It had been a day since they left Jubilife City making their way through a forest to Oreburgh City to get their second badge. As they walked under the protective branches of the forest, Danny couldn't drop the worried feeling he had since they last talked to Sunda. "Hey Danny, what's wrong?" Darkrai asked feeling the worry coming from the Halfa's side of the link.
"Nothing," Danny told him trying to hide how he was feeling and forgetting about the link he had with the Dark-Type.
"Are you sure? Because it seems as if you are trying to slip away from the question," Darkrai asked a bit amused at how the Ghost Boy was trying to hide how he was feeling.
"Really, nothing is bugging me," Danny insisted trying to get out of the question being use to hiding how he was feeling most of the time to not worry anyone.
"You do realize that it's no use hiding it from me right?" Darkrai asked him knowingly.
"I'm telling you the truth, nothing bugging me," the Halfa tells him really wanting to drop the subject.
"Don't even try that with me," Darkrai tells him with a small glare, "Even though I'm doing my best not to invade your mind, I will do so just to find out what's bugging you."
Danny just blinked a few times trying to figure out what the Dark-Type meant, then it hit him, causing him to sigh in defeat knowing that he was not going to get out of this, "Fine, you win this time. I'm just worried that the scientists that synced our minds together may be trying to find us to bring us back to continue their experiments."
"You're worried about that?" Darkrai asked a bit in disbelief, "I'm sure that they have given up on us by now."
"I'm not so sure about that," the Halfa told him sternly, "With past experience with a group back home called the Guys in White, they are not going to give up so easily. I have a feeling that they will not stop looking for us until they get what they want or until something or someone stops them."
"What makes you say that?"
"Because when the Guys in White first started going after my ghost half thinking I was bad, they didn't stop trying to catch me even when I proved to be a hero in many people's eyes. They still continued trying to catch me even after I saved the world from being destroyed, but it's becoming lesser and lesser each mouth."
"Um...Now that I think about, I guess you're right," Darkrai agreed after thinking about it for a few seconds, "I don't know what I was thinking. Of course they will be wanting us after Looker deleted all their info on how to do it."
"Hey, at least it was hopeful thinking," Danny pointed out knowing exactly how the Nightmare Pokemon was feeling.
"Hey, isn't that a Darkrai?" a voice asked.
"Yeah, I think it is," another voice confirmed.
"What is he doing traveling with a human boy?"
"Wait, didn't you hear the rumors?"
"What rumors?"
"They have been going on for about a week now. Where have you been all this time?"
"Sleeping..."
"Really?"
"Yup..."
"Ok...Well, there are tons of rumors going around about a Darkrai traveling with a human boy."
"Really?"
"Yeah. There is one that says that a Darkrai was captured by a group of humans called scientists for some kind of experiment and the human boy rescued him. So now the Darkrai is traveling with the human boy to repay him for his help."
"Wow!"
"I know. But there is also another one that says that they both were captured but managed to escape working together. Now they are traveling around watching each other's backs."
"Are there anymore?"
"Yeah. There's another saying that the human boy who is traveling with the Darkrai is able to understand us Pokemon."
"So you are saying that that boy down there may be able to clearly hear what we are saying right now?"
"Yup."
"That's so cool! And you don't hear a human being able to understand us every day."
"I know. But there is another one that is a bit freaky and is too unbelievable that it may not even be true."
"How so?"
"Well the rumor is, is that the human boy may not even be human, well not completely human. Some say that they witness him being able to transform into something else that allows him to fly and do other inhuman stuff."
"What kind of inhuman stuff?"
"Some say they saw him being able to shoot these green energy beams, create ice and go through solid objects."
"They sound a bit like something a ghost would be able to do. Is he a ghost of some sort that we haven't heard of before?"
"I'm not sure. No one really knows."
"So is he dangerous?"
"Maybe. But knowing if he's good or bad is the main question."
"That I can understand. I would hate having him come after one of us."
"It sounds like they are making me out as some kind of dangerous person," Danny sighed at hearing the wild Pokemon conversation.
"Well aren't you?" Darkrai jokingly asked.
"...Maybe..." Danny answered not wanting to confess that his powers or himself was dangerous.
"What makes you so unsure?" the Dark-Type asked.
