Hi, so I don't text much, and with autocorrect I usually just text in whole words anyway… so this is going to be more of a stereotypical 2010 text-speak, with a little bit of modernish internet-speak thrown in… so please enjoy.

Chapter 4: Danny, again

It was seven o'clock in the morning on a Saturday, and Danny was awake. Why? Ghosts, that's why. Can't they leave him one day where he can just sleep in? Of course not. That's why he was in the Ghost Zone at seven o'clock in the morning.

Well, at least he was done now. If he could just make it back to his bed without anything happening, that would be—

A portal opened up about a dozen or so feet in front of him. A girl, who didn't look much older than him, and certainly didn't look like a ghost, tumbled out as if she had been flung.

"Great…" he mumbled to himself as he decided to float over there as see what was up. She had stopped herself from spinning, but was now just glancing around looking lost and frustrated. He should go over there and help.

"Good morning, ma'am, where are you from?" That was probably a good start.

Startled, she yelped and spun around with a surprisingly well-aimed fist, but came just shy of actually hitting him. Okay, don't accidentally sneak up on ladies wearing capes… good to know. Though that weird symbol on her shirt looked oddly familiar…

"G,,, n? w8 ? ?" she… said? How was she making those sounds? Did she say a literal eight? What was going on? "OMR, r u Kr? Whr u bn? Whr r we? Iv nvr seen anythng lk ths planet b4…"

"Are… are you speaking in text? With your mouth?" He took a breath and wondered if this day could get any weirder. "Can you repeat that? A little slower, if you could?"

",,, R U Kryptonian?" she asked again. Now that word, he did recognize.

"Oh, Kryptonain! I was wondering why you looked familiar! You're from that universe with the other guy, the one with that same symbol!" Though now he wondered, even though they spoke the same language and knew each other, why they had such wildly different dialects? Maybe they're from different regions?

"Yas! U kno Kal!" She gasped and pointed a finger at him. "Ur Spoopy BoiTM! The 1 frm anthr univrs!"

Danny had to bite his lips to stop from just full-on laughing. His reputation proceeded him, even in other universes. When did his half-life get like this? He decided to take it in stride, and bowed.

"Sure am! I'm… spoopy," he giggled, "but not Kryptonian. I'm Danny, and—Oh! Right! One of my friends can make portals that can hopefully get you home! Come on, let's go!"

They flew for a while; the girl introduced herself as Kara, and Danny… well, he'd been saving up some questions from the last time he was in that universe and never asked any. Apparently, his universe's Esperanto was a version of her language that her people had used a couple thousand years ago… no wonder no one could understand what anyone else was saying! But he almost flipped his lid when she said that she and her cousin, Kal – the guy from before – were on a whole team of freaking Superheroes in their universe! Danny was about to ask if their villains were any more annoying than his when—

"Daniel," a voice he really didn't want to hear right now said. "Of course you would be here."

"Speak of the devil…" Danny muttered. "Why are you here, Vlad?"

The man actually had the audacity to roll his eyes and sneer at him!

"As surprising as it must be, I'm not here for you." Instead, Vlad turned to Kara and put on the fakest friendly smile Danny had ever seen. "You seem like a reasonable young lady; wouldn't you rater have an ally with wealth and power? Running around and playing hero with this boy would be a waste of your time when I have sensed your raw, but unfortunately untrained power—"

"Holy Ancients, can you just not?" Danny interrupted. "The sound of your voice is literally hurting my ears."

That made him mad; Vlad burst into flames and leveled a searing glare at Danny. He just shot back with his best UnimpressedTM face.

"Do you not know when to stay silent in front of your betters, boy?"

"I would if I could see any of my betters—"

Vlad's eyes flashed.

"So lk, he tryn 2 recruit me?" Kara asked suddenly, looking like she was trying to get in between them. Vlad's fire died as soon as she started speaking, as if a bucket of water had been dumped on his head. His look of fiery rage had been replaced with that of a gaping fish from said bucket. Danny was trying not to laugh when she continued. "Hes a baddie rt? 1 of ur regs, ye?"

