Danny
Danny thought back to Sam's book, and inspiration hit. If Fright Knight's lair was in the Ghost Zone, maybe Danny could find it. Hopefully, he could use the Fright Knight's sword as a prop for his haunted house room. He turned invisible and flew home, eager to test his theory.
Once Danny was in the Ghost Zone, the question became how to find the lair. Maybe the blob ghosts knew, but he had to find them first. He remembered that sneezing attracted them last time, so he tried whistling to get their attention. He whistled while he flew away from the portal.
To his surprise, it worked. It took about thirty seconds for the blob ghosts to find him. Danny stopped flying and let the blob ghosts gather around him. They snuggled up to him, making him giggle.
"Did you miss me?" Danny asked lightly. The snuggles became more intense. "Haha, you guys are great. I have a question for you."
The blob ghosts backed away from him to give him their full attention.
"Do you know where Fright Knight's lair is?"
The reaction was immediate and severe. The blob ghosts flew in all directions while staying with Danny. They created a cloud of confusion and fear.
"Whoa!" Danny said. He put his hands up in a calming gesture. "It's okay! He won't hurt you. I just need directions."
The blob ghosts looked at each other dubiously. What would he do if they said no? He waited nervously for their verdict. Luckily, they agreed to guide him.
"Awesome!" Danny said as they took the lead. "Thanks!"
The journey took several minutes. Danny made sure to memorize landmarks along the way so he wouldn't get lost. Finally, they came to a place he recognized from the book: one massive island with a red castle surrounded by four smaller islands. The blob ghosts stopped a good distance away. They were shivering.
"Thanks, guys," Danny said. "You don't have to stick around. I'll whistle if I need you again."
The blob ghosts didn't hesitate to leave him. He watched them fly as fast as they could away from the castle. Then he turned around.
Getting a proper look a the castle sent a shiver down his spine. Gaping holes made a face on the second tier. The third tier looked like a crown. Several towers jutted out at various heights, creating ominous points.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Danny said as he flew toward the castle.
He entered through an eyehole, and his skin prickled. The inside was just as red as the outside. An eerie green light illuminated a spot on the ground. Meandering stairs twisted around the room leading up. Danny followed the stairs to a small doorway.
On his way up, though, axes swung from the ceiling. He dodged the first one and elongated his ghostly body for the second one.
"Ow!" Danny cried out. The second ax left a shallow cut on his side. "Rule number one of the Ghost Zone: ghosts can get hurt. Good to know."
He continued up the stairs, and more axes swung at him. He was careful to dodge instead of relying on intangibility. He made it to the top and slammed the door behind him. The last ax penetrated deeply through the door, almost slicing his arm.
The next room was a hall lined with skeletal statues holding jack-o-lanterns and spears. As Danny looked on, spikes burst out of the walls, piercing through the statues. The sound of stone grinding on stone alerted him to the next danger. The walls began sliding toward each other. He had only seconds to get to the other side. He flew at top speed, dreading the sting of those spikes. The hall was so long! He stretched himself thin to avoid getting skewered.
Finally, he made it, though the tip of his tail got caught by the walls smashing together. He hissed in pain. He transformed into his human self to assess the damage. Taking off his shoe and sock, he discovered his little toe was bruised. The cut in his side also remained, but everything else was fine. He turned back into a ghost before moving on to the next room.
This room was smaller but tall, with windows up high and torches down low. A glowing green sword rested point-first in a purple jack-o-lantern. Skeletons flanked the display, lying on the ground. Red curtains blocked off a passageway behind the sword.
Danny flew up to the sword and examined it from all angles. Except for the glow, nothing seemed off about it. Tentatively, he put on hand on the hilt. Nothing happened. He tugged. The sword didn't budge. He pulled with both hands. Slowly, the sword slid out of the jack-o-lantern. He stumbled back, then smiled.
"This place gives me the creeps," Danny said, and held the sword up. "Which means it'll scare the pants off Lancer!"
He turned around to fly out of there only to discover the skeletons standing in his way. They pounced at him, and he fell to the floor.
Rising, Danny quipped, "You guys need to eat more red meat." He made kung-fu poses and said, "Hi-ya!"
To his surprise, the skeletons bowed.
"Uh…" Danny quickly squared his expression and said, "That's right! You know badness when you see it."
The room shook.
"What?" Danny wondered and turned around.
Green smoke swirled out of the jack-o-lantern, growing thick in a second and causing lightning. An imposing shadow appeared in the smoke. Bats flew from the smoke, and it cleared enough to reveal the figure. It was the Fright Knight in black armor. Purple flames rose above the Fright Knight and trailed behind him like a cape. His green eyes locked on to Danny.
Danny had the sense that he could take this guy in a fight if it came to that.
"Fool!" the Fright Knight said. "You have released me. Return to me my sword so my reign of terror can begin anew!"
"I can bring the sword back by midnight—" Danny started.
The Fright Knight cut him off. "It was not a request, whelp! It was a demand!" He lunged at Danny, who flew away just in time.
