*checks skin. sees lack of green.* nope, not dead yet. oh well,i'd be aghost not a spirit. so uh, hi. yeah, hi. So, Here's the next chapter.i'm gonna just... this is a longsunday for the Phantom crew, it's still Sunday in here.
GOIN GHOST *cue theme music*
"Danny!" Elle's too high scream of horror tore through the FentonPhone and jerked Tucker out of his project. Halting his testing—which had gone pretty well considering all the charred junk around him - he bolted for FentonWorks and its portal, hoping to sneak past the Fentons and get into the Zone. Fate decided to toss him a nice speed bump. The familiar sound of jet engines descended upon the technogeek, who started running when he heard the click of a pair of shoulder mounted missile launchers rising into place.
"Why are you attacking me when Danny isn't even here?" Tucker could guess a few reasons but if he kept Skulker talking, he could find a good weak point in his armor again.
"Because, weak human," the self proclaimed greatest hunter shouted as he held up a red and black thermos with a grin on his face plate. "My target is you this time, not the ghost child. Of course, I'm simply dropping off a present for you." With a twist of the cap, he pointed the thermos toward Tucker and grinned as a dark green mist poured out and coalesced into a form that Tucker hadn't seen in months. One he had hoped to never see it again.
The monster had broad shoulders and was covered in muscles. Beefy arms ended in sharp claws that flexed experimentally with newfound freedom. Behind black rimmed glasses, a pair of red eyes blazed with pure hatred. It was his jealousy towards Danny's power, created by Desiree. "Remind me never to form another poltergeist." In response to this, Tucker Phantom roared.
"Enjoy," Skulker shouted cheerily as he flew off. A fist slammed into to the concrete where Tucker had just been. Tucker would have to blast that faceplate off after he disabled the armor again. Though that needed to wait.
Rolling to his feet, Tuck ran behind a fence and checked the white, metallic gauntlet on his arm. Thanks to his adjustments and the Fenton's research added to his own, it didn't feel like a lead brick. "Ok Tuck, what do we remember about this one? Mostly muscle, not all that focused on brains." Hearing a growl he rolled to a new spot of cover, thankful for all the garbage left in the junkyard since that made it easier to get out of sight and stay there. "Has yet to develop ectoblast capabilities, most likely a high powered class three." Flexing his arm, the teen grinned at the whining hum of a charging ectoblaster. "This should be a good field test."
Clockwork was an ancient being, older than most others in the whole of the spirit world. The only ones who were their elders were the Observant high council and their teacher Clockwise, the first Timekeeper to take up Clockwork's current position.
Of course, Clockwork knew, outside of the Spirit World there were many beings older than they, unfortunately. And even less fortunately, some of those beings had influence over the energies of Time as much as they did. Even if they noticed that something was wrong, they didn't know what exactly that was. And depending on how long it took them to understand, Time could fall to chaos.
Of course, other times it could be something incredibly inconsequential. They usually knew the difference. The difference between their teapot going missing, and an earthquake happening where it shouldn't have. A book out of place and a plague starting at a time when no one was prepared for it. They usually saw a large block in their time visions and it didn't go away until they went out and saw for themselves the damage these creatures had wrought. So this time?
When Clockwork noticed they were blind to parts of the current timeline, they looked around the Citadel and after critical inspection realized something.
The thermos was gone.
When demons interfered, Clockwork usually knew that all was not as it should be, and that they must interfere for the preservation of Time. When things were going fine, they knew everything was going just as it should be.
Right now Clockwork, for the first time in their life, did not know whether or not everything was as it should be.
Tucker was not as unathletic as his classmates thought. Another super-fast punch landed where he'd been a second ago, flattening his previous hiding space. He could run pretty fast, he had to dodge pretty well, but one thing he didn't have in spades was stamina. Which was why he wondered how his poltergeist had so much of it. Tucker was running out of places to take cover behind as he blasted the ectoplasmic mimicry with his experimental gauntlet. It was made to fit hands of his general size, and fired off a beam about as strong as the lipstick laser. "Why won't you go down?"