"I'm not unsure about it," the Halfa states defending himself, "I can be dangerous...but only if I want to be." He then looked up to the sky and saw the setting sun, "It's getting late, I think we should stop here and set up camp for the night."
"Good idea. I'll go get the firewood and you can set up your camping gear," the Dark-Type agreed and then took off to find some wood as Danny started setting things up for the night.
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Later that night when everyone was starting to settle down for a good night rest, a certain blue mist escaped a certain Halfa's mouth causing him set up and groan as he looked around for the one who decided to disturb his well-deserved rest. Hearing the groan and the sudden movement, Luna lifted her head from her spot beside Darkrai under a tree to where she heard the disturbance, "Danny...is everything ok?"
"Maybe, but not for long," Danny answered fully awake now as he took in their surroundings.
"How..so?" the Lunar Pokemon asked half asleep.
"My Ghost Sense just went off signaling that a ghost is nearby," the Ghost Boy explained as he got up to take a look around.
"Are you sure you're not just sensing yourself?" Darkrai joked.
"Yes, I'm sure," the Halfa deadpanned, "I'm just hoping that the one who caused it to go off isn't one of my enemies from back home that somehow made it here and is just a Ghost-Type Pokemon." He then turned his gazed in a random direction that he felt he should look in, "I'm going to take a look over there. I'll be right back," then he took off.
"Do you think he will be ok?" Luna asked her brother as she watched the boy disappear off into the woods.
"I'm sure he will be fine," the Dark-Type assured her as he got into a more comfortable position, "I'm sure that if he needed help, he would have told us."
"I just hope you're right,' the Psychic-Type said as she looked up to the sky with the feeling that she won't be getting any sleep until Danny gets back.
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Danny made his way through the trees as he kept his guard up for any surprise attacks that may happen. He may be in a different world, but that didn't change the fact that something may happen knowing his luck. Just then a ghost like creature appeared before him out of nowhere crying out, "Boo! Fear me!"
Danny jumped back a bit in surprise expecting to see a certain annoying box loving ghost before him, but all he saw was a small red ghost with a white skull shape mask with a red orb for its eye or eyes trying to look scary. Seeing that it wasn't who he was expecting, the Ghost Boy let out a sigh of relief that he didn't realize he was holding, "So you were the one that I sense? Well, at least you're not someone I sadly know."
"Wait...You're not scared of me?" the ghost like Pokemon asked shocked. When he first saw the kid, he was expecting to easily scare the life out of him since he looked like an easy target. Was he losing his touch?
"Nope," the Halfa simply answered with, if he was someone else, sure he may have been scared.
"Not even a little bit?" the ghost asked hopefully not even noticing the fact that the boy could understand him.
"You mostly surprised me then scared me," Danny confessed as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Darn it, you seemed like an easy target as well," the ghost grumbled in disappointment.
"You will be needing to do something more than appearing out of nowhere to scare me. This appearing out of thin air is something normal for me" the Ghost Boy told him with a small chuckle, "Now if you excuse me, I have to get back to my friends," he then turned around and headed back to camp.
The ghost watched the boy leave with a determined look, "If I didn't scare you this time, then I will get you next time. Let the Scare Game of the Night begin."
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Hearing someone enter their campsite, Darkrai creaked opened one of his eyes and saw Danny, "So did you find the ghost that caused your Ghost Sense to go off?"
"Yeah, it was some kind of Ghost Pokemon," the Halfa answered with a yawn as he slipped into his sleeping bag, "It tried to scare me by appearing out of nowhere, but it kind of failed on his end."
"Which Ghost Pokemon?" Luna asked as she laid back down knowing that Danny was back safely.
"I forgot to check," Danny confessed ready to fall asleep at any given moment, "But it was a ghost with a white skull shape mask and a red orb for its eye or eyes?"
"Sounds like you had a run in with a Duskull," Darkrai stats when he heard the description of it, "And by the sounds of it, you may want to watch your back. From what I heard, they enjoy scaring people especially little kids. So since it failed in scaring you, it may be back to try again."
"I'm sure I'll be fine..." Danny sleepily mumbled as he fell fast asleep.
Seeing that the Ghost Boy fell asleep without a care, the Dark-Type couldn't help but shake his head and soon fell asleep himself.
