Chapter 5
It wasn't until around 8:30p that night that they were all assembled and ready to enter the Ghost Zone.
"So what are our main objectives here, guys." Sam asked, leaning against the Spector Speeder.
"Figuring out what all the ghosts are looking for." Danny said, as two white rings appeared around his waist, changing him from Fenton to Phantom.
"And, if possible, figure out why, whatever it is, is so important." Tucker added, heaving his bag of leftovers from dinner into the Speeder, just in case.
"Tucker, do you really need to bring all those innocent chopped up cow bits with us?" Sam asked incredulously.
"Yes, I do. Who knows what's going to happen in there and I for one do not want to be left hungry!"
"Of all things." Sam muttered under her breath and rolling her eyes.
"Are we ready to go?" Danny asked, opening the Ghost portal.
"Yeah, let's hit it." Sam said, refocusing on the mission ahead of them. Convincing Tucker how wrong being a carnivore is will have to wait until later. The two humans got into the Spector Speeder, buckled up and shit the door. Danny looked back at them and gave them a thumbs up, anticipating one in return.
With Sam's hands on the controls, Tucker gave his ghostly friend a thumbs up, all systems go.
Danny lead the trio through the portal. Entering the portal always gave off a tingling feeling, just like being in the Ghost Zone itself brought with it. Danny knew the energy here was different than in Amity. It was almost alluring to him, or his ghost half at least. He wasn't sure if the others felt it, he had never thought to ask.
He double-checked behind him to make sure his best friends had passed through the portal smoothly. There they were smiling back at him.
"Let's start heading this way." Danny pointed towards the direction he was most familiar with, although he didn't exactly feel entirely comfortable with his knowledge of the zone's geography.
"Whatever you say." Tucker said through the Speeder's outside communicator. Just then a beeping noise came from the ghost radar that the Speeder was also equipped with.
"Incoming Danny. Looks like there's a ghost heading our way from the right.
"Understood." Danny flew out a little further in front of his friends to get a better view. There were a lot of small islands hovering around where they were it was difficult to see too far beyond them. Just then a blast came from what seemed like no where at hit Danny on his right flank.
"Danny!" Both his friends yelled. However, their past experiences lead them to back up and try to locate the source of the enemy fire, instead of zooming closer to him.
"Ack! Who's there?" Danny said, regaining himself. "Show up you coward." He harassed. His hands began to glow, readying themselves to fire.
Just then another blast came from a different direction. Because it came from behind the boy, he hadn't noticed until it was too late. He was sent flying forward, almost hitting a hovering rock form. The pain stung, but he knew he had to shove it to the back of his mind.
He clicked his ear piece that was tied with the Spector Speeder. "You guys see anything? I'm having no luck!" The halfa cried out.
"We can't locate the entity but we do know that it's only one." He heard Tucker say after a quick frizzy noise.
"Okay, keep looking. Thanks." Danny recomposed himself, his hands ablaze with a ghostly green light. This time he formed balls of ectoenergy that rested in his hands. He calmed himself, trying to listen for any sound that may give the ghost away.
Several moments had passed and he had seen and heard nothing. He re-absorbed the energy he had put into hands and clicked his communicator in his ear. "That was weird, huh?"
"Yeah. We're all good here. Nothing's left on the radar." Sam said. "Where you at?"
Danny took a second to look around. "Uh, do you see an island with a decaying willow tree on it?"
It took a moment before he got a reply. "Got it, we'll be right over."
It only took a few minutes for him to see his friends hovering towards him, dodging floating islands left and right.
"You okay?" Tucker asked, his hands on the steering controls now.
"Yeah, I'm fine. The blasts were more annoying than harmful, ya know?" He said rhetorically.
"Did you see who the blasts were coming from?"
"No, I didn't. I don't know why they wouldn't just show themselves either. Oh well. Let's get going, this area is sort of creepy." Danny added, looking around at the decayed and soot scarred plants.
They hovered past a few areas they had investigated before and made sure to stay away from the even more potentially dangerous areas, like Walker's prison and even Plasmius' portal. When Plasmius came to mind Danny's concentrated resolve broke for a moment. His usual response was to swell with anger at his enemy's name but this time it was something else that filled him. What if he knew what was going on? Danny thought. Although he hated Vlad Masters with every ounce of his being, he also knew that he was the only other half ghost half human hybrid, besides his half clone Dani. He would never admit it to anyone, but Danny knew that that in itself created an unspoken bond between them.
"Hey Danny, what do you think about going to Skulker's lair?" Sam suggested, breaking Danny's train of thought.
"Wait, come again?" He asked, taken aback by the thought of it.
"Well. He is a hunter, or so he likes to believe. Maybe he's hunting whatever it is that everyone's looking for?" She said, unsure of herself when she received a shocked look from Tucker. "Hey. It's just a suggestion. Unless one of you have a better idea."
"I guess she's right, Danny. We're not really finding too much out here."Tucker added after thinking about it for a moment.
"If you guys are up for it, I guess it's our best option right now." Unless we went to Vlad's. Danny thought to himself, unsure of why his arch-enemy was coming to mind. He was sure though that by willing going to Skulker they were putting themselves at risk and he knew he'd have to be even more focused to keep his friends safe.
It took a bit of back-tracking and some shortcuts but they managed to get to the edge of Skulker's island relatively quick. They stopped at an entrance to a large cave, where Danny knew from personal experience was where Skulker lived, or rather existed. Danny went over to a flyer attached to the cave wall. It was blowing in the breeze that came from the forest that surrounded Skulker's cave.
"Home of the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter." Danny read out loud. "'If you leave now, I'll give you an hours head start before skinning your pelt and hanging it on my wall.' How kind." Danny added. "Are you guys sure?" He asked one last time before it really was too late to turn back.
"Yes!" Both his friends said together.
"Alright, let's go." Danny lit the cave up by flowing energy from his ghost core into his hand to create a ghostly light.
They didn't have to travel very far before they got to the heart of Skulker's home. He had every kind of creature imaginable hanging on his cave walls. They could hear rattling coming from even deeper in the cave. Danny cringed, thinking of the cages that he knew creatures were certainly locked in.
"He doesn't seem to be home." Tucker said, referring to the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter.
"We'll count that as our good luck for the day." Danny muttered, not feeling at all comfortable in his surroundings.
"Uh Danny!" Sam called urgently.
"What is it?" He asked flying over to where his friends were, a gnawing feeling entering his stomach. He stopped mid-step.
"Well uh, this explains at least one thing." Tucker laughed awkwardly, trying to make the situation better.
Danny picked up the stack of papers, reading the one on top. "WANTED" was printed in bold letters at the top. "$1,000,000 GB in Return for the Following: 1. Clockwork's Time Staff, 2. Information on Ghost Boy Danny Phantom."
"Uh, why don't we take this and get out of here." Tucker suggested, wanting to figure things out in a safer environment.
"Oh. You won't be getting out of here, ever." A grizzly voice called from behind them.
The trio nearly jumped out of their skins, looking behind them.
"Skulker." They said in unison.
*Okay, so I thought this chapter was going to be a climatic point but turns out the next one will be, promise! I do enjoy a good cliffhanger. And it's even better when you don't have to wait more than a day or two to resolve it. Until next time my lovely Halfas!