I told myself I wouldn't make another episode, but I couldn't help it, because this series was so much fun to write, and I had a great idea for a final episode, taking place when Danny and Dash are double their age from the series. Mostly it's for my awesome readers and all the people who favorited my story. I'm really happy it got such a positive reaction! So here's the last episode I'll make for this series. The first two episodes of my next project, a Ben 10-Danny Phantom crossover, will come out by the end of the month (March 31). Hope you enjoy whatever you read from me!

FINAL EPISODE—MEMOIRS OF A GHOST BOY

The front door burst open, and the following sound was a loud wail that carried through the entire house. Dan rolled his eyes at his husband. Dash bumped him in the side with his elbow and whispered, "Your turn."

Dan ran towards the door and encountered a distraught Robbie with tears streaming down his face. "What's wrong, buddy?" he asked.

"Sam used his powers again while we were playing basketball!" Robbie howled. "It's not fair, it's not fair!"

"Oh, boy," Dan whispered and puffed out a sigh. "Okay, I'm going to go talk to him. Calm down, Robbie."

"I WANT GHOST POWERS!" Robbie screamed at the sky.

Dan called into the kitchen, "Dash, it's both of our turns," and ran outside to confront Sam as Dash went to comfort Robbie.

Sam was sitting on top of the swing set in ghost form, arms folded. He looked away as soon as he saw Dan coming.

"Sam, get down here," Dan said. "We need to talk again."

"I don't wanna," Sam said. "I don't care what Robbie said."

"He told me you used your ghost powers during your basketball game," Dan said. "How many times do I have to tell you, Sam? Your brother is extremely sensitive. Get down here now or you're going in the ghost shield for the rest of the day."

Sam glared at him over his shoulder, but he phased through the swing set and landed sitting on the ground, still facing away.

"Look at me, Sam," Dan said in a lower voice.

Sam turned around. He and his eight-year-old twin brother shared most of the same features—a skinny build (Dash was so disappointed), a small, thin nose, small ears, and big cheeks. But they had several important features that differed. Robbie had big, hazel eyes and blond hair; Sam had blue eyes and messy red hair when he was human. The red hair was interesting, since neither of them had red hair… but when Dan thought about it, his mother, his sister, and Dash's mother all had red hair… Dash's little brother Bobby had been red-haired, too. But Sam's ghost form had green eyes and green hair. Robbie… did not have a ghost form.

It was unclear why. They were fraternal twins, and Sam Manson had volunteered to be the surrogate mother. Though the twins mostly shared the same features, they did not share the one thing that Dan would most liked to have seen in his children. Not simply so they could carry on the Phantom legacy… so that scuffles like this wouldn't break out, and deep jealousies would not develop. But it was too late for that.

"Can you really not see how much it upsets your brother when you use your powers around him?" Dan said. "You've been given a great gift, but you have been strictly forbidden by your fathers to use it except when wholly necessary."

"It was necessary!" Sam yelled. "I was going to lose!"

Dan groaned and put his head in one of his hands. "Sam, I meant—"

Sam jumped into a standing position and threw a fist at the ground. "And I deserve to win 'cuz I'm better than him 'cuz I got ghost powers and he didn't!"

Dan pointed a finger at his son, who gulped and knew it was really, really becoming serious. Dan never pointed his "ghost finger" unless he was really mad; just his finger had transformed, and the white pointer finger was in Sam's face. "Having ghost powers does not mean you are better than your brother," he said. "It means you got luckier. Once. You're going to go to your room, and I'm activating the ghost shield, and you're going to think about this until dinner."

"Dad!"

"That's final. You've been absolutely forbidden to use your powers except when necessary. If you keep doing this, we're going to have to short out your powers every day until you understand what it's like for your brother. You know our friend Noah would be happy to invent something that stops you from using your powers."

Sam growled, but nodded. He started to fly up to his room, but Dan grabbed him by one of the legs, and yelled, "NO POWERS!"

Sam transformed back into his human form grumpily; a thin gray disk appeared at his waist and spread across his body. He walked back to the house.

As Dan was about to follow, to ensure that Sam went to his room and that the ghost shield was on, a teal-colored car descended from the sky and landed in the driveway. A tall woman with short red-orange hair popped out of the front seat and jogged over to Dan, who smiled and held out his arms. As they hugged, he laughed and said, "What is it now, Jazz?"

"Mountain ghost up in Montana," Jazz said. "The Guys in White have their hands full, and Noah's in England. You'll have to handle it, Danny. I figured I'd come to visit the kids anyway while I mentioned this to you, since I haven't seen them in ages. How are they?"

"Not great," Dan said. "Another fight."

"I did my thesis on ghost envy, if you remember," Jazz whispered. "Maybe I could talk to Robbie."

"That'd be good," Dan nodded. "I'm headed to Montana. Make sure Sam's in his room with the ghost shield up, okay? I've banished him there until dinner."

Jazz chuckled a little bit, and then tousled her brother's hair. "Go get 'em."

Robbie watched from a window in front as his father transformed and shot off into the sky. His eyes filled up with tears again, and he rushed up the stairs to his room and buried his head in his pillow.

The door opened some time later, and he looked up, not able to hide the fact that his pillow and face were wet with tears. "Hi, Aunt Jasmine."

"Hi, kid," she said. "Lemme talk to you for a second about growing up with a half-ghost brother." Robbie sat up, and she closed the door behind her.

Dan flew at top speed to his parents' house, not too far away. Once they heard the situation, his mother led him to the family jet.

"I'm so proud of you, taking care of all these ghosts like this," she said. "I remember, when you were just a teen, I was worried that the ghost-fighting genes wouldn't get to you! You ran away from every ghost we saw!"

"Little did you know that was because I needed a place to transform!" Dan laughed.

"You should visit for more than just asking for the jet sometime," Maddie said, jabbing a finger at him. "Your father would love to show off his new inventions, and I'd love to see how the kids are doing."

"Robbie's still got ghost envy," Dan said, shrugging.

"Oh. That must be so upsetting for him. You should get Jasmine to talk to him!"

"That's what she's doing right now," Dan smiled. "She came to visit this time instead of calling."

