Almost immediately, there were people who were amazed by the sight of the endless swirling abyss that was the Ghost Zone. People were pointing out the windows, shoving their fingers on the glass of the bus in the direction of floating purple doors.

At awe of everything around them, the others barely notice a certain Phantom sit up a little bit straighter, eyes just a little bit brighter and movements just a tad bit more energized.

Like every ghost in the Ghost Zone knows, the easiest way to replenish energy is by taking a few laps through the Zone's endless supply of ectoplasmic nothingness. It gets your energy up in no time flat, though it will leave you a bit dizzy if you bite off a bit more than you can chew.

That is how the creatures like the Ghost Octopi and the others are created. Unfortunately, they were not previously dead octopus, but are instead animated creatures created by the ectoplasm in the Ghost Zone. They were different in every way than the previously-alive. The ones who died instead of being created had abilities, powers if you will.

Danny Fenton, a boy who didnt notice his school counselor was a ghost, didn't notice a few of the Ghost Octopi brush up against the side of the Spectre Speeder, taking the ectoplasmic fuel bit by bit.

He was too busy talking to the cute, slightly taller boy from Norrisville in the seat right behind him.

"So you haven't heard of the Grave Puncher series before?" Randy asked, practically draped over the seat in front of himself.

"Can't say I have." Danny responded, sitting backwards in his seat to face him.

Sam, uninterested by the prospect of video games, took to talking to Theresa Fowler, discussing more than what either of them actually cared about.

Tucker took to explaining the Ghost Zone to Howard, or was at least trying to. Howard kept getting distracted by the video game talk or was completely confused on every single word that came out of the Techno-geek's mouth. Tucker wanted to give up, but he desperately wanted to try and get something through Howard's thick skull.

"Dude, we desperately need to get you a copy when we get back. It's only Wednesday, so I'm sure we can get through at least the first two games before I have to go back home."

"Oh, sure. I… I think I'd like that." Danny almost slapped his face. Why did he have to word it like that? It's not as if Randy was saying they would live the rest of their lives together, there was no need to phrase what he wanted to say something like that. None.

Yet, the light heat on his face made him feel as if he was a courted schoolgirl. Ugh.

"Nice, when do you-" A sudden rocking of the bus threw everyone off of their conversations. A few screams shredded the air as the creatures slammed up against the sides, sucking out the power the Spectre Speeder ran on.

"Danny! This is bad!" Sam was squished against a window, barely able to move with her two friends practically on top of her hip.

"I know," He took one look out the window and was absolutely positive this entire situation was bad. The swarm of the ghost creatures prevented anyone from seeing the outside and nothing was being done to try and drive them away. His parents were too preoccupied in trying not to get a concussion to actually turn on any of the defense they created for a situation like this.

"I just need one moment." Danny turned invisible before either of his friends could say anything about it. He floated up and had to prevent himself from snickering when Tucker landed on top of Sam. Without hesitation, he flicked a few switches on the dashboard and pressed a big red button labeled "Execute".

The hundreds of weapons folded out of the side of the bus, taking seconds to lock onto the swarming ghosts and fire.

Thankfully, the ghosts dispersed, letting Danny move back to his seat quietly and become visible again. Sam tried to smack him, he just turned intangible.

Hearing Randy groan in the seat behind him threw some minor red alarms in his mind. With a quick check, however, Randy was fine. He just bumped his head on the ceiling.

Unfortunately, all the shooting at the ghosts really drained the ectoplasmic energy of the Spectre Speeder.

There were only seconds before the entire bus lurched, throwing everyone forward in their seats, and started falling downward. The endless green rushed past the windows, hearts dropped to stomachs or leaped up into throats. Everyone could feel the free fall as they all started barrelling to the endless nothingness below.

The last thoughts in Danny's head before they crashed onto something was: "I'm about to die for the second time."

-0-0-0-

Sadly, Danny didn't actually die for a second time, which he would have loved to do at this moment. He was trapped under the burning hunk of metal that was previously the Spectre Speeder.

He found the green flames a little odd, though with it being burning ectoplasm, it made a tiny bit of sense.

Lifting up the scorching metal, Danny slid from underneath and quickly dropped it again. Super-strength does come in handy in some situations.

Looking around, no one looked drastically hurt, little scratches here and there, maybe some fractured bones, a few bruised ribs. No one else was stuck under the burning hunk of bus that was for sure.

From a crouched position in between his best friends who were still knocked unconscious, someone groaned a little ways away. He wasn't expecting anyone to wake up anytime soon, the crash itself should out them out for at least another half hour, but that wasn't including what could happen to their bodies if exposed to the properties of the Ghost Zone for too long.

Danny glanced over, watching Randy Cunningham sit up, glowing bright green under the light of the burning ectoplasm.

Harsh light always did wonders accentuating the little features no one would have stopped to notice before. Sharp cheekbones, fluffy hair, an arm bending the wrong way…

Oh shit, that's not normal.

Danny stood, slipping slightly on the cold rock of Johnny 13's bike trail, and ran to where his new friend was glaring at the flames.

"Randy," Danny knelt the second he got to Randy's side. "Are you okay?"

Randy didn't move his head, only muttering a slight "yeah."

"I find that hard to believe, I don't think your arm is supposed to bend that way."

"My arm?" Randy turned his head, staring right into Danny's eyes before looking down to his arm, half of his forearm was bending the wrong way, especially because it wasn't supposed to bend at all. "Huh, maybe that's why it feels numb."

Danny let himself chuckle a bit at that. Good to know even when Randy's hurt, he still tries to play it off as a joke.

Randy takes a second to look around, looking at everyone who was tossed out of the bus as it crashed. He saw Howard, who didn't have any terrible injuries, though there was a small cut on his forehead.

"Is everyone else alright?" Randy asked.

"For now, everyone's good. Even though it might be a little while longer until they wake up, they're fine." Danny sat, though keeping a little distance in respect for the broken arm laying uselessly at his friend's side.

"That's nice to know. I'm glad we didn't die on impact, that would be wonk."

"Wonk indeed." Danny smirked.