Broken Phantom

-Val-

The whole class was in awe of the place. It was really something to behold. The green and black swirling sky was like a beautiful night sky, shining over the whole world. The floating rocks and doors only added to the beauty of the world. Everyone was amazed—well, except for us who'd been there before (Jazz, Sam, Tucker, and me).

"Mrs. Fenton, what are these doors?" Dash asked.

"Well, we are not really sure ourselves," Jack said, smiling like an idiot.

"They are portals to ghost lairs and other parts and times of the world," Sam explained.

"We are first-timers here too, Mr. Baxter, so Sam and Tucker will be guiding us," Maddie added, trying to ease the students' minds.

After a while, the bus went quiet. The initial impression was gone.

Nothing but floating rocks, not even doors, could be seen anymore. While the class talked in their respective groups, Jazz and I talked at the back.

"So, anything yet?" Jazz asked me.

"No, it's like all connections are down, and I don't think the backup systems are up yet," I replied, sighing and pressing my hunter bracelet.

"Hey, maybe I'll meet the ghost boy," Paulina said, dragging everyone's attention to her.

"He's been gone for three years, Paulina. Doubt he'll just come out for you," Star told her.

"Hm… he'll never leave me alone. I know he loves me," she said, flipping her hair. It seems even years after Danny's disappearance Paulina was still fantasizing about her beloved ghost boy.

"And yet he vanished for three years. Seems like he doesn't care after all," Sam said with a smirk, her face suddenly more punchable at the moment.

'Calm down Val, Calm yourself, you know the reason, just Calm down before you do something you might regret' She kept chanting in her mind.

"He abandoned the town, abandoned us, and left," Tucker added in.

Jazz looked like she couldn't believe this. They dared to say that Danny abandoned them after what they did, regardless of the circumstances She opened her mouth to talk, but I stopped her. We didn't need to draw attention to ourselves right now.

"Don't. It's not worth it," I whispered.

"Well, I think it's great that he left," Star said, pitching in.

"So you're saying it was okay for him to abandon us?" Josh, an A-lister, spoke up. "Did you forget everything that happened after he left".

"Given the fact that he risked his life… I mean afterlife to fight and protect us, and we've never said or done anything to appreciate him, I'll say yeah," Kwan backed Star, pulling her closer to him.

"That ghost was just trying to trick us before stabbing us in the back," Maddie spat out.

"Yet he didn't, every time he had the chance," Jazz said, glaring at her.

"He just never had the chance with us professionals around," Jack said proudly.

Jazz and I started laughing, making the class stare at us. "You really think you're that capable?" Jazz said.

"Mrs. Nightingale," Lancer spoke, "that is no way to speak."

"Listen here, young lady, I will not tolerate this behavior towards your father," Maddie said, putting the SSB on auto-drive and moving toward the back.

Jazz chuckled. "That man is not my father, and neither are you my mother," she replied as her face changed into a stone-cold glare.

"You lost all rights after what you did to him," she suddenly, her voice cold and murderous, taking everyone by surprise.

"I always told him that you would stay by his side, that you would accept him for who he was," she spoke, her tone now low and soft, tears in her eyes as people wondered who 'HE' was. 

"He told me once that he believed in you, and he was sure that you believed in him," Jazz continued, her voice breaking as the tears kept coming. She wiped her eyes and suddenly her face changed to one of anger, her eyes filled with hate. "He sacrificed so much for you, and if not for him, I doubt you would be standing here right now."

Everywhere went silent. The bus fell silent, the atmosphere felt tense, as calm as a graveyard, and the tension could be cut with a butter knife.

Then the sensors started going off. Maddie ran back to her seat.

"Multiple entities detected!" Tucker shouted, checking the scanner.

"How many?" Maddie yelled, trying to maneuver the bus around some floating rocks.

"Around fifty and above," Sam said.

"Everyone strap down and hold on!" Jack said as he got the weapon systems online.