"Oh, good," Maddie said. "Well, you should come visit us next week. Sam and Noah are going to be heading over with their little girls!"

Dan nodded. But Lilith Fontaine and Lizzie Fontaine, Sam's and Noah's seven-year-old daughters, both had ghost powers… He probably wouldn't bring Robbie if he visited. That would be even more disappointing for Robbie. If he and Dash visited his parents that day, he'd probably leave the kids with Tucker, Valerie, and their son, Maurice, who didn't have ghost powers. Maybe it would be a relaxing afternoon.

They finally reached the Op Center, and Dan opened up the hatch that led to the detachable jet. "I'll visit soon, I promise," Dan called back. "If I can't, I'll call in between to make up for it!"

He detached the jet and blasted off, setting a course for Montana.

Robbie rocked back and forth, his arms around his knees. Jazz rubbed his shoulder, then kissed him on the cheek and walked out.

Was it true? Could he do everything his brother could do, with today's technology? But his brother didn't need gear. Why did he get the powers?

Did his other dad feel the same way? About the fact that his husband had powers, but he didn't? He'd never thought of that before.

And if he'd been born into any other family, he would definitely not have had powers. Why was this so hard for him to understand, then? Why did he still feel cheated, swindled?

He lay his head on the back of his pillow to think.

Across the hall, his brother was thinking in his room, too. He was mad at himself, because he didn't want to be thinking about what he'd done. But he was thinking about it anyway. He was born with his powers. He should be perfectly allowed to use them! It was his gift. What was the point of it all, then? Why would he have powers just to be forbidden to use them? He'd rather not have powers if he was banned from using them anyway.

He lifted his head as he heard buttons being pressed; the ghost shield was being deactivated. But why? His ghost dad was out stopping crime… so who was it who needed the ghost shield to be down to come in?

The ghost shield clicked. The walls ceased their orange glow. Sam backed up, ready to fly out the wall if necessary.

The door swung open.

It was an older man. Much older than his fathers. He had long hair—it was white, rather than gray, as one might expect from an old man. He wore a black suit, and his smile unnerved Sam to a great extent.

"Greetings, my boy," he said, walking over to the bed.

Sam scurried to the back of the bed and held up a hand. "Don't come any closer!" he shouted.

"I understand you're upset right now about being punished by your parents," the old man said.

"Who are you?" Sam demanded.

"So quick to ask questions," said the man. "Just like your father. Here, shake my hand like a gentleman would properly introduce himself. My name is Vlad."

The old man extended a hand very close to Sam. Sam jumped back in fright and phased through the wall, landing in the yard—and his heart stopped when the old man named Vlad followed, right through his wall.

"Don't be alarmed, my boy," Vlad said. He landed softly on the ground. "I'm like you. I'm a half-ghost. Though what are you—a quarter ghost?" He smiled, but Sam still backed away; he transformed into his ghost half and held up a threatening hand again.

Vlad nodded, understanding the boy's concern. "Did you know I invented the machine that created you before you were born?" he asked.

Sam lowered the hand slightly. "What?"

"My machine created you by taking your fathers' cells," Vlad said. "They never told you this?"

Sam shook his head. Up ahead, he noticed Robbie's head at the window. He was watching wide-eyed.

"You and your brother both. And your Aunt Danielle—I'm sure you know her? I created her, too."

Sam stared at the old man. Why was he here?

"I'm a half-ghost, too," Vlad said, "so I understand your predicament with your powers. It's sad, really. Not being able to use them whenever you want… for fear of offending your brother? But these are your powers. You should express them freely! I could help you with that."

"What?"

Vlad stepped closer again, but Sam still stepped back. He smiled softly, hoping it would help, but Sam didn't relax. "I've known your father for a long time," Vlad said, "and his friends as well. I think you should come live with me for a little bit."

Sam gawked.

"Think about it," Vlad said. "You could use your powers however and whenever you'd like. I'll even train you in using them… Your father won't train you yet, will he? I'd train you."

"I train myself when he's not around," Sam said. "I know how to use my powers."

"Can you do this?"

Vlad duplicated himself into five—then ten—then twenty—and still more. Sam gawked. "No!" he said. "No, I can't!"

Vlad merged back into one, and twirled his hand in the air; purple lightning coursed around his fingertips. "What's your element, son?"

Sam frowned. "My element?"

"Mine is electricity," he said. "It's allowed me to create some wondrous inventions. Your father's is ice. And his friend Noah—he has fire. What is your element? Is it ice, like your father?"

"I can control an element?"

"I could find out which one it is for you," Vlad said. "And you know what? I might even be able to give your brother powers."

Sam looked over his shoulder, at his brother. Robbie ran away from the window to get his father. This stranger freaked him out.

Sam turned back as Vlad reached into his suit, pulling out a scroll of some kind. "Take this, child," Vlad said. "Think it over." He tossed the scroll to Sam. "If you want to be treated like a king… If you want to become a better superhero than even your father… Just open this map, and say, 'Take me to Vlad's portal.' But you must always keep this little gift a secret from your parents. And maybe I can be your new parent." He vanished into the air.

The front door opened; Sam whipped around and turned invisible. He flew up to his room as Dash looked around and called, "Sam?"

"I'm up in my room, Dad!" Sam called as soon as he was back up. He passed his hand into the wall, and phased the map inside it. He'd look over it tonight, to see what it was. Something in his stomach told him it was a bad idea, but something in his anger at his parents ignored it completely. He just wondered how he would explain the ghost shield around his room being down.

Dan flipped on the communicator; the ghost police were calling him from back home. What was it? He was already almost halfway to Montana already.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Daniel? Daniel Fenton? It's Damon Gray."

"Lieutenant Gray!" Dan exclaimed. "I haven't heard from you in a while. How's it going?"

"It would be fine," he said. "Except we've got a situation."

"A situation?" Dan asked. "I'm halfway to Montana right now to rock Colosso's world."

"Turn around."

Dan's face fell solemn. "A big situation?"

"Unimaginably big. Like nothing we've seen since the days of the assaults of Undergrowth and Vulcrex and Riptide. Before our technology advanced to the point where it wasn't as much of a problem anymore. We need you here. The Guys in White can handle Colosso eventually; all he's doing is scaring away a few hikers."

