Okay, so I'm just getting emails of reviews that were submitted like… over a week ago? Is anyone else having this problem or is my email being dumb?
Chapter 9: Confrontation Part 1
The slight green-hued glow of the walls and ceiling faded, as Aragon released the ghost shield.
Danny was really confused. He turned to look at his parents, then back to his friends.
"Does… he think that they don't know about Vlad by now?" He wondered. "I mean, it seems kind of obvious now that you guys would tell them." Jazz suddenly gasped, everyone's attention turning to her.
"We weren't supposed to be here!" she exclaimed. "My university tour got canceled last minute—"
"And we were here by coincidence when Plasmius sealed the house," Tucker said, pointing to himself and Sam.
"We came looking for you after you never came back from fighting Skulker," she explained. Danny looked at her with his eyebrows scrunched together.
"But… that was like, at least three days ago," he drawled. "And you haven't been able to leave the house the entire time? Have—"
"I GROW TIRED OF WAITING!" The thundering voice of the ghost dragon pulled them back to the situation at hand. "Jack and Madeline Fenton: Come out immediately or I shall raze this mortal dwelling to the ground!"
Danny smirked and turned to his parents.
"You better do as he says. I've got a plan."
… … …
The Doctors Fenton, each in their orange and teal jumpsuits, respectively, exited their house with their hands raised, showing that they had no weapons. The dragon eyed them with contempt. Jack worriedly looked up at the massive purple and black creature.
"Alright, ghost, we're here! Just don't hurt my best bud Vladdie!" he pleaded. Maddie glared at the prince, but nodded anyway.
Meanwhile, the Justice League and the three ghost hunting teenagers readied their new ecto-weapons and waited for the signal. J'onn and Phantom both went intangible and invisible, and silently flew up through the house and out through the roof. The ghost boy hung in the air for a moment, taking in the scene before him. He mentally signaled to the Martian that their plan was now in motion.
Phantom flew around Aragon, giving himself a relatively wide radius as he got behind the dragon. He inched towards the amulet around Aragon's neck, the ghostly artifact that allowed the prince to change forms, ready to quickly swipe it off the dragon. J'onn was to get in between Aragon and his parents, ready to defend them or get them out of range if the ghost decided to attack.
When he was almost within range to reach out and grab the necklace, he saw the dragon tense up, as if ready to pounce; and then several things happened at once, before he could register his plan falling apart.
Through the mental link he and J'onn had set up so that they could move around silently, he felt a spike of panic; then a visible Martian Manhunter flying towards him on what seemed to be a collision course.
"Phantom, watch out!" The warning came too late, and Phantom looked up right into the smirking face of Aragon. The dragon took a deep breath, and the young hero only had time to raise his hands to block his face before a large ball of ghostly fire engulfed his vision. He shut his eyes tight.
A scream.
But not Phantom's. He opened his eyes immediately to see the Martian covering him, gritting his teeth in agony. The fire ended, and the smoking body of the alien went limp as gravity overtook his ability to stay in the air, and he fell.
"You think you are the only one who can sense when other ghosts are near?" A sinister chuckle filled Phantom's ears as Aragon laughed. "Foolish child."
"No!" Phantom dived for the falling Martian to catch him before he hit the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that the rest of the Justice League, as well as his friends and sister were already outside, most likely signaled by their comrade's shout of pain.
Hawk Woman flew up and smashed the dragon in the jaw with a heavy upwards swing of her mace. Using the surprise attack to her advantage, Wonder Woman threw her lariat around the ghost's muzzle, effectively tightening it shut. Green Lantern and Superman handed the elder Fentons their bazookas, while the other teens started to shoot the prince with their wrist rays.
Phantom caught J'onn, one hand under his arm and the other around his waist, and gently lowered him to the ground, ignoring the stinging shock from the Spector Deflector. Flash ran over to them, concern clearly plastered on his face.
"Danny! J'onn! What happened? Are you guys okay?" He placed a hand on the young hero's shoulder, only to pull it back sharply at the boy's hiss of pain, where he noticed a small burst of electricity jumping from his hand to the other's shoulder, like a static shock. He glanced over to where Phantom was holding his Martian friend, and saw the same electricity crackling where the two were in contact. Phantom grit his teeth.
"He shielded me from Aragon's fire breath," the boy explained. "Apparently, he knew where I was the entire time and caught me off guard."
Flash moved to take the still-smoking J'onn off of the teen's shoulder, and lead them back behind the line of fire. Superman and Green Lantern flew off to help Wonder Woman and Hawk Woman. Batman had somehow gotten on the beast's back. Aragon harshly swung his head up, pulling the Amazonian along and causing her to bodily collide with Superman and loosen the rope holding him.
"And what about that electricity? What was that about?!" Phantom looked at Flash incredulously.
"Umm, from the Spector Deflector? The one that shocks ghosts to prevent overshadowing? That electricity?" he asked a bit sarcastically. "I told everyone earlier what it would do."
