A/N: Gasp! I'm late! Not that it matters. This is the final Interlude, since this is our last girl. Unfortunately, despite the fact these interludes were meant to give me time to get ahead of chapter writing, I haven't really managed to do so, due to life treating me like a chew toy. One chapter after this is complete, and the one following is somewhere between 70 and 90 percent. That's a bit of a backlog, but not what I had hoped. As such, while I'm decently sure I'll get up through episode 20 done on regular schedule, there will probably be a delay following that. It's really up in the air. Regardless, please review, let me know what you're excited to see in the story, and maybe anything you'd like to see in the gaps between Season 1 and 2, since that's where I can fit some of the interesting stuff.

Danny dropped low as Johnny's tire iron sailed over his head, responding with a gut punch in turn. That earned him Shadow's claw-like hand raking over his back, a small amount of green ectoplasm leaking from the wound.

"Alright! First blood!" Johnny called out, coughing a bit as the pair (or perhaps trio?) separated. "You're really making me work for these. How are you keeping up with me AND Shadow like that?" The ghostly beatnik asked.

"Just… experience I guess? I had actual martial arts training before I had ghost powers. Add on me fighting ghosts and supervillains on a pretty regular basis for going on a year now? I'm getting pretty good at it." Danny said as Ember brought a rag to wipe the ectoplasm from his back.

"Yeah, you're a good fighter, but you SUCK at fighting like a ghost." Ember said with an eye-roll. "Not that I'm much better really."

"How so?" Danny asked with a raised eyebrow as he checked his back. His ghostly healing factor had already closed the wounds from Shadow's attack, leaving only the small amount of ectoplasm that had already oozed out of him behind.

"Technically as ghosts, getting hit should be really difficult for us." Kitty said from her place on a stool in Johnny's garage, spinning on the wheeled seat for a moment. "Our forms are hyper-malleable, and we don't need to worry about things like muscles determining where we can and can't be. You don't need to 'duck' to get under one of Johnny's attacks, you could just BECOME shorter." She explained, demonstrating as she manipulated her size to be like a pixie, before returning to normal. "Supposedly, that's what REALLY high level ghost fighting looks like, but I don't know of anyone who can really do that well, so don't feel too beaten up about it."

Danny sighed as he took a seat on one of the recliners that filled Johnny's garage, which had all the trappings of a mechanic's workshop and a man-cave for someone who was forced to 'sleep on the couch' often. As such, next to the grease stains and heavy metal tools, there were mini-fridges, a basketball hoop, and a plethora of decently comfy chairs. Ember took her place in Danny's lap.

"Yeah, most ghosts in our area of the zone just focus on power over technique." Ember said, as she wiggled onto Danny's lap. "Making up for lackluster defense with overwhelming offense."

"That's your philosophy too?" Danny asked, his eyebrow quirked.

"Yeah, most of us tend to go so overboard on our exclusive abilities, we don't train the stuff that every ghost can do. I told you before how I'd never overshadowed anyone before I did Spygal." Ember said. "I only ever used my musical abilities, or the flame hair. Never bothered with anything else really. Flying, intangibility, and invisibility as well I guess."

"I guess it seems like you guys all have some unique abilities. Johnny has Shadow… do you have anything else I just haven't seen?" Danny asked, looking to the beatnik as he returned his tire iron to its place on the wall. One would think given Johnny's disheveled normal appearance that he would be a messy person. While Kitty says he's not as clean around the house as she would like him to be, he keeps his garage well organized.

"I have like… I guess you could call it targeted bad luck? Anyone my level or weaker I can give a kind of… misfortune to. More likely to step into a slick spot on the ground, or have your vision blocked by a leaf in the wind. A million tiny misfortunes that can give me the edge over someone in a fight." Johnny said, shrugging a bit as he grabbed a beer from the fridge. He raised another one up to see if Kitty or Ember would want it, but they shook their heads.

"That seems… interesting. I don't remember anything like that happening when we fought, or when we fought Fright Knight." Danny said, thinking about his and Johnny's spars, or the fight with Fright Knight on halloween.

"Like I said, my level or lower. You're stronger than me now. We might have been the same level when we fought Walker together, but you seem like you're at his level now. Walker's stronger than me. Stronger than anyone else you've fought barring Fright Knight." Johnny said as he took a sip of his beer. "I think Spectra might be close enough in power to me that I can give her bad luck. Depends on if she's fed recently or whatever."

"Yeah, a lot of ghosts vary in strength based on certain emotional factors. Ember, Spectra, and Desiree all siphon power from others, so even if they would be weaker than Johnny normally, they could power up and be unaffected." Kitty added, happy to inform Danny about some more ghost information. Kitty wanted to learn everything there was about being a ghost when she first died, and worked tirelessly to get as much information as she could. She'd been a godsend for Danny learning about how his powers worked, since she seemed to have knowledge of all kinds of ghosts in the zone. "Not that Ember is weaker than Johnny even without getting amped up by a crowd."

"Ouch babe." Johnny said, looking wounded.

"Sucks to suck Grease Trap." Ember said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"So are you guys saying your powers don't vary with your emotions?" Danny asked the biker couple.

"No, they do, just not as much as Ember, Spectra, and Desiree can. Johnny gets stronger the more 'danger' there is to me. It's really sweet actually." Kitty said, batting her eyelashes towards Johnny.

"I also get power boosts on 'unlucky' days. Usually Friday the 13th, but I think it's based on a culture thinking it's unlucky. We met a Spanish ghost once who I had to fight, and got a power boost from him on a Tuesday the 13th because apparently that's an unlucky day in his culture." Johnny said with a shrug. "That'd probably also apply with other superstitions, black cats, broken mirrors, that kind of thing. I don't know that for sure though. I do know that lucky superstitions don't diminish my powers though. Four-leaf clovers and rabbits' feet don't do anything to me."