"Why wasn't I notified before I left?" Dan asked.

"We didn't know about it until just a couple minutes ago," Damon said. "The Ghost Writer said it was a legend, passed down by memory. Which is ironic, because the ghost that we're dealing with… It eats memories."

"I remember this from my Ghost Mythology lectures," Dan said, a spark coming to mind. "You can't mean Memoire?"

"That's exactly right."

"Memoire… It's just a writhing mass of tentacles, isn't it? Its depictions look like the Flying Spaghetti Monster."

"It's amazing they even have depictions," Damon said. "This thing is constantly invisible except when it's closing in for the attack. It's been draining townspeople of their memories, leaving them in their basements, having no clue what's going on, where they are, who they are… anything."

"That's horrifying," Dan said. He entered a command to turn the jet around.

"You're telling me," Damon said. "We searched the house of Mr. and Mrs. Westing, who were apparently not seen in a while. Each was found in a separate room of their house, locked in with the windows closed. They didn't know that other people could exist—they freaked out when they saw us. They didn't remember how to brush their teeth or eat. And there were two more cases like that. This creature has been silently feeding on the townspeople for almost a week now."

"Will defeating it bring back their memories?" Dan asked nervously.

"We don't know," Damon said. "No one's ever defeated it before, as far as we know. You may have to destroy it entirely in order to stop it. Are you prepared to do that?"

"Considering what could continue happening to people, yes," Dan said. "These ghosts don't have feelings if they don't see any harm in draining people of their lives. So I have no feelings about stopping them for good."

"Good," Damon said. "Because it's already gotten about ten percent of the police force. I think it knows we were going after it. Our men claimed to see it, and then fired their Sealers; it didn't seal the ghost away. It just grabbed them, drained them, and spat them out on the street. It's not being subtle anymore."

"Christ," Dan said. "I should be back quickly."

"Thank you, Dan. I will see you here."

Dan ended the call and breathed deeply. He'd faced situations like this before, when he was half his current age, and had always come out of them triumphant. Of course, he had needed to be bailed out more than often—with Wardback, he had to go to Clockwork; with Hemozoa, he had to enlist Vlad's help; with Voromni, he'd gone to Desiree; and he didn't do much at all against Luster and Vulcrex.

But he was far more powerful now. He was a Scale 7.489 on the government's scale system; his power was almost at what he assumed to be its eventual max, 7.5. He'd defeated many, many ghosts many, many times. There seemed to be nothing that could stand against him. Which made it especially nice that he wasn't evil at this point in his future, like had almost happened in an accident at the Nasty Burger.

He couldn't bear to think of losing his family. He had to get home before they were put in danger by Memoire.

"Why is the ghost shield going up around the house?" Sam yelled. "Why is the ghost shield up?"

"Calm down," said Dash, walking into Sam's room. "This is for our protection."

"Ghost drill?" Sam asked.

"Not a drill," Dash said solemnly. "Amity Park is under attack."

"Attack? From who?" Sam couldn't help think of the strange old man who had visited.

"I don't think it's a who, I think it's a what," Dash said. "A very frightening ghost monster. I think your other dad is going to handle this."

"But he's in Montana," Robbie said, walking in.

"He's coming back," Dash said. "That's how important this is."

"Is Cassie okay?" Robbie said. He ran to the window and looked at the neighbors' house across the street, one of whom was Robbie's good friend Cassie.

"Yes, Cassie has her family's ghost shield up, too," Dash said. "Everyone in the town has their ghost shields up. Which is why I'm hoping Dan comes back soon; we don't want to lose its trail…"

"Can I go with Dad to fight the ghost?" Sam asked, hopping up and down on his bed.

"No," Dash said immediately. "Absolutely not. That one time Dad took you to fight the Box Ghost… That did not mean you could tag along everywhere. ESPECIALLY not for something this dangerous!"

"Come ON!" Sam said. "If Dad's there, it's not dangerous! You never let me do any cool ghost-fighting stuff!"

"You will have more than enough time to do that when you're older," Dash said. "When you've learned to use your powers responsibly."

"I can use my powers responsibly!" Sam whined.

"Like you used them to tease your brother today?" Dash stated firmly. "I wouldn't even tag along on this trip if I had the chance. It's just not safe for anyone but a master ghost-fighter."

Sam didn't hear his father speaking; he was boiling mad. He was definitely going to look over that map tonight. Vlad was right. No one cared about him.

"I'm sorry, Sam," Dash said. "Just not today."

Sam didn't answer. He just simmered on his bed. Dash figured it was best to just let him cool down, and he shook his head and left.

Robbie looked out the window. "Dad was right, you know!" he said, putting his hands to his hips. "Why do you want to go out there? It's freaky with any ghost around, but this one seems super-bad."

Sam turned to him in a rage, nostrils flaring. "I know YOU don't understand!" he shouted. "You're such a whining goody-two-shoes! I want to go out there and FIGHT! It's the way I was born! Your only superpower is to whine like a girl, and you use those superpowers all the time! Why don't I EVER get to use MY superpowers?"

Robbie burst out into tears anew and shouted, "TAKE IT BACK!"

"See, you're using your superpower right now!" Sam yelled. Abruptly he transformed into his ghost form, and then flew six inches above Robbie's head, shouting into his face. "WHY CAN'T YOU FLY, LITTLE GIRL? YOU CAN CRY BUT YOU CAN'T FLY?"

Robbie threw a fist at his brother's head in a blind fury, but Sam backed away and he fell over. Robbie leapt up wailing and stormed out of the room.

Sam huffed and transformed back. He was probably going to go whine to Dad now, huh. That was all he was good for. Tattling.

Dash charged up the stairs. "What happened?" he yelled. "Robbie just ran by me, screaming his head off about you!"

"He didn't go and whine to you?" Sam snorted. "That's a surprise. Maybe the things you're teaching me—to not be who I'm supposed to be—are rubbing off on him!"

"That's not funny, Sam," Dash said. "This is not healthy for you or your brother."

"What do you know about brothers?" Sam called with his back to Dash. "You and Dad didn't have any brothers!"

Dash's face clouded over, and his anger turned into sadness. That was not a true statement. He had had a brother once. A little brother named Bobby… or Robert, after whom they'd named Robbie.

