WHAT!?" Anwar began to search for a mirror most likely, under all his various clothes, rugs, packs, and baskets. All the other men burst out laughing. Anwar narrowed his eyes and looked at the dark one next to him that had teased him. "You are such the joker, Najib."

"I sometimes wonder if my wordplay surpasses my outer beauty," Najib responded with a sarcastic half-bow.

Adil looked down at the two men. You can ride in Anwar and Najib's carts. Once we get to another Region, we can see about getting you fed and watered. Then we can try to figure out how to get you home."

"I'm curious, did you fall through a natural portal? If so, then you are lucky to have not ended up in another time period," Najib mused aloud.

"Umm…" K drawled when O nudged him into silence.

"We did."

"Then good fortune smiles upon you, my friends. Please climb aboard."

"Ghosts eat?" K asked, unable to pretend like he'd heard the comment about food and water any longer.

"We can, but we don't need to. Those of the ghosts that can pass the easiest as humans, go into the world and purchase things in mass."

"Wait, where do you get the money?" O questioned with an edge of aggressiveness.

If Adil noticed it, he didn't act like it. "There are various things from history that are lost here. I'm pretty sure gold is pretty expensive in the Human World now?"

"It keeps growing, honestly…" Another of the Dijinn replied under his breath.

Silence pervaded the group for a while and all that could be heard was the movement of the carts, the noises from the animals, and strange distant calls that echoed through the Zone.

zz

They were barely able to keep themselves awake. Every so often they would bob their heads before shaking themselves; they could not fall asleep in the presence of the enemy.

"I nearly forgot that humans need sleep, please, do take a good rest. I promise our carpets and fabrics are the softest around." Adil gave a pleasant smile from atop his horse, which was the only one in the caravan.

"If you sleep on my fabrics it will be like sleeping on a cloud. I'm not sure about Najib's though. I heard they are rough like straw." Anwar gave a shit-eating grin as Najib narrowed his eyes at the blond.

"Well at least my aromatics smell like nature itself and not some cheeper knock off," Najib declared. Anwar stared at the darker Dijinn.

Adil started to laugh. "Enough, both of you." He tensed and then relaxed. "Saif, blow the horn if you will." Adil looked at the two agents. "I've just spotted someone that can definitely find a way out of here."

The two humans flinched when another Dijinn with lighter skin and light brown hair and eyes, blew on a horn. It echoed for a bit and O and K started to wonder if they were just trying to attract other ghosts to off them.

"Adil? What's up?" O and K whipped their heads around to see none other than Danny Phantom. He saw them at the same time. "What the-?"

"Oh I do wonder." Adil chuckled. "I take it you know these humans?"

"Um… sure…" Danny murmured, still eyeing the two men.

"They need a ride home to the mortal realm."

Danny nodded before speaking to O and K. "You guys are lucky that you came across Adil and his group. You could've run into someone less friendly."

"There are few ghosts that would bother to hurt a lost human, Daniel." Adil expressed.

Danny sniffed. "They're ghost hunters."

O and K felt their insides seize. This was it, Phantom had them right where they wanted them. He'd reveal what they really were and then they'd be torn apart by the ectoplasmic monsters.

"HA HA HA HA!" Adil started to laugh happily. "Then you are right, they really are lucky men indeed."

Danny looked at the two agents. "Like I said, lucky. How did you two even get in here?"

Agent K and O looked at each other, trying to figure out what to say. K looked up. "Failed portal experiment at base." O seemed to think that was okay enough, seeing it was vague. Besides the Ghost Zone had all kinds of portals, why would they care if there was one more.

Danny narrowed his eyes. "Your people are trying to create a portal?" Danny sighed and then smiled. At least it should take them a good long while with the chemical mix. Mom and Dad always said that part took the longest to figure out. "Never mind. Let's get you both out of here. You've got to be tired and starving."

The Agents flinched when Danny came close and rested their hands on their blasters.

"Seriously?" Danny groaned. "Look guys. There's a good chance you'll die in here if you don't get help. Even if you make it to a Region. They'll help you for a while, but if you can't find some way to become productive then they won't give you food."

The Agents didn't know what to do. Ghosts were supposed to be evil, but now they were in their world, at their mercy and the ones around them at that moment were just staring at them like they were fools. Adil even still kept that amused smirk on his face.

"You seem to always have all the adventures, do you not, friend?" Adil asked. The other laughed and Danny mock laughed in return.

"Ha ha. Yeah. I have all the luck."

Adil's eyes glittered and he nodded. Danny sighed and looked at the men. "Well? Are you going to let me help you without a problem or am I going to have to nurse blast wounds later?"

"Do come to Ra's Realm if that should happen."

"I plan to. That was where I was heading actually."

"Joyous."

The two agents slowly got out of the carts as Danny floated over to them. "Can you holster your guns, please?"

