The Dark Zone: Chpt. 3

Hunting for Phantom

         In another, far darker, part of the ghost zone, where only the most evil, vile and cruel, beings existed, a plan was being made to bring harm to our heroes. Behind a dark, chained door and in a shadowed lair, was a ghost not unlike others. But this particular ghost was far from equal to other ghosts. Her evil was known only to those who were there when she was alive. The cruelty of her actions was the reason she was doomed to an exiled life in, The Dark Zone. She had reined amongst the humans as the daughter of a queen and ruler before her time.
         She sat there in the comfort of her chair reading a book. She had long red hair that gleamed like fire and two strands in front which were as gold as the sun. Her eyes were glimmered a golden-yellow and seemed to be filled with so much hatred that one look into those eyes would fry your soul. She wore a short red dress that fit snugly around her thin waist. A golden belt formed an X over the dress and in the center a single eye stared into nothingness. It never moved or blinked or did anything, but when approached it gave off a powerful aura and a darkness could be felt all around. She wore a pair of blood-red gloves with a set of long sharp claws that replaced her dainty fingers. She was the embodiment of elegant evil.
          In her enchanted book, she saw a boy. He was a human boy, fairly normal, black hair, white t-shirt brandishing a red circle, some blue-jean pants, and regular old shoes. This boy, however, was far, far from normal. There in the book the girl watched as two blue rings appeared at the boy's waist and engulfed him, leaving behind a ghost in a black and white jumpsuit with a D imprinted on the chest.
         The girl lowered her eye-lids and smiled just enough to let her teeth show. They were as white as pearls and fangs protruded farther from the others. She stood and closed the book, tossing it into the chair. She walked to the back of her cavern and approached a small, glowing being. It was merely a floating piece of ectoplasm that resembled green fire. When she came close however, it spread itself thin and formed a map of the ghost zone.
         “Show me where they are, the ghost boy and his friends.” Her voice was icy and sharp, yet smooth and distinguished. The map glowed and a blinking red dot appeared near Pariah Dark's castle. The girl smiled and walked off. She came to the mouth of the cavern and stood watching as ghosts would pass by, then noticing her, would screech and fly off as fast as they could.
         “It will be fun to go hunting again. Mother always said people were better game than any animal,” she paused, “of course mother also bathed in human blood to look young, but that's none of my business.”
         The map shrunk back into a small green flame and then formed again into a  long serpent-like figure with wings and eyes that glowed a dark menacing green. “My business is getting rid of the ghost boy to ensure my place as ruler of all dimensions.” she paused, as she puled out a small vile containing a clear liquid. “And with this in my hands the ghost boy will be just that, a ghost. No more,” she clenched the vile, “and no less.”
         She placed the vile in front of the eye on her chest. It quickly swallowed up the liquid and not a drop was spilled. The girl climbed onto her fire-beast and the two flew out of the cavern and into the dark world. The only lights were the glow of ghosts passing by, but once they saw the fire-beast they quickly turned and ran to the nearest door or hid behind the closest rock. The girl went on up to a door, not unlike the door into the Ghost Zone that the Fentons had made, and placed her hand on one of the many chains binding it shut. Her eyes began to glow and her hand and body became engulfed in flames. The chains began to melt away and would pop from the heat rather than turn into liquid. After a few minutes all the chains were  removed and the girl pulled apart the doors. She nodded at her loyal creature and it flew though the entry and waited on the other side for its master. The girl let go of the doors and flew into them, just barely getting by without the teeth on the door grabbing her. She leaped onto her beast and smiled as they flew off into this strangely colorful world, though it had its dreariness too, it was a large improvement on her most recent prison. The two flew on towards the castle where the ghost boy would be, not knowing what was headed to claim, what was left of,  his life.


         “Hey, Sam,” Jazz called as she walked to the dead tree Sam was sitting under, “I just finished with the dinner if you want something to eat.”
         “O.k.” Sam said, trying not to look away from her book, “I'll be there in a second.”
         Jazz rolled her eyes and walked off. She was a tad suspicious about the lack of ghosts, considering this is where they all lived, and surprised at the normality of being able to survive in a world made for the dead. The group had put together a nice little campsite on the island Danny had picked out. There were two tents, one for guys and one for girls, a fire, eerily easy to find fire in the Ghost Zone, and the Specter Speeder was sitting parked at the edge of the little rock. It hadn't taken them long to put it all together, but finding firewood was something they hadn't anticipated. They eventually uprooted one of the many dead trees, since plants cant live in the Ghost Zone, and used that for the wood. All and all it was a very pleasant campsite, considering the location.
         Sam finished her chapter and started to walk over to the others when she got an eerie feeling down her spine. She turned just in time to see the tail of a ghost swoop behind the Ghost King's castle. Her eye-brows crumpled and began to question it when Danny came up and grabbed her hand pulling her back.
         “Come on Sam,” he said happily, “Tucker's gonna end up eating your share. And don't worry it's vegetarian. Lets go.”
         Sam looked back at the castle once more, but decided it was nothing and went with Danny to the fire. Tucker was scarfing every bit of food that came near his mouth and Jazz was watching him while slowly chewing each bite. Danny and Sam sat down and got two bowls full of the vegetable soup. After dinner the group decided to explore part of the Ghost Zone they had never gone before in order to map as much as they could. Danny transformed and the others hopped into the Specter Speeder. They headed west of the castle and the campsite quickly vanished behind them.
         “Hey Tuck,” Danny said, through the Fenton Phones, “you getting this on the map?”
         “Oh ya, I'm getting all of this automatically scanned into the system so all I have to do is sit back and watch.”
         “Well while you're sitting back, try and watch out. The ghosts could come from anywhere and I can't see everything at once.”
         “Don't worry dude, I wont let anything get by me.” Danny rolled his eyes and kept on flying, half expecting a ghost to pop up just to prove Tucker wrong. They flew for about 45 minutes before turning another direction towards Spectra's lair. They found it after a while and avoided it at a distance. Then they went passed Ember's studio and stopped at a giant box that could only be the home of one ghost. Danny went over to the trunk of the Specter Speeder and grabbed the thermos, releasing the Box Ghost.
         “Bewa...” he started to say, then realizing he was back home the Box Ghost turned questioningly to the ghost boy and the vehicle. “Though I do appreciate you saving me the trip home I ask, Why have you brought me here?”
         “Isn't this your house, or lair, or whatever?”
“Yes! It is my abode, but why have you dropped me here in the first place?”
         “Well since we were gonna be here anyways, we thought we should just bring you home.”
         The ghost looked dumbfounded as Danny flew off with his friends close behind. The group went around to a few of the other ghosts lairs and then went back to camp for a night's rest.