And this whole shouting and screaming while running away was just like Bobby...

Just like… when Bobby stole the car…

…and drove it into the lake…

Dash suddenly had a horrible vision of what was to come. He sprinted down the stairs in three leaps, heaving frantic breaths, his heart pounding. He thought he heard something starting in the garage, and he charged through the house, knocking over a vase and several pictures and shattering them, as he heard the garage door opening, and he got to the door in what he thought was in time, and he ripped it open, and the engine of the hovercar suddenly revved and the car jolted out of the garage with Robbie at the wheel—

And Dash reached in through the open top just in time to grab Robbie's shirt collar. Frenzied, incoherent, insane thoughts rushed through Dash's frantic head—he was fishing with his dad and he caught a big one… He needed to hold on to this couch just a little bit longer as he and Dan were moving into their first house… Horse-collar tackle, on the defense, fifteen yard penalty, automatic first down…

As he ripped Robbie out of the driver's seat, the boy's head narrowly missed the edge of the windshield as the hovercar flew out the back of the garage, backed slightly into the air, and then crashed with an explosion into the house across the street. The ghost shield around that house flickered and died.

Dash gasped as he collected himself enough to see what had just happened. He ran to the edge of his yard's ghost shield, and he shouted across the street. "EDDIE! MARISSA! GET INTO OUR SHIELD NOW!"

Two parents and their nervous daughter, Cassie, about Sam's and Robbie's age, slammed open the front door, having realized what happened. They charged across the street, and Robbie appeared at Dash's side, holding out his hand for Cassie.

A whooshing sound came from overhead, and suddenly, an mammoth pink mass came into view. Cassie's mother screamed and threw Cassie forward with enough momentum to get her through the ghost shield—but suddenly, a large pink tentacle snapped at her and wrapped around her waist, pulling her upwards; a second reached out and entangled her screaming mother. The father, Eddie, ran at the beast, firing an ecto-pistol, but no damage could be seen, and he was suddenly set upon by a third tentacle which pulled him up into the sky.

The tentacles in the sky didn't seem to be attached to any main body segment; the entire body was apparently made of writhing pink tendrils, wrapped around themselves in a shape eerily similar to that of a human brain. This was Memoire, the memory-eating ghost. Dash could only watch, horrified; there was absolutely nothing else he could do.

Three tentacles with barbed tips rose from the creature's core as two red eyes bubbled to the surface from inside the tentacles. The barbed limbs shot forward and dug themselves into the family's foreheads; Dash covered Robbie's eyes and felt tears streaming down his son's face. The three family members then dropped to the ground, limp and unconscious, and Memoire turned towards the pale father and son behind the ghost shield.

"Delicious," came a low, rumbling voice from within. "Thank you for sharing." It lifted off into the sky and vanished.

Sam had been watching from his window; he turned away, horrified, and needed something to erase the memory of what he'd just seen.

The image kept flashing through his head of the scene he'd just witnessed. First, he was certain that the car crashing into the house had to have killed someone. But he saw his father and brother rush to the edge of the ghost shield, and all three of his neighbors rush out unharmed… He'd been so relieved, and then his chest grew heavy and a gray puff of air escaped his mouth. He'd learned that was what his dad called the "ghost sense," which let you know when a ghost was around. His mouth was still coppery from the taste left by the ghost sense. He'd found that metal objects like coins and machinery bent slightly towards him when he was angry—Vlad had said everyone had an "element." Was his element metal?

And then, following the ghost sense, a gigantic tentacled brain descended from the sky and ate his neighbors' thoughts directly out of their heads. It was so, so horrifying to see… Poor Cassie and her parents…

And the worst part of it was, if his father had trained him, he might have been able to do something. He could have helped them. Fought off the beast. How tough could a floating brain be?

That was it. He was going to take the map and pay Vlad a visit tonight. Vlad was absolutely right in every way. And Sam wanted so badly to be trained to use his powers as well as his father… if not better. He'd never seen his father make two dozen clones before, but Vlad did it instantly and without getting even a little bit tired. Vlad could train him to eclipse his father's fame.

He suddenly noticed a strange book on one of his shelves that he'd never seen before. It was definitely new—he didn't own any books that were purple with green swirls on a part of the binding instead of a title. He pulled it out of the shelf, and there was a little sticky note on it that had just one letter: "V."

This book must have been from Vlad! He pulled off the sticky-note, and there were only two letters on the front: GZ. What did GZ stand for…? Ghost Zone?

His suspicions were confirmed by opening the book to its first page. Inside was a fantastical world of levitating doors and green-shaded landscapes that defied imagination. A place his father had never taken him to, saying it was "too dangerous." Well, Vlad wouldn't have such qualms. Vlad would certainly take him here!

He flipped forward a couple of pages… looking for something of interest. He wondered if the book had anything on the portals that have been built by humans. He skimmed the book until he saw a heading on one page that intrigued him.

Natural Portals into the Human World

Some paths into the human world appear naturally, without warning. The only known method of detecting these portals is through the Infi-map, see next page.

He flipped forward a page, and there was a sticky note on the subsequent page that he hadn't noticed. On it was written, The Infi-map: In case you were wondering.

He'd look at the blurb on the Infi-map after this section. He continued reading on the natural portals.

These paths can appear anywhere, at any time. Going through a portal also may not lead one to the same time period from which one has left. There are, in fact, many portals, but they only remain open for a short time before closing forever.

Some portals are ripped through by Transdaemons, or ghosts with the ability to tear open portals to the human world from the ghost dimension. They all take the form of animals, and their claws are created with a strange power; these animals are morphed into ghostly creatures by being halfway through the location of a ghost portal as it opens. The stress alters their DNA and combines it with that of a ghost. Aethri, an eagle ghost, Wulf, a wolf ghost, and Ravadge, a honey badger ghost, are the three known examples. These animals have taken on intelligence that rivals humans. The only known ghosts able to create portals into the Ghost Zone who were not once human animals are Pariah Dark (but anyone with the Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire could theoretically do this) and the nomadic, mysterious ghost Wardback.

