I would like to first thank the wonderful people who reviewed the first chapter. Even the short comments were nice to receive. I hope you'll continue to read and enjoy as the story progresses. I have some plans for the future I think you'll find entertaining.
While college seemed so close now and she'd been preparing for years in order to make the most of the experience, Jazz Fenton couldn't help wondering if now was the best time for it. While her little brother could certainly take care of himself and her parents now knew the truth about their son, she didn't know if it felt right to leave yet.
Part of it she knew was her mild case of Ghost Envy. She understood perfectly why she would feel that way considering her parents obsession with ghosts during her entire childhood to the point where there were rare occasions where she wondered how much they could care about her since she wasn't one. Not to mention her brother was part ghost, which added a whole new dimension to everything. But she refused to be jealous of the increase in attention that Danny received once they learned the truth and she'd been working on managing her slight Ghost Envy by bonding with her parents and reassuring herself that they did care about her more than their obsession. So while Ghost Envy and a desire to hold on to some of her family's attention might be part of her reluctance to leave home, Jazz knew it wasn't all of it.
She wanted to be involved. Her brother was propelled into being a celebrity by helping save the world. The whole Fenton family received recognition from the Dis-asteroid incident, but he was being hit by the brunt of it. Her knowledge of child psychology and her big sister instinct urged her to help keep an eye on him just in case this started to be too much for him to handle alone. At least until she was certain everything was settled down, Jazz wanted to be within easy reach. She, Sam, Tucker, their parents, and everyone else would eagerly offer him all the support they could. That would never change. And once she was certain that he could deal with his new fame and his ghost hunting without his big sister, she'd back off and let him live his life. Until then, there were community colleges and on-line classes she could take so that she would always be around to lend a sympathetic ear. It wouldn't be too hard to get her basic courses while living at home, after all.
The red-head teenager pulled her familiar teddy bear, Bearbert Einstein, closer as she began flipping through one of her textbooks that she would need for her college classes. There was no harm, after all, in getting an early start on her required reading. The numerous psychology classes she planned to take while in college would have plenty for her to learn.
While once she'd considered a focus on child psychology with her studies, Jazz now felt the urge to go in a slightly different direction. She was developing an interest in paranormal-based psychology; specifically, she was focused on helping people deal with ghosts and possibly helping ghosts too if they would let her. Her college entrance thesis on Ghost Envy was something she was extremely proud of and she'd enjoyed writing it. Plenty of people were developing paranoia and phobias that seem to stem from the rise in ghost sightings. Furthermore, helping Danny was something she'd been trying to do in one form or another for their entire lives and him becoming part ghost gave her more issues in his life that she wanted to help him deal with. Add in the fact that Vlad was, in the words of her brother, "one seriously crazed up fruit-loop" and the ghosts Danny fought didn't always seem completely sane… Well, she could certainly do a lot with the field and she was certainly that she could offer more insight than the average psychologist. She was raised by crazy people with issues concerning ghosts and was the sister of a halfa, after all. She could teach a class already at Yale about the insanity that can be found around ghosts.
Her reflections on her future and how her family's business of ghosts may or may not factor into her career were abruptly derailed by the muffled sounds of her parents' worried voices. The fact she could hear them through two floors and the extreme shielding of the lab told her that they were yelling and things were very bad. The teenager bolted for the door of her room and ran to the stairs.
By the time she scrambled into the basement, Jazz was relieved to see that no one seemed to be hurt. Granted, her mom and dad were practically hovering around Danny, concern clearly painted on their faces, and her brother looked rather shaken, but no one was under attack and no one was leaking blood or ectoplasm. She took a moment to draw reassurance from that before diving right into the middle of things.
"What happened?"
"I'm not sure," Danny responded hesitantly. "It was like someone cranked up my ghost sense to full power while shoving a distilled form of a horror movie marathon into my head at the same time. I don't know what it means, but I know it can't be good."
