Hey everybody! I know I haven't updated in forever and I am very sorry. Thanks for sticking around and thanks to those who PM'd me to update. And without further ado, here is chapter 9!

Thanks!

BayGirl31

I do not own Danny Phantom, Young Justice or their characters. All rights belong to their respective owners.

When we last left our hero:

The disturbance's light, which started out as a small vertical bluish-white light, now expanded to reveal a green center, and was growing fast.

"Okay, who's the idiot who tore a hole in the space-time continuum?" Joked Kid Flash.

"Wait! Stand down and don't attack whatever may come through! I recognize that thing! It's not really a tear! It's a portal!"

"A portal!?"

Location: Somewhere between Mount Justice and Salem

Date: September 6th

Time: 0832hrs EST

The team wearily watched as the 'portal' seemed to grow larger and larger, showing more of the unsettling and eerie green. The seconds felt like minutes as they waited for whatever the portal may bring their way to manifest so they can get on with their actual mission. But they couldn't just leave this thing here unsupervised, especially when it's so suspicious in nature. Better to play it safe than have Batman come after you later if something did come of it and you just passed by it.

Suddenly, the portal glowed a fierce light, blinding those in its immediate vicinity. Then the sound of a body-on-body collision was heard, accompanied by an echoing "oomph!", and the blinding light was then the least of their worries.

"KF, Artemis! Defensive positions! We're under attack!" Ordered Robin upon hearing the sound of his comrade, and adoptive brother, when he was hit.

Artemis frantically tried to shoo the remnants of the bright light from her eyes. "Phantom? Where are you? Are you OK? Answer me!" Her response was a series of grunts and spitting sounds.

Once their eyes adjusted enough, the three stunned heroes looked over to see spasms wracking the form of the ghost boy. "Phantom!" Robin yelled as he, Kid Flash and Artemis rushed to his side, ready to perform first aid treatments. Upon reaching the thrashing body of Phantom, they realized he was laughing…

And a little, glowing green dog was happily licking the boys' face.

"Aww… A ghost boy and his dog." Kid Flash joked as he watched Phantom quickly get covered in more and more of the dog's glowing green drool, and him happily laughing about it.

"But somehow, it isn't supposed to be this weird." Commented Artemis as she crossed her arms and cocked her head slightly to the right as she watched Phantom grab the tiny dog in his hands while sitting up. A look of pure happiness and joy came over Danny's face as he exclaimed "Cujo!"

Robin watched as Danny briefly interacted with the small ghost, with his familiarity and friendship with the dog obvious to those around him. "Mind letting us know what's with the dog?" He asked.

Danny looked to Robin to answer, but was cut off as a brief breath of blue escaped from his mouth, which didn't go unnoticed by the present members of the team.

"Ah, dude. Why was your breath blue just now?" KF asked, unaware that Danny's attention was no longer on the words of the team, but on the portal.

"There's another ghost coming." He said as he gained a focused but determined look on his face. The team knew that if something was coming through that portal to make Danny, the guy who kicked their collective butts, act like this, then they should definitely be worried.

Soon another bright light flared up in the small space they were currently occupying, but they were somewhat prepared this time and managed to shield their eyes in time to see large, black claws slice through the opening, and the head of a – werewolf? - emerge from the void. Weapons were drawn and at the ready, but the large creature looked toward Phantom and smiled, or at least as much of a smile a large wolf, creature thing could smile, as Phantom smiled back.

"Wulf!" Danny said happily once he found his voice.

"Wulf?" The team repeated questioningly. Apparently, there is no end to the surprises and mysteries that surround the teenage spectre.

"Amiko!" Wulf shouted as he ran and gathered the hybrid in a hug.

"Nice to see you too Wulf." Phantom said through the crushing force of Wulf's hug on his lungs. "But you're squeezing what life I have left, out of me." Upon hearing this Wulf let him go. "Kiel vi ĉi tie? Kion vi faras ĉi tie?" (How did you get here? What are you doing here?) Phantom asked.

"Plasmius prenis super nia domo, kaj la via. Ĝi estas zono de milito." (Plasmius has taken over our home, and yours. It's a war zone.)

"Oh ne. Ĉu Sam kaj Tucker bonfartas? Kio pri mia gepatroj? Kaj Ĵazo?" (Oh no. Are Sam and Tucker alright? What about my parents? And Jazz?)

Wulf weakly nodded his head. "Por nun, jes. Ili ĉiuj estas fajna." (For now, yes. They are all fine.)

"Okay. Does either of you have any idea what they are saying?" Artemis asked the other two 'human' members of the team. Kid Flash shook his head to indicate the negative, but Robin just continued to stare at the two ghosts conversing next to them. Noticing this, KF waved his hand in front of the Boy Wonder's face. "Hellooooo…. Rob? You home buddy?"