See Half-ghosts for more information on this next topic: Half-ghosts are created when a human makes contact with an opening portal. These can be natural portals or man-made portals. In general, this is a highly unstable method of developing powers. All adult humans who have become half-ghost through exposure to a natural portal develop a severe condition known as ecto-acne, and all have passed away within two years of contracting their powers—sometimes due to the ecto-acne, other times due to persecution or ghost attacks.

Ecto-acne will only affect adults in this way. Any human under the average age of twenty will not be affected by ecto-acne, but their survival is still not guaranteed if placed under such high stress as their genome being altered by ghost DNA. There are currently five known survivors of the experience who are immune to ecto-acne, three of whom reside in the Ghost Zone. The sixth current surviving half-ghost has ecto-acne and should pass away shortly.

Depending on how long ago this book was written, it probably already had happened. Sam was very interested in this book already… and he didn't read much literature. Mostly he just tried to use his ghost powers quietly in his room to practice. He flipped forward a page to the Infi-map.

The Infi-map is an entity of incredible knowledge. It can take the user to any point in the Ghost Zone, simply by voicing aloud the destination. In addition, it can take the user to any object that is sought, if that object be in the Ghost Zone.

It is strange and powerful. A multitude of commands is at the disposal of its holder. The map can be sent to another ghost or person and carry them to any destination; it can take the user to any random location if the user is uncertain of where to go; it can take the user to his or her destiny.

The origin of the Infi-map is unclear. In some legends, the great ghost god Ectus bestowed the map to his son Pariah in exchange for the Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire that Pariah had forged; Pariah then used the power of the map to send his father thousands of years into an alternate past for banishment and take back his artifacts. It is known that King Pariah Dark had possession of the map at some point; it is not clear whether there is a ghost god Ectus, as he is on the edges of Ghost Zone mythology. What is known for certain is that the Infi-map was given to the inhabitants of the Land of the Far Frozen for protection after it was taken from Pariah's castle.

A more likely explanation is one based on a story passed down by a single witness who swears its truth. Thousands of years ago, a strange ghost known today as Wardback appeared out of seemingly nowhere, carrying the Infi-map. The vagueness of this story in fact speaks to its validity; the simplest explanation tends to be the truth, and although this explanation still does not cover why the Infi-map came into existence, it makes the phenomenon simpler to explain in that there is no explanation. This story does not give off the air of mythology, which would provide a much broader backstory. Thus the Infi-map is accepted to have appeared from nowhere, and is somehow connected to Wardback; though no one has encountered Wardback to inquire about this. However, given Wardback's inexplicable ability to create natural portals into the Ghost Zone, he seems the most likely to be connected to the Infi-map.

He didn't understand most of it, but it was still very interesting to him. Did his father have books like this? Why didn't he share them?

Speaking of his dad… maybe… there was something in here on the ghost that attacked their neighbors…?

He flipped through the book rapidly, scanning the pictures, but the book seemed to be only on history and artifacts, and not specific ghosts. Whatever. He phased the book into his wall, next to his map, and then lay back on his bed, waiting for nightfall.

As he sat in bed, looking at his ceiling, he suddenly remembered what happened to their neighbors again, and he felt sick. Getting out of here would mean avoiding that creature, too.

Dan landed outside the police station, and turned back into a human to phase through the ghost shield. Most of the ghost shields nowadays prevented half-ghosts from entering or leaving as well as full ghosts, but the police station purposefully did not upgrade their shield so that Dan could come in, too.

He opened the door, and Lieutenant Gray was glad to see him. He walked over and placed an arm over Dan's shoulder. "I'm very glad you're here," he said. "There's just been another reported attack. All your husband said was that a car accident destroyed your neighbors' ghost shield, and Marissa, Eddie, and Cassie were all drained."

Dan couldn't speak; he could only gape. He'd known them since their kids were newborns. This had to stop.

"We've got a lock on Memoire," Lieutenant Gray said. "It's stayed in the general area around your house. In fact, it's stayed almost still since the attacks. It might be waiting for you to return to your house so that the ghost shield goes down momentarily."

"What?" Dan asked. "How would it know?"

"It now has control of the memories of its victims. It's got Eddie's memories, and it can access them. It knows you're half-ghost and thusly you need the shield down to get back into your house."

"Well, that's not happening," Dan said. "I'll need to get a hold of Dash and tell him not to open the shield when he sees me."

"Or your family could hide in your son's room," Lieutenant Gray suggested. "Your son's room has a separate ghost shield, doesn't it? We could get your family to hunker down there while we lure Memoire to your house with a momentarily deactivated ghost shield. Then, when it's inside, we can activate it again to trap him!"

"Brilliant!" Dan exclaimed. "I wish I'd thought of that. I'll give Dash a call." He pulled out his phone, but then thought for a moment. "The ghost shield generator is pretty far from Sam's room. I'll tell Dash to get the Spirit Harpoon and its portable ghost shield generator while he makes the run back to the safe spot."

"I'll get our special units set up with cloaking devices," Lieutenant Gray said. "You might need some help on this."

"Have them bring the exo-skeleton," Dan said as he put the phone to his ear to call Dash. "I'll tear through him like a wet tissue."

"Why are you bringing me in here?" Robbie cried out as Dash dragged him into Sam's room.

"Why are you bringing him in here?" Sam shouted.

"Get along," Dash bellowed. "You're in here because I'm going to deactivate the house's Ghost Shield."

Robbie and Sam forgot they were fighting; their eyes bugged out. "What? WHY?" Robbie choked.

"To lure Memoire in for the attack," Dash said. "Memoire is the creature you just saw. Your dad is going to come home, so we're going to have to deactivate the ghost shield to let him in, right? Then Memoire will swoop in, and we'll reactivate the ghost shield to trap him."

"What about you?" Sam asked tremulously.

"I'm taking the Spirit Harpoon, and the portable ghost shield projector it carries will protect me," Dash said. "And you, Robbie… I know Sam will have to stay in this room. But you'd better NEVER leave, under ANY circumstance. If something happens to me or your other dad, the police will come and get you to make sure you're safe. No matter what happens, do not leave this room. And if I catch you fighting, you're both grounded for a year!"

"What if the ghost shield around my room malfunctions?" Sam asked seriously.