"You don't think you could be getting sick, do you?" Maddie asked, looking torn between placing her hand on his forehead to check his temperature and breaking out the ghost equipment to figure out if there was something wrong with the other half of her son.
As he opened his mouth, a pair of horrified screams erupted and two spectral vultures flew out of the Ghost Portal. Without sparing even a moment to look at the humans in the room, they took towards the skies and phased straight through the basement ceiling. A glowing green octopus quickly followed suit with a panicked look on its inhuman face. Finally, a large plant-like ghost that she recognized as Undergrowth poked his head through the portal, spotted something on the workbench, reached through, and deliberately sucked himself into the Fenton Thermos with a look of relief.
"And that wasn't ominous whatsoever," Danny muttered after staring at the spectacle for several moments.
"I have a feeling it wasn't just you," commented Jazz uneasily.
Their father, gaining an annoyed look on his face, marched over to the Ghost Portal and yelled, "Hey, this isn't a public service for all ghosts. Build your own portal and stop using ours."
"Something is definitely wrong," the dark-haired boy stated, staring at the portal. "They looked terrified. Undergrowth looked scared. He's a giant unstoppable plant ghost. What scares him?"
"Weed killer?" suggested Jack, still eyeing the Ghost Portal suspiciously.
"What are you thinking, Sweetie?" Maddie asked.
"I'm thinking this is only the start. Remember when all those ghosts tried to escape Pariah Dark? Even though there were more coming through then, I don't remember them being so completely terrified. I mean, they even paused at least long enough to beat me up. These guys didn't even care we were here," he explained, gesturing at the portal and thermos as he spoke. "Something is coming. Something horrible. We need to prepare and we need answers."
He glanced at his sister and she gave him a supportive smile. She knew what Danny would need her to do. Being in two places at once was a skill that still eluded her brother, so he needed people who knew how to handle what he couldn't do personally. Jazz could at least do that much for him.
"I'll call Tucker and have him put out a mild ghost warning, call Sam and have her bring over possible research material, and I'll ask both to come over as soon as possible," she nodded. "We'll break out the ghost weaponry in the meantime just in case someone tries to do more than run away in panic."
"Better call Valerie too. She doesn't have to come over if she doesn't want to, but she deserves a heads up if things are about to get bad," he suggested.
"And what will you be doing while Jazz calls everyone?" asked Jack, tearing his attention away from the portal and towards his son with a look that hinted he was beginning to recognize that Danny planned on diving headfirst into something dangerous.
He gave his father a reassuring smile, "I'm just looking for some answers about what just happened and if it has something to do with freaking out the other ghosts."
"And where are you getting those answers?" asked Maddie, her parental instincts kicking in as well.
"Relax," he smiled. "I'm just going into another dimension inhabited by ghosts, who just rushed out in terror, in order to question either a yeti or the master of time. What's the worst that could happen?"
"I suggest Clockwork," said Jazz, remember his notes on different ghosts. "He seems to like you and he'll definitely know the answers. Frostbite might not. He isn't omniscient, after all."
"You know, normal families don't have these conversations," he muttered before giving his parents another reassuring grin. "I'll be fine. They're actually very nice. Granted, Clockwork was supposed to get rid of me to prevent a certain timeline at one point, but he didn't. See? Nice guy. I'll be perfectly safe. Trust me."
"We do," Maddie answered. "Completely."
Jazz wondered if her parents knew how much those words meant to her brother, especially after so much time hiding a secret from them no fourteen year old should. Somehow, between the honest smile that materialized on his face and the worried, but proud looks on their faces, she felt fairly certain they did.
Without having to hide or make excuses, Danny firmly announced, "I'm going ghost."
