"Wait, why the hell am I here again?"
He could practically hear her rolling her eyes, although she actually didn't follow through with the action. "Because, Lance, we're short staffed, so deal with it."
"So hire somebody to do all of this."
"Don't you think we've tried, Lance?"
"Well, apparently not hard enough," Lance Thunder barked into his ear piece, his boss on the other line, sitting in the studio, waiting to start broadcasting. "I swear, this job is going to kill me. I should've taken the job in Chicago when I got the chance," he continued, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes in annoyance.
"Lance, we're paying you double your salary just for you to go on this trip, so stop complaining."
"A trip into the Ghost Zone?" he responded. "Do you know how many things could go wrong!?"
She sighed into the headset. "You have a tendency to think the worst of things," her voice dropped low, kind of into a growl. "Just do it, Lance, and maybe we can offer you more in the future. And with how many viewings we should get off of this whole broadcast, you could work and do anything you want! Honestly, it might be a little tough, but it's a win-win situation for the both of us."
"But..."
"Lance, you're with the Fenton's, they'll protect you."
"Oh, and that makes me feel soooo much better," he responded, rolling his eyes.
"They're ghost hunters Lance, you'll be fine."
"But.."
"No buts, Lance. Suck it up buttercup," she chuckled through the headset. "Now we're set to be on air in twenty seconds."
Lance rubbed his temples to try and soothe the oncoming migraine. "Seriously Linda, this is the stupidest idea that I think I have ever heard in my life..."
"Fifteen seconds Lance."
"Like come on, the Ghost Zone!? Aren't we supposed to stay as far away from the ghosts as possible!?"
"Ten seconds Lance, compose yourself please."
"These ghosts could literally kill me and the camera crew, Linda, and then all you'd have left is Tiffany, and you know how much you two get along.. It'll be worse then having me around all the time. Goodness gracious."
"Five... Four... Three... Two... One..."
"I mean seriously, what the hell? I'm a weatherman, not a-"
"Lance, you idiot, we're live," his boss' voice screeched through his ear.
"- Good afternoon Amity Park! Today, we've got a very special broadcast for you," Lance said into his microphone while he could practically feel the camera guy, Dan, zoom in on his face. "I'm here with Jack and Maddie Fenton, to not only talk about ghosts, but to also take a little tour through their home, known to most as The Ghost Zone. I must say, I've always been a little bit curious to see the home of our town's terrorists, and our infamous, so called ghost 'hero', Danny Phantom."
"Good Lance, keep it going! The views just keep piling up and up!"
"Now, I'm going to hand the mic over to Jack and Maddie Fenton, in order for them to give you a little more detail of The Ghost Zone," he said, smiling as wide as his mouth would allow, as he put the microphone under the two ghost hunter's faces.
"Well hello citizens of Amity Park!" Jack Fenton's voice boomed at the same time Maddie Fenton waved and yelled, "Hi everybody!"
He heard his boss yelp over the intercom. "Goodness, they know there's a microphone right there, right?"
He lightly rolled his eyes, knowing that the camera might have caught it, but at the moment he didn't care. Instead, he smiled. "Now Jack, Maddie, thank you so much for letting my crew and I into your home in order to do this!"
"Oh, it's our pleasure, Mr. Thunder!" Maddie said calmly, giving him a bright, white smile.
He chuckled. "Please, call me Lance," he said, ruffling his hair to the side and giving her his famous smile that had all of the ladies swooning. "So, the details. I hear that not only my crew and I, as well as yourselves, but also one lucky homeroom class from our local high school, Casper High, also gets to go on this little 'trip' with us."
Maddie nodded. "That's correct. Ghost attacks have become more common world wide, and while Amity Park still suffers the brute end of these attacks, the rest of the world is also suffering the consequences of the pieces of ectoplasmic scum," she said, her voice lowering an octave, turning almost menacing. "But lately, one thing we've noticed, and I'm pretty sure many have noticed, is that the ghost attacks haven't been as frequent, and even if we do get a ghost attack, it's always the same ghost or two, over and over again. It's been months since we've spotted a different ghost coming to attack, and we want to understand why."
