The Ghost Zone served its purpose of being a parallel world to the full extent. And to the unknowing people it was too unusual, maybe even terrific. What else could be said about the world which didn't have a sun whatsoever? More than that, it lacked the horizon line, because there wasn't any solid ground. Well, there was, but only in the form of chunks of land hanging in the air. Some were inhabited rocks, some were lush green valleys, they could be a raging infernal place or ice desert. But, unless you could fly like every denizen of that world, there was no way you could get from one chunk to another.

One island in particular was filled with jungles. And like the same kind of forests in Human World, they housed a lot of peculiar creatures, with interesting horns or pelts - true treasures for a person who knew their value. And the man getting through the wide leaves of tropical plants was just that kind of person.

He was wearing an armor, made from a thick metal. However, it didn't look like an armor, more like a shiny clothing on a buffed body, furthermore, combined plates were placed together, like if his very skin was made of steel. Also, there was a black sleeveless tunic on his chest. A belt with a letter 'S' in its center was holding his pants. Another belt was connected to the first one, while being wrapped around his shoulder. His 'armor's' head looked a bit like a skull, with two pupiless green eyes in eyesockets. His hair were green, and they looked like someone had set a campfire on the back of his head.

The man observed the wild animal from his spot in the bushes. The creature looked a bit like a tiger, but its fur was a constant swirl of black and green, which was precisely why the hunter wanted to get it. He couldn't just charge a blast, he needed something less noticeable. For example, a crossbow. It was loud when used, but before that it won't show his position. A small device came from beneath the metal plating. One shot should be enough, but he didn't want to damage the pelt. Since he already had the same animal's head, the man decided not to be exactly caring. He aimed and fired.

With a characteristic clanking sound the crossbow bolt flew into the creature, pierced its eye, killing it efficiently. The man smirked and came out of the bushes. He took out a hunting knife and prepared to get his trophy. The man kneeled, but before he could do anything, he heard a horse whine behind. The man raised his eyebrow and looked behind. He flinched slightly at the sight.

There was a knight in a heavy pitch black armor. He was riding a black steed, with a flaming green mane, which wore an armor made of dark metal and had blood red eyes. The knight's face was hidden under the helmet, but not because it was closed. His face was covered in shadows, with only two glowing green dots being seen through. The knight also wore something akin to a purple flaming cape and held a green wicked looking sword.

"Skulker the Hunter," he said in a loud booming voice.

"Fright Knight," Skulker said with a note of fear in his voice. "Wh-why are you here?"

"The King demands that you do an errand for him. According to your speciality, of course."

"Uhm...what?"

Fright Knight jumped off his infernal steed and approached the hunter.

"I'm not allowed to tell too much. Your task is simple, you get a permission to enter the Human World, in order to hunt down the person who dared to insult His Majesty."

"I hunt down animals, I'm not a 'Bounty' hunter."

"Are you defying the King's will?"

Skulker visibly flinched at that words. "No, I am not. Just warning that this is not my speciality. It's an interesting experience, however."

"You will be paid accordingly if you succeed. The main condition is to capture him alive, or in whatever condition he is now. Wounds are of no concern."

"What do you mean?" Fright didn't seem eager to answer. "If I know more it increases the chances of capture."

"We do not know, because the case is unprecedented. Whoever that petty bastard is, he should be...half human and half ghost, or so His Majesty thinks."

"How is this even possible?" Skulker muttered.

"I'm not telling. Do you take this assignment or not?"

Skulker hummed, rubbing his metal chin. "Fine, I agree. Just let me take my things."

"And one more condition. No one must know about that."

After dealing with Tucker, Danny went home. That's where all the fun should have begun. It took a lot of willpower to come inside their yard. Jack was nowhere to be seen, which was very unusual and didn't add Danny any confidence. When Danny entered the house, Maddie was there. She heard Danny entering and looked at her soon.

