Before you all ask, yes, I am aware that it's been forever since I claimed to have The Summoning done. when a single thing is pointed out, it sends you into a spiral of "oh crap, that's wrong with like, everything" so, yeah. have patience. the next chapter of that will be coming once my lovely beta reader has judged the newest draft of it proper and good.
for now, I bring you this little brainchild that will be going somewhere and gives me an excuse to geek out over headcanons and such. so without further ado
CUE THEME SONG
Normalcy was such a relative thing. What most might found normal, one or a few could find rather strange, and vice versa. To Danny, his current activity of matching blades with a cyclops that towered over him at fifteen feet tall was completely normal. The clang of green steel against steel had become a familiar and welcome sound to the fifteen-year-old. Ducking a swing, he nicked the larger's leg and backed out of the way just in time to avoid a kick to the head. Unfortunately, Danny didn't see the swing from the empty hand until it was throwing him just outside the edge of the arena that they had been sparring in, a circle of white paint glowing red to signify his loss in the round.
Accepting the large hand that was extended to him, Danny got to his feet, needing to regain his breath after that. "Good fight Asceptious, I don't think I've lasted that long against you since you went easy on me the second time we sparred." He took a bow before stretching, grinning when he saw his friend do the same.
The cyclops, purple skinned with a big brown eye, gently patted the young fighter on his back, a bright toothy grin plastered on his face. "I wanted you to have at least one win under your belt, and you've improved greatly, this time, Danny. Watch out for large fast limbs, most of us in the Spirit World are a lot faster than we seem."
Danny nodded and opened his mouth to reply when he heard a ringing in his ear. "I'm sorry, Asceptious, we'll have to spare again later." One final shake of a hand that easily engulfed his own entirely and Danny walked towards his bag switching off the mute of his Fenton Phone. "What's up guys."
"Got an upgraded emergency Danny," Tucker's voice called through the ear piece, a mite higher than usual in worry. "Technus upgraded again. His hair looks somehow worse, and he's hacked into the street lamps, traffic lights and traffic cameras all over the city. I'd get him out, but I'd need physical access to the control center for each system, and it'd be a lot faster if a certain hero came and shoved him out of the tech."
"I'm on my way," the now silver-haired teen muttered as he pushed his speed in the evergreen void that was the Ghost Zone.
When Danny arrived on the scene, he saw Technus - with his crazy gray-white hair done into a tall square afro whilst his black and white clothing had turned to something akin to what Danny had bought when the two first met - cackling in the air and waving his hands as though conducting a symphony. What he had been truly doing, well…
It was one of the moments that had Danny questioning the limitations - if any were to exist - of the effects ectoplasm had on the physical world.
As though alive, street lights burned like greek fire, lasers cutting through the air and leaving scorch marks on the concrete where citizens had just been. Danny concentrated and formed a duplicate on his left, turning it invisible and sending it into one of the lamps. To his disappointment - but in no way his surprise - Technus' energy crackled along the metal pole and zapped the duplicate into a cloud of mist.
Trying to force Technus out by imposing his own will over the possessed electronics was a no go. Duplication, however, was not. Splitting once more until there were five of him, Danny sent invisible duplicates out to evacuate the few citizens that had been too terrified to get out when the attack started and built up a charge.
"That hair is the worst I've seen from you, Technus, honestly." Emerald energy sliced through air like a scythe and knocked the technokinetic ghost into one of the nearby buildings. "And don't even get me started on the clothes, do those pants even fit?" Shifting out of the way of a beam of light, Danny shook his head with an exaggerated shudder. "Don't answer that question."
"Damnable child!" a very irate Technus pushed off of the building and aimed all of the lamps at the white haired nuisance that dared to interrupt his moment of glory. "You shall not defeat me, Technus 3.0, this time! This time, you shall be erased from this Earth, and I shall reign supreme!"
Splitting in two and avoiding a laser being fired from one of many upgraded street lamps, Danny pulled himself back together and dodged laser fire, all while taunting his aged enemy. "Really, Technus, I have to say, this is actually a semi-intelligent plan. I can't stop you from using the street lamps, lights, and camera systems. Or at least, I wouldn't be able to if I couldn't go in there and force you out myself." Firing off a blast from his index finger, the half-ghost grinned at the cry of pain from the disgruntled spook. "Or if I didn't know someone who could out hack you, technokinesis be damned."