Rings of energy moved across her brother's body, shifting him from a superficially carbon-based life form to one with ectoplasm as the building blocks. A black jumpsuit with the white symbol replaced his ordinary clothes, his dark hair became snow white, and his bright blue eyes became a shade of green that literally glowed. But even with the changes, she could still see the brother she loved and was proud of. Some days, she was surprised that so few people saw the similarity between Fenton and Phantom before they were told the truth. The only things she could figure out was that the confidence and bravery of Phantom took longer to be seen in Fenton, but the two began to bleed together in her mind long before she told him she knew his secret. So even with the ghostly hero standing there proudly able to share his true self with the people who matter to him, Jazz could just see Danny.
"I'll be back before you know it," he assured before diving into the Ghost Zone, his legs shifting into a ghostly tail as he disappeared from sight.
"He'll be fine," the teenager said quietly before heading back towards the stairs. "He can take care of himself."
Jazz knew her parents would be worried. They weren't used to the idea of their son battling dangerous ghosts and being in harm's way while they were standing mostly on the sidelines. It wasn't easy to handle. Jazz knew that. Even after all this time, she still worried about her little brother. Some things never change.
Tucker used to dream of having power, adulation, and being important. That desire began to burn brighter when his best friend became a superhero, but it began to seem that the spotlight was simply not meant for him. Then the Dis-asteroid happened and he was organizing resources from different nations in order to ensure the plan worked. He was rather surprised to learn he was good at it. Afterwards, he managed to somehow graduate from loser student techno-geek to mayor student techno-geek. He finally had power, adulation, influence, and almost everything he'd ever dreamed of. And he'd already decided not to run for a second term if he could help it.
While some of it was fun (like giving speeches people actually listened to) or important (like keeping the Guys In White at bay and ensuring that Danny's role as protector of Amity Park was officially recognized), the rest of the job was tedious and annoying. Most of his free time was gone, he didn't get to see his friends as much as he wanted to, and his new title came with more paperwork and boring meetings than he could count. Plus, he still had homework and a curfew his parents expected him to follow. Shouldn't the town leader get some leniency? He was already carrying the weight of the population of Amity Park on his shoulders and he didn't even get supermodels to cheer him on.
Glaring at a pile of paper that was supposed to convince him to cut school funding for technology purposes (like he'd ever sign anything anti-technology), Tucker began wishing for heat beam eyes. Burning the paperwork sounded so appealing sometimes. Of course, Sam would prefer it to be recycled and put to use as something beneficial, but watching the bureaucracy, politics, and general paperwork go up in flames would be so much more satisfying.
His mildly pyromaniac thoughts were interrupted by the sweet sounds of technology. Since his cell phone ringing would always win priority over daydreams of setting annoying paperwork aflame, he shoved his red beret back into place and answered his phone even as his grumpy and dowdy assistant glared at him.
"This is Mayor Tucker Foley, the youngest mayor of Amity Park and the surprisingly single young man available for any attractive ladies in need of a date," he greeted. "Can I help you?"
"Tucker, it's Jazz," the voice at the other end of the line stated. "We may have a slight ghost problem."
His mood quickly becoming more serious and his attention properly captured, he shifted out of his relaxed posture behind his desk and asked, "Could you define 'slight' in this case?"
"Something he can't explained freaked out Danny's ghost sense and almost immediately afterwards several ghosts dove out of the Ghost Portal like they were escaping the plague," she answered, her tone utterly flat. "We currently have Undergrowth hiding in the Fenton Thermos."
"That's a little more than 'slight' in my opinion," he responded, snatching up his PDA in his free hand.
"They aren't attacking. They're just running for their lives. Or afterlives. Whatever. Danny went looking for answers," continued Jazz. "And while they don't seem to be concerned with attacking right now, we thought you might want to put out a low-level warning since there are several ghosts in Amity Park at the moment and we don't need to cause a panic."
"At least until we know exactly how much we should be panicking," said Tucker, nodding to himself as he began pulling up familiar pages of information on his PDA. "Just between us, how bad do you guess this is going to be? On a scale from one to ten, with one being the Box Ghost and ten being King Pariah tag-teaming with the Dis-asteroid."
