So here I am, once again starting something I shouldn't be. Although, after all the help that Lightning Streak gave me in writing and editing this, I felt like it would be disrespectful to not post it. Here's my take on some Dark Gray!
Also if you haven't already, go read her story which is a collection of one-shots involving Dark Gray and it is nothing short of glorious!
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.
"No!" cried a desperate voice as a green blaze swept into a bronze face. Fear shot through the young woman's system as she realized this would be it. With her long legs still chained to the floor, the dark-haired girl realized she wouldn't be able to dodge it, and her damaged battle suit wouldn't be able to withstand the blast. Not at such close proximity. Not from such a powerful ghost. Time seemed to slow as the ghost known as Pariah Dark laughed, his green eyes shining with glee at the distress he was causing.
"You've grown weak Danny Phantom." The silhouetted figure mocked the smaller ghost standing before him. "If you think you can defeat me in the pathetic state you are in, you are very wrong. Allow me to rid you of your weakness." Pariah Dark raised his glowing hand towards the chained woman, whose eyes were wide with fear. "Humans are nothing but an infestation, and I am their exterminator." The glow of ectoplasmic emerald blinded her.
Scenes of her life flashed before her eyes: easier times of childhood when she didn't have to worry about fighting ghosts; early teens when the town ghost Danny Phantom first made his appearance; and then the hard years that followed of fighting off the plague of ghosts that threatened Amity Park. Chief among them the powerful Dan Phantom always leading the charge, making her life as difficult as possible. Her recent memories, surprisingly, were the happiest since before the world went to shit.
A distant cry of "VALERIE!" and a flash of black and white were the last things she remembered before everything was smothered.
Sitting bolt upright in bed, flashes of the nightmare still danced across Valerie's vision as she ran a hair through her dark, thick tangled mess of curls. Brown skin was sticky with sweat, and her chest heaved as she gasped for air. What had I eaten last night that had lead to that monstrosity of a dream? It was almost as if I had been… allied with Phantom. She scoffed as she swung her long, muscular legs over the side of the bed, the digital red numbers on the clock reading 5:44, one minute before her alarm was to go off. Well, not like I was going to be going back to sleep anyways…
Taking the hair elastic off her wrist, she pulled her hair back into a messy bun just to keep it out of her face while she grabbed some clean clothes out of the dresser. Sleep still had the woman slightly disoriented as she fumbled through, trying to find everything that was needed for the day. Becoming slightly frustrated with her sleep befuddled brain, slammed the disobedient drawer with a little more force than was particularly necessary as she made her way to the bathroom.
Dumping the chosen clothes rather unceremoniously on the floor, her slender fingers started up the shower. As she waited for the water to get hot, she discarded her pajamas with even less care than with the clean clothes. As the shirt cleared her head of messy curls, the reflection in the mirror caught her gaze. Examining her body in the mirror was always difficult. The silvery scars of old wounds and the light red of new ones littered her once flawless bronze skin like a mottled canvas. Most of them were from separate battles, but they could all be traced back to one person. Using the term person lightly of course, because Dan Phantom was as far from human as one could get.
For nearly ten years, he had plagued her short life, and this city. He attacked relentlessly in an attempt to get through the Ghost Shield, thankfully to no success. The city remained safe from him. A chill ran down her spine. Who knew what kind of horrors he planned to inflict on the residents of Amity Park if he ever succeeded? It was not a thought she liked to dwell on.
With steam coming from the shower, she hurriedly stepped inside and closed the curtain behind her. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to allow much time to wallow in the spray of the shower as there was still a schedule to keep and ghosts to kill. Plus, the young woman was eager to see the new weapon that the lab said would be ready for today.
Turning off the water, she pushed the curtain aside and reached for the plain red towel hung over the rack. Wrapping it securely around her hourglass figure that Paulina was incredibly jealous of, she wiped off the fogged mirror before starting to squeeze the water from her hair, teal eyes tracking the movement with ease.
Jumping in the air when her communicator started buzzing and ringing from her bedside table, she gave it a rather sullen glare before she began to make her way back into her bedroom. Gathering the mess of sodden curls over one shoulder, she pressed the button to answer the call, "Daddy?"
"Valerie, I'm glad you're up. Can you come to my office? There are a few things we need to discuss before you head beyond the shield today." There was a note of apprehension in his voice, but Valerie shrugged it off as his usual nerves at the prospect of her venturing beyond the only thing standing between them and the tyranny of Phantom.
