Okay, this chapter is a little longer. Enjoy!
Chapter 3
"Remind me again why we're going to Skulker's," Sam said in a very interrogative tone.
"Because he's been around here for forever and is often moving around the Ghost Zone. If anyone knows what lives in that thing he will," Danny explained to his best friend.
"Yeah, but dude, he's always hunting you. Don't you think he might start shooting at you?" Tucker asked.
"Well sure, but once I explain what I'm there for he'll understand," came the confident, almost cocky reply. "Going ghost!"
Danny flew off to the residence of the greatest hunter in the Ghost Zone, with his two best friends on the ground following closely.
"Skulker!" he called out, hoping for a reply. And there was one, just not one he wanted. An anti-ghost trap came out of nowhere and took Danny by surprise.
"What have I done?" came a menacing voice behind him. He turned around to see a man in a metal suit with flaming green hair and an equally flaming green goatee walk up to him. "I have not been hunting you or any of your friends. I'm not assisting any ghosts in a domination plan, so why are you trespassing on my island!?" came the question, asked with much anger.
Sam and Tucker ran up behind him. "Hey, leave him alone!" Sam shouted. Skulker pushed a button and a net swooped them into the trees above.
"I'll get to you two in a moment. Now, answer me, whelp!"
"I have something to ask you," came the reply from the halfa in the cage. "What do you know about a small shack on the very edge of the Ghost Zone, in the middle of nowhere?"
"What are you talking about?" the ghost demanded.
"A small house far off in the Ghost Zone. You mean you don't know anything about it?"
"Yes, actually, I have heard of it. It came out of nowhere thousands of years ago. Many claim it was built by one called the Fire King. Few have ever actually seen this ghost, but those who have say he is made of pure fire. If you want to know more about his, your best bet is to go the the Ghost Writer's library. He's still locked up for not upholding the Christmas Truce, so you should find no problems." With that he withdrew the cage, freeing the halfa contained therein.
"Thanks," Danny said as he started to fly off.
"One more thing," Skulker said. "Never trespass on my island again." he said in a menacing tone.
"Got it," Danny replied as he started to fly towards the Secter Speeder. He was stopped however by a shot to his rear. "Hey!"
"A warning shot," Skulker said with a smile. Danny turned around and flew towards the Speeder.
"Come on guys!" he yelled to his two friends below him.
Within a minute they were back in the craft, flying away from the remote island that was floating in the middle of the Ghost Zone. They turned and sped off to their next destination.
Five minutes later, they saw a large white building ahead of them. There were stone lions on either side of the entrance, and the building itself was cylindrical in nature. Danny pulled the speeder up in front of the front doors, and the three of them got out.
"Okay, look for anything on someone called the Fire King," Danny said to the other two as they walked up the steps and through the door.
"Got it," Sam said. as she went left. Tucker went right, and Danny went right in the middle. They began searching the numerous books on the towering shelves. They saw books on a wide spectrum of subjects, from phasing to laws to history of sandwitches. Tucker even saw one about boxes and how to control them. He took the book and looked inside. There he saw the only person to take it out was the Box Ghost.
"That figures," he mumbled under his breath as he put it back on the shelves. Right beside it he saw something that looked interesting..
"Hey guys, check this out!" he said. Danny and Sam looked around to him. "I found a book about ectoplasmic fire. Listen to this! 'Ectoplasmic fire is the one substance that will harm a ghost even if he phases through it. The only way to go through it is to create a full ghost shield around yourself and even then it won't last long.'," he read.
"Wait, then how do some ghosts have fiery hair?" Danny asked. Tucker flipped through the pages until he found it.
"Okay, here it is. 'Sometimes a ghosts hair can appear to be on fire, but it isn't. It is called ectoplasmic regerosis, and happens when a ghost goes through a major change in appearence. It is not ectoplasmic fire, though it can take on the traits of regular fire, such as starting a human fire when mixed with flammable chemicals. It is not lethal to a ghost.'"
"If that's true, then how can there be a ghost made of ecto-fire?" Sam asked. Danny shrugged his shoulders and continued searching. He skimmed over so many books, until he saw one medium sized book he had almost passed.
"Hey guys, I found it!" he yelled. He pulled out a book and held it up for them to see. The cover was purple with "The Fire King" written in gold.
"Awesome!" Tucker replied.
Danny went over to a table, where Sam and Tucker met him, and opened up the book. He was met with a sketch of what looked like a large fire with glowing, flaming, red eyes. He flipped the page and started reading.
"'Though his real name is unknown, many ghosts find the title of 'Fire King' to be very appropriate for the ghost due to his apprearence. He showed up thousands of years ago, around the time of the final seige of Pariah Dark's castle that would end the reign of the much hated monarch. It is because of this timing that many believe that Pariah, in a last act of desperation due to the seige, combined all the power from the ring of rage, crown of fire, and the power of the Fright Knight's sword, the Soul Shredder, to create a fiery minion that would stay alive after his eventual defeat. From here it is said that the minion flew off to the edge of the ghost zone to plot the return of his master. This theory is even further accented by reports of him hanging around the castle of the Ghost King during the second, shorter reign of the King which resulted in a defeat at the hands of Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius.'"
"Whoa. So this dude was made by Pariah Dark and is trying to figure out how to bring him back?" Tucker asked in disbelief.
"Yep. Come on, we've got to go back to that little shack," Danny replied.
"Wait," Sam stopped them.
"What?" the two boys asked in unison.
"Shouldn't we find some more information on this? You know, instead of relying on one book," Sam pointed out.
"I guess," Tucker said. They all got up and went back to the search. They continued to scan over the books.
"Here," Sam said. "Here's a book all about Pariah Dark." They all went back to that table and looked over the table of contents. "Here, 'Allies and Minions'. That's where the Fire King would show up," Sam said as she flipped through the pages.
"Let's see, 'Fright Knight', Skeleton Army', ah, here it is, 'Fire King'," Sam read. "'It is believed he was created by the Ghost King as a last attempt to fight off the invaders. A fiery minion who would last after Pariah's unavoidable defeat.' I think that says it all," Sam said.
"Okay, then let's go," Tucker replied. They all got up and headed back to the speeder, leaving the books sitting open on the table.
They all crawled into the Speeder and flew back to the small house. Having been there a couple times already, they had no trouble finding it again.
Danny slowly pulled up to the little shack that was now surrounded with so many questions.
"Okay, let me go make sure no one is in there. If it's okay, I'll phase you in.
Danny transformed and flew up to the small window by the door. He turned invisible and carefully looked in briefly. Just as before, there was a fire going, but no sign of any ghosts. Not bothering to look past the fireplace, he accepted it as clear. He flew back and grabbed the other two and phased them into the building.
"Oh....my....gosh," Sam muttered under her breath.
Danny and Tucker just stood there in a stupor, not able to say anything out of pure shock.