"Why won't you die?" The mimic growled out as he was struck in the face once again. Talons grazed his human counterpart's sleeve but he was jabbed in the gut in response. "You aren't supposed to be this good!"
"What, don't think I can manage without powers?" Tuck hoped he didn't sound half as offended as he was by that question. Another blast to the chest to push the poltergeist away and he was around a larger mound of garbage. "Never underestimate the TF, you'll get hurt." Letting out a quick huff of breath, Tucker went over what he knew about his own body. If this guy was as based off of him as Skulker was probably hoping - though the hunter was most likely thinking about how Tuck's jealousy would be able to find him not about physiostructural similarities - then Tucker should be able to deal with this green goon with the little remaining power in his gauntlet.
Rolling out from his cover again, once the poltergeist was turned away from him, the technogeek aimed a finger at the back of the copy's ear and fired off a blast, grinning at the cry of pain before blasting at the exact center of his chest with the palm of the gauntlet. "You're pathetic. I thought that you'd have gotten at least harder to fight than Danny was when you were formed."
The Poltergeist snarled and turned around to slash at his original with his talons, only to find his claws going through empty space. "I'm plenty harder to beat than that loser!" When Tucker moved to fire off a blast, the copy dodged it and surged toward the trash Tuck had been hiding behind. "Even he couldn't beat me back then!"
"Yeah, back then." Firing off a shot to the eyes to blind his envious opponent, the technogeek found some scrap metal to hide behind and cupped his hands so that his voice would carry. "Of course, I could have taken him down back then if I wanted, no powers needed." Grinning at the growl of frustration he heard right before another pile of trash got smashed, Tucker took aim at another pressure point in the back and swore when he missed. "Now Danny's the prince of the Ghost Zone and you're still stuck back in last year!" Rolling out of the way when the green monster charged at him, Tucker managed to grab onto his tail with the gauntlet and swing him into a trash mound. "I can't believe I let myself get as lame as you are."
"SHUT UP!" The poltergeist roared in outrage at what he was hearing and charged again, swinging blindly and snarling when he missed. "I AM BETTER THAN THAT ARROGANT, WORTHLESS, SMARTASS OF A FAILED GHOST HUNTER!" Tucker's punch knocked the wind out of the monster. He reeled back when something hot and metallic pressed against his throat, too late now to escape the iron grip.
"No, you're nothing more than a cheap imitation." Firing off the strongest blast he could without completely draining his gauntlet, Tucker smirked down at the unconscious heap of jealousy that fell from his hand. Pulling out his Fenton Thermos, he sucked the ghost in and pulled out his phone.
It had taken quite a bit of tweaking, but he had managed to copy the technology used in the Fenton's boo-merang and the ecto exodus alert system to detecta ghost's high ectoplasmic energy, instead of the residual background energy blanketing Amity. Nothing turned up though. "That's as bad as it could be good," Tuck muttered as he turned on his Fenton Phone, taking a shortcut back to his place. "Sam, watch your back."
A hiss that had nothing to do with static rang out in the FentonPhone, followed by Sam's sarcastic drawling of "You don't say?"
Danny woke up in a bed not his own, in clothes not the norm for his ghost form. Absently, he wondered why he hadn't reverted back to human upon passing out, but pushed the arbitrary thought away for the moment. Slowly opening his eyes, he stared at the purple ceiling for a moment and let his eyes adjust to the light. "Why does it feel like I got hit by a train?"
"Someone may have been trying to summon you onto a train." Looking over to the source of the voice, Danny saw his little sister giving him a small concerned smile. "I don't exactly know how the physics works with the whole summoning thing works. How ya doing?" Elle lay a faintly glowing hand on his head which was feeling quite a bit better, and she looked strained.
"Guilty, knowing my little sister put so much energy into healing me up that she looks like she hasn't had any sleep in a week." When she stopped, Danny slowly sat up and cracked a smile. "I'm glad you're eager to learn and use your healing abilities, but don't over exert yourself, Elle." A frown replaced smile quickly as he remembered the situation. "What all happened and how long have I been out?"
