Three Months Ago – Fenton Works, Amity Park
Vlad Masters offered a perfect smile as Maddie Fenton poured him a cup of tea. The interior of Fenton Works was a delightful, chaotic mess, exactly as he remembered.
"It is truly heartening to see you both thriving," Vlad said. "How's your research in the ghost world doing? Is there any significant progress? I remember in our college days we three worked together for our dreams of discovering ghosts. How time flies! Now, due to my business I'm unable to work with you guys. I hope your work is thriving as well in the field."
"We are getting close there, Vlad!" Jack boomed, nearly upsetting the tea tray. "We are only missing some pieces to start our ghost portal functioning. Our other gadget's are working well. Unfortunately we can not test them as we didn't see ghosts yet. Well, it won't be too far away. Right, Maddie?."
Maddie said "Well yeah, according to our theory the time between unstable portal is decreasing less by less. Now, it's like twice or thrice a year and only weak ghosts are coming to the human world. But in the future, it might change. And, if our portal is functional than, we can interact with ghost through our portal alone even if unstable portal's don't open at all."
"Perhaps in the future we might see them," Vlad mused, his mind racing. It wasn't them. The signature had been clean, artificial, and controlled. Someone else had opened a gate. A potential rival had appeared in the human world. Is it the secret organization in the government or the military? Either a rival or a potential asset.
His eyes lingered on the table but his mind was thinking of all possibilities. A new player was on the board. And, Vlad Plasmius despised unknowns.
Present Day – The Ghost Zone
The swirling green vortex of the portal shut behind Kael, leaving him in the deafening, humming silence of the Ghost realm. His new HUD flickered, automatically filtering out the background ecto-static of a thousand of E-tier echoes.
<<< SYSTEMS NOMINAL. AMBIENT ENERGY: HIGH. >>>
<<< SCANNING... MULTIPLE SIGNATURES DETECTED. CLASSIFYING... >>>
His suit, a sleek fusion of black polymer and electric-blue circuitry, felt like a second skin. The Ecto-Reactor hummed steadily at 100% on his chest. He was the Tempest, armed and ready this time.
His mission was simple: field test the suit and acquire new samples. He wouldn't venture far. The rule was simple: stay within visual range of the portal's coordinates.
The first target appeared: a Frost Phantom (C-Tier), humanoid and trailing jagged ice crystals. Kael didn't engage head-on. Instead, he hovered silently above a crystalline canyon. As the phantom lunged with icy spears, he phased sideways, letting the attack miss entirely. He then fired a concentrated blast, causing the phantom to stumble into a natural ice formation. A Containment Orb snapped open, sucking it inside. One captured.
Next, a Sparkgeist (C-Tier) zipped unpredictably. Kael's strategy was terrain-based: he flew close to a massive conductive crystal, baiting the Sparkgeist. As it charged for a shock, Kael phased through, letting the creature strike the crystal, overloading and stunning itself. Another orb sealed it. Two captured.
He moved swiftly: a Glow Wisp (D-Tier) snagged with a net, and a Chain Wraith (C-Tier) trapped after he slipped through its chains intangibly and tagged it at point-blank. Lastly, a Mistling (D-Tier), composed of fog, dispersed briefly—only to be drawn together by a magnetic containment field and orb-snared. Five captured in twelve minutes.
<<< WARNING: HIGH-B TIER SIGNATURE DETECTED. VELOCITY: EXTREME. PROXIMITY: IMMINENT. SIGNATURE MATCH: UNKNOWN>>>
<<< THREAT LEVEL: CATASTROPHIC. >>>
The roar of thrusters shattered the zone's eerie hum. Skulker descended on a floating rock, visor locked on Kael.
"There you are, little phantom!" his metallic voice boomed. "Your head will make a magnificent trophy!"
Kael's pulse quickened. Adrenaline sharpened his senses. This was no longer a simple skirmish—this was a test of every tactic he had refined in the past six months. He would not fight head-on; terrain and misdirection would be his weapons.
Skulker lunged with a barrage of missiles. Kael dashed behind a jagged spire, activating his Energy Shield, which absorbed the brunt of the blasts. He countered with a Ghost Fire Projection, not to strike directly, but to destabilize the floating rocks around Skulker. Debris rained down, forcing the hunter to divert attention.
The chase wove through crystalline canyons and floating debris fields. Kael's Temporal Perception allowed him to see the split-second trajectories of missiles, energy nets, and physical strikes. He dove into an ectoplasmic river, letting the corrosive currents eat at Skulker's sensors while keeping his shields up. Every move was precise: a dance of ghostly misdirection and strategic pressure.
Skulker's anger grew, visible even through his visor. He switched tactics, firing area-effect missiles that forced Kael into constant evasions. The power in Kael's suit dipped to 40%, but he stayed ahead, exploiting gaps, using hovering boosts, and striking weak points. Each attack on the environment was calculated: a thundering debris collapse here, a short circuit on exposed thrusters there.
The portal reinitialization pinged in Kael's HUD. <<< PORTAL RE-INITIALIZATION IN T-60 SECONDS. >>>
He needed a trophy, to convey a message. Skulker with his arrogance, charged with a final point-blank blast from his right-arm cannon. Kael had anticipated it. He surged forward with a hoverboost, positioning himself exactly where the hunter couldn't block his attack. Power at 35%, he unleashed a twin lance of hyper-concentrated ecto-energy, amplified by his suit and ghost power, aimed precisely at the cannon's power feed.
The result was catastrophic. The cannon didn't merely break—it imploded violently. Molten metal, sparks, and shredded circuitry rained down. Skulker was thrown back, screaming, clutching the ruined arm. His systems flared alarms, and his visor flickered with stunned disbelief.
Kael hovered, chest heaving, power down, relying solely on ghost power.
"Who's the prey now," he said, voice cold and absolute, "Mr. Hunter? Let us continue another day. Remember the name Tempest, not a prey."
The portal swirled open behind him. Without waiting for a response, Kael fell backward through the green vortex, leaving a stunned and enraged Skulker amidst the shattered remains of his pride.
Kael landed safely in the human world, the five captured ghosts contained, the suit depleted but functional. The battle had been more than survival—it was application of months of preparation, of strategic thinking, and of mastering his technological abilities. He had turned the hunter's own might against him, proving that intellect, planning, and precise timing could rival raw power.
The prize has been claimed. The fight will go on another day.