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Throughout the night, Danny found himself being woken up at the most random times by his Ghost Sense going off but finding nothing out of the ordinary each time. The one who was disturbing the young hero's sleep was the same Duskull from before trying to scare the Halfa. But so far, each time the Requiem Pokémon tried to scare the half ghost, said half ghost would end up waking up before the Ghost-Type was ready and would hide again until the boy was fast asleep. Knowing that it was almost sun raised, the Ghost-Type knew he had to hurry if he wanted to give the boy a scare. Without missing a beat and not caring if the boy woke up before he was ready, Duskull rushed over to position himself above the boy's face ready to scare him. As he floated there waiting for the boy to wake, he noticed a strange blue mist leave the kid's mouth.
With the feeling that he usually got when his Ghost Sense went off, Danny inwardly groaned as he opened his eyes spotting the same Duskull as before floating right in his face. Not expecting the Pokemon to be there, without even thinking, Danny quickly blasted the Duskull with an ectoblast sending him backwards into a tree. Hearing the ectoblast being shot and something hitting a tree hard, both Luna and Darkrai jumped into the air fully awake. Darkrai quickly turned his attention to the Halfa, "What just happened?"
"I think I just blasted the Duskull from before," Danny sleepily confessed not very sure how he should react it.
Duskull stuck to the tree in a dazed from the powerful blast and from the collision with the tree, "What just happened?" He then shook his head to shake himself out of it and then everything came back to him as he stared at the boy in shock, "How did you do that?" He then quickly flew up to Danny and started looking him over, "Where did that blast come from? Did you have another Pokemon hiding somewhere?"
Danny just stared at the Pokemon unsure how to explain it. Should he tell him that he was the one who shot it? Maybe he should, even though he been trying to keep his ghost powers a secret in this world. But with the rumors going around with the Pokemon, it was kind of useless to keep them a secret at the moment. Plus, what were the chances of another human being able to understand Pokemon or a Pokemon being able to speak the human language? "I was actually the one who shot it. Sorry about that though. You shouldn't be floating in someone's face when they wake up because you may give them a heart attack or end up getting hurt yourself, just like now."
"Wait...Did you just say you fired that attack?" the Ghost-Type asked unsure if he was hearing things.
"Um yeah," the Halfa answered sure that he just finished saying that.
"Really? Because you don't look special," Dusksull comments as he circles Danny again as he looks the boy over.
"Hey!" the Halfa cried out offended by the comment. Sure he may not look like someone with amazing ghost powers, but that didn't mean anything. He learned this lesson long ago from Sam and Paulina.
"I didn't mean anything bad about it," Duskull stats trying to defend himself as he backed away a bit hearing the edge in the boy's voice. "But I do feel a faint energy coming off of you that ghosts usually give off which is strange."
"That is because I'm half ghost," Danny informed him.
"Yeah right. A human being half ghost? That's something to think about," Duskull laughed as he thought about it, "I heard rumors of a human that is believed to be something like a ghost, but we all know that is impossible right?"
Hearing this, Danny couldn't help but smirk and snicker, "Then I hope you are ready to be amazed."
"What makes you sa-" the Ghost-Type started to say but stop mid-sentence when he watched a ring of white energy appear out of nowhere and started traveling across the boy. He watched as the rings finished traveling across the boy and disappeared leaving the boy looking a bit different and the ghost energy coming off of him became even stronger. "So you mean that-that you are act-actually a-a-"
"A half ghost? A Halfa? Yes. Yes, I am," Danny interrupted smirking knowingly.
"But-But-But-" unable to comprehend what had just happened, Duskull fainted on the spot.
Actting quickly before the fainted Pokemon could hit the ground, Danny caught the Ghost-Type in his arms. "Is he going to be ok?" Luna asked as she watched Danny lay Duskull in his sleeping bag.
"Yeah, he will fine in a bit," Danny assured them as he stood back up.
"So what do we do now?" Darkrai asked not used to being in this type of situation.
"We wait for him to wake up," Danny answered casually as if he was used to this. He then flew up into the tree that Darkrai and Luna were sleeping under and landed on one of the thicker branches before changing back to human.
Up in the tree, Danny looked up at the stars through the leaves as he wondered how his parents, Jazz, Tucker and Sam were doing back home. Were they all ok? Were they doing fine without him? How was Amity Park doing without him protecting them from the ghost attacks? Were they having problems with the ghost attacks? Those were the questions that were going through his head keeping him awake and wasn't sure how he was able to fell asleep that night.
