Disclaimer: Unfortunately Nickelodeon owns Danny instead of me. It's rather stupid actually because if I owned it it'd still be making money.
A/N: This is the one fic I am still updating since for all the others I am experiencing writers block. This chap is dedicated to Luiz4200 who has reviewed for every chapter I have written so far. REVIEW!
Chapter 4: Skulker and the Ecto-Venom
By Theta Nigma of Amity
…but Danny had not needed to go for his phone for the help he needed had already arrived.
"Danny, we really want to talk to you!" cried Sam as she knocked on the door for what seemed to be (and what probably was) the 20th time.
Both of Danny's parents were out due to a ghost sighting and Jazz was working late at a new job she had gotten so, other than Danny, the house was empty.
Danny could quite easily hear Sam's shouting but his legs suddenly felt like they were made of lead. With a great effort that had much more to do with willpower and mental strength than any real physical motion Danny finally got his feet to follow his commands and he immediately burst down the stairs.
Sam and Tucker just managed to say "Danny…" before the both of them were quickly tugged into the house. The door slammed shut as the Ghost Shield was remotely activated.
…
Sam and Tucker found themselves sitting on a couple of chairs within the Fenton Family lab faster than they had previously thought physically possible.
In front of them Danny was pacing back and forth, muttering unintelligibly to himself. Finally he turned to them.
"You guys, I'm sorry for the way I've been treating you," Danny spoke these words in a way that sounded like it was hard for him to speak. "Something is happening to me. It's making me…darker."
Danny paused a while after this statement, afraid of what it was implicating. Eventually Tucker spoke up.
"Danny, we don't care what's happening to you. We're going to stick with you and help you fight….whatever this is."
It was Sam's turn to stand up. "I say we find Frostbite. Maybe he can figure out what's happening to you." Sam reached over and hit a button on one of the walls. The Spectre Speeder emerged as the portal to the Ghost Zone cracked open.
"We better get there soon," said Sam.
Danny smiled as he followed his friends into the silver transport.
Nobody noticed the black tendril that had begun to rap itself around Danny's leg.
...
The Spectre Speeder was cruising towards the icy regions of the ghost zone.
Tucker, for no apparent reason, had decided to take a nap. Sam was flying the Spectre Speeder, and Danny was…
Danny's hand suddenly shot up and knocked off one of the more important knobs within the Spectre Speeder.
Sam barely saw a sinister and uncharacteristic expression flash on Danny's face for a short second before Danny was suddenly gasping for air and rushing to help Sam keep the crashing Speeder from hitting its anti-matter surroundings.
The valiant efforts of the two teens were useless however and the ship slammed into a rock with a steel shattering bang.
Tucker suddenly burst from his short sleep to find himself and Sam being dragged out of the smoking vehicle by the still fully human Danny.
Danny set Tucker and Sam down on the ground before sitting himself onto a rock and shaking.
Sensing his pain Sam immediately ran over to Danny and pulled him into a small bear hug.
"I tried to kill you," he said as he continued to shake.
"No you didn't Danny," she said, gripping onto him. "You tried to save us." She dragged Danny up, still embracing him. "Let's keep moving."
The trio continued their journey into the centre of the Ghost Zone.
...
Several minutes later the trio were still walking when Danny's ghost sense went off. Looking around him Danny suddenly gained an expression on his face that spoke of some horrible recognition.
"Guys, hide." Danny said calmly and evenly as he switched into Ghost Mode. Sam and Tucker obediently hid behind the closest cover.
Danny was completely ready for combat. He didn't feel the black tendril wrapping around his other leg.
Suddenly Danny heard something moving close by and spun to face his enemy. He was completely shocked by what happened next.
...
"Jazz, do you know where Danny is."
The rest of the Fenton family had arrived home several minutes earlier to discover that the house was empty.
"Sorry mom, no idea," replied Jazz Fenton, Danny's sister. "I didn't see him leave school though, so he might still be there."
Jazz doubted that her brother was still at school. She was one of the few humans to retain a memory of the Phantom Planet incident and so believed that Danny was probably out hunting ghosts.
Jack (who had been searching the basement/lab) came running upstairs in a panic to report that the Spectre Speeder was missing.
...
Danny had managed to realize that he, Sam, and Tucker had walked straight into the centre of Skulker's lair and that Skulker was probably getting ready to jump out on them.
The way Skulker gave this greeting was entirely unexpected.
"Ghost Boy!"
Danny managed to release himself from the massive grip of the behemoth ghost, but he was very confused. The crushing grip had seemed like Skulker's idea of a...hug?