"The Ghostwriter managed to complete the ritual and Jazz checked as your parents tried another summoning," Elle grinned and sat on the bed next to him. "It worked. You're immune to being summoned by your parents."
Danny nodded, glad that whatever it was he had been seeing hadn't interfered with the ritual. Though he could tell by the look on Elle's face, that there was more to hear. "And?"
"Tucker was attacked by Skulker and a poltergeist he said was formed by Desiree and himself," she continued with clear confusion in her tone, brow raised in expectation of an explanation. "And Sam got attacked by a giant ghost snake. She decapitated it and then everyone demanded to know what happened to you. I'm also pretty curious, cause you seemed extremely out of it when GW started chanting."
The memory of the thing he had seen in his last vision before everything faded to black made him shudder. "I'll tell you when everyone's together, but for now I'd love to know how long I've been unconscious, because the avoidance really isn't helping."
Elle shrugged and counted off in her head, since she had been more concerned with making sure that Danny woke up at all than with what time it had been. "About, an hour. That's not normal for this, or so the book details." Reaching over to a nightstand next to the bed, the ghost girl handed her brother a bundle of black and white clothes. "Ghostwriter said that he would apologize about the jumpsuit but all the energy disintegrated it."
The halfa furrowed his brows at that, his next transformation would materialize his suit, but accepted the bundle regardless. "Uh, thanks for telling me, but can I get some privacy for this part?" Elle nodded with a splash of green painting her cheeks and left the room. Two minutes later, Danny found himself in black pants with a bright white belt, as well as a long sleeved black turtleneck that held his DP decal on the chest.
Walking out of the room, Danny raised a brow at Elle and spread out his arms. "How do I look?"
A slightly strained smile formed on Elle's face at the question and she snorted. "Like a cosplayer that couldn't afford a proper jumpsuit. And uh, Danny?" The elder halfa didn't like the way her voice got softer and higher, the way his did when he didn't want to point something out to someone.
"Yes, Elle? Is there something on my face?" Danny jokingly asked, but frowned when Elle's less than sincere smile fell. "Something went wrong?"
"Take off your glove. I know you already put everything on but there's something you probably didn't notice." There was worry clear in her voice and instead of making a joke, Danny tugged the glove off of his left hand and stared at it. "Ghostwriter said that it'd take a moment to realize what's different when we found out what happened." Nothing out of the ordinary, just his hand. As he was about to ask what the fuss was about he realized the problem.
The skin had the imprint of a circle on the palm and from that circle in all directions and up his wrist, was a lichtenberg scar. He had expected it the day he became a half ghost, as did his parents when they heard about the shock he had gotten from it. One doesn't get hit with that much electricity and not get such a marking. Being half ghost may have simply kept the scar from cropping up for as long as it took to get there. "Ok, well the scar is something I expected to have been there when I first went through the accident. A bit shocking but not exactly world changing. I'll just have Tuck help me with concealer."
"Danny, that…" Elle shook her head in confusion. How had he not noticed it by now? It was too obvious! "Your skin is blue."
"Yeah, so?" The prince tilted his head in confusion. "Isn't it always?" Truly, he had no idea what the problem was. So his skin was blue, spirits had a wide variety of skin tones, and blue wasn't all that uncommon. But then it hit him, a brickton of shock that had him staring at his hand. He was blue, like Him.
Danny woke up in a place he wasn't expecting at all. The floor was some beige carpet and the walls were orange with some newspaper clippings hung up along them. There was a bed, like his but bigger, for a taller person than him. The most noticeable part of the room was the kid standing in front of him with a victorious smirk on his face. "Didn't know you answered your summoning calls in your disguise, Phantom." Glancing down at his hand and the floor again, Danny could confirm that he was - somehow - still in human form. And he was in his summoning circle. Lovely.
"Uh, I have no idea what you're talking about, dude," Danny murmured as he rose to his feet, head swimming slightly. "I think that teleporter watch we were working on failed… crap, it's gone!" The halfa - he really hoped he was still a halfa, since he couldn't feel his ghost half - looked down at his wrist with wide eyes, covering his face with his other hand. "Oh man! Sam paid for all the equipment we needed to make that too, I can't pay for all of that without telling my parents."