"Well, yeah, but I didn't think it would hurt you too!" They got behind the teenagers still firing at the dragon, doing minimal damage. Jazz, upon seeing the injured Leaguer, rushed inside to get their extensive first-aid kit, telling them not to move.
"If it didn't work on Halfas, what would be the point—" A cold blue mist froze the rest of his sentence before he could get it all out.
"INCOMING!" They heard Green Lantern bark, and a moment later, two explosions hit Aragon in his side that almost had him topple over before he regained his balance. Batman jumped off of his back to regroup with the other Leaguers. The dragon whipped his head around, looking for whoever had shot him.
"Who dares attack the mighty Prince Aragon!" he screeched. A taunting laugh bellowed around them as a familiar form appeared in the air.
"You are no mighty Prince, Aragon," the metal ghost with a flaming green mohawk sneered. "The entire Ghost Zone knows of your cowardice now! You are a disgrace to all ghostkind still working with Plasmius after all he's done." The dragon snarled at the hunter, baring his fangs. Green smoke seeped from his mouth and nostrils as he growled.
"Cowardice? Disgrace?" he roared. "I thought the Greatest Hunter in the Ghost Zone would know how to take advantage of your opponent's weaknesses."
At this point, the Leaguers had stopped their attack and regrouped near the house, tensely watching the two ghosts argue. They recognized the newcomer from one of the videos the previous day: Skulker. But he was one of Phantom's villains, why would he be helping them now?
"Never compare yourself to me! I hunt for the sport," Skulker glared at Aragon. "And there is nothing sporting about exposing a core."
"I don't care about the sport! That child took everything from me!" the dragon spat. "It doesn't matter of the method, as long as he is ended."
Another burst of cold escaped Phantom's mouth. He jumped up into a fighting stance and looked around. A quiet and oddly gentle cackle filled the air around them.
"Hey Dipstick, good to see you're in better shape!" Another form appeared next to the group of heroes; this one looked like a teenage girl with grey skin and flaming blue hair in a ponytail. She wore a black crop top and leather pants with grey platform boots in the shape of skulls, on her back hung a purple and blue electric guitar.
Hawk Woman moved closer to Phantom.
"Friend of yours?" she asked, never taking her eyes off the new arrival.
"Ember? What are you doing here?" the ghost boy asked, moving in front of the group. "And why is Skulker helping us? I thought you guys hated me." The rocker blanched.
"Oh come on man! I know we fight sometimes, but we're not monsters!" Ember face-palmed when she was met with the confused face of the ghostly hero. "No wonder you're taking this so well… You have no idea what cores are to ghosts, do you?" Phantom rolled his eyes.
"Well, yeah. They're your source of power," he started. Ember looked at him like she was waiting for more. He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced at his parents as if they might have the answer. "And… it's where ectoplasm comes from?" The punk ghost sighed.
"I can't believe I'm giving a biology lesson…" she grumbled. "Look babypop, cores are our everything, not just the source of our power. Our bodies are made up of ectoplasm, but our cores are us. By exposing that to the world… having people touch it," she shivered, "don't you feel violated?"
The Justice League collectively looked away, in different directions. Some shifted in place; others, especially the ones that had spent the most time holding the young ghost's core, folded their arms around them or placed their hands behind their backs.
"I mean, sure it felt weird and honestly pretty terrifying being that defenseless, but I got better," Phantom said, feeling more than a little embarrassed. Ember just looked annoyed and opened her mouth to give a retort when they heard a roar from the dragon prince. They turned around just in time to see Aragon swipe at Skulker with a faster-than-should-be-possible tail swing. The mechanical ghost, unable to dodge in time, took the force head-on, effectively destroying the armor. Ember turned back around to face the Leaguers, now looking slightly frenzied.
"Okay, time's up babypop. We need to get that amulet off of Aragon, now."
"Insignificant worm!" the dragon bellowed, blowing fire into the air. "I do not have time to waste on you! I shall end the child myself!"
"I don't think I'll be able to get close enough to take it," Phantom said hurriedly. "He's really out for my hide this time." J'onn groaned and sat up.
"I should be able to get it." The Martian winced slightly at the movement, but stood up nonetheless.
"Nuh uh, no way. You're still hurt," Green Lantern said, gesturing to the burns that were still healing. J'onn put a hand on his shoulder.
"I am the only one that can hide my presence from this 'Prince Aragon,'" he explained. "As long as you can distract him for a few minutes, I should be able to take his amulet. Hurry." They turned back to the dragon when they heard his massive footsteps.
"Let's see how well the cockroaches can scatter," the beast taunted, before swinging his tail down right where the group had been mere moments before. In the chaos, J'onn turned invisible and started to fly around to the back of the dragon. Superman, Hawk Woman, and Phantom flew up in front of Aragon's face, weapons bared.
