It was so hard for me to write the last chapter because I wanted to get to this part. News for everyone, I'm now a member of Deviant Art. Someone already took the name livinglife so my name there is DannyArtist. Check it out sometime. I've illustrated this story and Swimming In The Time Stream. Here's where we last left Danny and Sam.
I took it and pulled back the feelings that caused the power. My hand glowed blue and the hair tie vanished without a trace. I let the glow fade and then felt where it was. Nothing was in my hand. Sam gasped in surprise and then looked up at the sky and screamed. "Danny there's something flying towards us! I think it's that Skulker ghost!"
Anger rushed through me and my fists lit up into an almost blue white light. No one hurts my friends while I'm around. Now I could prove it.
Like Sam had said, Skulker was indeed flying towards us. The glow in my hands faded. Skulker wasn't expecting much of a fight, so the element of surprise would be mine, and with only one power that I could barely control I needed all of the help I could get.
He landed in front of us and I just barely managed to keep my hands from glowing as anger spread through me. "I thought that you were an honorable ghost Skulker. What made you decide to come back for us?"
Skulker's eyes glared at me angrily and I returned the stare. "Foolish ghost child, can you not find a loophole in what your friend said? I am not allowed to harm you, that doesn't mean that Doom can't." I put my hands behind my back because I knew that they were starting to glow. Vlad had died in vain because of the ghost standing before me.
"So you've come to kidnap a defenseless human. Real awe inspiring Skulker." Skulker was almost exploding with anger.
"Enough talk. Doom has more authority over me than a mere mortal. I will miss the challenge of the hunt though. Not that a weakling like you could ever last a second against my power." He came closer and a net shot from his palm.
I extended my blinding blue fists and the net vanished when it touched my outstretched fingers. Skulker's eyes widened in shock and before he could react I sprang forward and placed my hands on his armor. At first nothing happened, but then Skulker shrieked like a girl and tried to pull my hands off of his chest.
As soon as his fingers touched mine his hand vanished. He tried vainly with his other arm to push me away but I simply grabbed his hand with mine and felt it vanish underneath my touch. Finally he had enough good sense to turn intangible but to both his surprise and mine I was still able to vaporize his ectosuit.
Then he launched off the ground. I clung on desperately as we soared higher, fifty feet, seventy feet, one hundred, My hands kept burning away the metal and I kept grabbing other handholds that simply faded under my grip. I couldn't stop the anger flowing through me, and therefore I couldn't stop the blue glow that was slowly causing me to fall.
Skulker yelled at me as he tried to shake me off. "Let go whelp before you hit me!" he was panicking as his armor fell apart leaving almost nothing more except for the small section where I knew Skulker's ghost form was.
He was flying too high. Air was incredibly thin and I was gasping for breath. Soon I wouldn't be able to breathe at all and my head would explode from lack of atmosphere. I had always wanted to be an astronaut, just not like this.
My hands met in midair as I the handholds I had on Skulker's armor vanished, and for the second time today I was falling from an impossibly high height. The world rushed past and I felt blood rushing to my head as the ground drew closer. I couldn't scream because the air rushed back into my mouth.
As I plummeted I felt a cold feeling rush through me and realized that I wasn't falling quite so fast. Then I slowed down just enough so that smashing head first into the ground wouldn't kill me. I skidded across the grass and felt blood trickle down from my cut face.
I moaned and rolled over. Sam was sprinting towards me and suddenly stopped and screamed. I looked down at my bloody hands and saw that there was another color besides red. White.
Somehow out of shear desperation I had managed to change into my ghost form. I tried shakily to stand but my body ached and I collapsed just as two rings changed me back into my human form. Sam looked reluctant but walked over to me.
"Danny? Why was your hair white a second ago?" I sighed and pushed my aching form off of the ground.
"I'm part ghost Sam." It was strange how I so easily told her my biggest secret in the world. It was almost like I lacked fear or something…
Sam turned pale. "So you're not only a different Danny from the one I knew, your also half dead?" I nodded and looked around for Skulker just in case he had a backup suit or something. Sam noticed that I wasn't focusing on her and said, "Are you even listening to me Daniel James Masters!"
