We all slept in our living room that night, on the floor. We were too frightened to be alone.
But despite our fears, the next day merely brought more ghosts to fight. Vlad did come up to our suites midday, but only to deliver upgraded watches. After studying these new watches for a bit, Theo concluded that they were very similar to our old ones in design… but it seemed that each of them now had a tracking device embedded inside.
Vlad started locking our suite doors behind us, too. Any hope of escaping evaporated.
Our ghost-hunting schedule increased ridiculously; we were out far too early in the morning and way late into the night tracking down the miniscule ghosts that Phantom normally took care of.
I finally could genuinely appreciate how much the half-ghost hero of Amity Park really gave to us.
But now the ghost boy was gone, probably for good.
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It was a little past noon, and I was in my room, listening to music at full volume. My eyes were closed as the bass shook the room.
At first, I didn't even realize it when Derek burst into my room, tears in his eyes.
"Violet! Violet!" He screamed. Hearing him, I looked up, catching sight of my distressed friend. I turned off the music and rushed toward him.
"What is it? What's wrong?" I pleaded.
Derek took my hand and brought me into the living room, where Theo sat in front of the TV, watching the screen, expressionless.
"A giant asteroid," Theo explained in his disturbingly-calm manner. "It's going to crash into Earth. They say we have one week."
"One… week?" I repeated. "One week until we're all dead?"
"If nothing is done, then yes," Theo said.
"If nothing is done?There isn't anything to do, Theo!" Derek cried. "It's a giant asteroid! We're all going to die!"
"Weren't we already?" Theo asked, smiling faintly.
And it was true. We already knew our days were numbered; we were working for a half-ghost super villain, after all.
"But everybody is going to die," I said softly. "Not just us. Everybody."
I sunk down to the floor, sitting down, burying my head in my hands.
"I hate this," Derek said, his voice wavering. "All this time, we've been working for Plasmius to stay alive, and now we're all going to die anyway?"
"I know," Theo said, sighing. "It's… not ideal."
"Somebody's going to stop this," I protested. "It can't end like this!"
"I hope you're right, Violet," Theo said.
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The next couple of days passed slowly as we prepared for our deaths. We spent the mornings and afternoons sitting in the living room watching the news and talking quietly. Wishing things were different. At night, we slept side-by-side on the living room floor. More often than not, we would spend hours laying awake before finally falling asleep. Then somebody would have a nightmare, waking the rest of us up with their thrashing and screaming.
We didn't fight any ghosts for those few days. In fact, there didn't seem to be any ghosts in Amity Park at all. I figured the ghosts had sensed the oncoming threat and were now in hiding in the Ghost Zone.
After a few days, Vlad came up to our rooms.
"I take it you've heard the news about the Disasteroid?" he asked in greeting. We nodded.
"Well, I'm funding a private mission to stop the asteroid," Vlad said. "I'm going to need all of your help."
"There have been tons of missions to destroy the asteroid," Derek spat. "What makes yours any different?"
"Mine is being led by the Fentons," Vlad said, smiling. "And, of course, you three, who will be joining Mr. Fenton in a rocket that will be headed out deep into space to rid of the Disasteroid."
"I… what?" I asked. I was confused. I'd assumed Vlad hated the Fentons. Why was he teaming up with them?
Desperate times call for desperate measures, I mused.
"Now, hear me out, children," Vlad said. "I've been thinking about it, and I've realized… I have no more use for you three."
"So you're killing us?" Theo asked.
"No, no. I'm simply saying that it might be time to let you all free," Vlad said.
"What?" I asked, shaking my head, confused.
"If you three succeed in destroying that asteroid," Vlad said, a hint of a smile on his face. "I will let all three of you free. You don't have to hunt ghosts any more, you can do whatever you'd like. As long as you keep your mouth shut about my secret."
"And… what if we don't succeed?" I asked.
"Well, then it won't even matter!" Vlad said, laughing. "You'll all be dead anyway!"
I glanced over at Derek and Theo, who nodded. We'd do it. We'd destroy that asteroid.