"Foolish child!" Technus shouted in outrage. "I, Technus, master of all technology, shall burn through you with these street lamps of death and move on to conquer the world!" The wild-haired ghost cackled madly but stopped short when a shiver ran through him and he noticed frost covering the lamps. "What? Why is the temperature dropping? Those lasers should be firing at temperatures of at least three hundred degrees!"
"Yeah, I can tell from the burn marks on the ground." The sound of four voices that were exact copies of each other could be heard from all around, but not once did Danny open his mouth. "But if the source of the lasers chills out, they can't burn me, now can they?" Danny copies flickered in and out of visibility and the original did the same, each passing a subzero touch over a pole as they passed it. Frost covered the glass of the streetlights and even the asphalt on the ground before Technus found himself wrapped up in chains of ectoplasm and being slammed into the nearest lamp post. "I think some time in the Thermos will do you some good for thinking over your poor choices."
Once Technus was sucked into the Thermos, Danny capped it and quickly bent the lamp posts back in the direction they were meant to be facing. It was a quick and admittedly sloppy job, but he had only recently thought of actually cleaning up. But, even when doing a non-violent good deed, the hero was interrupted by fire from an ectorifle. "Aw come on! I was putting everything back too!" Dodging another shot, he took to the skies and prepared to disappear; glad that his ectosignature became nearly untraceable when he reverted to human form. He never got the chance.
As soon as he rounded a corner, Danny's vision was filled with a familiar electric blue light, something like static rolling across his skin and jumpsuit. In a moment – or an eternity, it was hard to tell which – the halfa was surrounded by clocks, mirrors, and a chair he was about to fly into. Thanking Pandora for his improved reflexes, the ghost boy flipped around and slowed down so that he merely had a rough landing, rather than a crash. Looking around, the ghost boy quickly located the Master of Time floating in the center of the room and glared at them.
"A little warning next time, Clockwork? At the very least lemme hear you saying 'Time out', ya know?" The Time master chuckled and floated closer, giving the teen a pat on the back. "It's a bit rude to interrupt someone's dramatic escape from the green, hot, death rays of his parents as they chase after his still lingering soul."
"So you've actually been reading the books that Samantha offers you?" Seeing the boy pout, the now infantile spirit laughed softly and offered a plate of cookies. "Would you like a cookie? I baked them myself."
Danny's hand hovered over the cookies a moment before accepting one. With a bite and a noise of content, he took the whole plate. "Two questions: why did you make cookies, and why exactly am I here? I didn't realize ghosts needed to eat, and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't teleport me up here just for some cookies and tea."
Quirking a brow, the elder spirit raised their staff and their mirrors changed from flickering moments of every time to images of Danny himself, as well as his clone Danielle and several people he didn't recognize, as well as an unknown landmass somewhere in the Ghost Zone . "To answer your first question, I spoke with the various incarnations of myself across the timelines and we all concurred that those cookies are the best way to stop your ranting, and yes, spirits do eat." Shifting into the form of a middle-aged being, Clockwork gestured to their mirrors. "As for why you are here, a series of events is approaching, and you, as well as Vlad and Danielle.
As I'm sure you realize, the three main elements of the event are the only living halfas to date." They waited for Danny to swallow the cookie he was eating at the moment before continuing. "The number of halfas in the worlds is going to increase in coming months." Even without the cookie in his mouth, the snow-haired teen still managed to choke on air.
Once he had regained his breath, Danny shot into the air and stared at the mirrors. "Wait what? How can there be more halfas appearing? I thought only Mom, Dad, and Vlad were able to bridge the worlds?" Staring up at the largest of the mirror, he tried to memorize the faces he saw. A dark face with bright gold eyes, freckles and flower filled hair, a pair of glasses and a quill. "How is that possible?"
"The will of the worlds is something not even I can fully understand, Daniel. The Spirit World and the Earth are coming together once again, and these people shall be caught in between the two. I brought you here to say you must bring these halfas together before the other ghosts in the Spirit World go after them in search of a challenge like Vlad and yourself present, and show them how to use their abilities."