"Right now, it looks like a one or two. But between the behavior of the ghosts and my protective big sister sense, I think we're going to have an eight or nine at a minimum. Though I'll be very surprised if we don't at least have 'Amity Park pulled into the Ghost Zone again' level of bad by the end."
Trying to refrain from flinching at the older girl's prediction, he asked, "Want me to come over?"
"After you give a basic warning, yes. Mom and Dad are gathering the weaponry into easy reach and Danny's gone for the moment, but we should be ready by the time you're here. No matter what, Team Phantom will be prepared for it."
"You can count on me, General Jasmine," he grinned, resisting the urge to salute to the cell phone in his hand before ending the call. Turning towards his very confused assistant and still working on his PDA, he said, "Vicky, cancel all my appointments until further notice, tell them to go ahead with the request for funds for the school's technology, tell the Department of Power that the Fenton household may have to use most of the city's power in the near future and the electric companies should be prepared, call my parents and tell them I'm hanging out at Danny's, and set the Ghost Threat Level at One. Oh, and preorder that new upgrade for my PDA that's coming out next week. I don't want to miss it."
"I don't get paid enough for this," she muttered under her breath, but the assistant proceeded to follow his directions.
One of the smartest things that the citizens of Amity Park ever did was agree on safety protocols for ghost problems and Tucker continued to build on those. That included installing Fenton Ghost Shields to protect the high school, the mall, Axion Labs, and an emergency bunker that was currently under construction at the moment. The locations were scattered across the city and offered plenty of space for the population to take shelter against ghost attacks. There was also a plan in place to move the elementary and middle school students to Casper High during serious emergencies. There was ghost insurance that could be bought to cover damages to someone's home, car, or mental health. But most important, there was a grading system of warnings so the population could easily know if they should just keep an eye out for floating objects, stay in their homes, or even run to the closest Ghost Shield.
Level One was considered rather ordinary by this point and wouldn't alarm anyone. They would simply be prepared if they bumped into a ghost somewhere in town. Level Five would basically be Pariah Dark and his skeleton army showing up again. Tucker desperately hoped it wouldn't come to that. Being mayor of this town wasn't for the faint of heart.
Sam absently toyed with the ring on her finger as she debated with herself about which film to watch. She'd seen most of the slasher movies in her collection recently and the more supernatural ones were too much like her daily life. And she'd claw out her own eyeballs before she sat through that vampire love story, "Late Evening," that her mother kept insisting was a reasonable compromise between romance and "that dark, depressing stuff Sammy-kins likes." It was badly written, the main girl was useless and pathetic, and the whole thing was just an excuse for the whiney vampire boy to hate himself and the whiney girl to uselessly obsess over him while neither of them demonstrated any personality beyond their insane love for each other. It was just so shallow and demeaning. No wonder Paulina loved the series; she'd even taken the time to read the book too.
About to settle for a generic action flick, but at least one with a strong female role, the television abruptly changed to a news break and Lance Thunder appeared on the screen.
"Mayor Foley has declared Amity Park in a state of Ghost Threat Level One," he announced. "For those who don't know, that means there has been a confirmed sighting or high probability of a ghost within city limits. There have been no indication of violent intent towards humans at the time or there is evidence that the specter is only interested in property damage on the minor scale and/or minor scare tactics. While there is no reason to change your routine for a Level One situation, be alert in case the ghost's behavior changes and be prepared to encounter the ghost just in case. Please use common sense. Do not approach a ghost, especially an unknown ghost. Do not attempt to become involved in a battle between ghosts. The best thing you can do is to stay out of the way of those who know how to handle ghosts. You will only get in the way of their efforts. I repeat, Amity Park is currently in a state of Ghost Threat Level One."
The report barely ended before her phone rang. Guessing that the two events might be related, Sam quickly answered it.
"Danny?" she asked.
"Jazz, actually," the voice at the other end of the line corrected. "We have a situation."
"I saw the news. A Level One on the Ghost Threat scale isn't a situation. That's a Tuesday night for us."