"Young man, how many times I have to tell you not to come out so early in the morning?" Maddie scolded him with the slightly narrowed eyes.

Wincing, Danny actually thanked god that his mother actually came up with an excuse for him. He rubbed the back of his neck in the faked embarrassment.

"Sorry, Mom. Where is everyone?"

"I actually planned to send you to buy some food for lunch, but since you were so busy with other things, I had to send Jack. Hopefully he won't buy too much, when everything can be bought cheaper later. And Jazz is at work with Mr. Lancer."

Danny nodded slowly, before feeling his stomach tie in a knot. "Uhm, is there anything left from breakfast?"

Maddie just silently put a bowl with oatmeal in front of him. Danny was growing sick of eating the stuff each damn day. But he was not a King, who could have five meals in one go, he had to deal with that. Taking a spoon in his palm, Danny started eating. Suddenly his arm became invisible and intangible, and the spoon fell in the bowl. Looking at his hand, the teen yelped in fear and moved it behind his back. Maddie looked back to check what was wrong, and Danny only smiled and laughed nervously. She only shook her head and continued wiping the floor. Danny's hand became normal again, so he just continued eating.

From time to time Danny was glancing at his mother, wondering about the main question. Should he tell her about his...issue? It's not like he could say: "Hey, Mom, I kind of died this night". And there was no telling about how she would react, especially at the moment, when she was already slightly angry at him. Maybe he should tell his father? But even if Jack was more cheerful and goofy, he was even more superstitious than Maddie. It was not the way apparently.

His mother snapped Danny out of his thoughts. "Danny, after you finish, go water the plants, please. It has been too dry lately."

The teen nodded, before taking a few last spoonfuls of oatmeal and getting up. He exited the house and went to the well, taking the wooden bucket in the process. He walked down the path and approached the stone water source. But Danny didn't have time to tie the bucket to the rope, because something, or someone stopped him.

"Fenton!"

Danny flinched in surprise and fear. He looked to the side and his theory about who that was was confirmed.

"Hey again, Dash," Danny said cheerfully.

"Don't play idiot with me, Fentina, I know what happened yesterday."

Danny's tongue just itched to say 'One idiot here is enough', but thankfully he managed to hold back.

"What happened yesterday?" he asked innocently.

"I know you were the one to dirty the walls of my home."

"Yeah, and how do you prove it?" Danny raised his eyebrow.

"My servant recalled that the 'mysterious' vandal got the same scratch from Bobby," Dash pointed at the scratch on Danny's knee.

Of all times he could be smart it was now.

"Wait...your dog's name is Bobby?" Danny asked, choking his laughter.

Dash looked at him with non impressed expression.

"You are going to pay for it, Fentina," Dash cracked his knuckles.

Danny sighed, knowing full well what was coming. "And what are you going to do now?"

Dash smirked. "Have a nice day getting out."

He then pushed Danny backwards. And behind was only the well. With a yelp Danny fell a few meters down in the underground, right into the water. He got to the surface of the water, and glared at the laughing noble. Dash walked off. The raven haired teen managed to remain on the surface. Ha! And people said learning to swim was pointless. Still, he was about ten meters underground, and the walls of the well were a simple dirt, it was sinking under his feet and hands.

Then Danny noticed that he wasn't cold. Even if there was a summer above, wet air and lack of sunlight should have made the water cold. Yet, the teen wasn't freezing. It wasn't really reassuring, but at least it was more comforting. Then Danny remembered that his new powers could help him. He could fly, after all. The teen closed his eyes and changed into the...ghost form. Well, he could change them at will, alright. Then Danny attemped to fly up, and, just like before, it didn't work at first.

The teen then put his entire concentration into his attempt to take off. Slowly, the water reached his belt, then his knees, and finally he was above the liquid surface. Danny, however, didn't relax, because he already knew that he shouldn't allow himself to be distracted or he would fall. Finally the teen reached for the edge of the well and grabbed it, before pulling himself out. Danny dropped on the grass and automatically changed back to the human form. He grinned and raised his hands.