Dash scratched the back of his head. "Fly yourself and your brother as fast as you can to the police station," he said after a small pause. "Or turn invisible and hide under the floor of the basement. But whatever you do, do NOT fight him. Your father isn't even going to go near Memoire without the exo-skeleton readily available."

Sam folded his arms, but nodded and sat compliantly on his bed. Dash left the room, and seconds later, and orange glow surrounded the inside of the walls of Sam's room. Robbie looked about nervously, mostly at the window.

"Are you scared for our parents?" Sam said.

Robbie shot him a glare and looked away.

"No, I meant, I am too," Sam said quietly. Robbie gave him a sideways glance, but he had no response.

"Do this right, Daniel," said Lieutenant Gray as they approached Dan's house as the sun was disappearing below the horizon. "You have one shot at luring Memoire in, so you'll have to make the act convincing."

"I'm a master actor," Dan said. "I had to do some good acting to cover up some slip-ups when I was still keeping the powers a secret."

"And don't you dare mess up in the battle, either," Lieutenant Gray continued. "Because if he absorbs your memories, he's going to know the code to unlock the ghost shield in your son's room."

Dan gulped. "Didn't think about that."

"Have your husband change the code just to be safe. Not that I think you'll lose."

"I understand. I'll mention that." Dan gave Dash another quick call, and then when he was finished, he transformed into a ghost and passed through the floor. It was now or never. He didn't want Memoire to leave.

"He'll probably go down into your basement to find the ghost shield generator once he's trapped," Lieutenant Gray said. "Make sure you get him quick before he either breaks the shield or gets through your portal somehow."

"Noted," Dan said. "Here it goes."

He became visible right beyond the ghost shield, and then yelled inside, "Dash, put the shield down really quick for a moment!"

As the shield disappeared for the briefest of moments, Dan knew that the plan had worked; a puff of blue breath escaped his lips, and he turned around to see a hulking mass of tentacles zoom by him and squeeze through the door into the house.

Dan knew that the others in the cloaked jet had seen this; they dropped the exo-skeleton in response. Dan phased through it and boarded it, then dropped inside as the ghost shield went back up.

Advantage, Fenton. He had the exo-skeleton and his enemy was trapped. He passed by Dash, inside the portable ghost shield, holding the Spirit Harpoon; he gestured down to the basement, and Dan jetted down the stairs.

Memoire was hovering in the center of the basement, looking for the ghost shield projector. His tentacles were oozing out and probing all corners of the room; it made him look like spaghetti made of meat. He was looking around at the virtually empty basement. It had almost nothing inside it, because it was a training center for Dan and Noah and even some of the police. Nothing valuable was anywhere nearby as a result. When the beast saw Dan in the exo-skeleton, it shuddered—it knew the suit's power, since its brain contained the memories of some ghost police officers who had worked next to Dan.

Dan wasted no time; he blasted an extremely powerful jet of energy. It smashed into a clump of tentacles above Memoire's eyes, which snapped off and wriggled on the ground ceaselessly. Memoire pounced at Dan, tentacles coming at him from all sides; Dan threw on an energy shield, then multiplied into three dozen different clones that appeared behind Memoire and blasted away at the monster's back.

Memoire pounced to the side, hundreds of severed tentacles falling off him like chipping wallpaper, and he howled in pain. From the depths of his swirling tentacles, something emerged—he was pulling something out from his core, something shiny and metal, shaped like a weapon—with a large FB printed on it: a patented Fenton Bazooka.

"Watch out!" Lieutenant Gray shouted. He was watching from a camera and he noticed the weapon as immediately as Dan did. "He's gonna try and send you into the Ghost Zone!"

But that was not Memoire's intention. The intelligent ghost must have stolen the weapon from a ghost police officer in order to secure an escape route if necessary. He blasted the device at himself, and he was sucked into a ghost portal that closed just as Dan tried to follow.

Dan shot a nervous glance at the ghost portal. "Tell anyone with a portal to make sure it's shut and locked up tight," he said. "We're going to have to go into the Ghost Zone and track Memoire, in case it has a way back into our world."

"We'll take the Specter Speeder II," Lieutenant Gray stated. "I'll get it ready immediately. You can probably let your sons out of the room if you make sure the ghost portal is impenetrable."

"I'll tell Dash," Dan said. "I'll meet you in the Ghost Zone."

"Go, as quickly as possible. No time to lose!"

Sam flew silently down to the basement. It had been about an hour since his father left. Dash was having coffee next to the Spirit Harpoon; he was going to stay up all night to make sure nothing happened to the kids. He planned on having everyone sleep in Sam's room tonight. Little did he know Sam wouldn't be there.

Sam had left a note on his pillow, and taken the Infi-map down to the basement. Now there was just one thing left to do… Get someone whose finger would work on the fingerprint-scanning portal door opener.

He flew back upstairs, silently, and hovered over his father, who was finishing up his coffee. Sam took a deep breath—he had never tried this before—and dove into his father's back, overshadowing him.

Sam stood up with Dash's body, and looked at his fingers. "I'm old," he whispered. Then he turned and ran down to the basement.

He thought he heard Robbie ask, "Dad?" as he darted to the basement; not good. He'd have to work quick if he wanted to open the portal and leave before Robbie got here, snooping as usual.

He bounded across the lab floor to the fingerprint scanner, and placed a finger down. The portal clicked, signifying it was unlocked, and Sam threw the switch that opened it—a red light flashed once through the house and a loud BEEP followed. Darn! He forgot about that alarm system that told when the portal was being opened!

"Dad?" came Robbie's concerned yell. Sam jumped out of his father's body, and grabbed the Infi-map as Robbie came charging down the stairs. Dash shook his head to clear it and gasped at the open portal.

"To Vlad's portal!" Sam yelled, and as he was yanked by some otherworldly force through the machine, he felt a small hand close around his ankle.

The map plummeted through the Ghost Zone; both boys stared around with amazement at the world they'd never seen, until both realized simultaneously what was actually happening. "Let go!" Sam roared, kicking at Robbie's hands. "You're not my brother anymore!"

"No!" Robbie yelled, tightening his grip on Sam's leg. "We need to go home! Sam, what are you doing?"