"Cut the crap Phantom, I know it's you." The ginger growled out with a basketball under his arm. "Unlike everyone else in that stupid town of yours, I can plainly see the similarities between you and your disguise as Fenton."
"I don't know what disguise you're talkin about kid, but I have to get back home before my parents start worrying." When Danny walked over the chalk, he felt a slight tug on something inside of him that was definitely not his ghost core, but he was still able to walk past it and that was the immediate problem. Heading towards the door, he waved at the shocked basketball player. "Buh-bye."
"I have an offering for you though, Phantom." As the taller probably suspected, that did stop Danny in his tracks, the raven haired teen turning with a raised brow as his hand came to rest upon the doorknob. "A basketball that i've held onto for years, since i was a kid, in exchange for you telling me just how you're doing this whole disguise thing so that no one else figures it out, and why you're doing it."
Letting out a snort of laughter, Danny shook his head and opened the door to leave. "Dunno what you're on, kid, but the team won't like it when they find out. Should probably stop using it." And then he was down the stairs and racing out the door before he could be spotted by anyone else.
Once on the street, Danny took a few breaths and ran on his neck, blinking in surprise when he felt more hair back there than he was used to having. "Great, I have a tail in the back… actually, I was wondering why there wasn't one like a year ago, I haven't had a haircut for so long." He had figured that his ghost half had been doing something to his growth. The fact that it all grew in so suddenly probably meant that the ritual had gone more wrong than he thought at first.
Fishing his phone out of his pocket, Danny dialed Tucker, wondering where he was. The technogeek picked up on the third ring. "Danny? Why are you calling me on your cell instead of the Fen-"
"Tuck, breathe," it was something that Danny and his friends sometimes had to remind each other to do, and that was alarming when it was him. "Something must have happened during the ritual because I can't feel my core." There was a hint of panic in his voice, but the teen managed to mostly keep himself under control. "So, do you guys know where Phantom is?"
Tucker needed a moment to process all of that, before relaying what was said into his FentonPhone, then responding "Far as I know, he's still at GW's library with Elle and Frightknight. He's in a secure location, but where are you?" With the question came the realization that Danny had started walking without knowing where exactly he was going.
Stopping in his tracks, the halfa looked around and spotted a street sign that looked somewhat familiar. "Based on the street signs, i think i'm in Elmerton. If I can find Val's place, i can get home from there." Nodding in self affirmation, he pulled out the regular bluetooth that Tucker had insisted he have just in case and switched it on while he put in Valerie's address on his phone. "Anything else happen?"
"Sam just finished up dealing with a ghost snake before I could get there and Skulker sicced my poltergeist that we never wished away on me, but we're both relatively fine." The sound of a door opening caught Danny's attention, and he stopped when a car cut across the street. "I got to test a fun project out on it."
"Project?" Even as he parroted his friend, he knew the tech loving teen would rather show them than tell them over the phone what he had made. "Ok, so, you've got it in the thermos?" Turning a corner, Danny alternated between scanning the skies and checking his phone. An attack wasn't likely out here in Elmerton - most of the ghosts they found in Elmerton were peaceful and just hanging around to see their loved ones - but with Skulker setting loose less than peaceful ghosts on his friends, the youngest Fenton couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen. And he had no idea if he still had his ghost sense.
The dull sound of a hoverboard, recognizable from all the times he had encountered Valerie and all the times he and his parents had constructed hover engines in the lab, reverberated. Turning towards it, he saw the Red Huntress hovering only around five feet in the air, and it seemed like she was looking at him.
"Uh," he opened his mouth, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck, and waved. "Hello? You're the Red Hun-" but before he could finish his question, three familiar metal cubes appeared around her head and charged up a blast.
George had to admit, he was surprised. Normally, Rick would try to shake off the pain that came with losing a fight and walk around a bit before falling in bed and claiming he was simply tired. Admitting he was too sore to do so was new, and George made sure to be extra gentle when placing ice packs on his brother. "You really took a beating, huh?"
