As Danny, Vlad, and Dani fight their way to the top, who will they meet and what will they find?
OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO
Of Ghosts and Glory: The Minor Leagues
"Well, I guess I'll register for a match," said Mario.
"But then you'd be fighting us, again," said Dani.
"And lose, again," said Vlad.
"Hey, we'd win!" said Mario.
"Lose," said Vlad.
"Win," said Mario.
"Lose!" shouted Vlad.
"Win!" shouted Mario.
"Well, if it ain't Inviso-Bill. Raring to fight someone else, ey?" said Grubba over the terminal.
"Aw plumbers helper," said Mario.
"Now these guys are some tough Glitz Pit fighters, the Goomba Bros. Now in this match I want you to use a special move," said Grubba, "Security will be there to pick you up in five minutes. If you win this match I'll give you something nice."
"Special move huh, Mario, give me the Diamond Star," said Danny.
"Here," said Mario.
"Thanks," said Danny.
"Good luck out there," said Goombella.
"Inviso-Bill?" said a security guard, "Come with me."
The security guard escorted them to the ring and Goombella said, "Come on, let's check out their match!" Mario and the others agreed and went to the stands.
"Hello Glitz Pit! Today we have the icy fiend Inviso-Bill and his team fighting against the headbonking monsters the Goomba Bros!" said Grubba.
"First it's the fire, ice, and lightning and ghost combination of Team Inviso-Bill!" said Grubba as Danny and the others walked up to the stage.
"Now lets see those Super Luigi fearing, King Koopa controlled warriors, the Goomba Bros!" said Grubba as the Goomba Bros ran up on stage and attacked before Grubba could start the match.
"Hey, that's against the rules!" said Dani.
"Oh shut up Ghost Freak!" said the Leader Goomba.
"Ghost Freak!" shouted Dani as she lunged at them.
"Well, it's been nice knowing them," said Danny.
"Danielle! Leave at least one for the special move," said Vlad.
"Right," said Dani as she flew away from the last one remaining.
Danny threw down the Diamond Star and it grew so they could stand on it. Danny pumped his fist into the air, Vlad folded his arms, and Dani twirled. Soon they had put enough energy into the star to have the attack be overkill ten times over.
"Oh man," said the last Goomba as he saw the shockwave coming.
"Team Inviso-Bill wins! And man that was a special move!" said Grubba, "So Team Inviso-Bill, how do you feel about winning your first real Glitz Pit match."
"Please, that was too easy," answered Vlad.
"Ghost Freak… I am not a freak…" muttered Dani.
"I'll be able to beat this place in a day if all the fighters are like that," said Danny.
When they went back to the locker room, they met with Mario and the other fighters.
"You did great!" said Mario.
"Yeah, and Dani's no freak," said Goombella.
"Freak? Is there a freak here?" asked King K.
"I don't BOMB see one," said Master Crash.
"Neither do I," said King K.
"Cleftor see freak girl," said Cleftor.
"Defiantly no freaks…" said Koops, hiding behind Flurrie.
"I've seen freaks, and you are no freak my dear," said Flurrie.
"Nobody listen to Cleftor? Girl ghost is freak," said Cleftor, "Weak Goombas say so."
"Oh that Cleftor, he would belive there was a sale on socks if a Crazy Daisy said so," said King K.
"What sock sale?" asked Cleftor.
"See," said King K.
"Let's just register for a match," said Dani as she activated the terminal.
"Wait, what about…" said Mario, but he gave up.
"Oh, Inviso-Jill! You just can't wait to fight again," said Grubba, "Unfortunately there won't be another open space for an hour. But you can come by my office now."
"Fine," said Dani.
"Well, the next match you guys fight will be against me and my posse," said King K.
"I can't wait," said Danny, "But I have to see Grubba."
"And then an hour," said Vlad.
"I'll be waiting for this match, I-Man," said King K as Danny and the others left.
They entered Grubba's Office to see him talking to Mario over the terminal.
"Sorry Gonzales, but you'll have to wait for two hours. Yes I'm sure. No, I can't make it sooner," said Grubba. He turned off the terminal and turned his attention to Danny.
"Well Inviso-Bill, you won so here's the special gift I promised," said Grubba as eh handed Danny a small, black, rectangular object.
"It's a box," said Vlad.
"No. Bill open it up and turn it on," said Grubba.
Danny did that and two screens lit up with a menu that had three boxes, saying "Mailbox", "Internet", and "Games".