My concentration was broken and I stared back at her. "First off, yes, I am listening to you, and second, my last name is Fenton, not Masters." Even though I considered this world's Vlad as my dad, the mention of his last name reminded me of how evil Vlad always wanted me for a son.
Sam looked confused. "Would you be related to that billionaire Jack Fenton guy who died a few days ago from a ghost attack?" Her words sunk in and I tried not to let guilt show on my face as I remembered that I was the one who killed Jack and let him fuse with Pariah.
"Uh, sort of." I answered her because it was sort of true. I was related to Jack Fenton, just not the evil one.
"Wow, are you rich?" Sam was staring at me like I first stared at Sam when I found out that she was the great granddaughter of the guy who made the machine that spun cellophane around deli toothpicks.
I answered truthfully this time. "No. Can we stop with the questions? I need to figure out how to save Vlad." Skulker had broken his word, even though he pretended that he didn't, so that meant that Vlad didn't have to worry about Skulker hunting us down if Vlad broke his word.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a small green blob sneaking up on us. I grabbed Skulker and he gave me a dirty look. "Put me down whelp, for I am Skulker, the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter."
I rolled my eyes and said, "I've heard that before Skulker, can't you come up with any new material?" Skulker scowled at me and struggled against my grip. Why didn't he just turn intangible? Then I saw that my hand was flickering slightly and the blue light must have been causing him to remain in my hand.
"Answer some of my questions Skulker and I might let you go." I tried to make my voice as menacing as possible.
"And why would I answer your questions ghost child? You are not the boss of me." My hand glowed brighter and Skulker screamed. "Alright I get your point."
"Okay first, is Vlad okay?" Skulker thought about it for a moment and then said,
"For now child, for now."
I struggled to keep my anger low and not vaporize Skulker. "How did you know that I was going to be in Clockwork's castle when you caught me?"
Now Skulker looked confused. "He told me something strange, like, "The child will be in the castle because his sense of direction will be in my control." But the only person who could do that was Pariah Dark and all ghosts know that he's locked in the sarcophagus of forever sleep."
I considered telling him that Doom was part of Pariah Dark but kept my mouth shut anyway. "What is Doom planning?" I asked.
"If I told you that ghost child I would have to know myself. All I know is that it revolves around a creepy time belt that's taken control over some poor sap…" Could he not recognize that the sap looked like me? Not that I was complaining that he didn't recognize my other half or whatever it was.
I was so lost in thought that I didn't notice that I was being pulled into the ground until Sam screamed, "Danny, Your being pulled into the ground!" I looked down and saw that most of my legs and my hands were already underground. I tried to pull myself out but the pressure of the earth was too much.
Then I fell like a stone through the earth. It surrounded my body and once again I held on to Skulker for dear life. If I let go than I would be buried alive. More layers of rock than I could count sailed past, and it made me feel as if I was in Earth Science all over again.
I sailed past rock for what seemed like an hour and when I was just about to give up and let go we entered a huge cavern. Skulker had a tight grip on my arm and didn't turn tangible. Then I remembered that my teacher had told me that the pressure near the center of the earth would be enough to kill a human.
Something else was bugging me about the huge cave. Shouldn't it be pitch black in here? I noticed the green portal in the center of the room and felt my blood freeze. Ember and a few other ghosts flew out of the portal and lifted me off the ground. I struggled and kicked but they overpowered me and before you could say 'Going Ghost' I was in the Ghost Zone.
I stared around and saw Vlad in a net next to a tall glowing figure. The figure's skin had a sickly black color and glowing streaks… suddenly I realized why Skulker hadn't recognized that the person who had been controlled by the time belt looked like me. He didn't look like me anymore.
His smile widened and his eyes glowed an eerie orange red. I looked away in disgust and then glared up at Doom. His black eyes stared down at me as if searching for something. Anger flooded through me and I made sure that my hands weren't touching anything.
"Good to see that you could join us Danny. I can tell by looking at you that you recognize me and that's a good sign for the time belt controlled part of you." I turned and glared at, well, myself, and for a second he seemed genuinely sorry. Then pain filled his eyes and he went back to smirking wickedly.
His metallic voice oozed like tar out of his mouth. "Now it's time for a sacrifice."