Chapter 14:

~~~THIRD PERSON POV~~~

Vlad paced back and forth, mumbling to himself with a bitter scowl on his face.

I can't believe that buffoon's son actually defeated me. Me! All thanks to that little ghost girl... he thought.

"Master..." Rudy said, approaching me cautiously.

"WHAT?!" Vlad yelled. As he turned around, his cape whipped behind him.

"I have uncovered some data. About the... topic you spoke about earlier."

"What?! Impossible!"

"Come with me."

Vlad scowled, but reluctantly follow him. They went to the study.

"Well, spit it out. What is it?!" Vlad said, crossing his arms impatiently.

Rudy sat in the desk chair and typed away on the computer. A screen popped up, showing multiple files. Vlad scanned the computer screen and his scowl deepened.

"You dolt!" Vlad cried, furiously trying to fight back the urge to smack his minion upside the head. "I already know all of this! There's nothing else!"

"That's what they want you to think." Rudy said.

He clicked on a button and a small window popped up, asking for a code. He typed it in, strange and intricate designs appearing one after another. A file popped up in a language unknown to man, but looking at the language, Vlad knew right away what it was. A smile curled up in the corners of his face.

"Well, well, well..."

~SARALYN~

We arrived at Sam's house, and a while later, Tucker came zooming over on his electric scooter. We entered Sam's house, and I was astonished. I mean, I thought that the house looked big on the outside, but it was even bigger on the inside. Like, huge with a capital holy crud.

"THIS is your house?!" I said in awe.

I glanced up at the giant crystal chandelier that hung above us.

"Yeah. It's a long story..." Sam said, nonchalantly shrugging.

"So, where should we keep Wulf?" Danny said.

Wulf sprawled onto the floor on his back, hoping someone could scratch his belly. I stifled some laughter.

"In our dog kennel." Sam said.

"You have dogs?" I asked.

"No, my dad is allergic to them, but hey, we need something to fill our rooms."

"Okay then, lead the way." Tucker said.

~DANNY~

Sam lead us to the dog kennel, which wasn't very hard to find because the door to the dog kennel read "Dog Kennel".

"Okay, Wulf," I heard Sara say, "You'll stay here until it's safe for you to return to the Ghost Zone. Maybe this thing with Skulker and Walker will blow over soon."

We stepped closer to the door and stopped as mine and Sara's ghost senses went off.

That's weird...

Wulf sniffed the door and snarled.

"It's okay, Wulf." I said, patting Wulf's back. "I mean, what's so bad about a dog kennel?"

"Did you even hear what you just said?" Sam said, crossing her arms.

Tucker opened the door and gasped. As the door swung open, we were able to see Walker and Skulker standing in the kennel.

"You just HAD to say that, didn't you?!" Sam said, slapping my arm.

"Hey!" I cried, rubbing my arm.

"Hiding a wanted creature from the law?" Walker said, his arms crossed in front of his chest. "That's against the rules."

"The penalty?" Skulker said, smirking, "Your heads on my trophy case!"

Out popped a rocket from Skulker's armor, and it was pointing right at us.

"RUN!" Sara cried. We grabbed Tucker and Sam and flew out as Wulf jumped out a window, breaking it.

"Darn it, that was pure Jadeite!" Sam cried. "Do you know how much that costs?!"

"Sorry, Sam, I didn't know that window is more important than OUR LIVES!" Tucker said.

Wulf howled, trying to get out attention. We looked ahead and jerked out of the way of a post. I looked behind us and saw the rocket, still following us.

"Darn heat-seeking missiles." I mumbled.

"Danny!" Sam cried, pointing at the rocket. "Look!"

The rocket suddenly swerved down. As I traced the rocket with my eyes, I saw the target, a boy with short blonde hair wearing a polo shirt and jeans. I looked at Sara, who had a horrified look on her face.

"The rocket's heading towards Aaron!" Sara cried. "AARON!"