"I did it!" He exclaimed in excitement. "And now I'll have to explain to Mom why I'm wet like a dog," he then deadpanned.

Then an idea occured in Danny's mind. He got up and imagined becoming intangible. All water fell off him with a splash, and he was completely dry.

"I love this powers more and more."

Then a thought striked him. Should he feel wrong about using the demonic, ghost, whatever powers? They come from Hell, and it could be a mere seduction, a part of the Devil's cunning sheme. But for what? Danny snorted. Like he would ever know and like he could change anything about it. Shaking his head to ward away any thoughts for the matter, Danny recalled Tucker's idea. Yes, they decided that the half ghost should make an appearance in order to prove that his parents ways were effective. He could just pretend that they worked for all he cared. The teen just had to make everything believable, but how if he couldn't even properly use them?

Danny remembered about given task, so he got some water and walked back to his home. He was not aware, however, that someone was watching him.

Skulker removed the binoculars from his eyes and hummed.

"So this is a human who can use ghost powers..." he mumbled, quite impressed. He had never seen something like that before, and he sure had seen a lot. "It will be an interesting prey."

Danny returned to his home and slowly poured bits of water in different places. Maddie had a small garden to waste her time when she wasn't busy with house chores. It wasn't very big, so it usually took a few seconds to water them. Then the teen remembered that there was also one plant in a pot on his parents room's windowsill. On his way there from the outside, some rigid smell was becoming stronger. Danny wondered what that was and he soon got the answer.

Strangely, the plant the name of which he couldn't remember, was emmiting visible red vapor. It looked like red rosebud, with a purple-trimmed black stem and leaves. Danny blinked, where did the vapor come from? His mind was busy with another thing, however. The smell was becoming unbearable, and it wasn't just nasty, it felt painful to breath that smell in. Danny made a step back and got a chance to think the situation through.

This plant wasn't emmiting any vapor before, neither it smelled so agonizingly.

"What's going on?"

Danny jumped slightly and looked to the side. Jack was standing at the entrance with a raised eyebrow and one basket in each hand. The teen looked at his father in bewilderment. Couldn't he see that the plant was SMOKING? When Danny voiced his thoughts to Jack, the man only seemed more confused.

"There isn't any vapor, Danny," he commented. "Better use this water to cool your head."

With that Jack walked off, leaving disgruntled teen alone. That was...strange. The vapor was still there, how could...Quite possibly, only Danny was able to see it. And there was only one trait which made him different from his parent. Danny wasn't a full human anymore. NOW he remembered the name of the plant and its purpose. Blood Blossom, the flower which could 'repel everything supernatural' as the shady trader said. Who would have thought that the man was right all along?

Sighing, Danny considered throwing the plant away, but something told him that it was a bad idea. The teen just planned to go away, but then he remembered that he also had to help Jack at the forge. And since the monthly fair was at this same day (the stars had gone together, yes) he had a lot of work to do, a lot of metal stuff to make in order to sell it.

That's exactly what happened. And Danny felt a bigger discomfort than usual. For some reason, he felt extremely hot. Yes, it always was hot, but now it felt even worse. What does this have to do with him being half ghost? But there was an advantage, and even Jack noticed it.

"Wow, when did you get so strong, Danny-boy?"

The teen blinked and looked on the nail he was supposed to make. The metal bent after the first hit, and hardly the strongest one.

"Eh, I'm trying," Danny smiled.

Jack beamed too and returned to his work. The half ghost got curious, and looked at the anvil he was working on. While his father wasn't looking, Danny tried to lift it. Shockingly, it was as light as feather, like if he didn't hold anything at all! The raven haired teen grinned, before putting it on place and continuing his work. He couldn't wait to tell Tucker about his newest findings. In his unstoppable work Danny didn't notice how the sun had started to set.