"It's the new Mailbox DS Lite by Gadd Inc," said Grubba, "This one is much more advanced than the Mailbox SP or the Mailbox DS. It has internet access, games, and you can send messages too instead of just receiving them."
"How do I use it?" asked Danny, "The only button is the power button."
"You use the stylus located in the side," said Grubba.
Danny found the stylus and used it to open the mailbox and found a message.
To Inviso-Bill,
Is this darn thing working right? I hate new technology. I just figured out the Mailbox Sp and learn of this little thing. Oh, congratulations on winning your match.
From,
Grubba
"Thanks," said Danny.
"Please, you deserved it kid, now I must do some boring business stuff, good bye," said Grubba.
"Bye," said Danny as he left with Dani and Vlad.
"I wonder why you got that," said Dani.
"I don't know, I guess Grubba likes my fighting," said Danny.
"I'm hungry, I'm going to find a restaurant," said Vlad and he walked away.
"Wait for us!" said Danny and Dani as they chased after him.
From behind a corner Jolene said, "Thank goodness Grubba took my advice on giving him that. He could help me a lot," said Jolene.
Team Inviso-Bill had raised through the ranks and it wasn't long before they were at rank fifteen. It was now ten, closing time.
"Well we squeezed that one in under the wire," said Vlad.
"Yeah, I'm tired, good night," said Dani as she went to the female bedroom.
"We should sleep too, Daniel," said Vlad.
"I'm not tired, I'll just take a walk outside," said Danny.
"If that's what you want, I'm going to sleep," said Vlad as he left for the male bedroom.
Danny walked outside and looked around.
"Wow, there's still people working out here even after the Glitz Pit is closed," said Danny. The juice bar, the item shop, Hoggle's hot dog stand, and many other shops were still open. Even Kabbage Koopa was still there, even though he was asleep and drooling on his cabbages.
"My… cabbages…" muttered Kabbage Koopa as Danny walked by.
"I have to remember to not buy his cabbages," said Danny silently.
Suddenly there was a commotion at the hot dog stand.
"Get back here!" shouted Hoggle.
A black egg with white spots had jumped out of his stand and was now jumping everywhere.
"Get back giant bunny!" shouted Kabbage Koopa, he looked around and saw what had woken him up, "Hey Hoggle! Keep that egg under control!"
"I'm trying!" said Hoggle as he chased the egg.
A crowd was gathering around the watch the hilarious scene that was unfolding.
The egg suddenly jumped towards the crowd and into Danny's arms.
"Finally, now hand me that egg young man," said Hoggle as he went over to Danny.
"Please don't let him cook me," said the egg, but only Danny heard it.
"No way, there is a living creature in this egg!" said Danny as he held it above his head.
"What? Eh, it's too late to argue with you. Keep the thing, no one likes hopping eggs anyway," said Hoggle as he went back to his stand.
"Why did you want an egg if you serve hot dogs anyway?" asked Kabbage Koopa.
"I wanted to make a hot dog with southern island eggs, but that failed miserably," said Hoggle.
"Why not cabbage on hot dogs," suggested Kabbage Koopa.
"Oh, and then you ask for fifty percent of the profits, no way!" said Hoggle.
Danny had decided to leave the strange shop owners alone and put down the egg. "Well you're free now," said Danny. He walked away, but the egg followed him. He noticed this and said, "Do you want to join me?" The egg jumped up as if saying yes. "Ok then, I'm just walking around though," said Danny as he walked accidentally into an empty alley.
"Heh, wrong turn," said Danny. He was about to leave, but a voice said, "Leaving so soon?"
He turned around and saw Wanda. "Oh, hi Wanda," said Danny.
"Nice egg," said Wanda.
"Thanks," said Danny, "Is that all?"
"No, I came here to tell you something in the Glitz Pit isn't right. Keep on the look out for strange stuff, but make sure no one spots you," said Wanda.
"What kind of stuff should I look for?" asked Danny.
"Stuff that isn't supposed to be," said Wanda, "I don't know anything else."
"Okay, thanks for the tip," said Danny.
"Bye, and you should get some sleep," said Wanda as she disappeared.
Danny yawned and said, "She's right." He returned to the Glitz Pit with his egg.
As he was passing the blue arena door he saw light coming from the crack in it.
"That's not right. The lights in there should be off. I'd better check this out," said Danny.
