Ello! Been a long time, but it's not my fault. My computer crashed on me and I was so scared that I would loose everything, but I didn't! YEAH! But the virus protection went bye-bye so I can't get on the internet on my own computer. :( It should be fixed soon though. Anyway, I'll go ahead and upload a couple of updates while I can. I have a lose description of how the rest of this one will go, I hope to get it done sometime within the next couple of months. When I have the time.

Happy reading!

Chapter 3—Jurassic

"So, what do we do now?"

Jack waited for a response, but was met with silence. Quite a while ago, the atmosphere here became pitch black and rain began to pour down the hillside, keeping the cave dry at least, but cold as well. Jack had been watching the unusual weather, studying it with a deep interest, but he was soon bored of it. To block out the rocking thunder and bright lightening, Jack decided to start up a conversation with the only other thing here, but he wasn't talking. He turned his head to shout at the ghost, but stopped himself in surprise.

Phantom looked uncomfortable leaning against the wall at a crooked angle like that, but the ghost looked so exhausted and far away that Jack couldn't bring himself to talk. Phantom's bright green eyes were faded, a sign he was low on energy. Jack had noticed this after many of Phantom's tougher battles, also seeing that it also happened with other ghosts as well, but not as much as it happened with Phantom—especially as of late.

"Are you alright?" Jack asked the ghost, making the spector jump in surprise.

"I don't know," Phantom rasped, trying to shift his position, but it didn't do any good for comfort. "I haven't felt right since I woke up. I also haven't completely healed after my last big battle. I was hurt pretty bad and was drained almost to the point where I could fall apart. I've been trying to conserve my energy since then, but after today, I'm drained. I'm amazed that I had enough to run for as long as I did."

"Are you going to be okay?"

"I think so," Phantom glanced outside then turned his green eyes on Jack. "Nothing is going to come out during that storm, so I think I can risk closing my eyes for a while."

"For what? Sleep?" the big man asked sarcastically. "Ghosts don't sleep—they don't need it with all of their energy supply just floating around them, they don't require it."

"Well, there's nothing to pull from here for me," Phantom said, looking to be in a bad mood but too tired to pull it off. "Just, let me know if something comes at us."

The ghost slumped into the rock and was almost immediately out of it. Jack was amazed, the only other person he knew who could just shut off like that, besides himself that is, was his son—and he was quiet stubborn to get out of bed in the morning too. He wondered if ghosts experienced the tension of an early wake-up call. It would be something to test.

While Phantom slept adjacent from Jack, the big man was contemplating on how to get out of here. Apparently, there was no energy source for Phantom to pull from, meaning he was just as stuck as Jack was without his powers; maybe even more so because Phantom was use to relying on his powers for everything, meaning he might hamper Jack's escape more than help with it. Also, the lack of powers made Jack think that perhaps they were not in the Ghost Zone, or that they were in a part of the Zone that was completely lacking in the energy that a ghost needed to survive and remain stable. A weak point in the environment that might be the equivalent of a human desert; humans could remain the in harsh environment, but not for long without food or water—and shade. Perhaps this place, was like a Ghost Zone desert, drying up the ghost's energies until it died of starvation.

How he wished he had a pencil and pen to write all of this stuff down. He was sure to forget by the time he got out of here.

Anyway, back on track to escaping. The ghost who brought them here was no doubt still out there, looking for them, but like Phantom said, nothing would be traveling in this harsh weather. The problem was location—they didn't know theirs' and they didn't know their pursuer's. That would cause problems because Jack didn't want to bump into that metal-head again. Phantom was powerless and he was without his weapons—right?

Jack quickly went through his pockets, finding three granola bars, a few experimental anti-ghost bug-bombs, the Fenton Fisher (still in a knot), and a piece of lint that didn't make it into the dryer lint catcher. With these new variables, Jack quickly tried to come up with a plan. He didn't have one, but at least he could work on the Fenton Fisher to make it at least a helpful weapon.

He didn't know how long he sat there, bent over the Fisher and mumbling on how Danny should have done this—it was on the chore list for him to do—but he didn't notice when the rain stopped. It was the large sound of earth-shaking steps that broke his concentration. It also snapped Phantom out of his sleep. The ghost looked around blearily, trying to get a hold of his surroundings when the crushing steps became louder.

