Outlaw Island
The island that Jason called home for a brief time looked wildly different after more than a year of abandonment. The sand of the beach looked as undisturbed as ever, and the water a dark clear blue. The area that housed what was left of the ship was wildly overgrown, with tropical plants and vines creeping through and over the ship. Roy's makeshift craft landed easily on the sand, and Jazz was the first one off the plane.
"I'm not getting back on that death trap if I can avoid it!" She hollered back at the others, nearly a quarter mile down the beach already.
"Jazz," Danny hollered in disbelief. "It wasn't that bad! And it's not like we have the Specter Speeder anymore, so that's literally the only way off the island until we get the portal going!"
Valerie disembarked after Danny. "Well, we were stuck on the thing for hours, I don't blame her. I'm impressed and concerned that we got this far in such a short amount of time."
"Wait, did we even bring enough food for however long this is gonna take? I didn't realize that Red was gonna take us to a remote island in the middle of nowhere." Danny asked, suddenly struck by the realization.
"Nah don't worry. Jazz and Valerie went out when everyone else was asleep and raided a couple of stores," Tucker said smugly. "And they got plenty of meat!"
Sam rolled her eyes. "That'll probably last you what, a day or two?"
Tucker stuck out his tongue. "I can control myself, Sam."
"Can the two of you help me unload this plane?" Jason interrupted from the plane's doorway. "If we need to get more food, there's a small tourist spot not too far from here. Far enough that no one ever bothers to come out this way, but still close enough to fly over."
Johnny and Kitty were quick to float out of the plane. "It looks like you've all got that under control, so we're going to check out that other ship over there." Kitty pointed at the overgrown mass.
"Thanks for your help, and don't set off any of the traps!" Jason grumbled sarcastically.
"So…" Danny started. "Where are we gonna put all of this? Is there an actual shelter here?"
"Of course there is! I wouldn't fly us all the way out here to rough it. The ship's probably still in good shape."
"Probably? Are you mad? That ship looks like it hasn't moved in five years–is there even any running water?!" Valerie exclaimed.
"Of course there is! That ship is way more advanced than this one, it's built to hold up for years!" Jason said, offended.
"The vines and ivy draped all over it would like to present a counter argument." Sam said sarcastically.
"It's a Tamaran ship, don't worry about it." Jason waved off the complaints.
The group made quick work of setting up the ship, dusting off of the fixtures and rebooting the systems. At the end of one long hallway, the metallic door that led to what was once Kori and Roy's room remained shut, the dust on the knob undisturbed. In no time at all, the group reconvened in the center of the ship, a command hub with a worn circular table and a cluster of mismatched steel and plastic lawn chairs. The table was made of solid oak, though it had clearly been hewn by an inexperienced carpenter. With a flourish, Jason whipped out a wrinkled paper map and spread it across the table's surface. Crooked lines were etched across the yellowing paper, dots of dark black ink leaching through to the other side.
"Please tell me that we're not about to go hunting for treasure." Kitty snarked. Jason rolled his eyes and flipped her off.
"Me and my friends mapped the island a couple'a years ago, fuck off." Jason said good naturedly.
"This isn't a map of the best places to go foraging or whatever, right?"
"No. It's for security, but also to have a good idea of what the best-defended places on the island would be. I figured that a portal to hell might need to be in a somewhat secure location." Jason said, voice full of exasperation.
"Hey! The Ghost Zone isn't Hell!" Johnny protested.
"It may not be Hell, but parts of it are hell." Danny muttered under his breath.
"If you two are done with your bickering, can we settle down and decide what the best place for the portal would be?" Valerie crossed her arms, looking mightily unimpressed with all of them.
"I think it should be somewhere that would scare off anyone with bad intentions, but can be hooked up to power." Jazz suggested.
"I felt it as soon as we landed, this island definitely has a lot of latent ectoplasm." Kitty confirmed.
"Latent ectoplasm?" Jason asked.