"Yeah, just give me a few more minutes to get dressed, and I'll be right there." Ending the call, the teal-eyed woman walked back into the bathroom and quickly got dressed in thick leggings and the turtleneck shirt that she always wore underneath her battle suit. Then she put some oil in her curls to prevent them from becoming frizzy and tangled once her hair dried. Pulling on a pair of ankle boots, she strode out of her room and made her way to her father's office, the leader of the ghost resistance.
Striding confidently through the door, Valerie stood straight with her head held high as she approached her father's desk. Around him stood two other resistance members, one of which was Paulina and the other Kwan. Both bore the years of hardship on their faces, but it hadn't stopped them from fighting in each of the ways they knew how.
Paulina had become a whiz with computers and could make tech out of almost anything. She was the one mostly responsible for coming up with the designs for all of Valerie's weapons and gear. The Latina's reasoning behind it was that if Valerie was going to fight ghosts, she was going to look hot while doing it, and who better to make that happen than Paulina? The past years had forced her to mature from most of her pettiness, but it still existed in some of the things she said and did. Like everyone, she had been forced to make sacrifices, but she still refused to give up makeup. She was the only one to everyday be wearing eyeliner and mascara, but when Valerie was there to comfort her when Dash died, she realized Paulina didn't wear it to make herself feel better than everyone else, she wore it to make herself feel equal with everyone else. Turns out that all her confidence was just for show, and Paulina actually had severe issues dealing with how she saw herself. The Red Huntress had stopped harassing her about it after that.
Kwan was the leading doctor in the facility, as well as the lead researcher for anything ghost. His team was responsible for recording and researching everything she brought back before handing it over to Paulina if it had useful potential. Kwan was also one of the last to have graduated from post-secondary with an official doctorate degree. That was only a few weeks before Phantom finally got around to destroying it beyond repair. There were so many young casualties of students studying vigorously and desperately to be qualified for jobs that were sorely needed. Many of Kwan's classmates and underclassmen had died, and he had suffered survivor's guilt for over a year before he was able to save Valerie's life by donating blood to the point where he nearly passed out from blood loss himself. Normally, such a risk would not have been allowed, but they had been desperate, and it had become clear at this point that the Ghost Hunter was the only one standing between them and the cruelty of Dan Phantom. After that they had become close friends and dabbled as something more for a short time, but mutually decided that it wasn't working and that they would be better off as simply friends.
"Valerie, you're here. Good." Her father stood from his seat and turned towards her fully, revealing that his left arm was missing, having been cut off just below his shoulder joint and that his right eye was covered by a black eyepatch. His grey hair hung in a semicircle around the back of his head, leaving the top completely bare. His blue shirt was buttoned up all the way as it always was with his black pants held up with a matching belt of the same shade. "Now I know that you're eager to head off outside of the Shield despite the fact you know I hate it when you do."
Valerie held his gaze steadily, not backing down an inch. This was an argument they'd both had numerous times. It was very dangerous to venture beyond the shield with Phantom running amok, but the young woman refused to give up hope that they'd found all the still surviving people in the world. Plus, the more of the past they could protect from Phantom's unbiased destruction, the better, and she believed that confronting him in his territory rather than waiting for him to attack was another way of proving she wasn't afraid of him.
Valerie's father continued, "But some of Kwan's people picked up on some unusual ghost activity out there. As far as we can tell, it's not from Phantom. But that is at least something we know. Whatever is causing these sorts of spikes in ectoplasmic energy is much bigger and exponentially more powerful than a single ghost alone."
"Do you think it could be some sort of ghost army?" Valerie hypothesized as she took the graphs from the doctor standing to her right, and she felt the chill return as the lines ran up and down the page like a category 8 earthquake had hit while the machine was recording. The Red Huntress had never seen anything like this before, not in all her years of fighting. For the first time in over eight years, she felt apprehension about the prospect of travelling beyond the Shield.
"We aren't sure what it could be at all, but those readings were from only a few minutes before 6:00 am this morning. Since then they've died down back to normal levels and so far, as far as we can tell, they're staying there but that could change at any moment Valerie. It might be best to delay your excursion for an hour or two to make sure that these spikes aren't going to happen again." Her father posed, and his periwinkle eye started to ignite with sparks. She could feel an argument brewing in the air, and with the steel that Damon returned in his one blue eye suggested he felt the same.
"Or instead of cowering behind the Shield, I could go to where these readings originated and possibly find out what's causing it. Maybe it's something we can use against Phantom!" Valerie countered.
Her father's bushy moustache bristled which was a sure sign of his temper showing through but he remained silent. Paulina and Kwan smartly kept their mouths shut, but simultaneously shared a look of fear.