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The next morning was when Dusksull finally woke up from his shock. As he floated off the ground still a bit out of it as he tried to recall what happened the other day and why he was out in the sunlight. After a bit, yesterday's events came rushing back to him causing him to start looking around in a panic for the Ghost Boy. He didn't have to look hard, for the Ghost Child wasn't that far away tending to some food over the campfire. "Ah-" the Ghost-Type started to ask but stopped when he didn't remember ever catching the boy's name.
"It's Danny," the Halfa tells him not taking his eyes off the food he was cooking.
"Um, everything that happened last night, was it real?" Duskull asked just to make sure he wasn't imagining things.
"Yup," Danny answered with a small nod, "And you took it much better than I thought you would."
"So how did you become this, ah-ah-" the Requiem Pokémon started to ask but wasn't sure how to approach it.
"A Halfa? It's happened in a lab accident a few years back," Danny simplified, "Word of advice, never put an 'On' button inside of a portal."
"Ok..." Duskull replied unsure why he would be needing to remember something like that.
"Hey Duskull, I have a question that I hope you will be able to answer," Danny said catching the Requiem Pokémon's attention, "Is there any portals around here that led to the Ghost Zone?"
"The Ghost Zone?" Duskull asked confused on not hearing a place like that before, but it did sound a bit like a place he knew of.
"Yeah, the portals have different shades of swirling green and black and the Ghost Zone is another dimension that is green and black with floating purple doors and floating land masses that different kinds of ghosts live in," Danny explained as he took the food off the fire.
"I don't think I ever heard of a place like that," Duskull told him finding no harm in telling someone that was half ghost, "But there is a place called the Spirit World or the Ghost World were Ghost-Type Pokemon and ghosts of people and Pokemon live. Portals there are quite rare to find though, but I don't think it's the place you are looking for."
"How so?" the Halfa asked, it sounded a bit like the Ghost Zone to him, besides ghosts of Pokemon and Ghost-Types.
"The Ghost or Spirit World is a place that is different shades of purple, reds and blacks and doesn't have any floating purple doors."
"That's a bummer," Danny sighed in disappointment, "There goes my main option of getting home."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing you need to worry about," Danny quickly told him and then placed some of the freshly made food in front of Duskull, "Here, you must be hungry."
"Um yeah, thanks," Duskull thanked not expecting such kindness from someone he was just trying to scare.
"No problem," the Halfa said as he passed out the other's food out, "And just a heads up, make sure you keep it away from these two if you know what's good for it."
"Hey! You're one to talk," Darkrai retorts smirking.
"Then you haven't met my friend Tucker, he could eat someone out of house and home if he wanted to," Danny jokingly says.
"I wonder how he will do in an eating contest with a Lickytong or with a Likyliky," the Dark-Type commented.
"Or better yet, against a Munchlax or a Snorlax," Luna playfully added in.
"They are all Pokemon with big appetites," Darkrai told Danny mentally.
"Thanks for the heads up," the Halfa said mentally, then out loud said, "Now that would be interesting to see."
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After a while, everyone had finished eating and started packing everything up. Once everything was packed, Danny and the gang continued on their way as Duskull stayed behind in the forest. "I wonder if we will ever meet up with that Duskull again," Danny says as they made their way further into the forest.
"I'm sure that we will knowing how our luck been so far," Darkrai told him.
Unknown to them, the Duskull was wondering if he will meet up with the gang again as well.
Well, here we are, chapter 11 of Phantom Nightmare! I hope that you all enjoyed another quick chapter! As you can tell, I decided to stick with addressing Phantom(Darkrai) as Darkrai unless Danny is talking to him. By what I wrote for chapter 12, I have a feeling that the next chapter is going to be a long one which may take a few days to type. Well, Danny finally had his first accounter with a Ghost-Type Pokemon and somehow manage to cause it to faint just by turning into a ghost himself. I wonder if that happens every day, what do you guys think? Oh! What did you think of the encounter? Also, will they meet up with the Duskull again? Only time will tell and only Clockwork will know. I also wanted to let you guys know that Danny is going to be getting a new team member in the next chapter. Who is it going to be? You just have to wait and find out.
Until next time, Flare, over and out!