"I think they are talking about something happening at Phantom's home. It's a language that is supposed to be dead, called Esperanto."

"Well if it's supposed to be a dead language, maybe it's the language of the dead?" Artemis reasoned. The two boys looked at her. "Hey! It makes sense to me!" She defended as Robin went back to trying to decipher what their resident ghost was talking about to this 'Wulf'.

Phantom released a sigh. "Tio estas bona." (That's good.) It was then that Danny noticed that Wulf looked absolutely drained. He was panting, his fur was wet with sweat, his head and ears were drooped, his ghostly glow was dim, and his claws were dripping some ectoplasm. "Ha, Wulf? Ĉu vi bonfartas? Vi ne rigardos tiun grandan." (Ah, Wulf? Are you alright? You don't look that great)

The werewolf ghost smiled weakly at his comrade and friend while slowly shaking his head. "Mi timas ke ne, Granda Unu. Mi devas rapidi kaj revenas." (I'm afraid not, Great One. I must hurry and return.)

Danny's eyes widened at the word 'return'. He could go home! Yeah, it's okay here, but home is where he would rather be. Stepping forward Danny proclaimed "Mi venas kun vi!" (I'm coming with you!)

"Pardonu amiko, sed vi ne povas. Mi estas tro malforta por transporti nin ambaŭ per la portalo en la alia dimensio." (Sorry friend, but you can't. I am too weak to carry both of us through the portal into the other dimension.)

Danny looked taken aback by this response. Wulf done it before so why wouldn't do it now, especially considering the fact that he is in another dimension! "Sed vi povus fari tion antaŭe!" (But you could do it before!)

"Tio estis ĉar via dimensio kaj la Spirito Zono estas forte ligitaj kaj dividi malgranda kvanto de energio ectoplasmic subteni fantomoj stabila por periodo de tempo. La sama estas ne vera tie." (That was because your dimension and the Ghost Zone are strongly linked and share a small amount of ectoplasmic energy to keep ghosts stable for a period of time. The same is not true here.)

The look on Danny's face was pure devastation. After seeing Wulf, he thought he had his quick ticket home. Apparently he was stuck here, and that didn't sit too well with him. "Vi volas diri ke mi batis tie? Kio pri Clockwork?" (You mean I'm stuck here? What about Clockwork?)

Wulf nodded. "Viro de dentaĵoj diri ke ĉiu estas kiel ĝi devus esti." (Man of gears say that everything is as it should be.)

Danny looked annoyed at the response, but his overall body language showed that he was absolutely crestfallen. "Kial tio ne surprizas min" (Why does that not surprise me). He looked down at Cujo, who was still in his arms, and saw that the ghost dog also seemed to be a little sad at the news, most likely because he could sense and see that Danny was upset. Looking up at the big werewolf ghost Danny offered a small smile to his old friend, but anyone could see the sadness and disappointment in his dimly glowing green eyes. "Nu, se vi vidas Sam, Tucker aŭ ĵazo, diru al ili, ke mi pensas pri ili kaj ke mi ne rezignas provi akiri domon." (Well, if you see Sam, Tucker or Jazz, tell them that I'm thinking about them and that I won't give up trying to get home.)

Wulf tiredly nodded to the young ghost before turning around and, using his elongated claws, opened a portal just large enough for the large canine to jump through. During the short period that the small portal was open, Danny could see the swirling green and purple colors that make up the majority of the Ghost Zone. To Danny, the way the colors moved looked almost as if the Zone were taunting him. His goal, desire, wish, it was right there in front of him, but danced just out of his reach of his fingertips.

After the portal closed, the resident ghost just stood staring at the spot where it was as if his staring at it would magically cause it to reopen, swallow him up and spit him out at his front door. Ever since activating his parents portal and becoming half ghost, Danny has seen more than his fair share of strange and previously thought impossible events occur (Hell, he was in a different dimension for heaven's sake!), but even he had to admit that that impossibility would remain an impossibility.

During the exchange, Danny's three team-mates just watched in a confused silence not knowing what they should do. They could see the sadness and pure devastation in the small ghost's form, but since 2/3's of the group were unable to understand the conversation that had just occurred, they didn't know what to do or say to try to cheer him up. Luckily the other 1/3 was Robin and, even though he wasn't fluent in Esperanto, he was able to understand the gist of the conversation. Since he knew that both Artemis and Kid Flash could not understand any of it he decided to be the leader and approach his partner and brother.