Valerie continued, "How many times have I gone beyond the safety of the city and returned? How many times have I found something or someone that was important despite the risk of danger? How many times have I fought Phantom and won?" The woman knew she was striking low blows, but if they could get to the bottom of what was causing these readings and then harness it to destroy Phantom, then their worries would be over. Everything could go back to normal, the city could be rebuilt, the Shield taken down, and she could go back to being a girl who worried about boys and hair. Not a girl who worried about whether she would die today.
"All it takes is one time, Valerie. One time that you venture out of the Shield, one time that you fight Phantom, one time that you don't return!" he cried, slamming his fist down on his desk, "Do you have any idea what it does to me every time you leave? Baby girl, if you die out there at the hands of that monster, I don't know what I'll do." At this point, Paulina grabbed Kwan and in one fluid motion before he had a moment to comprehend what was happening, pulled him outside the office closing the door deftly behind them. Valerie's face softened a bit when she realized that her father was not angry with her, but for her.
"Daddy I…" she swallowed thickly past the lump in her throat, "…I'm sorry, but everything I've done has been for the good of the city and what remains of humanity. I don't risk my life like this because I like it. I risk it because I have to, because I am the only one able to stand up to him. Everything I do is for you, for everyone in the hope that we might be able to live normally again, without the fear of ghosts."
Her father's face softened from its harsh lines of anger as his fist softened, and he ran a hand down his face, clearly stressed and perhaps more than just a little overworked. "I know sweetie, I'm sorry, I just can't help but worry every time." He straightened out and recomposed himself, "You are right; however, finding out the source of these readings before they become something that may pose an even bigger threat than Phantom is important." Raising his voice slightly so the two standing outside would hear him, "Paulina, Kwan please come back in. There are still some details we need to discuss before Valerie leaves for the wastelands."
The other two rejoined the father and daughter in the office. "Are you sure? Is it, like, safe?" the Latino woman asked apprehensively as she clutched a silver briefcase to her chest.
"Yeah, the last thing I want is to get in between the Red Huntress and the Resistance leader. She obviously gets those killer genes from somewhere," Kwan chimed in as he followed in behind the tech expert.
"Don't be stupid, Kwan. I'd never harm one of us." Valerie retorted sarcastically as she put a hand on her hip and shifted her weight to one leg. The Asian man put his hands up in surrender and chuckled nervously.
"We should get back to the point of this meeting. Paulina, I believe you had something to show my daughter?" Damon gestured to the bubbly woman still holding the briefcase like her life depended on it. Upon being addressed, however, she stood up straight and grinned proudly.
"You bet I do! It was finished just last night. I call it the Ghost Snare!" At her exclamation, she opened up the case and took out what appeared to be a hand gun. Inside of the barrel appeared to be a spearhead with a nasty-looking hook at the end, not unlike a harpoon. "It's without a doubt my finest work, which is saying a lot because I make some awesome stuff, right, chica?"
"I'll be more inclined to believe you once you tell us how it works." The teal-eyed ghost hunter retorted impatient for her friend to get to the important part.
"It's, like, totally awesome! All you have to do is shoot the ghost with the harpoon shot," Paulina cocked the gun, which started to hum with its power core before she aimed it at the wall and fired. The harpoon-esque end shot from the barrel, which was expected, but the ectoplasmic rope trailing behind it was not. Without missing a beat, she then aimed at the floor and fired again, launching the opposite end of the rope securely into the now destroyed concrete. "Then fire again somewhere else, and he'll be helpless to escape! The rope is made out of pure ectoplasm that we were able to create from some samples you gave us a few weeks ago, chica. In other words, it's as strong as anything that bastard Phantom can generate. He'll be a sitting duck once you get him with this!" For emphasis, Paulina walked over to the rope, pulled on it and everyone watched as it vibrated back and forth with a strange sort of hum with how tightly it was strung.
"I have to say I'm impressed, Paulina. You definitely out did yourself this time. Phantom won't stand a chance against this."
A rather diabolical smirk spread across the Latina's face as she tossed the weapon to the Red Huntress. "Give him hell, chica."
Outfitted in her identifiable red ghost hunting suit that had earned her the moniker of "Red" Huntress and her silver, jet propelled sled, Valerie flew over the destroyed lands outside of the Ghost Shield. As far as the eye could see in any direction, there were nothing but ruins of what was once a flourishing metropolis that had been reduced to little more than rubble. The sky was dark, and gray clouds swirled menacingly as if any moment lightning would strike violently into the earth.