"What about you Kitty? Do you have any special powers? I've never seen you ever fight or anything." Danny asked, curious.

"I don't have much actually. I can blow a kiss to someone, and it banishes them somewhere. If I leave them there for 24 hours, they stay wherever it is. I can bring them back whenever I want before then though." Kitty said, puffing her chest out a bit in pride.

"That seems… like crazy powerful. How does anyone give you trouble in the zone then?" Danny asked.

"Doesn't work on anyone stronger than me, which is most people. Any of the named ghosts you've fought? Stronger than me, except for Skulker, but his armor stops my powers working." Kitty said, deflating a bit. "Keeps the goons away from Johnny though, and he's tough enough to make anyone weaker than Walker take a hike, usually."

"All ghosts seem to have something that can give them that extra oomph that can let them punch above their normal weight class, it's just about finding what it is and learning to use it, if you can." Johnny said. "I can't really utilize Kitty being in danger to try and punch up, not that I would anyway. Ember can use the fans' adoration, and that lets her think about managing to punch higher if she wants. Kitty doesn't know what might power her up, but that's probably just because we haven't found it yet, not that it doesn't exist."

"Poindexter seemed to get stronger when he thought I was a bully." Danny said, thinking back to some of his fights.

"Right on the money." Kitty said, smiling as she thought about the nerdy boy who was kind of her friend. "Sidney gets stronger the more someone aligns with his idea of a 'bully'. It's one of the reasons that no one actually tries to attack his school, even though he's one of the weaker ghosts relatively. By attacking his school? You BECOME a bully, and he can match you or higher while defending it. Attacking a ghost in their lair is foolish in general, Sidney just takes it to the extreme."

"I still really don't get half of this BEING a ghost stuff." Danny said as he shook his head.

"Don't worry too much about it Babypop, it took me a decade to get used to it, you've been a ghost for what… 10 months? Takes time." Ember said, kissing him on the cheek. "For now, let's just enjoy hanging out."

"I do wonder why we always do this at our place though." Johnny said aloud, although the look on his face implied that it was mostly an internal thought.

"My place isn't great for a private get together. Rockstars don't usually have privacy." Ember said, rolling her eyes.

"My place is likely to have you all be asked for ectoplasm samples." Danny said, shrugging.

"Fair enough." Johnny said, turning his attention to something else. "Isn't this supposed to be Ember's date night?"

"It is." Ember said, raising an eyebrow at Johnny.

"Why are you guys HERE then? Shouldn't you be like, at a movie or something? Making out in a park?" Johnny wondered.

"Babypop needs to learn more about the ghost side of himself. We're the only ones that can teach him." Ember responded, leaning back into Danny. "Besides, I'm cuddled up to him right now. Feels pretty good."

"I told Ember we needed to do more double dates." Kitty said. "Now that she has a boyfriend, I don't have to worry as much about her feeling like a third wheel, which means we can do more stuff together!" Kitty span in her chair excitedly, giving Johnny a loving look.

"I suppose that's a question, but like… does the ghost zone have like, places people hang out? I'd asked Technus once, but he said he wasn't the person who knew where people hung out when he was alive so…" Danny asked, trailing off at the end.

"There's the Maul." Kitty said, clapping her hands together once.

"There's a mall?" Danny parroted, confused.

"Well, it's spelled like mauling someone, because the ghost zone is macabre like that, but yeah. Like how Johnny's a biker and Em's a rockstar, there are ghosts who are baristas and shop owners and stuff. They all set up on neutral ground and made the Maul. That's where you'd go if you needed anything here in the zone. I suppose it's a bit more like a trading post or a bazaar than a mall, since there's no set stores or anything, but people set up with whatever. There's a barista ghost who makes the best coffee I've ever had there." Kitty said, smiling a bit.

"Yeah, Maul's where you go if you need something. Only rule there is no human-world items, since that'll get you in trouble with Walker." Johnny said.

"That means that there's stuff produced here in the ghost zone?" Danny wondered.

Johnny reached out, materializing a tire iron in his hand. "Yeah, lots of ghosts can just make things from the ambient energy of the zone, give them form and shape. Those that can, can barter those items with other people in the zone for whatever they may need. Kitty and I earn our money because I can make mechanic's tools and Kitty makes clothes. There's enough demand for both of them that we do alright."

"There's money in the ghost zone?" Danny wondered.

"Yes and no. The Maul has an authority that handles slips for IOUs, but everything is on a barter system otherwise. There are some ghosts who exchange ghost items for human money and back for those who need it, but they're relatively few and far between." Johnny said, shrugging. "Ember's probably the richest person in our area of the zone in terms of human money."

"The album and merch sold real well, even after donating the majority of it." Ember said with a shrug. "I'm actually still getting royalty checks, since the 'mind control' part of the album isn't public knowledge."

"It's not still affecting people is it?" Danny asked in a worried tone.

"Only in the way a good song does. No mind control on the recordings anymore. Anyone who is a superfan now? That's just raw charisma baby." Ember said, sticking her tongue out.

"Or just simps." Johnny said with an eye roll.

"I can't help it that my body's rocking." Ember said with a wink as she wiggled in Danny's lap. "Babypop likes it."

"I can't deny that I guess." Danny said with a chuckle as Ember leaned down and kissed him.

"Get a room, you two!" Johnny called out.

"I don't want to hear it Grease Trap! You and Kit-Kat shove your tongues down each others throats all the time. Let me have this!" Ember retorted, her flaming hair growing larger for a moment before she returned to Danny.

Kitty could only chuckle as she watched the recliner Danny and Ember were in tip over as Ember assaulted her man.