Danny shrugged. "There's places on Earth where the veil between the dimensions is pretty thin. That's why Amity Park worked for my parents' portal. They don't know how to tap into latent ecto, which is why they had to use electricity to get their portal running."
Jazz groaned in remembrance. "They knocked out half of the power grid, and the electricity company refused to restore our power for weeks. The neighbors hated us even more after that."
Danny, Sam, and Tucker looked a bit uncomfortable at that. "Hey, the teachers did give us less homework for a while since so many of the students' power was down." Tucker joked weakly.
Clearing his throat, Danny changed the subject. "Anyway, I figured out how to tap into the latent ecto, so we don't need to worry about using electricity."
Danny and his friends huddled over the map, poring over the places that Jason had roughly circled in pencil while they'd bickered. Amongst themselves, they traced the paths from the ship, and considered them all. One location was deep in what appeared to be a jungle; another, deep in a cave system. Bizarrely enough, the third location was up the beach, barely a few yards from the ship. Danny frowned at the sight of the circle, the furrow between his brows deepening.
"The beach? How is that safe?"
"It's not exactly on the beach; there's a large rock formation there, where the beach meets the jungle, it's not my favorite spot, but it's not where anyone would expect a cavern to be." Jason shrugged.
Danny's face was solemn as he considered the other locations. Dropping his index finger onto the cave system, he squinted at the map. "What about this one?"
"It's a bit high up, but there's a pretty twisty cave system. It's not easy to spot from above, and I was thinking that radiation or any kind of signatures would be a bit tough to pick up. Me and Roy only got about a mile in before we turned back."
"Roy?" Danny lifted his head from the map to look at Jason.
Jason waved his hands around vaguely. "My inventor friend. He's the one who built the other ship and a bunch of the stuff here."
"And the last one? It looks like it's in the jungle, right?" Valerie pitched in.
"Yea, it's in the jungle. It won't be hard to rig something up, we used to test different traps and weapons out there."
"I think the cave is the best choice, the shelter is already there. We can add traps and stuff later." Danny decided.
"Uh, Danny, he did say that it's pretty high up; who's gonna haul all of that equipment up there?" Sam demanded.
"I have ghost powers!" Danny protested. "Also, Johnny and Kitty can help me carry stuff–even Jason can fly!"
"Johnny and Kitty are gonna help with what now?" Johnny piped up from where he was leaning against the wall of the ship.
"You didn't help with unloading the other ship, so I think that's fair if you ask me," Valerie fixed them with a dark look, "It's settled then, the ghosts can take the equipment up to the cave."
The motley group steadily made their way through the trees, which were vibrant with the chirping of birds and buzzing of insects. The dirt path was soft beneath their feet, partially concealed by the grasses and flower bushes. Stray twigs snapped underfoot. The terrain gradually became rockier as they ascended, though the canopy of the trees grew thicker. Danny, Jason, and Kitty glowed like beacons in the growing darkness. It took almost half an hour for the group to reach the caves. Tucker and Jazz were the most affected by the impromptu hike, faces glistening with sweat as they struggled to catch their breath. The entrance of the cave was hard to spot. The tree canopy was so dense that the area was nearly pitch black, even in the middle of the day. Many large boulders were scattered about, and the entrance was shallow enough to trick even the keenest eyes.
Jason floated to an abrupt stop, arms full of scrap metal and spare parts. "We're here."
Jazz heaved. "Are you sure? There isn't another mountain waiting for us before we really get there?"
"Yeah," Tucker added. "This was literally worse than Tetslaff's suicides."
Jason smirked. "I'm sure. It's right through here. We wanted security, didn't we? Watch your step."
"Finally!" Danny let out an exaggerated sigh. "My arms were starting to burn!"