Valerie did her best to try and block out such distracting thoughts. While there was no sign of Phantom right at this moment, it didn't mean that he couldn't show up in the next. If there was only one thing she knew about her arch enemy, it was that he loved the element of surprise. There were many things she knew about him, several of them things she would rather not. For example, that he had once been Danny Fenton, a boy that she had liked once upon a time back when she had been naïve and innocent fourteen-year-old girl.
Shaking her head to focus back on the task at hand, Valerie checked her coordinates on the GPS located conveniently on her wrist to see that she was beginning to get close to the location where the strange readings had originated. The situation with her father had gone smoothly after their brief spat, and she had left as she usually did by giving her dad a tight hug and telling him that she loved him. She never wanted to risk the situation that they would leave on bad terms and she would never return to tell him she was sorry. There wasn't room for that level of immaturity in the world they lived in.
Slowing down, Valerie set down on the ground and hopped off her board leaving it to hover about a foot off the ground. this was where the spikes of energy had come from but there was nothing to indicate that the site was any more special than the surrounding rocky wasteland. Furrowing her dark brows, the black-haired woman continued to scan the area searching for anything that she may have missed that would call for such an anomaly in the data. She continued to look for another several minutes before her indicator started to read an ectoplasmic signature. Unfortunately, it wasn't the one she was looking for.
"You know, if you keep this up, I'm going to get the idea that you actually enjoy my company out here with just the two of us Valerie." The deep resonating voice lilted amusedly from behind her. Without hesitating, the woman in question turned on her heel and in the same fluid movement pulled the new gun from the holster on her thigh. As usual, he was dressed in his black and white jumpsuit with the white 'D' embellished on the front, a cruel reminder at the good he used to stand for. His hair blazed like a white fire on top of his head while black brows frowned low over glowing, blood red eyes while his lips curled upwards in a wide, slightly unhinged, leer revealing extremely sharp canines. He floated in the air a few feet above her almost lazily, like he didn't consider her a threat, her hands tightened around the gun as he spoke once again, "A new toy, Valerie? What a nice change. I was beginning to wonder when that airhead Paulina would come up with something worthwhile. Why don't we give it a little test run to see how it works? Maybe this time, you'll finally put up a good challenge." The ghost known as Dan Phantom wasted no time after that firing a green energy ray at her, which she easily sidestepped.
"Funny, I was going to say the same thing. I haven't had a good workout in a while, I barely broke a sweat the last time I saw you," she retorted, watching as his grin turned upside down into a vicious snarl as he readied another ray. He'd taken her bait, and she aimed for his upraised hand as she shot her gun and watched as the rope trailed behind the hook. It sunk deep into his outstretched appendage, and he cried out in agony and rage but she took no heed as she aimed for a spot on the ground and shot the second hook that lodged firmly into the stone, creating a taut rope. His eyes widened with surprise when the ghost suddenly found his hand yanked to the side from the force of the rope tightening slightly. Cocking the gun back again, Valerie took aim and fired at his foot. This time though, Phantom was prepared and he easily pulled his foot out of the line of fire.
"Ropes Valerie?" Dan sneered as he wrenched the harpoon out of his hand. Green ectoplasmic blood sprayed the ground, and Valerie watched as the hole closed almost immediately. His grin returned, and he hovered a bit closer, once again dodging another shot, the ectoplasmic rope falling limply to the ground. "I didn't realize you were so eager to get… kinky. If you wanted restraints, you only had to ask." The brown skinned woman grimaced and blushed furiously underneath her helmet, thankful that her visor was tinted on the outside. Since Dan's hands glowed green once again, the Red Huntress instructed her jet sled to activate and shoot a small missile at his back, which exploded with a violet smoke.
"In your dreams, Phantom," she retorted hotly as she ducked around him and jumped onto her sled while he was still reeling from the poison spray that she had equipped in it. Kicking the engines up to full power, she shot off like a rocket. The maniacal laughter sounded down from where she left him, and she pushed the jets to their utmost limit. Kneeling down so she would be more streamlined, Valerie did her best to escape from the unstable man that would no doubt be hot on her tail.
A shot of plasma forced the Huntress to dip and dodge around the barrage. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed a few grenades from her belt and after pulling the pins, threw them over her shoulder at the monster currently trailing her. The explosions sounded, the shockwave giving her a small speed boost momentarily, but his continued laughter alerted her to the fact that they hadn't worked.
"Is this really the best the great Ghost Hunter can do?" Dan Phantom asked mockingly as he suddenly appeared at the head of her sled, gripping the sides tightly. Valerie's blue-green eyes widened in shock, she knew her jets weren't fast enough to out run him, but he was never this fast before! Once again pulling out her gun, she aimed point blank at his face, but he grasped the barrel and ripped it from her grasp with ease, sending it flying into the wastelands below. "Honestly, I'm disappointed." Taking a firm hold of her sled, he started to pull it in a circle, causing her to lose balance as it spun out of control, "I expected more of you, Valerie."