Aaron stopped, and just as he turned around, the rocket collided into the ground. There was an explosion, and we all flew back into the ground. Sara jumped up to her feet and ran forward. Through the dust and smoke, there was nothing but a large crater in the ground. Aaron was gone.

~SARALYN~

As I stared gaping at the huge crater blemishing the streets, everyone stood beside me, shock washing over their faces.

"Oh, no..." Sam said, one hand covering her mouth in shock.

"Why did the rocket go towards Aaron in the first place?" Tucker asked. I shook my head. I couldn't take my eyes off of the crater.

"Aaron..." I said, putting my head in my hands.

There was a moment of silence.

"Did someone call me?" a voice said. We whirled around.

"Aaron! You're okay!" I smiled. I studied him in disbelief. He looked as if the rocket didn't even touch him.

"What!" Danny said. "I can't even survive a hug from my dad without looking a little disheveled! You just got BLOWN UP! How is that possible?!"

Aaron looked around carefully.

"Okay, I guess I should tell you. But first off, I know you guys are half ghost." he said.

"What?!" Danny and I cried in unison.

"It's okay, I won't tell anyone. Besides I knew it the moment I laid eyes on you." Aaron said, putting a hand over his heart. He turned to Danny. "And by the way, the next time you feel like glaring daggers at somebody, you might want to cool it with the glowing eyes."

Danny cowered in embarrassment. "Sorry..."

"Aaron... what are you?"

"I'm..." Aaron said his voice a little low. He took another look around. "I'm magic."

"Magic?" Sam said a little too loudly. Aaron gestured her to be quiet. "Like a warlock or wizard?"

Aaron nodded. Danny began to laugh.

"Oh, come on." he said. "Are we on Punk'd or something? How do we know you're not just lying?"

Aaron smiled, casually cracking his knuckles. "Oh, I love it when people ask that question."

"Huh?"

Aaron snapped his fingers and the street light that stood next to us morphed into a giant serpent. I screamed and jumped back, jumping into Tucker's arms. Aaron chuckled, snapped his fingers again, and the serpent turned back into its street light form.

"So..." Tucker said. "I take it you're interested?"

I scowled and jumped out of his arms, taking a step away from him.

"You...you..." Sam said, flabbergasted. Her purple eyes widened.

"You really are magic." I said. "Why didn't you tell us before?"

Aaron gave me a "seriously?" look.

"Sorry." I said. "Well, welcome to the team. We need your help with protecting Wulf from these two bad ghost guys named Walker and Skulker."

"Okay, Wulf..." Danny said.

We all turned around.

"Wulf?!" I cried.

Wulf was gone.

~DANNY~

"WULF!" I cried cupping my hands over my mouth.

"Danny, calm down!" Tucker said.

"But... Wulf is gone!"

I began to pace back and forth while wringing my hands. Sara put a hand on my shoulder and stopped me.

"Danny, it's okay." she said. "We'll find Wulf. It shouldn't be too hard to find a giant ghost wolf."

I turned and looked at her. The sun was in a perfect angle, casting a golden glow on her face and absorbing into her lavender eyes that crinkled up into a smile. She looked... beautiful.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute... this is getting weird... I thought.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Yeah, you're right..."

"As usual." Sara said giving me a playful smile. I rolled my eyes and smiled back.

We turned around to see Aaron sitting on the ground.

~AARON~

"Aaron, what are you doing?!" Sara said, "This is no time to be sleeping!"

"I'm not sleeping." I said, opening my eyes and looking up at her. "I'm meditating."

"Um... why?"

"So I can mind-travel. It's taken me a while to perfect, but I should be able to find your ghostly pet."

I heard Danny snicker. "Mind-travel?"

"Look, do you want me to help you find Wulf or not?!" I snapped. Danny shut his mouth.

I closed my eyes again, but I could still feel their eyes gawking at me.

"You know, I would concentrate better if you guys weren't STARING AT ME!" I cried, my eyes still closed. I heard the shuffling of feet and quiet whispers, but I ignored their comments.