He remembered to be careful and only looked through a small crack in the door, but it was enough to see Grubba throw a weakened King K and Bandy Andy into a strange machine on the stage. It activated and seemed to take away their life force. Grubba kicked them out of the way and entered the machine, absorbing the life force.
"Ah, beautiful strength," said Grubba, "As long as no one finds me out I should be able to stay young forever. Now to get rid of these guys." Grubba started walking to the door Danny was at. Danny panicked and jumped into a steel box with the egg to hide. Grubba passed by and turned the corner. Danny looked around the corner and saw Grubba go into the storage room. Danny went over, but the door was locked again. Danny decided to go to bed and think about this tomorrow.
The next morning Danny woke up to find something missing.
"Where's the egg?" thought Danny.
Vlad walked up and said, "Breakfast, Daniel?" He held out a plate of eggs and Danny fainted.
Danny woke up again when something started jumping on him. He looked and saw the egg trying to wake him.
"Danny? Are you ok?" asked Mario.
"I had no idea you didn't like eggs," said Vlad.
"Vlad didn't cook this egg?" said Danny.
"Please Daniel, no one like hopping eggs!" said Vlad.
"He doesn't want to admit it kicked his butt when he tried to cook it," whispered Dani.
"But what kind of egg is it?" asked Goombella.
"I have no idea," said Danny.
"It kind of looks like a Yoshi egg," said Mario.
"We'll just have to find out when it hatches," said Danny.
"Come on Daniel, let's register for a match, eat these non alive eggs," said Vlad. Danny ate the eggs.
Not many other fighters were registering for fights so it wasn't long before Team Inviso-Bill was fighting the tenth ranked team, the Armored Harriers. These were two large, blue creatures with spikes. One wore red shoes and the other wore green shoes.
"Hey Inviso-Bill, how do you feel, this is the match that will get you into the Major League," said Grubba after his usual introduction of Danny.
"I'm ready for this!" said Danny.
"Okay, now here are the unbeatable brothers, the Armored Harriers!" said Grubba as they entered. He turned off the mic to talk to them privately.
"Hey you see the kid with the blue wand, that's Inviso-Bill. Now he may look nice, but he's the dirtiest talker I've ever seen. He said "Armored Harriers? More like Paper Dog-Faces!" I also overheard "Those guys should stick to videogames!" And I didn't want to mention this, but he said "Their mom has an outie belly button!" lied Grubba.
"How did he know mom has an outie!" gasped Red.
"Hey Icy! Your mom is eighty years old!" shouted Green.
"Hey!" shouted Danny.
"Well that came out of left field," said Vlad.
"What's their problem?" asked Dani.
"I don't know, but I can't wait to beat them," said Danny.
"Let's battle!" shouted Grubba.
Danny quickly started off with an ice blast that seemed to do nothing.
"I feel a breeze in here," said Red.
"Did someone leave the window open?" questioned Green.
"Are you hoping we'll catch a cold?" asked both of them.
"Daniel, they look like steel," said Vlad as he fired his wand, again doing nothing.
"Hey Grubba, turn down the heating!" said Red.
"Yeah, it's warm enough," said Green.
"Could someone get a fan?" asked both.
"They're all talk," said Dani as she fired a ghost orb that did nothing.
"Didn't you hear our name?" asked Red.
"The Armored Harriers!" said Green.
"Nothing can harm us!" said both.
They decided to attack by ramming into Danny and Vlad. Followed up by jumping on Dani's head, knocking her out.
"That had to hurt," said Danny.
The Armored Harriers decided to show the same to Vlad and Danny, knocking them out.
"The winners are the Armored Harriers!" said Grubba. Nurse Toads came out to heal Danny and the others and they went back to the locker room.
"Well…" said Vlad.
"Hmm…" said Dani.
Danny just sighed and looked at where he left the egg and found it missing. He looked around and found Cleftor eating eggs and fainted again.
Danny woke up with everyone surrounding him.
"You ok Danny?" asked Koops.
"Stupid ice boy no like eggs," said Cleftor.
"That BOMB can't be it," said Master Crash.
"Hey Danny, look at this!" said Dani.
Danny looked over and saw a small black dinosaur with white hair, in Danny's style, and green eyes. It wore white boots and white, block spotted shorts.
"What is it?" asked Danny.
"I'm the creature that was in the egg," said the dinosaur.
"I knew it was a Yoshi," said Mario.
