Chapter 13! I'm so excited to get this one out, let me know what you guys think! Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom. All right's go to Butch Hartman.
"This is stupid. I'm not the only one that thinks that, right?" Valerie looked around the small group - Sam, Tucker, Danielle, and herself -that was gathered down in the Fenton's lab.
"Trust me, I agree with you," Sam said, sighing, "but Danny won't let this go."
Danny just ignored them in favor of looking at the Infi-map for the millionth time that she had been there.
"So, let me get this straight: you want to just want to take, Sam, Tucker Danielle, and yourself, forgetting me by the way, and just go in there, fists blazing?"
He gave a mindless nod.
"Are you stupid!? Seriously, at least bring me and your parents. Jazz is coming home for winter break next week, you should wait for her too. You don't know this ghost; you don't know what you're up against."
"Exactly," His eyes snapped up to meet hers. "We don't know what we're up against. I'm not sending any more people into this than I have to. I'm already on edge about bringing her." He pointed towards Danielle who was on the computer playing Doom, lost to the world around her.
"Then why are you bringing her?"
"Because knowing her, she'd follow after us, no matter what we'd do."
He had a point. That girl was determined when she wants to be. Sighing, she continued, "So what do you want me to do? I'm assuming there's a reason I'm here if I'm not coming with you."
"I want you to distract my parents. Just keep them busy, I don't care how."
"Fine, but if you get caught, it's on your head, not mine."
Danielle had never been one for the Ghost Zone. She never knew why, but the looming green swirl abyss always freaked her out. The only place she was becoming comfortable with was the Far Frozen.
However, Danny insisted on not having any help. This mission was far too dangerous for anyone beyond those absolute necessary to go. Even though she personally thought it wasn't the best plan, he was her dad. He knew what he was doing, right?
Right?
"Just to recap," Danny said. "Valerie, you stay and distract my family while Sam, Danielle, Tucker and I infiltrate this kidnapping ghost's layer and rescue all of the missing ghosts. Are we ready?"
Valerie looked unimpressed with Danny's plan but the rest of the group went along.
"Well, here we go," Danny said, just a tinge of nervousness in his voice.
Upon entering the ghost zone, everything seemed empty. Usually, there was some sort of strange floating objects a ghost might have dropped on their way back to home, but this, this was the trued definition of the word 'void'. Void of love, kindness, and from what the four of the felt, void of hope. This for sure was different, this felt like the more evil version of deep space.
Danny looked around the Specter Speeder to see his friends more scared than usual. Whatever was going on, it didn't feel right. Taking a deep breath Danny opened the Infi-map.
"Take us to the Mansion!"
Instantly they arrived, the silence in the air cut them all like a dull rusty knife, making everyone feel unclean.
"I don't like this" Danielle said under her breath. In front of them was a large wooden gate riddled with decay and moss.
The group stepped out of the speeder and advanced inward. Opening the gate, spores flew from the gate, invading their lungs for a brief moment. Coughing furiously, the group did their best to regain normal breathing. When they finally did, they were rewarded with the silhouette of the largest mansion they had ever seen. Lighting struck an old tree on the side of the path, exploding it entirely and briefly illuminating the mansion. What they saw in that moment was a decrepit old building with pieces of the structure missing in almost every other place.
This building was old and time had not treated it well. The mansion itself seemed off, more than just the way it looked. The light from the lightning barely illuminated anything. It was as if the light had little effect on the materials this place was built out of. Stepping forward on the stone path felt wrong... it was as if Danny's body no longer felt grounded in reality. Was he going insane? The others felt it too but for now, they followed Danny in hope that this would soon be over. Passing the remains of the exploded tree, they saw a purple flame illuminate the tree's resting place. Making it to the front door, Danny was about to phase through it when the only gust of wind they had felt since they had arrived burst the door open like a piece of paper in a hurricane.
They looked through the door. The inside was dark and empty.
Stepping into the main hallway, the air was stale and musty. Rot and decay filled every inch of this place.
"This feels wrong. I really think we should leave while we can." Tucker remarked.
Danny tried to raise morale. "We have made it this far you guys we should at least keep going a little further." Looking forward, the group saw a large staircase leading to the next story.
They walked up the steps to the next level, which somehow was even worse than the one before.