They both looked at each other, then at the entrance to the cave where nothing was visible except for the trees and rocks they scrambled over before. Suddenly, the roof shook in the cave, pelting them with dirt and rocks. Then the entrance was blocked as if a giant bolder was placed there by a giant hand—a scaly, smelly boulder. The blockade moved itself and replaced itself about a yard away.

"No way," Phantom whispered, looking up and out of the cave with an expression of awe on his face.

Jack had much the same look. What they were seeing, walking away very calmly from their hiding spot, was a T-Rex. It was far enough away now that they could see the large head and thick tail with tiny arms and sharp teeth that signified the dinosaur as a carnivore.

"I think I know where we are now," Phantom said, sitting back down against the wall of the cave. "Extinction Island."

"And where is that?" Jack asked, to scared and excited to really care he was talking to a ghost anymore.

"I don't know. I've only heard about it, like a legend type thing. I didn't know it actually existed," Phantom shook his head and sighed. "Basically, Extinction Island is a place for the last of one of its kind to stay and never die. It was supposed to be a safe haven for rare specimens, but if Skulker placed us here, then it's just another hunting ground for him, like some sort of sick, twisted version of a play ground for little kids."

"So, every kind of extinct animal from earth is here?" Jack asked.

"There and the Ghost Zone," Phantom nodded. "And I don't want to know what a Ghost Zone T-Rex looks like. We need to get out of here."

"Can you fly?"

Phantom closed his eyes for a minute, then frowned and began to rub his neck.

"I feel too drained, I don't think so."

Jack frowned at the way Phantom was rubbing his neck, it looked like he was in pain.

"You alright?" he asked.

"My neck just feels weird. It itches from the inside."

"Let me see."

Jack always wanted to get a close look at ghost physiology, he as just using the situation to his advantage. He bent down close and pulled down the collar of Phantom's suit. Phantom bent his head out of the way for Jack to see more clearly.

"It's a needle mark," Jack asked, stupefied. "It's really inflamed and red, I don't think whoever did this to you was kind enough to do it gently."

"Skulker," Phantom growled. "He probably injected something into my body to stop my powers. That would explain just about everything."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked pulling away.

"Without my powers, I'm pretty much human, besides the durability. I can still run, walk, normal stuff like that, but ever since we got here, I feel weak and shaky. I don't know how to explain it, but I think I'm feeling sick."

"It's probably a bad side effect to the tranquilizer," Jack blurted out, thinking out loud and not realizing it.

"What!"

Jack stopped his thinking and looked down at Phantom. The ghost boy looked worried, scared even, for some reason.

"Well, sometimes humans can have a bad reaction to anesthetics," Jack explained, thinking the ghost was confused and he had to elaborate his point. "The effects vary from nausea to death."

At the sound of 'death', Phantom went even paler then normal and hugged his knees as if for support. Jack was confused by this behavior. Phantom was already dead, so he didn't have to fear death, but perhaps things like this didn't happen very often to ghosts and he was scared of what would happen to him. After all, a ghost didn't have to fear death, but falling apart into oblivion as if you never existed, that would be scary to a ghost.

"You won't leave me . . . right?" Phantom asked, sounding scared, pathetic, and very much like a frightened little kid.

Jack sighed, being reminded of when Danny often came into his room when he was little and wanted his daddy to scare the ghosts away from under his bed. Danny had almost been in tears one night because he was sure the ghost was going to come and eat him.

"Come on," Jack said, brushing the question off, but not completely excluding Phantom as he spoke. "Let's follow the T-Rex, maybe we can find water if we follow it; from a distance of course. Can you get up?"

Phantom stood up shakily on his feet, ducking his head slightly so he wouldn't hit the rocky ceiling.

"I think I can manage," he said and started to walk out of the cave.

Jack let him walk out first, watching as the boy stumbled over small rocks in the pathway and jump over a rotten log and then fall in his weakened state. Every time though, Phantom would get right back up and move forward. Jack had to smile at the ghost's resilience—Phantom was stubborn, and perhaps, that wasn't a bad thing in their situation.