The world spun all into one great big blur as she careened towards the ground. Breathing hard as fear began to pump adrenaline through her system, the young woman curled into a ball to protect herself as much as possible as she crash-landed at full speed into the unforgiving ground. Several parts of her armor went flying from her body, and there were even more disturbing cracks as she rolled and bounced across the dirt. Skidding to a stop, Valerie desperately tried to draw in a breath as her diaphragm worked against her and refused to cooperate. After what seemed to take an eternity but was really only a second or two, she was able to gasp in a lungful of air.
Coughing sent waves of agony through her chest. Some of her ribs were likely broken, or at the very least bruised. A groan of anguish forced its way through her lips as she doubled over, curling in on her injuries. Her battle suit could only take so much before it gave out, but lately it has been easier and easier for Phantom to break through it. The dark-skinned girl could only hope the new prototype would be finished soon.
"When you're this pathetically weak, it almost tugs at my heartstrings to have to destroy you." Two feet settled on the ground gently, causing only the barest cloud of dust to be displaced from his weight as he landed. A hand appeared on her arm as Phantom gripped tightly and pulled her up so she was looking up at him. A maniacal grin stretched across his face, marring what could have been potentially handsome features. "Although we both know that my heart stopped beating a long time ago." Sharp canines flashed as his hand closed around her neck and pulled her close, grip slowly tightening until her windpipe was closed off completely. Desperately, she clawed at his fingers but to no avail. He was too strong for her.
In a last-ditch attempt to free herself, Valerie took out the knife strapped to her lower back and in one fluid movement, she plunged it into his unprotected side. It worked as he immediately released her and she yanked out the blade, doing more damage on the exit due to its serrated blade. Phantom roared with agony as he clutched at his heavily bleeding side. Not missing a beat, she activated the gun on her arm and shot several rounds into his chest. As he stumbled to remain balanced, breathing heavily, she did her best to stand and ignore the fire of red hot pain all throughout her chest.
"I haven't used up all my tricks just yet, Phantom," Valerie growled as she blew away the smoke that lingered at the mouth of the gun. Her visor was shattered but she dared not take her helmet off since she didn't want to find out what kind of damage he could do to her without that protection. The last thing she or Amity Park needed was for her to sustain a brain injury, one that would put her ghost hunting to a permanent end. Hysterical laughter sounded from her arch enemy as he stood straight once more.
"This is the Valerie I know! Now I can finally get serious." In a flash, he was directly in front of her, and it was purely reflex that had her lifting the knife to point in his direction. He was prepared for it this time, as he caught her wrist in his vicelike grip. "Tsk tsk, trying to use the same trick twice? that's not like you."
"You're right, but this is." The Red Huntress pushed a button on her suit, and it came to life with electricity. His hand burned from the direct contact with her body as the electricity tore through his body, practically lighting him up from the inside out. Once again, he cried out in agony as his muscles spasmed uncontrollably. Growling, he broke contact with her and with a wave of his hand, ectoplasmic energy encased her hand and sent her flying backwards towards a boulder. Crashing into it at full force caused her to see stars and she barely even noticed when more ectoplasmic bonds appeared on her body, another on her opposite wrist, and two around her ankles.
"Beginning to play dirty are we, Huntress? Doesn't that go against some sort of honor code that you have?" Dan taunted her as he sauntered up to her. Awareness came back to the dark-skinned woman just in time to look up and see his face only inches from her own. Instinct had her trying to wield the knife again, but the ectoplasm bonds stuck like glue and Valerie was unable to move an inch. Well shit… "It seems I am beginning to corrupt you after all. What would the resistance say if they knew I was slowly sullying your innocence?" The leer on his face stretched widely once again as he planted both hands on either side of her head, effectively trapping her even further. Nodding to the ectoplasmic restraints on her limbs, Phantom continued, "Since you seem so fond of rope all of a sudden, I thought I'd indulge you. Do you like them?"
"I'd like them a lot better if they were on you," she retorted hotly and watched as his face lit up in amusement. Throwing his head back, Dan began to laugh loudly, and that was when she realized the full implication of what she had said. Blushing furiously, she berated herself. Stupid, stupid, stupid! How could you say that? Of course he's going to take it the wrong way!