Seeing Danny's confusion Skulker began to laugh.
"Please, follow me," he said, pointing towards his ghostly home.
Skulker waited patiently for the teens to follow. Danny pulled Sam and Tucker from behind there cover and managed to convince them to follow Skulker. All three were deeply confused. Why would the ghost who had recently reached the number one spot on Danny's list of "Most Dangerous Foes" happily invite them into his home?
Seeing no other option Danny and Friends(TM) were forced to follow one of the first ghosts they had ever fought.
...
The house was pretty much what Danny had expected.
It was very hunter themed with weapons, and animal (with occasional ghost) hides lining the walls. It was a three story building mostly filled with lab space for the building and testing of high-tech weapons.
On the far wall of one of these lab spaces lay a number of cases, each with a suit for Skulker. These suits varied from Mark I-IV (Mark III being the suit Skulker was wearing and Mark IV being a half-completed prototype).
"Please sit down," said Skulker, gesturing to a coach that looked like it had just been made."
As Danny wearily sat down he noticed that a display case about his height and width had been torn apart.
Skulker sat in a thick steel chair across from the coach and gazed at the still confused teens.
"Why are you doing this?" asked Danny after a long silence. "Why are you, of all people, inviting us into your home?"
Skulker stared intently at Danny. "Because I realized something Phantom," he replied. "When you saved the world I gained a great amount of respect for you. And when you had Clockwork erase the memories of all the people on Earth to hold onto a semi-normal life AND to protect the ghost world from intruders that respect grew."
He stared meaningfully at the demolished display case. "I built that to hold you Phantom." The trio of ghost fighters immediately began squirming at this. "But then I realized that I have never been able to defeat you and that it was very unlikely I ever would."
"So you're not going to attack Amity anymore?" asked Danny hopefully.
"Precisely," replied Skulker. "In fact, I was wondering if you would accept me as your trainer. You might be lucky enough to defeat me," Skulker said, as his voice reverted back to its cocky and overconfident tone, "but there is still MUCH I can teach you."
"That'd be great," replied Danny instantly. "But you might not get the chance."
Skulker's steel eyebrows were nearly melted down as the raised towards his flaming Mohawk.
"Something's been happening to Danny lately," explained Sam. Ever since this fight he had with Technus and your girlfriend..."
"Ember's not my girlfriend anymore," put in Skulker.
"Oh," replied Sam, faking concern. "How...?"
"I tried to convince her to help me train Phantom and she left." "It's alright," he added, seeing the trio ready to give a series of fake sympathetic comments.
"Eer, well," continued Sam a bit awkwardly. "Ever since that fight it's been as if some... unknown thing is trying to push Danny into making darker decisions."
Skulker sat stroking his chin for a second, obviously in deep thought. Eventually he seemed to get an idea and he ran from the room. He returned about a minute later holding what seemed to be some sort of scanner.
"Stand please," he asked Danny who immediately stood up. Skulker began planting on numerous cables until Danny was covered with the stuff. Skulker then ran over and clicked on the machine.
As Sam and Tucker kept worrying and Danny kept wishing the cables were off Skulker watched a small screen intently, waiting patiently for the readings. What came up clearly shocked him.
Skulker walked back over to Danny as his friends began pulling out the wires.
"There is an organism living inside your gut."
At first Danny could not believe this something was inside him.
Danny didn't have more time to process this thought however as his hand shot up and shot out a particularly strong ecto-web that immediately knocked Skulker, Sam, and Tucker to the wall, trapping them there.
"What's happening?" Danny screamed as black tendrils began absorbing his body.
Sam and Tucker were only capable of staring in horror at what was happening to Danny. Skulker meanwhile was trying rather unsuccessfully to rip the ecto-webbing off of them, but he too was severely distracted by what happened next.
Black goo was pouring from Danny's mouth. This goo was slowly encasing Danny in a black exo-skeleton. As the three watched in fear Danny's screams were cut short as the goo encased his face. Danny began to try to pull off the goo but eventually it overcame him and the struggling stooped as a horrid face appeared where Danny's had been moments before.
"Ahh, full control at last."
The beast in front of them was horrible. It had Danny's figure, Danny's hair, and a darker version of Danny's costume but it was clearly not Danny.
This creature wore an all black version of Danny's costume. The symbol on its chest was not the classic D but a blood red V. It wore a cape made of the same black tendrils that had been wrapping around Danny. Its feet and hands were viciously clawed. Then there was its face which contained a mouth crammed with vicious, serrated teeth. It had blood red eyes that held no mercy, and a face as black as night.