I took deep breaths and cleared my mind.

Come on, you big pile of ghost fur... where are you?

All of a sudden, my head felt like it got hit by a brick. I cried out in pain and fell back.

"Aaron!" Sam said.

She whirled around and grabbed my arm to keep me from slamming my head against the broken cement. She pulled me into her arms and carefully laid my head on the ground. Everything went black.

I opened my eyes to a large and spacious void. The sky was dark with green swirling portals and floating doors strewn in the air.

The Ghost Zone. I thought. Why am I not surprised?

I stood up and looked up at a giant prison that was built on the gigantic floating rock I stood on. I walked right through the door and looked around.

Now, if I was a ghost warden, where would I keep a ghost wolf?

I didn't know the answer, so I kept looking around. I found Wulf with his wrists and neck in chains that were connected to the wall. His clothes were completely tattered, more than usual. I saw a few patches of raw skin on his arms and legs. He was slightly bleeding. Walker and Skulker were standing several feet away from Wulf, talking to each other.

"What should we do about Wulf?" Skulker asked.

"Wulf's the bait of my plan. He's to lure the ghost kids and their friends to come and save him." Walker said, "Then we capture them and let them rot in a cell."

"Are you sure about that?" Skulker said. "You don't know what you're up against. The ghost whelp is powerful, especially with that ghost girl."

"There's nothing scary about a bunch of ghost brats."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that..."

Walker chuckled and Skulker crossed his arms. Wulf let out a howl and collapsed to the ground.

My eyes shot open and I sat upright, groaning and clutching the side of my head.

"Wow. Mind-traveling: I don't recommend it." I said.

"Aaron, are you okay?" Sam asked, still kneeling beside me.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine."

I looked at the others and my face fell into a serious expression.

"I know where Wulf is." I said.

"Really?! Where is he?!" Danny said quickly.

"He's in the Ghost Zone." I said.

I told them my vision. Everyone had horrified looks on their faces, especially Danny, who looked as if he was about to pass out from how angry he was.

"That Walker." Danny said, clenching his fists. "I'm gonna make him rot in a cell!"

"Skulker was actually against wanting to capture us?" Saralyn said, crossing her arms. "You know, something's been pretty off about that guy. I mean, he suddenly disappears, and when he comes back, he has no memory of where he went? What's going on with that guy?"

"I don't know, and I don't plan on having a heart-to-heart with that guy anytime soon. We need to help Wulf."

Sara rolled her eyes and sighed in defeat.

"Okay, let's go." Sam said.

Danny and Sara changed forms.

"Uhh, guys?" I said, pointing at myself. "Hello? Magic?"

"Oh, right." Saralyn said. "Lead the way, Wizard of Oz."

I snapped my fingers, and in the blink of an eye, we vanished.

~THIRD PERSON POV~

"Incredible!" Vlad said.

He reread the file repeatedly, making sure that single word was engraved into his brain. With each time Vlad read the file, the smile on his face grew. Rudy crossed his arms in satisfaction.

"Rudy, riddle me this: what is something that exists in everyone's life, yet is forgotten as if it never did?"

Rudy looked a little uncomfortable. "Um... I don't know, Master. What?"

Vlad sat back and held his hands together.

"The past. And you know the saying, "Those who fail history are doomed to repeat it"? Well..." Vlad let out a chuckle. "The worlds are about to receive a pop quiz. There are only three beings that have the power I seek, and all of them live in a dimension oblivious to the human world... but not anymore."

Rudy raised his eyebrow. "Where are you going with this, Vlad?"

Vlad smiled and stood up. "Pack my things, Rudy. I am going on a little trip."

~SARALYN~

We appeared at the doors of the prison. Everyone collapsed to the ground except Aaron.

"Okay, this magic thing is going to take some getting used to." I said to Aaron, who was standing up straight and brushing away dust that collected on his clothes.

"All right, so how are we going to get Wulf out of there?" Sam asked.

Danny thought about it, then smiled. He changed back into human.