"How about we give him some good old-fashioned— Woah!" Phantom leaped out of the way of a vicious bite from the dragon. Hawk Woman moved to swing at him with her mace, but without taking his eyes off of his chosen prey, he swiped his claws at the Thanagarian and batted her out of the sky. Green Lantern quickly dived to catch her before she hit the ground.
Aragon took another swipe at Phantom, but yelped in pain as he was met with a blast from an ecto-bazooka. He trained his gaze downward to see the two elder Fentons, their oversized weapons aimed directly at him.
"Nice shot, honey!" called Maddie. Jack grinned and threw a fist in the air.
"That's even what I was aiming at, too!"
"Pathetic mortals," Aragon growled and lifted a massive, clawed foot over their heads. He slammed it down, but felt nothing underneath but earth. A whistle caught his attention as he looked to one side of him and saw the red-clad speedster lounging lazily near the two ghost hunters as if they had always been there. The dragon bared his teeth at them and took a deep breath.
"Hey lizard-breath! Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
The humans on the ground let out a small breath as the dragon turned his head away to find the ghost boy. In the middle of the sky, Phantom and Superman floated, arms crossed. Phantom was grinning in triumph. Aragon narrowed his eyes.
"Or should we say," the hero in blue continued after Phantom. "Why don't you come down to our size?"
Aragon's eyes widened as he felt his power start to leave him. He looked down to his neck to find that his amulet was gone! He whipped his head around to find the Martian, holding his ancient necklace.
"NO!" He made to claw at the alien, but found that his arm had shrunken down to its original size. His tail and wings disappeared, and his whole body started to shrivel up. After a moment, he was left with his original form, a blue-skinned ghost with a purple tunic and a green, spiked crown.
He looked up just in time to see two fists coming straight at his face.
… … …
Danny capped his thermos and looked at his parents.
"That went well, I think?" He rattled the thermos a little, for good measure. "Now all that's left is Vlad!"
"I think you're forgetting something, dipstick." Ember floated over to them from the remains of the metal ghost, she had a green blob on her shoulder. The Leaguers looked solemn.
"We are sorry for your loss," Wonder Woman started. Danny crossed his arms.
"Yeah, sorry about your suit Skulker, but thanks for the assist, dude," he smiled. Flash blinked, confused. But then the little green blob on the rocker's shoulder started to speak.
"Yes, well… if my distraction was able to help you in some way, then I suppose it was worth it."
Danny smiled wider, and Flash's jaw dropped.
"But don't think that this little truce will last, Welp!" the blob continued. "The next time we meet, your pelt is mine!"
"Wait. That big guy was a suit? And this little guy was inside the whole time?" Flash sputtered. "But he's so—"
"I would advise you not to finish that sentence," the blob glared. Ember waved her hands.
"Enough about that," she dismissed. "I meant: You're forgetting about those." She pointed to some ghost bears that had just rounded a corner and started snarling at them. "Plasmius still has his little animal army running around."
"Not to worry," Maddie aimed her bazooka and fired, hitting the ghost square in the face. While the bear was stunned, Sam took out her own thermos, and in a shock of bright light, the ghost was pulled in. "We'll handle Vlad's army. You go do your hero thing and kick his butt for us."
"But—"
"No buts, mister," Maddie put a hand on her son's shoulder. "We'll just get in the way, and we don't want you worrying about us or the other ghosts. This is the best option. We'll split up into groups, so that way, we can cover more ground!" Danny smiled up at her.
"I will go with them," J'onn volunteered. "I am still not up to my full strength, and am afraid I would be a liability to you in the coming battle."
"Now we can split up into teams of three," Jazz pointed out. Danny nodded and examined the group.
"Okay," he conceded. "Mom and Dad will go with Martian Manhunter as one team, and Sam, Jazz, and Tucker will be another team."
"Yes!" Jazz threw her fist in the air. "The Ghost Getters are back in action!" She opened her fist for a high-five, looking expectantly at her younger friends. After a beat, Tucker gave her a high-five.
An awkward cough made them turn their attention back to Ember and Skulker.
"Well, this was fun and all, but Aragon was one thing, and there is no way I'm going up against Plasmius. Plus, I gotta go back to the GZ so my babypop can rebuilt his armor," the rocker said, rubbing her nose on the green blob affectionately. "See ya later, dipstick." As she flew away, they could hear Skulker yell something back at him, and while they couldn't understand what was said, the following shriek of "Gross!" by Ember allowed them to get the gist of it.
Danny turned back to the Justice League with a grin.
"Let's go kick some vampire-wannabe ghost butt!"
AN: GOODNESS GRACIOUS, is it tough to choreograph a fight scene with so many people and actually keep track of them and try to get all of them to participate. Apparently my solution to that is to focus on a couple of people and only mention the fight in the background… *slams head down on desk* This was a horrible fight scene.
AN2: The Better Shape joke is courtesy of Megatron and Ultra Magnus from Transformers: MTMTE
The next chapter will be uploaded Friday, June 8th. Chapter 10: Confrontation Part 2