"Wait," Danny raised a brow, hand held up as if to stop everything so that he could think or escape everything that was happening. "You want me to teach all the halfas? How am I supposed to manage that? Are they all even gonna be in America?" One thing Danny regretted gaining from Pandora and Frostbite teaching him over the past few months was a new found sense of logic. The task seemed impossible. "It's not like I can fly straight to Guatemala and be back in time for dinner. I can only go a hundred and thirty miles per hour Clockwork. And what about communication?"
"I cannot give you all of the answers, Daniel," the timeless spirit sighed and patted the ghost boy's head. "I can, however, offer a bit of guidance. The Spirit World is alive, Daniel, and far more awake than the Earth has shown signs of being in the past fifteen thousand years. She can hear her children, at all times, and when one asks for help, She just might give it." The mirrors shifted to show Danielle once again. "I can, however, give you some assistance myself. For instance, I can tell you where your cousin is so that you can get some help from her."
Danny nodded slightly, thinking a bit more carefully than usual. This wasn't something he could take lightly and dive into unawares. A realization came to mind. "If you're helping me, I imagine it's only with one or two things, right?" a nod, and he let out a sigh. "First question: where would I bring them all together? I can't teach them at Fenton Works, it's too dangerous. Where in the Zone could a bunch of new ghosts train without endangering someone thanks to the type of core they have, and be safe from my enemies and the enemies they're bound to make."
"That, Daniel, is one of the things that you will have to ask of the Spirit World. You never know," Clockwork flashed a knowing grin, mischievous in their infantile form. "New places in this world form to meet the needs of new spirits and ghosts. One may form for the halfas in general."
Danny bit into another cookie and nodded, wondering how exactly he was meant to ask the world for help. "And Vlad? How does he play into all of this?" because there was no way in hell the eldest halfa wouldn't discover this new development. "He'll learn about it a while after the new halfas come to be, and I'm glad to have Time on my side," he grinned as Clockwork snorted at his pun, "but he'll find out eventually and I'd like to know what I should do to prepare for that."
Clockwork shifted into the form of an elder once more and twirled their staff in thought. Daniel thought it a pause for dramatic effect, but with Events such as these, even the Time Guardian did not know what exactly would happen. "There are various methods of dealing with Vlad, Daniel," they finally answered. "One of which is to remind him of what he truly wants; he shall soon have an opportunity for that."
"Are you saying that he'll have an opportunity to murder my father when the new halfas appear?" The teen's eyes brightened with protective fury. "Because I'm not gonna let that happen, Clockwork."
"No, Daniel," they sighed and shook their head. "Think about your trip into the possible future, and you'll realize that your father's death is not what he truly wants. I will give you one more piece of helpful advice." A weight could be felt in the halfa's pocket, and the mirrors returned to their flickering states, showing futures, pasts and presents of each world that Danny knew and did not. "We all have our crosses to bear, and choices to make. Think of it this way: at least I'm the only one teleporting you away from your regularly scheduled half-life."
With a flash of blue light that lasted an eternal instant, Danny was hovering over his bed, confused, frustrated, and wishing he could sleep all of this situation away.
Jazz had turned on the news, but only as background noise. Ever since she had joined her brother in putting the skills their parents taught them to use, she had found it hard to concentrate in utter silence anymore. One thing that brought her attention away from the psychology text for a moment of sympathy and curiosity was the current disaster report. "...in areas where there are no known fault lines, unusual weather patterns, and a rise in reported thefts world wide, with no evidence left behind of the crimes beyond the lack of said stolen goods..."
woo, that was fun to write. this is very short compared to what I'm still writing for this story. but whatever, ya know? I like it. what do you think?
Invader Johnny: Clockwork may care for Danny (maybe) but their main concern is guiding the worlds to the brightest possible future. Danny just so happens to have a great part in that brighter future.
Great: old friend, i assure you, you shall find out soon enough. And I can't confirm that either of those two will be getting any ghostly power. however, i can confirm this: ALL HAIL KING PHANTOM
ok so, I've got exams. like this week. so, if i go silent, keep your fingers crossed for that "I'M NOT DEAD" message, because it's currently a coin toss.
with that morbid thought, Cruel Moon bring the End.