"It's actually a little more complicated than what the news report mentioned," the older girl remarked. "We don't know ourselves for certain what it is though."
"When do we? What do you need, research-wise?" Sam asked, mentally reviewing her collection of supernatural, mythological, and general dark Gothic topics that could be insightful in regards to unknown ghost problems.
"Something that could send ghosts running in terror," said Jazz. "Beyond that, we'll have to wait for Danny to get back with answers."
"Where is he?" she asked, frowning as she headed towards her room.
"He went to talk to Clockwork. Sam, I'm not sure what's going on and it really doesn't look that bad yet, but it feels like something horrible is coming. I don't have a ghost sense or anything, but I know those ghosts were completely terrified. They ignored the whole Fenton family in the basement. Not to mention Danny's ghost sense went crazy before they showed up. I keep remember King Pariah and it feels like history repeating."
Snatching up promising-looking books and shoving them into her spider-shaped backpack, Sam said, "No one would be stupid enough to wake him up again, right?"
"Never underestimate the power of stupidity," muttered the older girl. "But we'll figure this out either way."
"Too bad the Fenton Ecto-Skeleton was destroyed. If it turns out to be Pariah's revenge or something, it would have been nice to have a back-up plan."
"Blame Vlad. He stole it, so we sort of destroyed it," Jazz stated. "So you'll come over?"
Smiling, Sam answered, "As soon as I can convince my grandma to play decoy for my parents."
"Don't get into too much trouble," warned the older girl over the phone. "Danny should be back close to when you arrive."
"Got it," she answered before hanging up the phone.
Yanking on her backpack, the Goth girl paused long enough to pull the Fenton Wrist Rays out of a drawer and strapped them firmly in place. They were the perfect accessory… of pain. Of course, they were only her second favorite accessory, but the "Wes" ring couldn't combat ghosts. Besides, the wrist-worn weapons went better with the Fenton Phones she quickly added to the ensemble like a pair of high-tech earrings. All she was missing was the Fenton Thermos to complete the ghost-hunting image.
"And Pauline says I can't be fashionable," she smirked, taking one final moment to admire the Fenton Wrist Rays before heading out the door.
Sneaking out to deal with ghost problems wasn't as easy as it used to be back when she first started, but Valerie refused to be completely stopped. Granted, she'd been cutting back some after meeting Dani and having her black and white worldview shaken. Then Vlad Masters, her original benefactor, turned out to be a ghost too and later tried to hold the planet for ransom essentially. If she ever needed proof that she hated being used and manipulated by someone, the mayor transforming in front of a crowd of people with a smug grin certainly gave her more than enough. Finally, learning that Fenton and Phantom were the same person put all of her patrols on hold for a while.
Black and white didn't work anymore. She couldn't draw a clear line of good and evil based on whether or not they were ghosts. While she found the term "halfa" to be rather uncreative, it did explain her problem. At least three people she knew were only half ghost. She could consider them half evil and decide that was enough to be on her wanted list, but they weren't just strangers. They were people she knew. Dani was just a little girl, spirited and sort of spunky, but still nice. Vlad was obviously a lying, manipulative, heartless monster who didn't seem to care about hurting people once she saw past the polite and friendly façade. And Phantom himself…
Danny was the most complicated. She knew he and the dog ghost caused her father to be fired and she blamed him for a long time for the destruction of everything in her life. She hated the ghost boy and did her best to wipe him out of existence. Though, she grudgingly admitted at different points that he seemed to be trying to help and to talk sense into her. Her determined hatred and certainty of his crimes sustained her pursuit of Phantom long past the point she should have seen that he wasn't like other ghosts. But Danny, the human, was almost the opposite. He was a nice guy, easy to get along with, funny, and almost painfully normal while still being interesting. Dating him was rather fun, even though she eventually called it off to protect him (and to let him and Sam figure out they belonged together). Who knew that the enemy and her ex-boyfriend were the same person? She both hated and liked him at the same time.