"Oh Valerie, you dirty, dirty woman!" He leaned in closer, a hand ghosting along her jawline. She flinched away from the contact. Grasping the bottom edge of her helmet, he uncaringly ripped it off, setting her black ringlet curls free. She glared at him as he grasped one and twirled it on his finger, "If I'd known you wouldn't be so against this, I would have tied you up a long time ago." By this point his body was so close to hers, she could feel the cold seeping off of him in waves. His hand lightly tracing her throat where she winced as the newly forming bruises twanged with pain. His head directly beside hers, with his mouth at her ear. He narrowed the gap between their bodies until there was barely a hair's breadth between them. With barely a whisper, he said, "I'm going to enjoy this."
"Valerie? Valerie! Are you there?" her father's voice suddenly called from the communicator in her helmet. Both Dan and the woman in question looked down to it. "Listen, baby girl, get out of there! Kwan just burst in with new readings. They're spiking again right where you are! This time they're even higher than before!" His voice was panicked and fearful, but Valerie was too far away to offer him any reassurance. Not that she would be able to do anything about the situation anyways, not with Phantom practically on top of her. He pulled away from her slightly as he gazed down at her helmet with a perplexed look on his features.
"What is he blathering on about?" Dan demanded as he turned back to Valerie once again, putting his hand around her throat, his red eyes glowing menacingly. The action was no longer sensual. This time it was threatening, especially when he began to constrict her airway once again. She was about to answer when she was interrupted by a loud explosion of something tearing through the air, as if the very fabric of reality was ripping violently apart.
Bracing himself against the blast, Dan stepped away from her, his cape billowed intensely in the gale. Valerie was able to see what was happening even around her mass of curls doing their absolute best to get into every place they could, her eyes, her mouth, even her nose; but what she was witnessing, was something that she very much wished she wasn't seeing.
A ghost portal was opening not twenty feet from her.
It wasn't just any regular portal either. She had seen those opening randomly out in the wastelands before, but they were small and usually didn't affect anything more than a few feet around it. This one wasn't even on the same playing field. The portal was at least fifty feet tall and twenty feet wide at the center where it was widest. The readings that Kwan had gotten early this morning must have been weaknesses in the barrier between this world and the ghost zone where this portal was trying to open. Obviously this was no ordinary gateway, something was opening this one on purpose. Now the question remained: who was responsible?
A metal, gauntleted hand pushed its way through the lime green swirls and closed into a fist. The rest of the arm emerged, green spikes adorning the forearm that then flowed into black armor until a cloaked shoulder emerged. Then came a heavy mane of bright green hair to match the colors of the portal itself, and on top of that head of hair, floated a crown. It was wreathed in more emerald flames.
"Hmm, the human realm. It looks even more pathetic than the last time I was here." A rough, wizened voice rumbled through the air. His black cape billowed around his exceedingly large, fifty-foot tall frame as he stood menacingly in front of the still-open portal. Valerie's heart raced with fear, and her limbs tingled with adrenaline. The throb of her injuries faded under the rush as she stared at a ghost she thought long gone.
Pariah Dark turned towards them with his skeletal face that had an eyepatch over the left eye, while his remaining one glowed the same sickly green shade as his hair and the crown floating just above his head. "Danny Phantom, I suppose I should be glad to see that if nothing else, you are still alive. If only for the reason that I wish to destroy you from your pathetic existence myself."
The young woman whipped her head back to the flame haired ghost to see him smirking with dark enjoyment.
"Danny is long dead. I killed that pathetic weakling nearly ten years ago." Phantom responded surprisingly calmly, but Valerie could detect the underlying tremble of insane glee. "I am the result, and this is no longer the human realm. This plane belongs to me and me alone now. You are nothing more than an intruder on my lands, Pariah." With nothing left to be said, the black and white ghost launched himself at full speed towards the monstrously sized entity.
"You dare speak to me in such a manner, child?! I shall teach you the meaning of respect once I break every bone in that pathetic body of yours!" roared the giant ghost as he readied a plasma ray that glowed an eerie red. Dan dodged it with relative grace and got in close to deal a devastating blow to Dark's blindside. Valerie tore her eyes away from the awesome sight and instead focused on freeing herself from the ropes still currently holding her to the boulder. She had to get out of there. She had to warn her father that Phantom wasn't the only ghost they needed to worry about anymore.
Tightly gripping the knife, she did her best to saw through the ectoplasmic bond surrounding her wrist. It was difficult and awkward work that had her hand cramping up after only a few seconds. There wasn't any time to indulge her aching muscles, however, as the destructive battle continued on much too close to her for comfort. Although one consolation was that the portal was finally starting to close.
The rope snapped and disappeared once she broke the bond. Not missing a second, she quickly sliced through the remaining bonds. Free, she ran to where her helmet had been blown from the force of the portal opening and quickly shoved it back on her head. "Dad? Daddy! Come in! Can you hear me?" she shouted into the mouth piece.