"Uhh... why did you do that?" Aaron asked.

"In the ghost zone, we're the ghosts." I said.

Aaron raised an eyebrow. I rolled my eyes.

"Observe." I said.

I changed back to human and walked up to the wall. I held up my arm and stuck it through the entrance doors. It phased right through with ease.

"Impressive." Aaron said. "Anyways, Tucker, Sam, you guys stay out here and be lookouts."

"Aw, how come we have to be the look outs?!" Tucker whined.

"Do you want to hang on with a bunch of ghost criminals?" Sam said.

Tucker's face flushed. "On second thought, I'll just hang out here."

Aaron rolled his eyes. "Sara, Danny, you guys and I will go in and get Wulf."

"Okay." Danny and I said in unison.

We all put out hands in the middle and split up.

~SARALYN~

Danny and I followed Aaron through the ghost prison, staying invisible to avoid being caught by the guards that patrolled around.

"He's in there." Aaron said as he walked up to a door.

"Let's just get Wulf and get out of here." Danny said.

"Wait a minute." I said stopping him. "Do you hear that?"

"What?"

"Listen..."

We heard small voices in the background that got louder as it got closer. I identified them as Skulker and Walker.

"When will those twerps get here?!" Skulker said, crossing his arms.

"Patients, Skulker." Walker said. "They'll be here."

"I still don't plan on capturing them. I just want to prove to you that they can't be stopped. You don't know what you're up against!"

"Are you questioning me? Because that is against the rules. Now keep your mouth shut."

Skulker mumbled to himself and I could hear the sound of him rolling his eyes.

"See? Skulker's acting so weird..." I said. "What's up with him?"

There was a pause and I heard a chuckle from Walker.

"Looks like they've arrived." he said.

We gasped. From the other side of the door, there was a ripping sound and a loud howl. Danny's eyes widened.

"WULF!" he cried, reaching for the doorknob.

"Danny, no!" I said, grabbing his arm.

At that same moment, the door was thrown open, and we fell back against the wall. A giant shadow loomed over us.

~DANNY~

"Wulf!" I cried out.

Wulf barked happily and licked my face.

"Easy boy." I said.

"What happened?" Sara said.

Wulf spoke his "nerd" language and flexed his muscles. Sara chuckled.

"Well, all right then." Aaron said. "We have Wulf, now let's get out of here."

We turned around, and at that exact moment, another shadow, bigger than Wulf's, squeezed through the door.

"Guards! Capture the prisoner!" Walker cried.

"RUN!" Sara finally screeched.

A wave of ghost guards zoomed towards us. We ran down the hallway, Sara and I blasting guards with our ecto-rays and Wulf slashing at them with his claws.

"Stop them!" a guard cried.

"Aaron, we'd really appreciate it if you did your magic stuff and got us out of here!" I said.

"Oh, right. Hang on, guys!" Aaron said.

He shot his hand out and a portal appeared before us. We jumped through and collapsed in a dog pile inside the Fenton's ghost lab.

"Ugh, you need a bath!" Sara coughed.

"Wulf doesn't smell that bad." I said.

"I wasn't talking about Wulf! Now get off of me!"

Sara shook us off and sat up.

"Hey, where are Sam and Tucker?" I said.

"Wait for it..." Aaron said.

We heard some screams and Sam and Tucker came tumbling out of the portal onto Saralyn.

"Seriously?!" Sara cried. "Haven't you ever heard of a little word called relocation?!"

"A little warning next time for be great." Sam said, rolling onto the ground and standing up.

"I'm sorry, but I just saved your butts back there." Aaron said, crossing his arms. "A little "thank you" or some praising would be accepted.

Sam glared and him and he raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Well, mission accomplished, I guess." Tucker said.

"Could things get even more random around here?" Sam said, crossing her arms.

"Don't jinx it. Next thing we know, we'll be fighting against a giant ogre king or something." Danny said.

Everyone chuckled.