Valerie felt completely conflicted (and furious) for a while until she fully embraced the lesson she'd learned by meeting Dani. The world wasn't clear-cut and simple. It was a mixture of grays and contradictions. Danielle was both a ghost and a human, someone that couldn't easily be considered evil or destroyed. Vlad was both the one who helped her find her path and the one she would never trust again. And Danny was an imperfect hero, someone who tried to be good and yet could still make mistakes or be misunderstood. With her new understanding of the world, she could forgive Danny for the past. She just wasn't completely sure he could forgive her.
Shoving those thoughts to the back of her head, the brown-haired girl scribbled down a vague note for her dad. There was a ghost in town according to the news and her dad was at work. She couldn't ask for a better turn of events. Preparing to don her battle suit, the upgraded version rather than the one from Vlad, she was halted by the phone ringing.
"I'm not doing anything, Dad," she answered guiltily as soon as she picked up the phone.
"Glad to hear it, but I'm Jazz," the distinctly female voice replied. "I'm Danny's sister. We thought you should be at least warned about the situation. The news might say we're dealing with a minor ghost threat, but we think something big is coming. We don't know what, but be careful if you try anything."
Frowning slightly, Valerie asked, "Did Danny tell you to warn me?"
"Yes."
"Did he want to tell me anything else? Like to keep out of his way or that this is job for half ghosts?" she asked, feeling a little defensive. "Just because I don't have powers doesn't mean I'm staying on the sidelines, no matter how tough things get."
"He just said to give you a heads up and that you don't have to join us if you don't want to. He knows you can take care of yourself and that you'll be involved. He just wants to warn you to be careful since things might be about to get really bad. And you can come over if you want to help us. Sam and Tucker are coming. And as long as you don't aim at Danny, you're welcome on our team."
Valerie knew the older girl meant the last part as a joke to reassure her that there were no hard feelings, but she still flinched. The guilt of always treating someone who could have been an ally, a friend, and someone to trust like that still nipped at her when she thought of the past. Reflection on her actions towards Phantom with her new knowledge of his identity rarely left her happy. Knowing the ghost boy was Danny Fenton almost made her feel like a bit of a monster for trying to blast him to oblivion so often.
"Thanks, but no thanks," Valerie responded finally. "I'll be going solo on this. But thanks for the heads up."
"No problem," she answered. "But Valerie… If you ever need to talk to someone, I'll be happy to listen."
For a moment, the girl was confused by the offer. Then she remembered a long conversation she'd had with Danny and how his sister eventually came up. Apparently she wanted to be a psychologist. The offer was proof that Jazz probably wanted to honestly help. She just wasn't a professional one yet. But, considering the last shrink Valerie talked to turned out to be an evil ghost, she couldn't make things any worse. Still, she didn't think going over her possible issues with the sister of her ex-boyfriend/ex-nemesis was such a great idea.
"I'll keep that in mind," she responded politely. "I've got to go. Thanks again, Jazz."
"Good luck."
Needless to say, finding out your younger child and only son wasn't completely human was a shock. Learning that he was now at least partially a species that you and your spouse studied and hunted, not to mention discovering that his condition was your invention's fault and that it was a repeated accident that did the same thing to a dear friend in the past, was enough to unsettle even the most confident person. Danny and Vlad becoming half ghosts was due to the Fenton Ghost Portals, the prototype and the later version. It was sheer dumb luck (or complicated scientific theories that would take time to understand) that neither of them was killed by the process. Their son could have died instead of becoming a hero who wanted to protect his hometown from danger. Between the knowledge they could have lost their younger child because of their invention and that he'd spent months lying because he was afraid of how they would react to his transformation wasn't easy for any parent to accept.
Adding in the knowledge that Vlad Masters, someone who was considered a friend of the family even when Maddie Fenton felt the occasional sense that something wasn't right with him, was also half ghost and spent so much time trying to get rid of Jack, trying to force Danny to his way of thinking, and finally lashed out at her son once he lost all patience with him… Well, there was a lovely ecto-bazooka she'd been improving on that she'd love to test on him.