"Whelp! What're you doing here?" They all turned to find Skulker standing there. When their eyes locked onto the hunter, they froze. His...body armor was worn, with barely any nuts or bolts to hold it together. The free blazing mane that was typically on his head was merely sparks now. He looked beaten and broken. It was very clear that the hunter had become the hunted.
"I could ask you the same thing." Danny said, smirking beside himself.
"He wanted me to be his 'right-hand man,' When he really wanted to control me, Skulker doesn't do control."
Rolling his eyes, Danny continued, "How can I know you're not lying to us to keep us away from your new master?"
"You fool! I have been here for a month trying to escape and I'm one of the lucky ones! The UGA has been here for almost half a year trying to get any info. The only thing they did get was a place on their new master's dusty shelf."
"Ha!" Tucker yelled, "I knew the president was hiding something!"
"Yeah that's great Tuck," Danny remarked, "He was hiding that not only does he have no control over this but he lost literally everyone he has ever sent in. I'm starting to realize that you all were right in not wanting to stay here. Perhaps we should look for that exit."
"Ha! Whelp! That's what I have been trying to tell you. No matter how little you are away from the main entrance it will always elude you...no matter how long you search. The rooms, this hallway, haven't you noticed something off, young halfas?"
Danny and Danielle looked at their surroundings to see paintings and vases littering the hallway.
"You fools! The paintings, it's the paintings!" Skulker shouted.
Danny and Danielle flew closer to the painting closer to them only to see something truly horrific. Inside of the painting were faded images of Danny and Danielle lost in the hallways of this mansion.
"What the hell!" Danny yelled."It's a painting of us, or at least it's starting to look like us. Explain Skulker! Explain!"
"You see, the problem with the ghost zone is you never truly know what a simple object is and who is a fellow ghost. The reason you saw yourselves in those paintings is that the mansion now knows of your presence. It knows what you look like and now that it knows it will never let you leave."
Danny thought that Skulker had to have been lying so he flew back the way he came as fast as he could, but when he reached the end of the hallway, instead of seeing the staircase he saw in the distance the group he just left all standing in the exact same places they were moments ago. Danny returned to the group only to have Skulker look at him with a grim smile.
"See ghost boy, I tell you the truth!"
"I guess Skulker right," Danny conceded. "I guess we also have no other choice but to move forward."
Skulker looked concerned. "I may not like it, but it's better than being alone for another month and a half."
With that, the group moved forward, the only light they had coming from the glowing of plasma from Skulker and the two young halfas.
Finally, after hours of walking they reached the main entrance and saw the door they first entered in closed shut. It may not have been a victory seeing as they weren't able to find nor rescue any ghost, but at least they could go back to Fenton Works and get the reinforcements they now clearly needed.
Walking towards the door, Danny gave out a slight chuckle. "See Skulker, what takes you a month takes us mere hours. Some hunter you are."
Skulker shrugged it off.
"I care not at this point what you think of me. I am just grateful that you four have granted me my freedom. Isn't that right...Master!?"
The doors they assumed to be the main entrance opened up to reveal even more darkness. Within that darkness shot out hundreds of black tendrils, wrapping themselves around everyone in the group.
Meanwhile Skulker walked freely into the dark room with pride in each footstep. :"Here they are for you, my Master. The only thing missing is the silver platter underneath them. I held up my half of the bargain, now you do yours."
A loud gravelly laugh filled the dark spacious room.
"Thank you, my child, I shall give you the reward you so desperately desire."
On that note, more dark tendrils rose from the ground and surrounded Skulker's being, encasing him in pure darkness. Skulker screamed in pain as the darkness reached his face, consuming him entirely. The tendrils then retracted back into the ground, leaving Skulker's figure encased perfectly in black amber solid as a rock.
Tangled in a sea of darkness, Danny saw the room light up as all the torches in the room ignited in purple flames. The room illuminated to reveal the largest dining table they had ever seen. At the head of it was a black and gold throne, twice the size of the other chairs around the table.
"Now that the unpleasantries are done with I can finally talk to you, my dear. Please, take a seat." Upon hearing the command, the tendrils surrounding each person dragged their bodies to chairs close to the dark throne.
"What is it that you want with us? Who are you?" Danny yelled.
A shadow covered young Danny's mouth and then the mouths of both Sam and Tucker.
"Shh, quiet now children. I will give you this however... my name is Shadow Master.