"That's understandable. So tell me though, why bring a class full of teenagers into The Ghost Zone with you? Isn't this already dangerous enough?"
"I can understand how this could be considered dangerous, Lance, but I can tell you we'll be perfectly protected-"
"With our new and upgraded Specter Speeder 2.0!" Jack Fenton's voice boomed, cutting off his wife.
Maddie seemed a little irritated, "Of course honey, the Specter Speeder with surely protect us all. As for why we're bringing teenagers into The Ghost Zone with us, that wasn't really our choice. The School Board of Casper High believes that while our kids could see this whole experience on television, that some should experience it in person, to get a better feel for the ghosts and where they come from. They feel as if it will help them get an understanding of the ghosts that constantly attack our town, and that it will help them figure out how to be strategic in a ghost attack as well. And if this goes well, we might just be able to take more trips into The GHost Zone with the rest of Casper High!"
"... Okay..." Lance said, obviously disagreeing with their statement. "So, how was a specific class chosen? Obviously these aren't all of the Capser High students."
Maddie chuckled. "Of course not. When deciding which class would go with us on this trip, they narrowed it down to the senior class. There's quite a few homeroom classes, but because of my son, Danny, being in Mr. Lancer's homeroom class, they decided to pick that class. it was easier that way, for not only could my son experience this with Jack and I, but so could all of his friends! It's going to be a great experience."
Lance sighed. "So what can we expect out of this field trip of sorts."
Maddie answered the question, Jack being unusually quite as he let his wife speak. "Well we'll be staying inside of the Specter Speeder the whole time. But our new Specter Speeder two-point-o has plexiglass walls that will make it easy to see from wherever you're sitting, and it's also very sturdy and almost bullet proof. As for what we can expect, hopefully we'll be able to learn more about the lives of the ghosts that live there and the alternate dimension itself."
Lance started getting nervous. "So, say something were to go wrong. If we were to exit the Specter Speeder, would it be safe."
"Compose yourself Lance, I could basically smell your fear all the way over here."
"From our calculations, yes. The air in The Ghost Zone actually has the same amount of oxygen in it as the air here on Earth, and there are no hazardous materials in the air as well. So we will be perfectly safe, and event then, nothing will go wrong."
"Well, that's good then..."
"I promise you, Mr. Thunder, we've got you, your crew, and the whole class of kids protected. There's no need to be nervous."
"I'm not nervous, I swear."
"Are you sure Mr. Thunder?"
He hesitated. "I promise."
"Well then," Jack's voice boomed. "Everyone off to the Specter Speeder two-point-o! It's time to start this trip!"
For the first time, Lance really looked at the contraption they would be riding in, and realized how small it was. His eyes drifted over to the group of teenagers, half of them looking very bored while the rest seemed excited, and for the first time he thought of how he, his crew, and everybody else would fit inside of the small Specter Speeder, but decided not to say anything.
Suddenly his boss' voice boomed over the intercom in his ear, making him flinch. "Good luck Lance, and don't disappoint. This has already gone National, with millions of people viewing it at the exact moment."
Thanks for the pressure, Linda, he thought as he rolled his eyes. He turned to his crew as he grabbed his bags. "You guys ready?" Most of the high-fived each other before grabbing their equipment bags and throwing them into the trunk of the bus, before hoping on.
Lance turned to the camera, one more time, and put on the best smile he could muster. "And now, time to see what this adventure holds. Stay tuned, Amity Park, and the rest of whoever's watching, for I have a feeling this isn't going to be as bumpy of a ride as we originally thought," he said, trying not to seem scared.
Off in the distance, he swore he could hear one of the teenagers mutter, "Great, he just jinxed it. He's almost as bad as you, Tuck."