Her son was a strong, brave, responsible, and amazing young man. She just wished that she could have seen how much he'd grown sooner. She hated the fact that she and Jack made him feel like he couldn't come to them after he realized that he'd changed, that he didn't realize that they would love him whether he was completely human, completely ghost, or something in between. He was their son, no matter what he did or what happened to him or who he decided to become. She also wished that he didn't put himself in danger so often, both in the past and the present, but she accepted that she wouldn't be able to stop him. Hunting ghosts was just what the family did, even if he did it with self-generated ectoplasmic blasts and cryokinetic creations rather than technology. He was good at it and, considering the fact he'd explained he'd already been farther in space than most astronauts, he might easily choose to continue to fight ghosts as he grew up.
She loved her son. She was proud of him and all that he'd accomplished. She knew that he could take care of himself since she'd seen Danny Phantom doing just that multiple times before she knew the truth. And she didn't stop worrying a second after he plunged straight into the Ghost Zone.
A large part of that time was spent gathering the various weaponry and checking that it was perfectly functional for whatever might be in the future, silently reminding herself that Danny would be fine and almost certainly spent enough time in the Ghost Zone that the danger to himself would be minimal. Jack seemed to be a similar state of distraction at their son's absence until events decided to give them something better and more productive to focus on.
The first wave of ghosts fleeing through the Ghost Portal was nowhere near the last. Every few minutes, another group of them would fling themselves through before phasing through the ceiling, walls, or floor. Maddie and Jack quickly took up a defensive position in the lab and tried to blast any who came through. Most dodged the attack, a small number dove back into the portal, but the rest simply took the hit before sinking through the floor anyway. They didn't seem to be afraid of the married ghost hunters shooting at them. Or rather, they seemed more afraid of whatever was in the Ghost Zone than they were of whatever was waiting for them in the human world.
Smiling briefly to herself, she considered how odd it was that she was thinking about the feelings and thought processes of ghosts. From her son's stories about his various encounters with colorful-sounding characters such as Skulker, Ember, Technus, and the Box Ghost, it was easier now to imagine them as individuals with their own quirks and motivations instead of just identical figures with minor cosmetic differences. That didn't stop her from wanting to blast them across the room alongside her husband, but it was still change the past.
Some of the ghosts diving desperately out of the portal looked familiar. The one that looked like a green-skinned lunch lady tickled at her memory and Maddie knew the pale boy on the motorcycle with a green-haired girl was someone she'd seen before. Others were completely new and seemed surprised to find a pair of jumpsuit-wearing people firing at them as they tried to escape. Those seemed to be the easiest to hit with a weapon and Jack apparently was trying to keep score like it was a game.
It was a good thing that none of the escaping ghosts seemed to have violence on their minds. The Fenton Ghost Portal couldn't be shut down to stop them at the moment anyway. Not until Danny made it back…
Fear was an emotion often associated with ghosts. But normally, it was considered to be caused by ghosts rather than experienced by them. At the moment, however, every inhabitant of the Ghost Zone was aware of two very important facts. One, something bad was coming. Even those who didn't know the stories or rumors from the distant past could tell that much. His awakening could be felt by every single ghost and a certain level of unease remained even after the initial wave of warning. The second fact that they all knew, without a shadow of a doubt, was that they needed to hide.
Some found secluded corners of the Ghost Zone, far away from where they knew he was probably still stirring into proper awareness. They curled up in these lost and forgotten places, through doors and behind floating chunks of land, and tried not to draw attention to themselves. Dark caves, endless abysses, and generally unpleasant places were easy enough to locate in the dimension, but trying to first determine that they weren't inhabited by something that would lash out at unexpected guests certainly limited hiding places a little. But they were risking more hazardous locations if it might offer even the slightest safety from him.