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Jack Fenton didn't seem to have any hard feelings about how we'd arrested him the last time we'd seen him, at least judging by the way he chatted with us as we headed into space. The further we got into space, the more nervous I grew. But we had to maintain our cocky alter-egos; Vid, Thrash, and Download did not get scared.
Finally, after hours of flying, we spotted the asteroid.
"Readying seismic drill charges," Jack Fenton cried. "And… fire!"
Tiny drills shot out of the rocket, burrowing their way into the glowing green asteroid in front of us.
"Detonation in three… two… one!" Danny Fenton's voice cried from over the speakers, and then a flash of blinding red light engulfed us. We hid our faces in our sleeves.
Finally, the light dimmed, and we heard cheers from the speakers. We looked up and saw the asteroid was gone.
We did it! We'd destroyed the Disasteroid! We're free!
I high-fived Download, grinning broadly, cheering along with the rest of our team.
"I knew we could do it!" Jack Fenton cried. "There isn't a rock anywhere that could outsmart Jack Fenton!"
Suddenly, Mr. Fenton gasped, and we all looked up to see us passing another glowing green rock. A bigger rock.
"That's the Disasteroid," Derek realized. "You had us blow up the wrong one— you idiot!"
"But I… I couldn't have!" Mr. Fenton said. "Vladdie punched in the asteroid's coordinates for me!"
We were all blinded by fury, I think. I don't know how else to explain our actions. We were so certain that we'd done it, that we had our freedom, that our lives were safe… and then, once again, we were in danger.
Derek and I threw ourselves at Mr. Fenton.
Luckily, Theo was level-headed as ever. A moment later, we were pulled away from the older man, struggling as Theo held us both around our waists.
"It's not his fault, guys!" Theo said, his arms locked around our waists, rendering us immobile. "Mr. Fenton, did you say Vlad punched in the coordinates for you?"
"Yeah," Mr. Fenton said from the ground. I glanced at the man, suddenly guilty as I saw the black eye that was appearing on the older man's face. "He put them in before we left."
"Oh," I said softly, ducking my head down. Guilty.
Because Vlad had never planned to give us our freedom. He'd sabotaged this mission on purpose. Just to piss us off, and to ruin Jack Fenton's credibility.
Theo let us go, and I walked over to where Mr. Fenton lay, holding out my hand to him. He took my arm and I pulled him up.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Fenton," I apologized. Derek nodded from behind me in agreement.
"It's fine," Mr. Fenton sighed. "I get it. That was our last hope… and we blew it."
"Let's just get back to Earth," Derek said. We turned the ship around, heading back to our home planet.
Jack went to use the bathroom. It was only then that we heard the voices.
The speakers that were used to communicate with our team back in Amity Park hadn't been turned off… Vlad either didn't realize this, or he didn't care.
I waved my hand at Theo and Derek, motioning them to be quiet. Eventually, they got the message and quieted, listening with me.
"…at least he tried, Vlad! What have you done except send other to do your dirty work?" Danny Fenton cried.
"And where are you, Danny Phantom?" Vlad responded. "Looks like my plan to shame you into hiding was even more effective than I could've hoped!"
I glanced over at Theo and Derek.
"We were right," I said simply.
Another voice buzzed over the speakers and we were silenced again. This was the voice of the news anchor that we'd been listening to for the past few days.
"I'm just getting word that scientists now know that the Disasteroid originated from the rings of Saturn two weeks ago!" the news lady said.
"Saturn?" Danny Fenton's voice said. "Your satellite exploded! That's what moved the asteroid! You're the one that caused this catastrophe!"
All three of us gasped. Plasmius was responsible for the Disasteroid?
We quieted once more when we heard Danny Fenton cry out over the speakers. I hoped that Vlad wasn't hurting him.
"Defeating you was just the first act of my little show," Vlad said. "Get ready for act two!"
We heard Danny Fenton's scream, followed by a loud crash and an evil laugh.
"No, no, no… is he all right?" I murmured, my hands tangled in my hair as I closed my eyes and prayed for Danny Fenton…
But then I heard an anguished moan, and I knew he was alive, if not a little banged up.
Derek, Theo, and I all sighed in relief.
Danny was okay. Good. But what the hell was Vlad planning?
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Hi everybody!
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-Emmyrad
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