It was the time to go, and Danny was pushing the wooden cart filled with iron stuff forward. It was a strange tradition to make fairs during the night, but it created a certain atmosphere of celebration, and this atmosphere would make the potential buyer more wasteful. Just add to that a slightly lowered price. Whoever came up with the idea should had been given a reward. It wasn't hard to set up the stand, Jack had previously purchased the place for a night. The process was trained to perfection by then, so Danny set up everything in no time, while Jack joined Maddie on her shopping trip. He was left at stand, with a bored expression on his face.

Danny sold a few nice locks and hinges, someone purchased less costly things, like nails and hammers.

"And the change will be...two pennies, here you go, sir," Danny counted two small coins and gave them to the buyer, who nodded and walked off.

"Having fun, little brother?"

The raven haired teen looked to the side and saw Jazz standing nearby.

"Yeah, standing through the entire night is so entertaining," Danny said with a dreamy smile, putting a hand under his chin.

Jazz rolled her eyes. Her brother's amount of sarcasm was unlimited. "Glad to see you upbeat as ever," she said. "Have you noticed how Dash stares at you? He looks murderous."

Danny didn't even glance at the blonde. "I kind of threw cow pancakes at the walls of his home," he said with the same smile.

"You WHAT?!" Jazz exclaimed, earning some weirded looks.

"Hey, he started it!" Danny argued.

"It doesn't mean that you can insult the most influential brat around," the young woman whispered angrily.

"He already gave me a lecture, Jazz," the raven haired teen responded in a deadpan tone. "I think now he is just angry that I got out of that well."

The redhead groaned and rubbed her temples. "You are unbelievable," she mumbled. "Danny..."

"I know. And I have already asked you not to lecture me again."

"You don't seem to learn anything," Jazz crossed her hands angrily.

"Yep."

"Ugh!" Jazz exclaimed in exasperation, before walking off.

Danny smirked. That way of getting rid of his overbearing sister worked every time. The teen suddenly felt a chill run through his body and a blue wisp coming out of his mouth. Danny's eyes widened. Was it that strange old man again? He looked around, but saw no one. It was probably just too cold. Then Danny saw a familiar face and grinned.

"Hey, Tuck, what's up?"

Tucker looked at him and shrugged. "You know, the usual. I was just sent to fetch a few things. Are there any news about your...condition?" He whispered.

"Apparently, I can lift an anvil with no effort and can be killed with a flower in my parents' room."

"Cool...the anvil, I mean," the dark skinned teen added quickly, understanding what he had just said.

Danny just laughed. "That's alright, man. Do you need any help in carrying the stuff?"

"Oh, so you want to use your super strength now?" Tucker said sarcastically. "Who am I to stop you? I need some company."

The shadowy alleyway they were going through was narrow, and it was rather cold there, even if Danny didn't feel any discomfort. It was a perfect place for keeping goods which needed cool temperatures or safekeeping. Speaking of, Danny wasn't worried about his stand, the guards were on every cormer. But suddenly the two heard a cackle behind.

"Well, well," Dash said, leaning against the wall. "We are now here, all alone, in an empty dark alleyway."

"What do you want?" Danny asked in exasperation. "You got what you wanted this morning."

"Who said it was everything I wanted?"

Suddenly he grabbed Danny's tunic and pinned the smaller teen to the wall.

"Hey, let him go!" Tucker said. "Or I'll call the guards!"

Both Dash and Danny looked at him with deadpan expression. "Seriously? Call the men whose boss is my father?" Dash asked. It was stupid even for him.

Tucker was at loss what to do.

"Common, Goldylocks, just give me your best punch and get over with it," Danny said.

The noble's look could burn a hole in his captive. Dash raised his hand to throw a punch, but then something happened. A crossbow bolt flew a few millimeters away from his head, even cutting some of his blond hair, before hitting the wooden wall behind. The noble yelped and dropped Danny, before looking back.

"Get lost, brat, or the next bolt will hit the target," a growling voice sounded from darkness. Everything the teens could see was a huge bulky silhouette in shadows.