"Vlad actually wants to be nice to me!" Sam screamed. "He appreciates the fact that I'm special, way more than our dads do!"

"That guy who broke into our house?" Robbie shouted back, amazed. "But it's probably because he wants to kidnap you! Sam, you love our dads! Why are you doing this? Stop this thing! Take us home!"

At the words, "Take us home," the map whipped around and shot in the direct opposite path. Robbie's eyes widened as he realized what was going on.

"No!" Sam blurted. "Take us to Vlad's portal!"

The map snapped backwards again.

"Take us home!"

"Take us to Vlad's portal!"

"TAKE US HOME!"

"VLAD'S PORTAL!"

"HOME!"

"STOP STANDING IN MY WAY OF FINALLY GETTING A PARENT WHO LOVES ALL OF ME!" Sam finally howled, and held a hand to his brother's head. Robbie whimpered as a furious blast of ecto-energy smashed into his face and sent him spiraling backwards into the dark, green stretches of the Ghost Zone.

Suddenly, Sam regretted everything. His brother was spinning into the distance, a helpless human in the Ghost Zone. What could happen to him? And it was all because Robbie was under the impression that he was protecting his brother. Sam suddenly realized that, even though Robbie hated the fact that Sam had his powers, Robbie still loved his brother… way more than any stranger possibly could. And Sam loved his brother back. He couldn't let this greed for power get his brother hurt.

He even regretted waiting this long to think that much about it. He tugged on the map, and it stopped. He rolled it back up and yelled to it, "Find my brother! And bring him backwards!"

The map lunged out of his hands, and Sam suddenly felt that his word choice was awkward. "Bring him back" would have been better than "bring him backwards." Would the map understand?

Several moments passed by, and Sam got worried. "Robbie?" he yelled. "ROBBIE!" He flew at his top speed towards where the map had gone away—and then suddenly, a gigantic red-furred beast with four arms and giant fangs blasted through a door in front of him. It looked like he'd pictured it from his dad's stories: the Behemoth.

He shrieked and threw his arms in circles, trying to gain momentum to shoot backwards, but it was too late. The Behemoth had spotted him, and it swung an arm across his path, smashing into him and sending him flying. A subsequent energy blast from all four arms knocked him unconscious. The stress shorted out his energy, and he turned human, floating aimlessly through the Ghost Zone just like his brother.

Robbie's eyes opened up again moments after the impact of his brother's energy blast, and he looked around, frightened. What had happened? His brother had just attacked him… and left him alone, powerless, in enemy territory, where any malevolent ghost could pop up out of nowhere and strike him dead in an instant. He bit his bottom lip and tried to stay calm, but his vision was blurred by tears and he had no idea where he was and he was so vulnerable it made every muscle tight and limp at the same time.

His worst fears were immediately realized.

A thick pink tentacle wrapped around his head. He screeched and pummeled it, throwing it off his head; another one wrapped around his waist, coiling around his arms and then legs and immobilizing him. Another came and wrapped around his mouth, sealing it shut and silencing the screams.

A large pink mass of tentacles lifted itself in front of him. The tentacles were wrapped around themselves, forming a solid mass that resembled a brain… it was Memoire. It opened two horrifying red eyes inside the tentacles, and a deep, resonating voice came from its core.

"What is a wee little human boy doing in the Ghost Zone…?"

Another tentacle, this one with a blade-like fixture on the tip, lifted itself in front of Robbie. He eyed it with extreme fright, and then the blade shot forward and dug itself directly into his forehead, slightly above the center of his eyes. He screamed into the tentacle that gagged him.

"Ah, so that's it," said the tentacle ghost. It made a slurping sound, and laughed. "A fight with your sibling. How sad. And how much strife you have had, being the child without powers. Do not worry, though. Soon… it will all be forgotten. Everything."

His eyes went unfocused and he felt dizzy. He felt like something was leaving him—something important. Memories flashed by in his head. He was at school. He was crying because Sam had used his powers to cheat in checkers. He was playing little league soccer. He was overjoyed with the swing set that Santa had brought. He was playing in a sandbox. He was a big boy, throwing out his pacifier. He was looking up at a mobile with spaceships on it, lying in a crib.

Then he was nowhere.

A strange sound came from the ghost's left; he turned as a scroll shot out of nowhere and smashed into the tentacles holding the boy, slicing most of them in half and carrying the boy away with it. The ghost's eyes narrowed, but he had just about finished feeding anyway. And his tentacles would regenerate in time.

The map shot forward, the front end pressed against the unconscious boy's stomach, carrying him along. Its holder's orders had been to bring the boy backwards, and so it would.

The map suddenly wrapped around the boy and stopped short. A green glow surrounded the area it had stopped. The map had brought the boy directly to the spot where a portal would appear.

The green glow suddenly twisted and warped, and then it shot from all sides into Robbie's limp body as a portal appeared; he suddenly woke, his eyes shooting open in pain; his skin was suddenly fiery as if stricken by lightning, his hair turned black, his eyes turned red, and the map brought him backwards thousands of years in time.

"REAL WORLD ITEM DETECTED. REAL WORLD ITEM DETECTED. REAL WORLD ITEM DETECTED. REAL WORLD ITEM DETECTED."

Sam slowly opened his eyes to see that he was being pulled into the Specter Speeder II. He was looking into his father Dan's concerned eyes; his father gasped and laughed in relief. "Sam," Dan choked, and hugged him tight. "Sam, where is your brother?"

Sam stared blankly into the wall.

Dan released the hug and held his son's shoulders tight. "Sam. Where is Robbie?"

"Robbie…" Sam bit his lip. "I… I accidentally… But I…" He paused and looked up at his parents, who were both incredibly nervous. "I sent the map after him," he said. "I told the map to bring him back. But then… I was attacked. Did he come back?"

"The map?" Dan asked. "What on Earth… The Infi-map?"

"Yes…"

"Where did you get the Infi-map?" Dan demanded. "And… if Robbie has it… he could get back. Unless he's unconscious in the Ghost Zone. But the Real World Item detector only found you!"

"Only me?" Sam started to hyperventilate. "Robbie. ROBBIE! WHERE IS HE?"

