Retrieval Saga

A Chance of a Ghost

Chapter 6: Deceased Deception

Now we shall look at another part of this story. While Draco and the rest were in Amity Park, Matt and the rest of the crew were busy trying to find them. They went back to HQ to get a ship with the proper equipment for wormhole entry; the North Star. But there was one thing they didn't anticipate. The wormhole that leads to that particular universe periodically shifts between the two halves of it. And it turned out that the part where the North Star ended up in was the half that was known as Null Sector 51 GZ, more commonly known as the Ghost Zone.

We now join our heroes at the base the NSC had set up in this world. "I don't know about this," said Kala, "this place is really spooky." "What have you got to worry about?" asked Matt, "you have the five best mercs in the program for this." Matt was referring to himself, Chris, Techo, Talia, and Wilson. He managed to convince the last two to join him for old time's sake. "I have to agree," said Rick, "just coming into a place called the Ghost Zone just screams 'bad idea'." "Don't tell me you guys believe in ghosts," said Talia. "At this point," said Akira, "I'd believe anything."

The group came into a large room that was meant for a laboratory. There were several scientists making observations of the strange atmosphere outside. "Uh, can we get some help over here?" asked Wilson. "Yes, you can," said a voice. The group jumped and turned around. Standing was a scientist with very pale skin and long hair. Standing beside him were two larger men wearing biohazard suits. "I'm Professor Drake, these are my assistants, Imhotep and Phobos."

"Er, hi," said Matt, "we're looking for a couple of friends, we think they've been sent here when their escape pod was accidentally sucked in here." "That might be the case," said Professor Drake, "lots of things wind up in the Ghost Zone. But I and my associates have become quite familiar with this place. I'm certain we could act as your guides. However, we want one small task in exchange. An artifact known as the Amulet of Aragon. We are very interested in studying it."

"Okay, sounds fair enough," said Techo. As the three scientist walked away, Matt muttered, "Is it me, or are these guys a bit testy?" "Don't worry," said Lilo, "they're just particularly grouchy for zombies." The three scientists paused for a moment and Phobos muttered something about 'fiery graves'.

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It had now been three days since Chip and the rest had disappeared and the North Star was now going through the Ghost Zone. Professor Drake insisted on retrieving the Amulet first. "You sure this thing is one of a kind?" asked Matt irritatingly. "Well, no, there are others, but this one is of a better quality." "What do these amulets do anyway?" "Ah, ah, ah, let's leave that to the professionals." "Don't worry," said Phobos who had just appeared behind Matt and nearly startled him out of his skin, "No danger will come to your warriors…I mean, crew." The two of them left the room and Matt muttered, "I swear those two don't breathe."

Professor Drake soon proved to be really full of himself. He treated the others like he was of a lower class than him. Not to mention all the snide remarks and the odd unfamiliarity with common technology. But then his assistants weren't all that better. They weren't as obnoxious, but they were annoyingly eccentric. Phobos kept addressing the crew as 'warriors' and started adding suffixes such as 'of death' or 'of doom' to ordinary things.

Imhotep wasn't any better. For example, one time, Chris wanted to have a word with Imhotep about the Ghost Zone. He went to the door of the room where Imhotep had designated for himself. "Imhotep, are you in there?" called Chris, "I have a few questions for you. Imhotep?" Getting no answers, Wilson opened the door to see if he was inside. The instant he did that, a torrent of sand came out and buried Chris up to the neck. Chris spat out the sand that got in his mouth and said, "Oh, this is really filthy, you wouldn't find cockroaches living in this stuff." Suddenly a scarab the size of a skateboard came out of the sand. Quite fortunately for Chris, the scarab paid him no mind and scuttled off down the hallway. Moments later, he heard Lilo's voice say, "Oh boy! A giant scarab! Can we keep him? Ow! He bit me!"