The bus filled with screams and noise as ghosts came at full speed, but to everyone's surprise, they all passed the bus without a single attack. 

We watched in shock as the ghosts flew past us without sparing even a glance, but that changed when a large ghost came closer. It looked like a cross between a manticore and a Chinese dragon.

It bashed into the Speeder, and Jack immediately opened fire. The ghost got a few hits in but eventually decided to move on, though not before hitting the Speeder hard with its tail.

The bus lost control and spiraled down, with everyone screaming at the top of their lungs, before finally crash-landing. Maddie got out of her seat and scanned the bus. "Everybody okay?" she asked, but only received groans in response as everyone tried to regain themselves.

"Okay, everybody, let's move out," said Mr. Lancer, seeing as the bus was severely damaged. Not a word of complaint came as we filed out of the bus and noticed the jungle around us.

People began freaking out, some huddling down in tears, others running around like headless chickens. "People, settle down!" Mr. Lancer yelled, and everyone quieted down. 

"Good… now, Mrs. Fenton, tell me you have a way out of here," Lancer said, turning to Maddie.

"Well, we had the Speeder recording the way as we went, but…" she said, turning to look at the Speeder just before the controls blew up.

"So we're stuck here?" Dash shrieked. "I can't die here—I'm a quarterback!"

'Great I'm stuck in the Zone with these fools' She could already feel the incoming headache.

"Well, first we need to figure out where here is," Star said, leaning on Kwan because of the pain in her left leg.

"Well, according to the map," Tucker replied, tapping his PDA, "if I'm right, we're on…"

"Skulker's Island," Jazz and Tucker said at the same time.

All heads turned toward Jazz as she got up from where she and I had been sitting. "How do you know where we are?" Sam asked, narrowing her eyes at Jazz.

Jazz shrugged. "Because I've been here before."

"Young lady, what do you mean you've been here before?" Maddie screamed. "You are not allowed in the Ghost Zone!"

"I don't think I need your permission to do anything," Jazz glared as she turned back to me.

"Well, Jazz, what do you think?" I asked.

"Well, I don't think it's too far. We can probably make it in about twenty to thirty minutes," she said, looking around.

"Well then, let's go," I said, standing up.

"Go where?" Lancer asked, confused.

"There's a house not far from here. Maybe we can get help," I replied.

"Help from a ghost? That's insane," Maddie said.

"Yeah, they're nothing but ectoplasm waste," Jack added.

"And this is Skulker's Island," Sam interjected. "I doubt someone who hunts other creatures will be happy to see us," Tucker added.

Jazz and I ignored them and started walking. "Hey, I vote we go the other way," Tucker said. The students were already scared and didn't know what to do.

"If we go the other way around and get off the island, we'll be back on track to the portal," Sam said, looking at the map.

Everybody was already relieved to hear that until Jazz turned around.

"Well, just say hi to Walker for me if you see him on the way back."

"Who is Walker?" Star asked.

"Oh, nobody. Just the warden of the prison on your way back," Val said casually.

"Prison?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah, the guy will arrest you for anything, maybe even for breathing wrong," Jazz answered.

That scared everybody, even Trucker, and Sam had to admit that it was going to be tough without much weaponry.

"Ca-can't we just go around?" Dash asked, trying to keep the fear out of his voice.

"Nope," Val said as she and Jazz turned back and continued walking.

"They're right. We can't go back without passing the prison, and I don't think that's possible," Sam said with a sigh.

"Then I think the best course of action is to follow Mrs. Gray and Mrs. Nightingale. They seem to know their way around," Lancer said, as most of the students already took off after them.

-Mr Lancer-

I caught up to the two girls in front and was surprised to see them talking on the way without a care in the world. They looked so at peace here. I couldn't help but think, 'I haven't seen them this calm since Daniel's disappearance.'

After about 20 minutes, we reached a house—or more like a mini castle. Everyone was surprised at how beautiful it looked. It looked like an amazing piece of art brought to life.

