Chapter Three: The Masked Specter

It's been week since Terry's arrival in Casper High and Sam and Tucker are getting along with him well. They toured him throughout the school's campus, introduced him to the teachers, showed him the class schedule and informed him about the Dos and Don'ts in the school.

Ever since his little but surprising brawl with Dash, students from the lower years started to ask for his autographs and tips on how to avoid bullies. Because of this, he has been known to Casper High's students as "The Dash Tamer". In fact, Dash's bullying rates have gone down at an astounding speed because the new guy. That's why when Dash does some bullying, his victims will just have to call out Terry's name and the jock will zip away as if a ghost was chasing him.

On this particular day however, Terry was absent so Dash had come out of his hiding and went back to stuffing nerds into lockers and introducing freshmen to "Mr. Flushie". His bullying rates have soared back to the top and every nerd, freshman and geek concealed themselves from him and prayed that their "Savior" will come the next day.

After classes, Sam and Tucker have decided to pay Terry a visit. From him they have learned that he and his family were using the apartment formerly known as "Fenton Works" as their new home. They wanted to see what changes the Spectorrs made to the building whose insides were burnt by the fire that accompanied the Fentons' departure from Amity Park. Most of the anti-ghost gadgets were left with the two teens, though, as part of letter that was found after the fire, saying that they were the ones who had to protect the town now from the chaotic ghosts who raid it every now and then. Everyone accepted this since they needed ghost fighters, therefore Sam and Tucker became the new heroes.

The two developed into skilled ghost fighters, especially Sam who dedicated her job to the Fentons. Each time there was a call, they would answer it back and do their priority as much as possible. But somehow, after a hard day's work filled with victory and the happiness of the people, they always felt that it was incomplete. Their work very much reminded them about Danny, their best friend and the famed half-ghost half-human being who saved the entire world from the Disasteroid. They would remember those days when he was still there, rescuing people from ghosts and being clumsy at the same time.

Speaking of ghosts, the two teens encountered one on their trip to Terry's home. And this ghost was none other than Skulker, the bounty hunter of the Ghost Zone. He always had a grudge on them since those days when Danny was still around and had at all times hated humans. All Sam and Tucker had to do was to beat him, trap him in the Fenton Thermos and bring him back to the Ghost Zone, all of which were easy to do. But this time, the ghost was armed to the teeth and had two ghost-robot drones with him, giving Sam and Tucker a hard time to bring him down.

"You wormy humans will never defeat my drones!" he boasted, full of pride. "Any last words before you feel my wrath?"

"Yeah, heads up!" a voice from above yelled, just as Skulker got hit by an ecto-ball and crash-landed onto the street, creating a huge crater.

"Who dares interrupt me in the middle of my wrath-giving?" he boomed angrily. He then looked up to see a being in a white trench coat and white boots, both of which were patterned with green and black stripes. The lower half of his face was covered by a black neckerchief and his green eyes can be seen through his similarly colored goggles. He also had long, scruffy, white hair that reached the back of his knees but was tied into a pony tail to keep it in place. His white-gloved hands glowed green before he projected an ecto-ray at Skulker who created a shield to protect himself.

He's too powerful. I can't hold him off any longer, the ghost thought as his shield started to crack. Before it would break up, he ordered his drones to stop the mysterious figure who got out of the way when they shot missiles at him.

The figure conjured a staff from his hands. It was white except for its gripping area that was black. Its top was rectangular in shape and had something like a green orb in the middle. The being used the staff to hit the drones from afar as well as deflecting their beams. Seeing that his drones were on the verge of being vanquished, Skulker brought out a remote control and pressed its only button. The drones suddenly stopped fighting, came together and combined into one massive ghost-mechanoid.

The mechanoid blasted the being with its cannon, causing him to smash into a nearby building and reducing half of it into debris. He then emerged from the rubble seconds later, his black eyebrows tightly furrowed over his eyes that seemed to contain a fiery glow in them. He then flew to the mechanoid as the orb on his staff started to blaze vividly. The mechanoid didn't notice this and released three refrigerator-sized rockets at him. He dodged two of them but the other one was soaring so fast that he could only turn around to see it coming.

From below, Tucker and Sam were watching the entire fight scene. They closed their eyes as they saw the rocket colliding with the being who helped them. But instead of a loud explosion, they heard metal being sliced and a thunderous Clink! Clang! This confused them so they opened their eyes. There, they saw the being holding out his staff in the path of the projectile. Except that it wasn't a staff anymore for it had become a scythe of blazing, green energy that pretty much overwhelmed the power of any ghost. Below the being was the rocket, neatly cut in half by the scythe's energy blade. Enraged, Skulker ordered his mechanoid to destroy the being but its head was sliced off and its whole body exploded before it could make a move. The head fell on the ghost, making him lose his balance, fall over and become unconscious. Tucker took this moment to open the Thermos and suck him in before he would wake up again. Seeing that it was over, the being made his scythe disappear and flew off, only to be stopped by a grip on his wrist.

"Please don't go away, Danny," Sam begged, grasping firmly the being's wrist, "we miss you and-"

"I do not know what you're talking about, human," he answered, pulling away his arm, "but I do know that I am not this Danny of which you speak."

The being's voice was very deep and resonant that it could only belong to someone who is ancient yet very powerful. It sent violent shivers down Sam's spine and made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Nonetheless, she still kept holding on.

"Danny, stop denying! I know it's you!"

"Don't you know, human, that at a snap of my fingers, I can unleash my legion to attack you on my command?"

"Then do it. I know that in your heart, you can never hurt me."

"Very well, human, if you insist, I can not stop you. But don't say that I haven't warned you about this."

The being snapped his fingers and instantly, a hundred ghost-skeleton soldiers encircled Sam. They were about to blast her when Tucker came and blocked Sam.

"Touch her and I'll make sure you'll regret it," he warned, arming his own ecto-blaster. Even though he had a neckerchief on, the being's rude laughter can still be heard clearly. It sounded much like Dark Dan's cackle, but without its cold tone.

"You humans are brave, yet pathetic," he mocked, snapping his fingers again to make the skeletons vanish. "This time I shall let you live, but be warned that if you two will ever cross my path again, you won't be so lucky."

That last statement made Tucker swallow down so loudly that the being jeered again when he heard it. After his heckling, he took off, leaving behind a shocked and scared Tucker and a sobbing Sam.

I'm sorry, but I have to do this, he thought regretfully as he flew farther and farther away.