Soon after that, Imhotep was hauled in front of Matt. "What were you thinking keeping all that sand in there?" he demanded. "Well, I just like to bring something that reminds me of my home country," said Imhotep. "So you fill your room full of sand and bring a big fat beetle with you?" Matt asked skeptically. "You have your ways of keeping memories, I have mine. But I suppose I do over-feed him a bit." "Well, if I find that you're carrying asps or scorpions or any other weird stuff with you, you're taking all your stuff to the airlock with you. Do I make myself clear?" Matt's eyes glowed slightly in anger. Disturbingly, Imhotep showed no signs of fear or even surprise as this. "I understand sir," he said and he calmly got up and walked out of the room.

Eventually the North Star reached the place where the Amulet of Aragon was supposed to be. It was in a region of the Ghost Zone known as the Tundra of the Far Frozen. Just looking at the long stretches of snow and ice were enough to make one shiver. And quite predictably, everyone hated their three "guides". As Matt got ready to go down onto the tundra with Talia, Wilson, Techo, Lilo, and Stitch, he told the three scientists. "Okay, we're going down to find this Amulet of yours and you are NOT coming. You're to take no action while we're gone. You can just watch the comms. When we get back, we're taking you right back to that base after we've found our friends."

Professor Drake glared at Matt as if he were a smear on his boot. Phobos stared forward but Drake held up a hand. "Fine, we agree to your terms," he said, "beware though… do not try to cross me again." Matt walked over to the others and muttered, "Freaks." As soon as the exploration party had left, Imhotep said, "I'll be glad when they get that Amulet. I'm not sure how much more of these humans I can stand." "Patience," said Drake, "once the Amulet is in my possession, we will have no further use for them. Until then, we must act to our benefactor's plan."

On the small frozen planetoid, the exploration party was moving forward in one of the North Star's 'Makta' APC's. It eventually came to a stop at a large hill of snow. Over the hill was where the Amulet was kept. The six of them got out and started marching over the hill. "This is kinda like when Slushy was activated," said Lilo. Matt nodded and said, "Stitch told me about that once, probably not this bad though."

Techo checked his wrist communicator and said, "Just over this hill, this is too easy… whoops, jinxed us." Talia rolled her eyes and said, "We are not jinxed." They got over the top and looked down. Where the Amulet was supposed to be was apparently right in the middle of a village populated by what looked like yetis. "Told you…OW!" Talia punched Techo in the nose. "Hmm, maybe if we ask…" said Lilo but the four mercenaries were too busy coming up with complicated attack strategies to listen. Lilo sighed to herself and she and Stitch went down to the village by themselves.

As they approached the buildings, it became apparent they were made entirely out of ice blocks. "Cool," said Lilo as she and Stitch walked in, "this is like a Himalayan Inuit town." "Inuit?" asked Stitch. "Most people call them Eskimos, but they don't like that," explained Lilo, "whatever you do, don't put your tongue on-" "Uh, Wiwo?" Lilo looked and saw that Stitch's tongue was frozen to the side of a building.

"Freeze!" commanded a voice. The two of them looked and saw three of the yetis pointing ice spears at them. "Er, okay, but he's already frozen." An ice beam came out of one of the spears and hit near Lilo's feet. "Don't make a move, human," growled the offending yeti. "What's going on here?" asked a similar but much friendlier-sounding voice. Another yeti, slightly taller and wearing a purple cape walked towards the group. "Lord Frostbite," said one of the yetis, "we've caught these two intruders here. One's a human, but I'm not what the other is."

Frostbite chuckled and said, "At ease, fellow Far Frozen, can you not see that this is just a child?" Frostbite turned to Lilo and said, "My apologies for your rude welcoming, but we are still not used to human visitors. Even though they helped saved our world, we can sometimes be a bit testy about them." "Hi," said Lilo, "my name's Lilo and this is Stitch. We came to ask if we could have the Amulet of Aragon please." Frostbite's face became much more serious. "How do you know about the Amulet?" he asked. "A guy called Professor Drake told us about it," said Lilo. Frostbite rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, "Follow me. But first, could someone get something to melt his tongue?"

Frostbite led Lilo and Stitch to a cave that stalactites and stalagmites made of both rock and ice. They went to the back of this cave where Frostbite put his icy hand on a small depression in the wall. A door opened and a smaller cave was revealed. Inside was a pedestal of ice. On top of the pedestal rested a small round amulet that was made of gold with a round green stone in the middle with a dragon's pupil on it. "This is the Anarchic Amulet of Aragon," said Frostbite. "It is said to possess sevenfold the power of the other Amulets. It once belonged to a royal family who powers also stemmed from the lesser Amulets. But it was feared that its great power would corrupt one of its users, so it was given to us for safe keeping."