"We still have a mission to handle!" yelled a dark-skinned man currently piloting the Speeder. His nametag read Lieutenant Gray. "Finding Memoire is still of critical importance. If your other son was here, we could find him immediately and not waste time; since he's not, we can't track him, but he appears to have a way back. Right now, we need to neutralize the threat before any more lives are destroyed!"

"What's going on?" Sam whimpered.

Dan turned to the man piloting the Speeder. "Go on, Damon." He turned back to his shivering son as the Speeder continued hurtling through the green dimension. "We're tracking an incredibly dangerous ghost," Dan said. "Named Memoire. You are so, so lucky not to have run across him. He'd have sucked you dry of your memories and left you not knowing who you are or where you were or the answer to two plus two."

"Robbie," Sam moaned.

"He's not in the Ghost Zone," Dan said. "So he must be safe at home. He probably thought you made it wherever you were going and THEN sent the map back to him. Where were you going, Sam?"

Sam shook his head and placed it against his father's chest. "I don't want to go anymore!" he cried out.

"Tell me where you were going, Sam!" Dan said more sternly.

Sam looked up. "Vlad gave me the map," he said.

Dan blanched. "VLAD?" he shouted. "Vlad's been gone for fourteen years. Noah shot him into deep space!" He blinked rapidly. "But that explains Frostbite's concern over yet another disappearance of the Infi-map…"

"He gave me the map and told me to go down to our portal, and tell the map to take me to Vlad's portal," Sam whispered. "He said he'd let me use my powers however I wanted."

"And you left, but… you turned back?" Dan said, his temper softening. "What made you—?"

"Daniel. We have it on radar. Memoire is close."

Dan grabbed his son and hugged him tight. Sam was absolutely shocked to feel a tear drip onto his shirt.

"We'll find your brother," Dan said. "But for now I have to go fight this creature."

Sam's eyes widened and he grabbed his father around the waist. "Don't go, Dad," he whispered.

"Maybe defeating it will get back Cassie's memory, and everyone else who's been drained," Dan said. "But we don't know that until I can beat it… and I also need to stop it from attacking anyone else. Understand?"

Sam nodded slowly, his lower lip trembling.

"And then we'll find Robbie," Dan said. "There's no way we won't find him. You've got to trust me. I love you and your brother so much."

"I love you too, Dad," Sam said, and huddled up close to him; when Dan backed away, Sam leaned back against the wall and stared teary-eyed at the ceiling.

"I'll be right back for you," Dan said. "I just have to beat the stuffing out of this ghost monster. I've faced worse. And we brought the exo-skeleton, of course."

"Detaching it now," Lieutenant Gray announced. "Get inside the exo-skeleton; we're in Memoire's path and he'll be here in moments."

"I'm going in," Dan said, and passed through the floor of the Speeder. He phased into the exo-skeleton and curled a fist inside the suit.

Memoire was upon them in moments. He was invisible to the naked eye, but the exo-skeleton's windshield had been wired like the Spooktacles and could spot Memoire from a distance. Dan blasted after the creature, which turned to flee when it saw him. He shot blast after blast, knocking off more and more tentacles, and the core was beginning to be revealed—a red sac of fluid that pulsed eerily like a heart.

Memoire reared back and wrapped itself around the suit; but the creature suddenly realized that something was terribly, terribly wrong. Dan's ice powers froze the tentacles solid, and like Undergrowth's roots, it was doing terrible damage to the creature.

The fluid inside the sac swirled rapidly as Memoire was apparently trying to devise an escape plan, but Dan was not about to let this one get away. The ice traveled up Memoire's remaining tentacles, and the fluid froze solid; the membrane surrounding it began to crack.

Dan broke away, and pieces of frozen tentacle drifted around the Ghost Zone. The Speeder approached them; he looked in the window to see Sam watching him back, and he smiled to himself.

Activating the Fenton Peeler that had been built into the redesigned exo-skeleton, he aimed and blasted a special energy at the helpless, frozen beast. Its tentacles were shredded off, layer after layer of icy shells blasting off in different directions, and then the membrane was sliced into a thousand pieces.

The fluid in the sac was all that was remaining; as it defrosted, wisps of smoke raced out in the thousands, either dissipating into the air or heading out in different directions. He'd beaten the creature without breaking a sweat… the exo-skeleton certainly helped.

"Memoire is gone," Lieutenant Gray confirmed. "His ecto-signature is completely wiped out. You know how ultra-sensitive this tracker is. I'm entirely confident he's gone for good. Thank you, Daniel."

"Just my job, Damon," Dan said. "Did you see those wisps of smoke? Were they the memories?"

Lieutenant Gray stroked his chin. "I'll check in with the station." He put up a video call, and Dan could faintly see through the Speeder window that there seemed to be a celebration going on in the police station.

"Is that good?" Dan asked, flying up to the side. He flew out of the exo-skeleton and secured it to the bottom of the Speeder again.

"It certainly is," Lieutenant Gray smiled. "The people who were drained have their memories back."

"Is Robbie back at home?" Dan asked nervously.

"I'll check with someone. …No, he's not at your house. But there aren't many places he could be."

"I don't think I can wait much longer to find him," Dan said. "If Vlad has him…"

"We'll look around, Daniel, don't—"

There was a pause.

"Damon?"

"Daniel, there's a very powerful ghost approaching. Don't let your guard down."

"What?" Dan said, whipping around.

"Approaching—God, that's fast! Watch out!"

And suddenly, a form flew by an arm's length away from Dan. He turned around to see an unexpected arrival floating behind him.

"We meet again, Phantom," said Wardback, smiling widely. "What a backwards twist. I've finally figured it all out; have you?"

"What?" Dan said, still not fully comprehending. But suddenly, something was coming to him. The hairstyle… the facial arrangement… it was…

"Sam, what did you tell the map when you sent it to Robbie?" Dan asked through his headset.

Wardback stretched into a standing position, and transformed from his ghost form into the boy that Dan had seen so long ago, when he'd first met Wardback. Dan had never made the connection in his memory.

"I… sort of misspoke," Sam answered into the communicator. "I meant to ask it to bring him back, but… I asked the map to bring him backwards."

Wardback smiled even wider. "Hi, Dad."