"Finally," it spoke. It had a fierce and humourless voice. "I no longer have to worry about that foolish boy. Now I am in control and soon this world will be mine."
At about this point Skulker finally managed to eject wolverine-style claws from his wrist and tear through the webbing.
Skulker put his head down and charged towards the Not-Danny like an angry rhino. The creature easily side-stepped his attack and swung its clawed hand to rip through Skulker's back. Skulker managed to get back up and fire a pistol on his belt into the things chest.
While all of this was happening Tucker was desperately trying to drag Sam towards the Spectre Speeder.
"I can't leave Danny," she said stubbornly as she tried to hold her ground.
Skulker was desperately trying to wrestle the creature to the ground. Looking up briefly to see what was going on he quickly fired a sleeper dart into Sam's side causing her to instantly collapse. He then turned to Tucker.
"Go boy!" he said while straining to keep the creatures jaws away from his throat. "I'll hold this thing off."
Tucker needed no further encouragement and, throwing Sam over his back, ran for the Spectre Speeder.
….
Tucker had run all the way to the Speeder and had quickly begun trying to find the backup power switch for the vehicle. Finally finding it he took the ship towards the Fenton Ghost Portal.
…
If Tucker had looked back he would have noted that Skulker's house was about to collapse.
After the teens had left Skulker had managed to snap the creatures jaw back and kick it in the stomach, thus giving him some time to grab a small inventory of weapons.
The Creature soon got back up and charged towards Skulker, its hands turning into blades as it ran forward. Skulker barely managed to dodge these twin blades from decapitating his head. He immediately swung around to shoot the Creature but discovered the space empty. Suddenly a tendril wrapped around his leg and slammed him to the ground. The Creature was rising above him.
"You are to be the first victim of the Ecto-Venom," it spoke as its mouth opened wide, as if it were going to devour him.
"Nobody kills Skulker," Skulker spat back as he hit a button on his wrist.
Instantly supports around the house began exploding, causing the ceiling to collapse towards them.
In Ecto-Venom's shock Skulker managed to get free and run for the door. He leapt from the building just as it collapsed onto the symbiote still trapped within.
Skulker quickly activated a jetpack on his back and took off for the Fenton Portal/
As he left a black fist erupted from the rubble.
...
Tucker flew the Spectre Speeder straight into the far wall of the Fenton Lab as he narrowly missed crashing into the Fenton Family.
Tucker dragged himself and the now semi-conscious Sam from the smoking craft. The Fenton's stared at the two in shock for quite a while before Jazz managed to speak.
"Where's Danny."
Skulker chose that moment to jet threw the portal. He gazed inside for a second with a look of fear on his face as if the Devil himself was heading towards the entrance. Finally he managed to gain some semblance of concentration and immediately pulled the portal doors closed with his bare hands.
Skulker was trying to save lives but Jack, who believed all ghosts to be evil, immediately pointed the Fenton Ghost Bazooka at Skulkers chest.
"What have you done with my son Ghost?"
As Jack prepared to shoot loud bangs suddenly started coming from the other side of the portal. Skulker immediately spread his arms out to prevent anything from tearing through the portal.
"Listen to me human," spoke Skulker menacingly. "There is a creature on the other side of this door more powerful than anything I have ever encountered and it is the thing that has your son. Now help me save lies!"
"Nothing can get through those doors," Jack said confidently. "Nothing."
In response to Jack's statement blood-curdling laughter began coming from the other side of the portal.
A bulge appeared against the steel of the door and with a sudden screeching noise a black bladed hand appeared through a crack in the steel and tore straight through Skulker's cybernetic arm.
As Skulker collapsed the doors to the Fenton Portal burst outwards and every ghost Danny Phantom had ever thought came streaming through and, going intangible, ascended through the ceiling and prepared to reek havoc on Amity.
In all this chaos Venom walked calmly forward. Seeing this new threat Jack fired the bazooka. A large hole appeared in Venom's chest and the projectile went straight through it. Venom then raised a hand and with a flick of his wrist a tendril extended forward and turned the weapon into a pile of ash.
Skulker managed to pull himself up but no sooner was he standing when Venom grabbed him around the throat and held him up high.
"You accept that someone as weak as the boy could defeat you but still you fight me," it hissed. "You should join me like your fellows."
Skulker replied by spitting in its face and saying: "I have honour. I will never join you."
Venom through Skulker across the room with rage. It's arms were crackling with a hellish ghost energy.
"Then stay with the humans and watch this city burn."
A minute later Fenton Works exploded.
…
A/N: Longest. Chapter. EVER! REVIEW!