Though the entrance was shallow, the twisty path eventually smoothed and widened, its low ceilings giving way. Danny conjured a ball of ectoplasm to light the way, the eerie neon green light bouncing off of the dark gray rocks. The air in the cave system was damp, its coolness a sharp contrast to the cloying heat of the jungle. Tucker cursed as he accidentally stumbled over a stray rock, nearly careening into Jazz and Valerie. The ghosts confidently breezed through the first large cavern, where a tall passage was concealed behind two particularly sharp rocks that jut out of the earth at acute angles. As the group descended through the tunnels, the air became colder. The soft sound of wings fluttering high above amongst the stalactites filled the air. The sound of dripping water in the distance was a constant companion.
"What are those?" Jazz asked quietly, looking at the movement on the ceiling of the cave. A prolonged hush had inadvertently come over the group as they navigated.
"Bats." Jason said simply. "They'll stay up there as long as we don't bother them too much, don't worry about it."
The final cave that they came to was larger than the previous four combined. The earth was densely packed, and the walls were relatively smooth, if a bit wet. Unlike the other caverns, there was no sign of any other hidden passages. Jason and the other ghosts came to a halt.
"This is it," The halfa said. "This is about as far as Roy and I were ever able to get."
"This place is huge!" Danny's eyes were wide as he took in the space.
"Did you and Roy ever wonder what created this? Or like…what large predators might live here?" Jazz asked.
"I mean, yes? But between the two of us and my other friend Kori, we checked the whole island, there weren't any big animals or anything like that, if that's what you mean." Jason rolled his neck and started to lower the parts down to the ground. He gave a cheeky grin at the others. "There aren't any bears, if that's what you're worried about." Jazz huffed and turned away.
"No bears, it's tough to get to, and the temperature is good? I think that this place is as perfect as it's gonna get, other than being far from Amity." Danny said cheerfully.
"The twerp isn't wrong. There's a lot of latent ecto here, I think you could probably open a portal here." Johnny said.
Danny swiveled around from where he'd started to unpack all of his devices. "I'm literally the twerp that's building your way home Johnny." Danny said, while sticking his tongue out at the ghost.
"Kid, I'm not that bothered about finding my way back to the Ghost Zone right now." Johnny rolled his eyes.
"What do you mean that you're 'not that bothered about finding a way back to the Ghost Zone'?" Valerie spoke up. "Didn't I tell you two that the Fentons and the GIW are on the warpath?"
"Yeah, I thought you were just helping Red get back home and checking in on a few people in Gotham?" Danny narrowed his eyes at him. "You really can't show out like you usually do in Amity. I have a few thermoses that are sitting empty."
Johnny raised his hands defensively, gesturing at Kitty with one hand. "Hey, it's been a long time since either of us have been to Gotham, it might take us a while to find our siblings."
A grim silence fell over the group at the implications.
"Alright. Just as long as nothing gets out of hand," Danny muttered. "Let's just get this portal set up."
Recreating the setup that they'd had in the Elmerton warehouse took hours, even with the ghosts and halfas flying back and forth between the cave and the ships. Jason had flown in most of the boxes; Kitty and Johnny dragged the tables in one by one with relatively few complaints. Even Valerie had lent a hand in flying the others back and forth on her hoverboard once she'd gotten a handle on the route to the cave. The gleaming steel tables were spread out across the main space, covered in a few boxes of ecto, beakers, screws, tools, ecto-weapons, and other miscellaneous items. Danny had begun to unfurl the base of the unfinished portal at the back wall of the cave.
With a pencil tucked behind his ear, Danny felt about the wall. "Red, I think that a portal might be more stable if I could carve a tunnel out, at least more stable than the ring."
Jason ambled over and examined the back wall. "Yeah, I think it'd be harder to fuck up a portal that's in a tunnel. But how much time do you wanna spend on it?"
Danny grinned maniacally. "It won't take long at all. I could use an ectobeam like a laser and phase the rest out!"
Jason stared at him in disbelief before shaking his head and walking away.
A/N: I can't believe that we're getting so close to the finale, it feels unreal. I want to thank everyone again for their comments and favorites!