We moved toward the castle, and Miss Nightingale walked up to the huge door and knocked. It swung open to reveal a large ghost, almost as big as the door. He was wearing golden armor with a strip of black and white, with a little green stripe by his side.

"Who dares?" the ghost's voice boomed across the field. He and the students were ready to run, and the hunters were already pulling out their weapons.

"Blitz, it's me," Jazz said. The ghost took a better look and suddenly the door swung wide open. The guard dropped to one knee and bowed.

"Apologies, Lady Jasmine, Princess Valerie. I did not expect your arrival," he said, bowing his head.

"LADY JASMINE, PRINCESS VALERIE!" everybody yelled in surprise. They ignored us and entered as the guard stood to the side to make way.

"I did not expect to see you here, Blitz," Jazz said as they entered the room, with the remaining of us following in.

"Nor did I, milady," he replied. "So, what brings you here?" Val asked the guard, while the class silently watched the exchange from the side.

"Well, I was asked to come and..." He was cut off when a black-and-white blur zoomed past and tackled Jazz to the ground.

A small girl, around 12 or 13, with a familiar face and hair, white as snow and wearing a blue hoodie and black jeans, clinging to Miss Nightingale as she hugged her tightly. She reminded everyone of their former resident hero.

"Aunty Jazz! I didn't think you'd come this early!" she said.

"Ellie... please... I.Need.Air," Miss Nightingale choked out. 

"Hey, what about me, kiddo?" Miss Grey said, opening her arms wide.

"Big sis Val!" the little girl yelled as she leaped into Miss Grey's arms, hugging her.

The class stood in total silence, too surprised to talk, until Maddie snapped out of her trance and grabbed an ecto-laser gun.

"Get away from them, you piece of trash!" she shouted, pointing the gun at the small girl.

-Ellie-

Valerie dropped her as she turned to meet the voice she hated. Ignoring the gun pointed at her, her eyes glowed bright green—cold and hard. The glare she sent seemed to make them all shiver as the other hunters pulled out their weapons.

"What are they doing here?" she said calmly, her eyes glowing toxic green, and the venom in her words made the class uneasy.

"Danielle, we don't have time for this. We have to get them out of the zone before HE finds out," Val said.

"Then why bring them here? Get them out before he sees them!" Dani said, panic creeping into her voice.

"Wait, he's here?" Jazz and Val shouted at the same time.

"Yeah, he came to train before the event tomorrow," Dani quickly replied.

She could already see the curious faces on the Student's face, no doubt wondering who 'HE' was, but this was not the time for this. With the time of the occurrence happening in the Zone and the Event that was taking place, she didn't think what 'He' needed now was to see old faces that might set him off.

"No, no, no, no... this can't be happening," Val said, turning to the class. 

"We are leaving." The class just stared at her. "NOW," she ordered, but before anyone could move, a voice came from a door as it opened. 

An 18-year-old boy walked in, missing the class at the other side of the room, and walked toward Her. His hair was as black as night, his eyes an ice blue that radiated beauty. He wore sweatpants and a sweatshirt, that did nothing to hide his build. Simply the way he walked with such grace and purpose was something she didn't think she would ever get used to.

This boy-no, young man- was none other than Danny Fenton. Her Papa.

The class was shocked to see the boy who had disappeared three years ago, standing right in front of them, looking as lively as ever.

"Danny, how are you?" Jazz said, hugging her brother.

"Jazz, Val, I wasn't expecting you here," he said, moving to hug Val.

He turned and saw her, no doubt already noticing something was wrong with the way his gaze peered at her. "Princess, are you alright?" he asked, looking at her.

"Daddy, there might be a little problem," Dani said, trying to avoid eye contact with her father. He opened his mouth to ask what, when—.

"DADDY!" the class erupted. His body tensed as he slowly turned to face their uninvited guest, his eyes locking with Maddie's.

"You," he growled.