Walking up behind Danny, Robin was trying to figure out what would be the best thing to say here. How can he possibly console someone who was basically just told that he can't go home – that he has to stay in an unknown place, an unknown dimension! Coming up to Danny, the ghost turned his head slightly to meet the raven-headed boy's masked eyes. He was still holding that glowing green dog and he offered a small smile to his adoptive brother. Robin couldn't help but notice his radioactive glowing green eyes weren't so radioactive or glowing anymore, just green. A dull, dark, lifeless green.

"Looks like you're stuck with me." Danny said to the younger boy.

"I wonder who gets the worse end of that deal." Robin said with a small playful grin in an attempt to better the mood.

Danny grinned at the attempt of humour. "Dunno. Guess we'll have to ask Bruce on that one."

"Well if you're planning on keeping the dog, I'm sure Alfred will have the worst end of this arrangement." Joked Robin.

Danny let out a small chuckle before looking down at the aforementioned dog. "He said that he couldn't take me back with him." Danny explained. "Apparently travelling across dimensions takes up far too much energy for him to be able to safely return the both of us."

"So why couldn't he stay here and regain his strength, then take you both back?" Artemis asked as she approached the conversation.

"Wulf said that this dimension doesn't have enough free-floating ectoplasmic energy to help him recover." Danny answered as Kid Flash also joined them.

"But if that's the case, then why is he here?" KF asked as he pointed down at Cujo who was still being held in Danny's arms. "I mean he is a ghost dog right? Your dimension doesn't have weird mutated dogs that glow green right?"

"Ha ha! No we don't. Cujo here is a ghost dog that for some reason took a strong liking to me." Danny answered as he scratched the dogs head before lifting him up and looking at him in the eyes. "But he has a good question. Why are you able to stay here?" Cujo looked confused, and further reinforced this look by tilting his head slightly to the side – the universal signal of confusion with dogs.

It was also cute enough to make Artemis 'awe!', to which KF responded "You are soooo never gunna let that one down!".

"Now you listen here kid mouth, if you ever tell anyone about this, I'll –"

"Uh, guys? Don't we still have a mission to complete?" Danny asked in an attempt to stop the arguing, but mainly to get the attention off of him as well as a way to distract him from what just happened. He never realized how much he missed home until he thought he could return. The simple fact that he got so comfortable here in this other dimension, away from his friends and family, terrified Danny to his core.

"Phantom's right." Robin stated as he resumed his leadership role for this mission. "We have to keep our objective in mind. Our mission isn't over yet and we have to execute this mission perfectly, especially since we are currently down 3 key members of our team. We can't become distracted."

The team knew they had to step up for this mission. They had a reputation of messing up their missions and making them that much more difficult than they were supposed to be. This is Phantom's first mission with the team, and they don't have Miss Martian with them to set up a mind link, so they have to be more attentive, careful, and that much more communicative.

With their goal re-established, the team silently agreed that the mission had to come first. Determination befell the expressions of the teens and, after seeing this, Robin turned on his heel and headed back toward the Bioship. "Lets return to the ship. We still have a while before we reach Salem. And personally, I would like to get this mission over sooner rather than later."

The team nodded their heads in agreement. The best thing to do right now would be to finish this mission as soon as possible. Hopefully Danny can keep his wits about him until they return from their mission.

After boarding the Bioship, Danny took his seat and continued to cradle Cujo on his lap, refusing to relinquish any physical contact with the ghost dog in fear of losing his only connection to his dimension. Cujo didn't mind though. He quite enjoyed being held by his Danny.

Danny was startled out of his trance when a hand to his shoulder startled him. Turning, he could see that it belonged to Robin. "Danny. I know you feel lost and alone right now. You may even feel a little betrayed that the other ghost left you or that your friends haven't seemed to have found a way to get you back yet. I can't promise that they will find you soon, but I can promise you this: We're here for you man. No matter how long you're stuck here, remember that you have us and that we will always have your back. And we can help you try to find a way back home!" Danny stared back at Robin with wide eyes. He had to admit, he wasn't expecting a talk like that, especially from Robin. Robin smiled at the baffled look on the ghosts face. "You have friends, man. Remember that. We'll always be here for you."

Danny felt the truth behind those words, and he really appreciated it. "Thanks. I mean it. It's always nice to know you have friends to back you up." Trying to lighten the mood a little, he looks into Rob's masked eyes with a playful smirk. "I'll try and stayed whelmed."

Robin smirked, but that turned into a laugh when he heard Artemis exclaim "Great! Not you too!" before he turned and headed toward his chair so they can continue on with their mission.

"Next stop: Salem, Massachusetts!"

The Esperanto was translated through Google. Sorry if there are any errors.