"Val—can—losin—tact. Co—ack." Was the broken response that she received, and she cursed so fluidly and explicitly that Dan would have been proud, not that that made her feel any better. Her communicator was broken. She would have to go back in person to let her father and the resistance know about Pariah's return. Calling her sled to her, Valerie sheathed her knife into its spot on her back.
CRACK!
Her head whipped around to see Phantom's battered form surrounded by a dust cloud, having just been thrown at great force into a rock face that was now cracking in half as a result. Teal eyes widened in shock as she noticed his ripped jumpsuit and green blood oozing from several large wounds all over his body. His chest heaved with every breath, and he had trouble getting up after that hit. The only thing that remained unchanged was the psychotic grin still firmly plastered onto his face. Without even glancing in her direction, he leapt right back into the fight, fully focused on the bigger threat. As her sled arrived, looking dusty and dented in more than one place, she too turned her eyes to Pariah Dark and was horrified by what she saw.
He barely had a scratch.
The one hit Phantom had managed to really land had been the first one. The only mark that blemished his unnaturally white skin, was from the first ectoplasmic punch he had thrown. It only became more and more one-sided the longer she watched and it was in that moment that Valerie was faced with a very horrifying realization.
Dan Phantom would die.
There was no doubt in her mind. Pariah was pulling no punches, and things were only getting worse. With every splatter of green blood, the smaller ghost got weaker and weaker.
Her emotions conflicted with each other violently.
If Dan were dead, then she no longer had to worry about leaving the safety of the Ghost Shield ever again. The thought filled her with a relief that swept through like a cooling rain she hadn't felt on her skin in years. Then on the other hand, however, it was Pariah she would have to worry about. That sent a chill down her spine that even the hottest of showers wouldn't be able to chase away.
Valerie was now faced with choosing between two evils. One who enjoyed playing a deadly game of cat and mouse? Or another who enjoyed the screams of the innocent beneath his boot as he crushed them mercilessly?
Once again uttering a string of curses that would have Phantom grinning like a maniac, she hopped on her sled, debating her sanity all the while. Fucking asshole must have given me a brain injury after all. I have to be out of my mind for this. Revving up the jet engines, she shot off getting up to full speed in less than a second, but she was still a second too late.
As she took off, Pariah backhanded Phantom hard enough to send him tearing through the air directly into the ground at his feet. Valerie's eyes widened in horror when he did not get up.
Flying straight up to his face, she released every single flare that she had directly into his good eye, blinding him with the bright light. Dark cried out in anguish and covered his face as he stumbled back a step or two. Taking out the last of her grenades she chucked them with all her might at his head before grabbing her giant grenade launcher from its compartment in her board. Taking aim, she shot two rounds into the smoke, which exploded violently and earned another growl. In her last effort, she unloaded the remaining poison-laden missiles into the same spot. Valerie didn't wait to see if they would work or not, as she turned tail and dived straight down to where Dan's body still lay in the crater unconscious and bleeding profusely.
Not giving herself anytime to doubt her actions she grabbed his arm and pulled it around her shoulders before she then pulled the rest of him onto the sled with her.
"I remember you, girl child! You were the one who was relentlessly chasing the Phantom boy around like a fox on the trail of a rabbit! It seems not much has changed." His voice boomed menacingly from the cloud of smoke still surrounding his head. Valerie shivered in fear and was glad that Dan wasn't awake to feel it, "I was going to spare your life if you bowed to my rule, but now I think I shall make an example of you instead!"
The Red Huntress made the mistake of looking back up to see the cloud clearing enough for him to see her. His face was twisted in rage as he pointed a glowing red hand in her direction. Flight response kicking into high gear, the jets revved to their maximum and launched both her and the injured ghost on her shoulders off faster than she had ever gone before.
The wind made her eyes water but she dared not slow down for even a second. The red blast exploded mere feet away from her and she started to fly in a more serpentine pattern so as to be a harder target to hit. A few more landed near her, but they were weaker and weaker the further she got away from the monster who had come through the portal.
"You cannot escape me, child! I will find you no matter where you hide, whether here or in the Ghost Zone!" Pariah called out and Valerie once again felt chills down her spine. The jets on her sled began to protest loudly as the gears ground together harshly and began to overheat. They were not used to carrying the extra weight, and they had already been pushed to their limit once today. It was clear they wouldn't hold out for much longer, but she paid them little heed as her only goal was to get as far away from Pariah as possible.
But where could she go?