Dash gulped and ran off. Danny got up and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Eh, thanks for the save, I guess."

"Don't thank me, whelp. I just want the spoils for myself."

"What do you..."

A whirring sound was heard and a green bright glow was seen, revealing who the person was. Skulker fired the cannon, Danny and Tucker jumped to the different sides. A green blast missed them and hit the wall, leaving a scorch mark and a small green fire. The half ghost jumped on his feet, while Tucker moaned, probably because he fell on the stone path. Danny realized that it wasn't a human, so he had to change his form. He managed to do that in a split second this time.

"Impressive, but a little light show is not going to scare me."

Skulker was about to charge another shot, but Tucker picked a particularly big stone and hit the metal man. It didn't help a lot, but Skulker glanced at him, and that was enough for Danny to make a drastical move. He lunged forward and pushed his opponent. Skulker wasn't able to do anything and they both flew forward, breaking the wall in the process. They landed inside a crowdy tavern, scaring the hell out of the visitors.

Danny moaned slightly. "Alright, it wasn't the best idea."

He suddenly felt a strong arm grabbing his neck and lifting him. Skulker glared at the teen with his pupiless eyes. "Believe me, the fun only begins."

The hunter threw Danny at the nearest piece of furniture. Sometimes he was toying with his prey. The teen yelped in pain on the broken table before noticing that Skulker was charging another shot. Danny tried going intangible, and he did so, but didn't have time to cheer, because the blast hit him nevertheless. The ghost teen didn't notice how he was on the square already. He shook his head, but managed to stand, as every inch of his body started to ache. Of course the body would ache, he was thrown around like a ragdoll. Danny heard Skulker's laughter as the hunter walked forward. The populace scattered around, but they were peaking from their hiding spots nevertheless.

"Honestly, I was expecting something more entertaining, whelp," Skulker said, fiddling with his armor.

"Who the heck...are you?" Danny panted.

"I am Skulker - the greatest hunter of the Infinite Realms! And I don't know what our lord found in you."

The half ghost flinched. It could mean only one thing. "You mean the Devil?"

The crowd gasped as Skulker rolled his eyes. Foolish superstitious humans. "Yes, to put bluntly, it's him. And he wants you brought alive. I honestly don't understand why, care to elaborate?"

"I...I don't know," Danny lied.

Skulker didn't seem convinced. The hunter approached the teen and grabbed his arm harshly. Danny hissed in pain, showing his white fangs. Suddenly he got a very stupid idea. He punched the metal man in his face with his hand. Skulker, both from surprise and Danny's newfound strength, staggered backwards, letting go of the teen. Half ghost meanwhile clutched his hand in pain. Hitting metal with full force never was fun. In the process the glove on Danny's right hand was taken off. Skulker shook his head and looked at the teen, before his eyes widened in shock.

"What the hell?!" He exclaimed.

Danny blinked and looked where Skulker was looking and his own neon eyes widened, too. There was a green image of the star on the inner side of his palm. The star looked like it was scratched on his skin, roughly and uncaringly.

"So that's what all of this is about," Skulker mumbled. "Are you his puny bastard or something?"

Danny didn't get what the hunter meant, until it came upon him. He realized that after the populace gasped again.

"Wh-what?! I'm not his kid!" The half ghost exclaimed.

"Whelp, only members of his family can have this symbol, you ain't gonna fool me."

The teen got an idea why he had the symbol. Since he had stolen Pariah's power, why not the star? Before Danny could say anything in his defense, something happened. They got surrounded by guards, who were shaking like leafs, but were still armed. The local priest was pushed forward, shaking as well. He raised the cross in front of him.

"Begone, demons!" He screamed.

With a deadpan expression, Skulker fired at one of the guards, not killing, simply pushing him backwards, showing that he wasn't bothered by the cross at all.

"I'm not interested in you, mortals. I need the whelp."