Others were trying a different place to hide. Those ghosts were diving into any portal they could find. When a natural portal to the Human Realm formed, every specter within sight flung themselves through it without a single concern of where they might end up. A more reliable portal, one that was permanent and known to any ghost who dared risk detection by the infamous halfa, was preferred and instantly sought after by those closest to the location. After all, it was one of the only places where there was a reliable way back home to the Ghost Zone. Assuming that there would be anywhere to come back home to…
Finally, there was a small select group of insane ghosts who didn't want to run and hide. The wave of fear and dread that sparked off the knowledge to flee seemed to have angered a few, causing them to seek out the source of the disturbance and combat it. Prince Aragon, though thrust out of his role as ruler of his particular time-locked corner of the Ghost Zone by his sister after centuries of keeping her under his heel, was not one who allowed anyone or anything to dictate his actions. Fear from an outside source did not send him scurrying for a safe haven. It angered him. And since he took back the amulet that rightfully belonged to him, his fury manifested itself by turning him into a fierce creature.
The black dragon-shaped ghost flew through the Ghost Zone, moving in the exact opposite direction as the rest of the population. He was furious; Prince Aragon's temper was well-known and dreaded by his former subjects. He bowed to no one and would not accept anyone or anything dictating his actions. Neither this dreaded awoken creature, his sister who pleaded for him to see reason, nor the black-and-white specter who followed Princess Dorathea around while lacking a spine of his own and asked the prince to remain for his sister's sake. Honestly, what did she think she was doing? Trying to rule his kingdom and consorting with commoners who still measured their existence in decades? Whenever he finished dealing with his current foe, he would have to remember to remind his sister of her proper place.
Finding the formerly-slumbering enemy was far too easy for him. He could feel the dread building as he neared. Shadows continued to deepen as he neared, hiding away the ghost until only glowing red eyes and maybe the hint of an elongated face could be seen. Terror fought against the fury the burned inside Prince Aragon and, for just one moment, he wanted to flee far away from this place. Catching a glimpse of what might be a clawed hand, the dragon prince shoved those doubt away and began his attack.
Fire roared out of his mouth, pushing back the darkness slightly while seeking a way to injure the monster that was only whispered of in stories. The flames licked at the figure wrapped in the shadows, but didn't seem to do much more than distract. Tendrils of darkness lashed out, forcing the winged creature to fly around them.
Prince Aragon roared in defiance of the ghost commanding the shadows to strike against him, his fury and hatred not yet spent. A deep, menacing chuckle rose out of the darkness in response.
"If this is the best that this new age has to offer, I will be finished before a full cycle of the moon has passed in the land of mortals," the deep voice remarked, teeth reflecting the light from the flames as Prince Aragon tried again.
His anger igniting further at the suggestion of being weak, the dragon charged straight into the deeper darkness intending to burn the bright red eyes out of their sockets. The attack was short-lived as the tendrils of shadows struck him from every angle, skewering through the transformed prince. A flash of dark energy erupted out of the furious ghost, shifting him back to his humanoid form just long enough for him to break apart into pure ectoplasm.
The amulet that once hung around Prince Aragon's neck fell away, ignored by the red-eyed being. He had no interest in such tiny and useless trinkets. Somewhere out there must be a more entertaining opponent. Slaughtering the weak and puny was only interesting for so long.
And another one bites the dust. While I probably won't get the chance to update so quickly like this again (I had a little free time), I hope you liked it. I'm sorry there wasn't a ton of action in this chapter, but I did try to establish how everyone has changed a little since the events of "Phantom Planet" while also calling in the cavalry. But it did involve the (quick) destruction of Prince Aragon, the evil brother of Dora. That's got to count for something, right? The next chapter should have a few answers for you. Like who exactly the mystery enemy is.
I always enjoy feedback. It helps motivate me and keep me writing. After all, it isn't like I get paid for this. Comments are the only form of payment I receive. Thanks.