"What exactly does it do?" asked Lilo. "When one is wearing an Amulet of Aragon, they have the power to assume a dragon's form and powers. But the Anarchic Amulet would its user seven times more power than a regular Amulet. It is not lightly that we will let such a powerful artifact leave our hands. But if someone is looking for it, then it would be safer if it was in a different hiding place."

Frostbite picked up the Amulet and handed it to Lilo. "Here," he said, "take this and find a place to hide it. But promise me this, no matter what happens, never let anyone use it. If anyone found out the power inside it, they could create a reign of terror and tyranny to rival even Pariah Dark. Understand?" "I don't know who Pariah Dark is," said Lilo, "but I know what you mean." As she and Stitch turned to leave, Lilo said, "Thanks for giving us the Amulet, and thanks for the hot cocoa." "Are you sure that wise?" asked one of the guards. "Time will tell," said Frostbite, "but I believe that that little girl's destiny has a strong connection to the Amulet."

By that time, Matt and the rest had finally got their plan straight. "Alright," said Matt, "on the count of three, we move. One… two…" "Hey guys," said a voice. The four of them jumped and looked to see Lilo and Stitch coming back up the hill. They also saw the golden amulet in her hand. "What the," said Techo, "how did you get it?" "Easy," said Lilo, "we asked." The mercenaries looked at each other and Wilson said, "We never tell this to anyone, we'll never live this down."

As the six of them drove back, Lilo told them about what happened with Frostbite. "So this thing can turn you into a really powerful dragon?" asked Talia. "That's what he said," said Lilo. "If Drake wants this so badly," said Matt, "he probably has something in store for this. We better radio the others and tell them about this." Wilson picked up the radio and spoke into it, "North Star, come in North Star… Are you there? Chris? C'mon, pick up already."

"They won't answer you," said a familiar voice and Professor Drake and his two assistants appeared out of nowhere. "Now, hand over the Amulet, and you won't be harmed," said Drake. "I don't know how you got here," said Matt, "but you're not getting this thing." "Oh I am," said Drake, "that thing has been part of my family's history for 2000 years." As he spoke, his clothes changed to resemble that of a medieval prince with slightly blue skin and red eyes. He reached forward and grabbed the Amulet. Then he put it around his own neck. "What have you done with our friends?" asked Lilo. "If you mean your fellow warriors," said Phobos, "they are unharmed, just in a very deep sleep."

"That's it," said Matt, "deceive me into bringing you treasure, you could probably get away with that. But mess with my friends and the gloves are off." "What a fortuitous metaphor," said 'Drake', "Hotep-Ra?" 'Imhotep' removed the gloves to his biohazard suit, revealing bandaged hands underneath. Suddenly the hands extended from the wrists on more bandages and punched Matt and Wilson off the APC. "Why you doublecrossing…GYA!" began Talia before more bandages hogtied her. Then the rest of the biohazard suit came off, revealing an Egyptian mummy underneath. "Slaves should not speak ill of their masters," said Hotep-Ra. "Careful Ra," said 'Drake' raising a warning finger, "they did aid us."

Techo turned on the Makta's guns with his wrist computers and turned the turret on 'Drake', firing the 155mm cannon. Then he turned the cannon on Hotep-Ra and said, "Let her go or join your…" He was interrupted as a fireball blew the APC apart. A 30 foot black and purple dragon wearing the Amulet waved the smoke away and sneered, "You can't kill the dead, fools."

Matt seemed to snap. "I've had it with undead!" he yelled, "especially bloody undead dragons! Waste him!" The group fired on the dragon but the blasts went right through. "You think your puny technology can harm Prince Aragon?" He smacked Matt aside and he crashed into Phobos. "Your buddies may be tough," said Matt getting up, "but I bet you're easy to beat up." Suddenly the biohazard suit burst into flames, revealing an armored knight with a flaming cape. "Or maybe you're not. Who are you?" "I am the Fright Knight, the Spirit of Halloween, prepare to meet your end." 'Phobos' swung his glowing green sword at Matt who narrowly missed it. Wilson and Techo tried to hit him from behind, but the Fright Knight turned and blasted them into an ice wall.