Valerie couldn't risk going back to Amity Park and leading Dark there to kill everything and everyone she still held dear. Not to mention that she most certainly wouldn't be able to bring Phantom there without causing an uproar throughout the whole city. Staying out here wasn't much better, though. There were no safe places in the wastelands, and once her new unwilling ghost companion woke up and started healing again, she had no doubt that she would also have to fight him off while still worrying about Pariah.
Tears began to well in her eyes, but this time it wasn't from the wind. There was no way out of this situation she had gotten herself into. Why hadn't she just for once listened to her dad? Why did she have to be so stubborn about going outside the Shield? If she had agreed to forgo her expedition, like he wanted, she wouldn't be faced with the reality that she very likely would never see him again.
With a last cough and a splutter, the engines died, and the sled crashed into the rocky ground, sliding along it like a surf board. It was through sheer determination and stubbornness that she managed to keep the stupid thing from flipping over and sending them both skidding along the sharp rocks.
Just to the side was a small outcropping of stone that offered some semblance of shelter. With grudging determination, she half-carried, half-dragged the still-unconscious form of Dan Phantom over to its shadow. Laying him down gently, she then went back and retrieved her now unusable jet sled and also dragged it over to the shaded area.
Sitting down heavily, she winced when her injuries cruelly reminded her of their presence. Breathing became difficult as every expansion of her chest caused agony to ripple through her bones. She needed medical attention, but out here, with a broken communicator, that was unlikely. A quick glance down at her GPS told her that was broken too. It was likely everyone thought she was dead. Killed in the freak disaster that caused the off the charts readings. Thoroughly disheartened, Valerie started to drift off into a depression-induced haze.
A blue light suddenly illuminated the space in front of her, and reflex had her arm up, gun out and ready for whatever was causing the strange happening. It started with what appeared to be a clock hand up in the 12 o'clock position before it made a full-face rotation, creating what appeared to be some form of blue portal that she'd never seen before. Then out floated a ghost she had never before either.
He appeared to be of a man in the prime of his life, with blue skin the same shade as the portal, red eyes with no visible sclera or pupil with a jagged lightning shaped scar over his left eye. A purple hood was pulled up over his head and draped over his shoulders. It was held together with what appeared to be some sort of cog. He wore a slightly lighter purple tunic and black gloves with multiple watches on each wrist. The strangest thing about him, however, was the clear rectangle in the middle of his chest that contained a clock with a swinging pendulum inside. In his hand, he carried a purple staff the same shade as his cloak with a clock on the top.
"Who are you?" Valerie demanded weakly, unable to gather the strength to lift her head off her shoulders let alone stand and make herself seem fierce.
"It is usually polite to introduce yourself first before demanding someone else's name, but then again, I already know everything there is to know about you, Valerie Gray, Red Huntress and Ghost Slayer." He spoke in a monotone voice that suggested he was tired of dealing with people and would rather just live a secluded life. It also didn't escape her notice that he had a slight lisp. "But since you asked, I am Clockwork, the Master of Time."
"How do you know me? I've never met you before in my life." The thought that this ghost known as 'Clockwork' would know about her but not the other way around disturbed her greatly.
He quirked a brow, "I know all. I even know how you have landed yourself in the situation you are in and why." A small smirk ghosted over his features as she narrowed her eyes.
"Then why are you here? What do you want?"
"Straight to the point, as usual, though I suppose it is for the best. I am here to offer my assistance. There is no safe place for you with Pariah Dark pursuing Dan and yourself, whether in this realm or the Ghost Zone." His words confirmed Valerie's worst fear, "Except, of course, one exception. My palace exists outside of time itself and is therefore inaccessible to anyone except me. There, you will be safe until you both are well enough to fight once again."
"I make it a principle rule to not trust ghosts." A rough cough had her doubling over as something coppery got stuck in her throat. One last hack freed it, and blood splattered over her already destroyed, red armor.
"You are not in a position to negotiate. Should you remain out here, Pariah will find you in a matter of hours and should you retreat behind the Ghost Shield at Amity Park, he will destroy it until nothing remains." He held a glowing hand out to her, "You have my word I mean you no harm. The only timeline where you succeed against Pariah Dark is if you accept my offer of help."
Valerie considered it for a moment before she decided, Fuck it. She was dead whether or not she accepted this mysterious Clockwork's help. Lowering her gun, she outstretched her unarmed hand and gripped his outstretched one firmly.
"Alright, ghost I'll accept your help, but I can't carry him. You'll have to do that."
Another smirk stretched across his pallid features. "Of course."
So there is the first chapter! Please leave me a review with your thoughts, if you'd like, I'd love to hear them!