"You're a dangerous ecto-entity-"

"That wants to help people. How can you possibly know if ghosts are always trouble if you don't give one the chance to prove otherwise?"

"The young phantom is right. Some of us simply are happy continuing our afterlives in the safety of the Zone. Others need to visit the human realm from time to time, then there are the trouble makers."

Agent O and K looked between Adil and Danny and K stared at the younger boy's face and outstretched hand. Everything was confusing him. This shouldn't be happening.

A few minutes later, Phantom was flying through the Ghost Zone, with one man tucked under each arm. They were completely quiet as they flew, each to their own thoughts. K just couldn't stop thinking about what they'd seen, the beauty of the jungle, the amazing sight of the Kirin, the pleasantness of the caravan and Phantom taking them home instead of leaving them to die. None of these things should have any reason to happen.

Eventually they found themselves on a rocky island, covered with spires. Phantom landed and led them over to an area where two of the spires were leaning on each other. "We've just got to wait until it spawns."

O looked at Phantom. "Excuse me?"

Danny shuffled nervously. "Look there are a lot of natural portals, some are just more stable than others." He sighed and mumbled under his breath. "Dumb hero complex, now I'm going to have to find a different portal…"

K had heard him though and frowned. Moments later a green swirling haze flickered into existence between the two stones and the ground. The three walked through and found themselves in a forest. Phantom looked at them. "Amity Park is about a fourth of a mile that way." He reached out an arm and pointed in a particular direction. "Do you want me to help you back to Amity or can I go back into the Zone before the portal closes?"

"We're fine," O said gruffly.

K nodded numbly.

Phantom nodded slowly and then dove back into the portal right before it faded out.

They looked at each other and sighed.

zz

It took them about ten minutes to make it back to Amity. They were able to rent a room at a hotel with their IDs and by using the GiW account. After getting themselves filled with food and sleep, they took a bus the next day and started their trip back to their base.

When they walked through the doors of the compound, everyone looked at them like they were seeing a ghost. Oh the irony. A sinking feeling and idea started to form in both of the agents minds as they were led to Agent Alpha's quarters. They were starting to feel like no one had tried to save them, that they had considered them dead fairly soon after the portal had shut.

"How'd you get back?" Alpha asked. Beta eyed them carefully with her pen poised.

K was going to say that Phantom had brought them out. He was going to be honest because he'd been trained to not hide information. He'd also been trained not to trust ghosts. Instead he simply nodded and said, "We stumbled across a portal of some kind sir and managed to get out."

Alpha didn't seem completely convinced until O spoke up next.

"We were walking and then we fell down a bluff and suddenly we were back on earth."

Alpha snorted. "Fine. Go get some food and rest. The portal isn't going to be an option for a while, the chemical mixture is trickier than we thought it would be."

zz

That night, in their quarters, Agent O and K didn't talk. They just sat and thought about the dead child that had saved them, the same child that had actually been a person's son, the same child they had hunted, the same child that protected a town that hated him.

They were scared, not about ghosts anymore, but of themselves and how easily they'd nearly been manipulated into almost doing a terrible thing. All because, "Ghosts are evil. Ghosts aren't people." They had always believed their superiors, but now? What they would do from this point on, they weren't sure.

When they finally fell asleep that night, one dreamed of floating jellyfish and a gorgeous beast that rushed about the ground, kicking up rainbow flames in its wake and the other dreamed of a band of brothers who laughed and celebrated their existence with a positive outlook.

zz

Two months later…

Danny stared at K and O with wide eyes as they stared back at him in the alleyway. Phantom was gushing blood from his side, where Agent L had managed to hit him.

In the distance, they could here L and M shouting. "O and K! Have you found him?!"

"He couldn't have gone far!"

K was the first to speak. "Can you get someplace safe for someone to heal you?"

Danny merely blinked. "Wha?"

"Can we leave you without thinking you'll bleed out… or whatever ghosts do?"

"Oh uh yeah, but why-?"

O and K didn't answer. O looked over his shoulder and walked off. "He's not here L, M."

K smiled and walked off after O, confirming his partners words. Danny stared at the spot they had been before he faded out of sight to make his get away.

zz

Later, Danny found the two men in the park, waiting there as if they knew he'd eventually see them. He landed in front of them and didn't mince words.

"Why?"

"Because we can," O answered.

Danny blinked.

"I mean we are the least competent agents in the agency according to Agent Alpha. Might as well keep our lovely streak intact. Wouldn't want to disappoint him." K continued.

At that, Danny finally smiled. They watched as his aura brightened a bit. "Thank you."

Hearing that thank you was one of the most fulfilling things the two men had experienced in a long time.


I hope this was kinda what you were hoping for. I didn't want to write the first thing that came to my mind, which was "Well they get trapped somewhere together and have to settle their differences..." Immediately I was like, no. That's overused and I want to bring something different to the table. So then this came to be.