Danny noticed the dropped spear nearby. It was his chance. Trying to be subtle, he slowly walked to the side, pretending to circle around the hunter. Besides, he couldn't walk fast, his limbs were going numb. Then the teen saw a small space, a junction which used to be covered by the black shirt, now with a few torn holes. Perfect place, you don't need to be the master of fighting to know that the junctions were always the weakest spots, and Danny was also the blacksmith's apprentice. He knew the material.

"What are you doing, whelp?" Skulker asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Are you out of insults, metal head?" Danny teased, trying to get his opponent to attack. "I have a name, you know."

"Really, and what is it?" Skulker asked, nonchalantly preparing the gun to charge.

Danny cursed mentally. Stupid talkative mouth, he needed to think up something and quick. Ghoul, Poltergeist, Casper...

"Phantom."

Skulker snorted. "Seriously? Pariah couldn't give such a ridiculous name."

"I'm not his kid!" Phantom exclaimed.

"Whatever," Skulker rolled his eyes and fired.

Danny jumped to the side, his hurting legs managed to get him a few inches to the side, his boots protected his feet from getting a burn. Still, he fell on small gravel, getting several painful scratches. Skulker growled in annoyance and stomped forward, making a loud clanking sound. When he was just above the teen, the hunter reached for him, but Danny suddenly spun around and, using his strength, which was basically everything he could do at the moment, picked the spear and made a stab, right into the junction.

The iron spear was too weak compared to the metal of the armor. But it stuck inside the suit. Skulker punched Danny with his boot, making the teen scream in pain. Making the last effort, Danny pushed the spear even further. Complicated mechanism inside the armor started to fuzz, he had definitely broken something, hopefully something important. Skulker stumbled backwards in shock, trying to take the weapon out of his body, but it only made everything worse. Then it occurred to him that he could just phase it off. He did exactly that, wondering why he didn't do that sooner. Now Skulker was pissed.

"You will pay for that!"

But as he went forward, it looked like if it was harder for him to do so. Skulker growled, before attempting to fire the crossbow. Danny managed to roll to the side, but it was everything he could do at the moment, even if he didn't show it. If the hunter fired again, there was nothing stopping him. Skulker charged the blast, but suddenly his handgun blew up in his face. The arm became nothing but a scorched piece of metal, but the hunter didn't show any sign of pain.

Skulker would have tried to continue, but then he noticed that the guards became more brave and were slowly approaching.

"I seem to have underestimated you, whelp," the hunter commented. "Next time I won't repeat the same mistake."

With that the man dissappeared from view, but everyone heard a loud whirring noise. Danny took a shaky breath, not believing his luck. He coughed and a few droplets of the green substance fell on gravel.

"Uhm, thanks?" He said weakly in his echoing voice.

"Grab the kid. And be careful," the captain ordered.

Danny's eyes widened in horror, before he clenched them shut and turned invisible.

Tucker was observing the entire ordeal, at loss what to do, and, who was he kidding, he was a damn coward. Twice already it got his friend into trouble. He was pinned to his place, not sure about the following course of action. Suddenly, ten minutes later he heard a cough behind, followed by the flashing sound and light. Tucker spun around and saw Danny, in human form, leaning against the wall.

"Hey, Tuck," he smiled, coughing his blood. "Can you help me get home, I'm kinda not able to at the moment."

"O-oh God, of course!"

Tucker wrapped his right hand around his friend and they slowly walked through the empty alleyways. Neither said a word, until Tucker managed to say something.

"I'm so sorry man, I...I was too afraid to do something..."

"Don't worry, Tuck," Danny coughed, slowly moving his legs. "I understand. I was afraid too."

"But if I did something, you wouldn't have been so hurt."

"I will be fine. I'm already half dead," the raven haired teen chuckled weakly. "So, everyone now thinks I'm the Satan's kid. It gets better with each following day."

"And what's going to happen now?"

"I don't know, man," Danny sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know."