Matt tried to ignite his ion staff, but he knocked down before he could ignite. As Aragon picked Matt up, Matt saw the Fright Knight blast Lilo and Stitch into unconsciousness. "I thank you for your help…that's why you get to live," said Aragon to a struggling Matt, "Such potential and you waste it on good acts…goodbye captain." He let Matt drop and then he, Hotep-Ra, and the Fright Knight disappeared.

It was a big drop and it took a lot out of Matt. He just managed to activate a single signal to the ship before the cold made him join them in blissful sleep. Fortunately, Frostbite and two of his guards had followed the group from a distance and saw what happened. "We better get them back to the medical lab," said Frostbite as he bent to pick up Matt.

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Meanwhile, on the parallel side of that world, Jack and Maddie Fenton were working on the last parts of the Specter Speeder with Draco and Chip's help. "It sure was swell of you guys to give us a hand with this," said Jack, "if we haven't gotten your help, we wouldn't finished on the day of the full moon." "Well," said Draco, "I guess we owe you guys since we unintentionally brought Ghoulwyrm here in the first place. But we wouldn't have turned our back on someone in your position." "We should hurry though," said Chip, "the full moon is tonight."

"You got that right," said Jazz's voice. The four turned to look as Jazz came down the stairs with Danny, Sam, and Tucker. Jazz had been allowed to stay home from school ever since the curse started setting in. It was a good thing because she had trouble controlling her manifesting ghost powers without Danny's tutorage. But that wasn't the only thing that was manifesting.

Orange fur that matched Jazz's hair had spread all over her body. She was gotten significantly taller when her legs became digitigrade. Her tail has also grown from a stump to all the way down to her knees. Her nails had become claws with sheathes. Not to mention her ears were becoming more bat-like and her face was growing forward into a muzzle. "Uh, hi Jazz," said Maddie, "you look, er, pretty." "I look like a mutant hybrid freak," said Jazz. "Now, now," said PlasMorph, "that's just the mutant hybrid hormones talking," which got him a kick from Danny.

"Don't worry Jazz," said Jack, "we've just finished the Speeder and we're gonna find that dracopyre and fix you." "Actually," said Danny, "I think me, Sam, and Tucker should go. We know more about the Ghost Zone's geography than you do." "Me and Chip and Morph will come too," said Draco. "Why should I come?" asked Morph. "Would you rather stay here to entertain the ghostly werepyre you offended?" asked Tucker. "Good point." "But how do we find that undead creeper?" asked Sam. "We'll ask Frostbite if we could borrow the Infi-Map," said Danny, "we won't let Ghoulwyrm get away with this. We'll be back and we're gonna save Jazz."

Then the six of them climbed into the Specter Speeder and went through the Ghost Portal into the Ghost Zone. EctoplasMorph looked from Jack to Maddie to Contrinus to Jazz and then said, "Now what are we gonna do till they get back." "I hope it's soon," said Jazz, "I think I'm starting to grow wings on my back." "Hey, try and look at this from the bright side," said Jack, "if you could make this curse thing work for you, you could become a superhero."

"That's superheroine," corrected Contrinus. "You know," said Jazz perking up, "that doesn't sound like a bad idea, but I don't have a costume to wear." "Well we've got plenty of extra jumpsuits," said Maddie, "I'm sure we can make something." "Cool," said Jazz, "I'll go the notebook I drew my ideas for a costume in." As she went up the stairs, Contrinus said to herself, "I'm not sure which is more tragic; the fact she's becoming a werepyre or that she has a notebook full of ideas for superheroine costumes."

There's another chapter. Now the plotline's getting more complex. Who is the "benefactor" that Prince Aragon, Hotep-Ra, and the Fright Knight are working for? Not to mention the fact that Matt's crew is in the Ghost Zone. But if you think this is a lot of development, just wait for the next chapter. Check for it and please review.