Danny noticed the windows and shot an ecto-blast to break one so he could escape. He zoomed out of the castle with the sword. He looked behind him, and the Fright Knight followed him on his black winged horse!
The Fright Knight sent a purple ecto-beam at Danny. Danny dodged and hurled a beam of his own. It hit the Fright Knight, who fell off his horse. The Fright Knight tugged on the reins, pulling his horse off course.
The portal was in view. Danny pushed himself to go faster as the Fright Knight righted himself on his horse. Danny made it through the portal and closed the blast doors before the Fright Knight could follow.
"Phew!"
Danny looked at the sword with a smile, then flew out of the lab and back to the haunted house.
Back at the haunted house, Danny invisibly flew into the basement, hoping to scare Sam. He heard her pacing above him.
"Where is he?" Sam asked.
Danny picked that moment to reach up through the floorboards and tap her boot. She gasped, and he floated up to greet her. The sword was behind his back.
"If you think that's scary…" Danny said, turning visible and holding out the sword.
Sam looked at the sword in his hands, then at him with her eyebrows raised in disbelief. "You went into the Ghost Zone and stole the Fright Knight's sword?"
"Stole, borrowed," Danny said carelessly. "You worry too much."
He plunged the sword into the floor. Before his hand left the hilt, a green aura flared up and shot into the sky, breaking through the ceiling. A wind kicked up, and lightning crashed outside. Danny felt a surge of power similar to but not quite as strong as the Ghost Zone.
"Zombies!" came Dash's voice from across the hall.
"Maybe I should get this thing back," Danny said.
But Mr. Lancer came into the room at that moment. Luckily, his eyes were closed, so Danny immediately transformed into his human self.
"Mr. Fenton," Mr. Lancer said. "It's time."
To Sam, Danny said, "Right after Mr. Lancer judges my room."
Maddie
"Whoa!" Maddie said as she looked at the readings on her scanner. An upside-down funnel snaked upward on the ecto-detector. "Ecto-storm's flaring up."
Jack looked at the scanner over her shoulder and said, "Better alert the local townsfolk!" He pulled out a megaphone. "Code five! Code five! Code five! This is not a drill! Repeat—"
"Weird costumes," said a blond kid in a Robin Hood costume. "What are they, plumbers?" The other kids laughed.
Jack checked the megaphone. "Is, uh, is this thing on?"
Danny
Three zombies from Dash's room made their way into Danny's room.
"Uh, Mr. Lancer?" Sam said nervously. "I don't know if it's safe in here." Mr. Lancer looked at her with a bored face.
Danny thought quickly. "That's right, Sam." He ran toward the zombies and shoved them out of the room, closing the door behind him. "Nothing is safe inside Danny Fenton's 'Room of Doom'!" He held a flashlight under his chin to enhance the creepiness factor. "Enter if you dare."
He pressed the "play" button on his casset player, and thunder sounds came out of the tiny speakers. Then, he turned on the light switch, which made the light from above Mr. Lancer flicker. Finally, he lowered the spiders from the ceiling using a fishing rod.
"I'll have you know," Mr. Lancer said, "I don't fall for cheap theatrics. And I don't scare easily."
A flash of lightning hit the box of spiders. One giant spider formed and tapped Mr. Lancer on the shoulder.
"But you're off to a promising start!" Mr. Lancer said, furiously scribbling on his clipboard.
Danny chuckled weakly, hoping this wouldn't become a problem. "All part of the show," he said to Mr. Lancer.
Dash
Dash ran away from the haunted house. "Zombies!" he shouted. "Ghosts!"
A movement above caught his eye. He looked up to see what appeared to be a black knight on a winged horse.
"I know that terror," the knight said. "It carries the scent of my blade." The knight stopped Dash. "You, tell me. Where are you running from?"
"Nine seventeen Maple Street," Dash said, pointing.
A massive swirling green cloud hovered over the haunted house. Lightning flashed from the cloud.
"Yes," the knight said. "Upon yonder hill lies the instrument of my ultimate ascendancy! My Soul Shredder!"
Dash jumped over a fence to get away.
Tucker
While walking between homes, Tucker saw Danny imitating the Fright Knight. Tucker had to admit, the costume looked really good.
"Hi, Danny," Tucker said. The Fright Knight Danny turned around at his voice. "Is that you?"
"Child, you may want to show a little more respect to your future ruler!"
Tucker didn't buy it. "Yeah, yeah, very scary. The fake horse is pretty neat, though. What's it made out of? Flaming bed sheets?"
"Flaming bedsheets of death!"
An alarm went off from Tucker's PDA.
"Whoa!" Tucker said. "I'm running late. I gotta be at the Henderson's in five—"
The Fright Knight grabbed Tucker in one fist.
"I am the Fright Knight," he said angrily. "The Spirit of Halloween!" He melted Tucker's bucket of candy with purple eye beams.
"Aww, man!" Tucker groaned. "Why'd you do that?"
The Fright Knight ignored him. "And once this ecto-storm touches every corner of this globe, all these transformations will be permanent! And this shall be my new domain! Now, take me to my sword!"
"You're not Danny, are you?" Tucker said.