After an hour of running and two more flares, they arrived at the part of the road that Danny had first been found at, recognisable by the crater from his crash-landing. Danny slowed to a breathless stop and scanned the area.

"Sam! Tucker!" Danny called.

"What's going on?!" Ash yelled for at least the fifth time. The others joined the halfa. Serena frowned worriedly.

"Are you sure they're here Danny?" Serena inquired. Danny scowled as he strained his ears and eyes to watch for his friends in the fading green light from the latest flare.

"Guys!" Danny shouted. Before anyone could blink, Danny was tackled by a large green garbed, black wolf-like creature.

"Danny! Pikachu, use iron-" Ash began frantically.

"Wulf! Get off me!" Danny chuckled and pushed the large creature off himself, wiping green slobber off his face.

Wulf stood up on his hind legs and babbled something in another language.

"That way Sam!" a boy with a red beret called and ran into view.

"Danny!" the boy exclaimed happily and ran forward and hugged the halfa.

"Tucker! Oh man, I am so glad to see you!" Danny greeted the boy joyously.

"There you are! What took you?" a girl dressed in black yelled as she joined the reunion.

"Sam! Thank you so much for coming to find me. I thought I was stuck!" Danny replied with a smile and hugged her. Tucker sniggered.

"Love birds," he muttered. Danny and Sam rounded on him.

"We're not love birds!" they snapped in unison. Tucker raised his hands defensively.

Ash frowned at the exchange and glanced at Serena.

"Do you know what's going on?" he asked softly. She nodded.

"That's Sam and Tucker. Danny's friends. They found him," Serena explained quietly. Bonnie looked up at her and grinned.

"So Danny can get home now?" Bonnie inquired. Serena nodded and turned to watch the reunion.

"So how did you guys end up going to Clockwork?" Danny was asking his friends.

"Well, when you weren't back this morning, Jazz got worried. So she asked us if we'd seen you. We said we hadn't. And when a ghost attacked the mall and you didn't turn up, we knew something had happened. So me and Tucker borrowed the Spectre Speeder and flew to the Far Frozen. Frostbite told us that you never arrived. So we broke into Walker's jail to see if you got caught by that creep," Sam began.

"But we found out you weren't there. Then we went to the usual suspects you know, like Skulker, Vlad, Johnny 13 and so on. But still no sign," Tucker resumed.

"So, since we had no leads, we decided to ask Clockwork for help. He said he couldn't get involved but he did show us what happened," Sam continued. Danny blushed and rubbed his neck in embarrassment.

"You saw that huh?" he muttered self-consciously. Tucker snorted.

"Saw it? It was hilarious. Skulker totally snuck up on you," Tucker commented with a smirk. Danny scowled at the techno-geek.

"Anyway, we did. After we saw what happened, we went to Frostbite to borrow the Infi-map but it couldn't find you. Frostbite said that it must be that there wouldn't be any portals to this world for a while. So instead, we used the map to find Wulf who was hanging out in Canada someplace," Sam interjected. Tucker puffed out his chest proudly.

"So, I explained the situation to Wulf and he agreed to open a portal for us to come and find you. And here we are. Dude, we were shouting in the Fenton Phone for ages before you answered," Tucker concluded.

Danny shook his head with a smile.

"I'm so glad to see you. Where's the Speeder?" Danny replied. Sam jerked a thumb over to a thicket of bushes.

"Just over there. But who are they?" Sam answered and nodded to the four children watching. Danny glanced at them and smiled.

"They're friends. They've been helping me to try and figure out a way home. Serena, Clemont, Bonnie and Ash. Oh, and that's Pikachu, and in the bag, Squishy and Dedenne," Danny introduced gladly.

"Guys, this is Sam, Tucker and that's Wulf. Don't mind him. He looks big and scary but he's friendly," Danny informed the group he'd travelled with.

After a moment of polite greetings, the group found the Speeder. In the light from the interior, Sam, Tucker and Wulf saw Danny's healing head wound.

"Danny, what happened to your head?" Sam asked worriedly. Danny blinked before nervously running a hand through his hair.

"Heh, crash-landing," he answered. Sam and Tucker stared at him before shaking their heads.

"You were busy taunting Skulker weren't you?" Tucker realised. Danny nodded and shuffled his feet embarrassed.

"Well, he started it," Danny mumbled. The group of pokémon trainers watched the exchange with interest.

Suddenly Danny gasped and a puff of blue mist escaped his mouth. Danny groaned and he grabbed a thermos from the side in the Speeder and hopped out. He quickly spotted a squat green ghost and grinned mischievously.

"Oh, hey Skulker. Look what I have," Danny greeted the ghost and shook the thermos at him. Skulker blinked in surprise and attempted to flee before Danny pointed the thermos at him and a bright blue light spilled out and encased the ghost and pulled him inside. He slammed the lid on top and turned to Ash and the others.

"That's what I usually do," Danny commented and handed the thermos to Sam. The girl smirked and took the thermos before hopping back into the Speeder.

"Come on. We'd better get you home before Jazz goes crazy," Tucker shouted. Danny nodded and smiled as Wulf slashed the air and created a ghost portal. The ghost then grinned toothily at Danny. Danny smiled at Ash and the others.

"One sec Tuck. You guys want to see the Ghost Zone?" Danny asked. The group blinked before nodding. Danny motioned to the portal. He walked up to it and allowed each of the children to pop their heads through to get a look. They emerged with wide eyes filled with awe.

"That's just the beginning," Danny remarked.

"So I guess, this really is goodbye then," Ash commented. Danny nodded.

"I don't have much to say since I already kind of said it all," Danny chuckled. The children smiled and nodded. It was the same for them. Danny shook Ash's hand.

"Good luck Ash. All of you," Danny decided to say and then stepped into the Spectre Speeder. He closed the door behind him and the vehicle flew through the portal. Wulf gave the group one last grin before following and the portal closed behind him.

"I'm going to miss Danny," Bonnie muttered sadly. The group nodded in agreement before heading back to Pine Town, happy in knowing that Danny was on his way home.

"So tell me. How ticked is Jazz?" Danny inquired as Sam examined his head wound while Tucker navigated through the Ghost Zone. Wulf had already disappeared through a ghost portal to return to running from Walker. Sam shrugged.

"More worried than ticked, but we're not covering for you with her. We're all glad that we found you before your parents got back though," Sam replied. Danny sighed in relief.

"So what were those things? You know Pikachu, Squishy and Dedenne," Tucker inquired. Danny smirked.

"They're called pokémon. And they're pretty cool," Danny answered and began to explain what had happened to him since he went missing through that unexpected trip through a portal.

And that is that.

Thank you so much for reading this story and thanks to everyone whose been reading my stories for the last year. It's been my pleasure and I'm looking forward to the next.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed on this and all my previous fanfics also. I love hearing your opinions. There will be a connnecting one0shot with this, so keep an eye out for it.

Speaking of reviews, I have a page on my website dedicated to my favourite reviews. Check it out.

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Until the next fanfic.