He just nodded, laughing into his hand. This was the most fun he's had in a long time, and Vlad was definitely going to pay him back for it later, but right now it was totally worth it. Kara looked at him strange, then turned around to face Vlad and burst into a fit of cackles, tearing up and clutching her stomach.

"Is she speaking in text?" Vlad asked as soon as he recovered enough to form words. "I don't—Daniel, I don't text, what is she saying!?"

"Oh, you caught that, did you?" Danny said in poorly faked sympathy. "I totally get it, Vladdie, but you'd never be able to understand what us young people say because you're so far from that."

"lol, Boomer" Kara added.

Vlad just opened and closed his mouth a couple times before apparently coming to the decision to abandon his mission of recruiting Kara, and to just fight. He lit his hands on fire, and before Danny could dodge, Vlad threw a firebolt at him—

Luckily, Kara was there. And she has superspeed. Awesome. She swooped in and just batted the firebolt away from him without even blinking! Those things usually hurt!

"im so PO'd rn! :(" she said, cracking her knuckles. "OP u mind if I punch him n2 nxt wk?"

"No no, go ahead and punch!" Danny smirked. "Just move over. I wanna see this."

Kara grinned.

"k"

She reared her arm back, and it looked like Vlad was regretting his half-life choices when, in a fraction of a second, her fist connected with the man's face. It seemed to Danny like time slowed for a moment before Vlad was flung backwards, and before he knew it, the man was just a speck on the horizon. Kara turned back to Danny.

":) u sed uve a m8 tht cn send me home?"

He just nodded, looking at her with admiration and awe. She's so cool.

"Uh, yeah, Wulf should be just over there… if he is still there," Danny explained as they flew. "He usually doesn't go very far from the Forgotten Forest, because of the stupid prison warden. But if he's not there… then maybe we could talk to my mentor, Clockwork, to see if he could send you home, if, you know, he says it should be—Oh! Cool! Wulf's there! Come on!"

When they touched down, Kara just seemed to stare at Wulf in surprise. Guess they don't have beings like Wulf in her universe. She stayed like that long enough for Danny and Wulf to talk about how he was going to send her home. Apparently, Wulf remembered which universe it was, and how to get there.

"Hey Kara?" Danny asked. That seemed to pull her back to the present. "We should be good to send you home whenever you're ready."

"noice…? Its bn fun, bt I rly g2g asap" she shook both his and Wulf's hand and paw, respectively, with a bright smile on her face. "gr8 mtg u 2, now I cn tell kal n evr1! They gon b soo jelly!"

"Yeah! My friends are going to be so mad when I tell them about you, and that you punched Vlad in the face and they didn't get to see it!" Danny mimicked her punch to the air in front of him.

They both laughed while Wulf came up to them and slashed open a portal with his claws. She was so confident before, but now Kara looked hesitant. She probably doesn't have the best track record with mysterious portals, Danny can relate.

"Good luck and farewell, friend," Wulf gestured towards the tear. He wasn't supposed to keep them open for long, that's what got him arrested in the first place, so he was getting a little anxious.

Kara shrugged and walked forward.

"ttyl"

"You met another person from that other universe?" Tucker cried in dismay. "And she spoke in text?! I can speak in text!"

"One, it was text-speak in Esperanto; and two, no you can't!" Danny snickered at his friend.

"Have you seen Vlad since then?" Sam asked. Danny shrugged.

"No, I think he's scared that Kara might still be around."

"You know you're going to be in a world of hurt once he finds out she's gone."

"Yeah."

"…You're going to say it was worth it, aren't y—"

"But it was totally worth it."

I was tempted to introduce Kara as Dear, because in Esperanto, Kara means Dear... but I didn't, obviously... mainly because at least I pronounce them differently (CARE-ah vs KAH-rah and all that jazz)...