"Hey," said Danny, "What's you're name?"
"Name?" asked the Yoshi, "I don't have one yet, just born."
"How about you name him," suggested Dani.
Danny thought for a while and decided on, "Phantom."
"Phantom?" asked Vlad.
"Hey, that sounds like a cool name," said Phantom.
"Well, now the egg is hatched, but we have a bigger problem now," said Vlad.
"What kind of problem?" asked Phantom.
"We've got to find out how to defeat these two guys called the Armored Harriers," said Danny.
"Nothing we do can hurt them, it's almost like you have to hit them against each other," said Dani.
"Hey Dani, how'd you beat them?" asked Danny.
"Er… Well… I sorta bribed Grubba to let me pass them," said Dani.
"Didn't know you'd do that Danielle," said Vlad.
"Hey, everyone else does that too!" said Dani.
"Grubba seems pretty crooked," said Danny and something clicked in his head.
He remembered to be careful and only looked through a small crack in the door, but it was enough to see Grubba throw a weakened King K and Bandy Andy into a strange machine on the stage. It activated and seemed to take away their life force. Grubba kicked them out of the way and entered the machine, absorbing the life force.
"Ah, beautiful strength," said Grubba, "As long as no one finds me out I should be able to stay young forever. Now to get rid of these guys." Grubba started walking to the door Danny was at. Danny panicked and jumped into a steel box with the egg to hide. Grubba passed by and turned the corner. Danny looked around the corner and saw Grubba go into the storage room. Danny went over, but the door was locked again. Danny decided to go to bed and think about this tomorrow.
"Guys, I have to tell you what I saw!" said Danny.
"Well Vlad, the match is in five minutes, good luck this time," said Grubba as the terminal turned off.
"What did you see Daniel?" asked Vlad.
"Are you talking about that thing with Grubba last night?" asked Phantom.
"What happened?" asked Dani.
"Well…" started Danny.
"Inviso-Bill, time for your match," said the security guard.
"I'll tell you later," said Danny.
"Now it's time for a rematch!" said Grubba when they got to the stage.
"Now you may think you know Team Inviso-Bill, but you don't know their newest teammate. Introducing, Phantom!" said Grubba as Phantom came up on the stage.
"Aw, so cute."
"A Yoshi?"
"He looks just like Inviso-Bill."
"Mommy, I want one."
"Hah, no small lizard can help you," said Red.
"Why don't you show them what you can do," suggested Danny.
"What can he do?" asked Dani.
"No idea," said Danny.
"Let's battle!" shouted Grubba.
Phantom quickly ran right up to red.
"What's he doing!" said Danny.
Phantom shot out a long tongue and swallowed Red.
"Did he just eat him?" asked Dani.
Phantom shot Red out to Green.
"Ow… Bro, I think they found our weakness, ourselves," said Green.
"We have to destroy the lizard!" said Red.
The Armored Harriers ran full speed at Phantom. They would have hit him, but Danny, Vlad, and Dani took the hit.
"Phantom… finish them…" said Danny before the three of them fainted.
With determination in his eyes Phantom shot his tongue out and snagged Green. He then shot him at Red with all his might. Of course, this defeated them.
Nurse Toads came out and healed the fallen fighters.
"Does this mean we have to go back to the Minor Leagues?" asked Green.
"Inviso-Bill, you did it! That little guy really came through for you in the end! All of you selflessly sacrificed yourselves to protect him! And now you're headed to the Major Leagues!" shouted Grubba, "How do all of you feel?"
"I feel great!" said Danny.
"This is incredible!" said Vlad.
"I'm climbing back up with my friends!" said Dani.
"That was awesome! Too bad they were so weak," said Phantom.
"You saw it here folks! A new team has risen the ranks to the Major Leagues!" said Grubba.
In the halls Vlad and Dani confronted Danny and Phantom.
"Ok, what did you guys see?" asked Dani.
Danny and Phantom explained it to them.
"Grubba! That no good sneak!" said Vlad.
"We have to stop him!" said Dani.
"We have no idea what that machine of his can do, it could zap our strength away before we could do anything," said Danny.
"Or it could turn Grubba into some kind of invincible macho monster," said Phantom.
"We'll have to find out what we can about it before jumping headfirst," said Danny.
"I see, let's tell Mario and the others about this, then go on up the ranks," said Vlad.
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What will Danny and the others do about Grubba and his machine? Will they find anything, or die trying? Find out next time!
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