"How original," Danny managed before the shadow completely covered his mouth.
"I am not interested in the opinion of lessers. Now Danielle, you, on the other hand, may speak to me."
"What do you want from me?" The air surrounding Danielle was sour as though invisible eyes looked at her with an unfriendly smile.
"My dear, I simply wish to offer you a choice. Now, I have been watching you for quite some time. In fact, I have known you ever since you crawled out of the ooze and into that harsh reality that kicked you around for so long. I offer you a better life by my side. You are unique, something special, something worth my effort. With you, I have a chance at finally converting others into my kind and you would be the queen of an all-new breed of people."
"I have a life, my family, my father; they have done so much for me. You cannot tell me that you can offer better."
"But my dear I can, soon they will show what failures they are. I have seen it. All the times they came so close to harming the ones they love. My darling, it's only a matter of time before they hurt you too. And then where would you wind up...? I know: back in the loving arms of Daddy Vlad."
Emitting a ghostly wail that broke the grip of the shadow around him, Danny yelled:
"He is not her father!"
Shadows swirled around every corner of the room ready to pounce. Right before he was able to blast every last shadow that was in his view, something in Danny's pocket began to shake and feel cold to the touch. He reached into his pocket and pulls out the Infi-map that was completely ice cold. The map shook violently out of Danny's hand and landed on the ground fully unraveled. They all heard a large growl coming from the map. Suddenly a bright light flash came from the map, and from that light two glowing green orbs flew into the room. Danielle blinked to see the green orbs transform into the giant wolf she saw not so long ago. Riding that wolf was the ever joyful Frostbite waving around a gigantic frozen axe. Dancing around the room, Frostbite and the wolf joined Danny in severing the black tendrils to free their friends.
"Quickly!" Frostbite yelled, "Everybody, grab my hand! We must leave!" Sam grabbed Tucker and Tucker, Danielle. Danny still airborne swooped down to help connect the chain of people. He reached Sam and with his free hand grabbed Frostbite. "Good, now everyone make for the Infi-map! We still have..."
Frostbite was interrupted by the bloodcurdling scream of Danielle. Looking back everyone could see black claws deeply dug into Danielle's right shoulder. "He's holding me back. I can't move. Just go without me!" Danielle pleaded.
"Like hell any of us are leaving you behind!" Danny, using all of his might emitted another ghostly wail.
"Ah!" Danielle screamed in pain once again. Free of his grip, the group flew into the Infi-map. The map disappeared and the gigantic room returned to darkness once more.
Instantaneously the group arrived at the Far Frozen, the Infi-map arriving moments later. Everyone took a moment to catch their breath but when Sam looked at Danielle she saw her shaking uncontrollably.
"Get us a blanket quickly!" Sam yelled. She moves closer to Danielle hugging her for just a moment before Dani squirmed in pain. Sam withdrew her arms to see them covered in hot red liquid. Sam turned Danielle around to see four deep claw marks, each bleeding a fair amount.
"Medic! We need a medic!"
Almost instantly Frostbite returned with two other ghosts. Using their combined power they tried healing her wounds. It worked but the marks remained as bright pink scars. Frostbite and the medical ghosts walk over to Sam and Danny. "She is in stable condition but you will have to watch over her for a while. The scars I am afraid are permanent. She will be ok but at this moment I believe she is still in shock."
"Thank you Frostbite," Sam said. "Tucker can you please go to Danielle, I need to talk to Danny alone."
"Sam I'm sorry," Danny said downcast, rubbing the back of his head. "I didn't know what we were..."
Without warning, Danny's cheek was on fire. Looking up, he saw Sam rubbing her now sore hand.
"That is our daughter Danny! Our daughter and you just threw everyone we love, including her into a situation we had no control over. So you're damn right you're sorry."
The travel home was quick but quiet. Upon reentering the Fenton portal, they saw Valerie, Jack, and Maddie with arms crossed waiting for their return.
Upon seeing Danielle hunched over, Jack ran over and picked up Dani as carefully as he could. The room was silent for a time until Danielle broke down in tears. Sam, Maddie, and Valerie joined Jack and Danielle for a group hug while Danny watched silently in the corner pondering on the day's events and how he was responsible.
He was the reason his own daughter was hurt.
A/N: So there it is! Thanks again to my wonderful beta reader silente faery! Until next time!