"Yeah," the brunette croaked out with a grimace. "Sam really knows what she's doing in a fight. I couldn't even dodge once." Hearing his bespectacled twin chuckle, Rick managed a glare. "Doesn't mean I can't kick your ass anyday of the week."
An amused brow rose as George smirked. "Oh? So, you can kick my ass right now? In bed? Bruised as hell?" His brother's glare intensified and George laughed. "You said any day, bro. That includes today."
"Fali sur asinam," Rick half grumbled under his breath, a look of concentration on his face. There was a strange tingle in the back of his skull, and as the feeling spread throughout the rest of his head he saw a flash of silvery white light. In the next moment, George was on his bum, on the floor, bewilderment clear in his expression. "Kick your ass any day of the week." The shock painting his brother's features was priceless, though in the moment Rick was a bit too tired to fully appreciate what he had just done.
"Did … did you just…" the bespectacled teen stared at his twin in slack jawed awe. Rick said something in what sounded something like a mix of latin and something else, and then he was thrown off the bed. Unless a ghost had found their way into the house and shoved him with perfectly coincidental timing, Rick's words had thrown him off the bed. "Did you just use magic?"
Rick blinked at his brother, thoughts pushing through the pulsing throb of pain radiating from the part of his jaw and side of his head where Sam had hit him and realization struck almost as hard as she did - though he wasn't sure if anything could actually hit him as hard as she did. "I just… used magic. Dude, i just used magic!" A quick move to sit up reminded him just why he hadn't been already, and he fell back down onto the soft sheets of his bed. "Ow!"
"Calm down man." George frowned and put another ice pack down on the other's temple, telekinetically. "Unless you have something to heal yourself up, don't move too much." The grin that stretched across Rick's bruised face had the younger twin rolling his eyes. "Are you sure you want to do that? You're exhausted and you've only just figured out that you can do that."
"And you boiled milk on the first day of having telekinesis, along with lifting every utensil within a ten foot radius, and the liquid itself," Rick countered with a snarky tone. "Now hush and let me concentrate." The bespectacled teen conceded his brother's point and nodded, backing up a bit and sitting in their wheely chair.
Taking as deep a breath as he could manage to without hurting himself, Rick closed his eyes and concentrated. He wasn't sure what he had felt before, but he knew that he wanted to feel it again. The boxer concentrated on the tingling feeling echoing through his mind.. It fled from his mental reach, and it took several tries. Eventually, however, he grasped it as tight as he could. I don't want to be stuck in bed for the next week. He thought angrily, figuring that if he thrust his desires upon the feeling he could make it work.. I have things I need to do, and i have to be able to walk without feeling pain. I want to tell Danny what I know about him, I want to be able to go to my next match and I need to be able to be there for him when George's weird powers screw him over! If I have magic, I need to use it.
At first, nothing seemed to happen. But as he … spoke, to the energy, Rick could feel it growing stronger. Then, the feeling spread over the whole of his mind like wild fire, as intense as an inferno but cold like ice water. The words jumped to the forefront of his mind and flowed from his mouth like water from a stream. "Obsecro, sinjoro Leuirath, da mihi virtutem curandi opus. Ĉu mi povas restarigi ilin."
George jumped in his chair as a light brighter than anything he'd seen, short of the sun, spread from his twin's forehead and over his whole body, wrapping around him like coils. The intense light burned his eyes, forcing the bespectacled twin to close them tightly and turned away. Yet the light burned like frost, it was cold, colder than the ice storm that snowed them in, three years ago right after christmas. The feeling of it sent shivers down his spine.
As quickly as the light had come, it vanished. In it's wake, Rick lay on the bed, only a few bruises left that either twin could see. Slowly, cautiously, Rick flexed his muscles and grinned to find that he was no more sore than he was after a hard win in a boxing match. Sitting up with a bit less caution brought a few pangs, but he could work through it.
Turning to his brother, Rick beamed and tackled George to the ground. "GEORGE I DID IT!" Laughing ecstatically, he got up and stretched. "Dude, I just healed myself after getting my butt handed to me on a silver platter, I'm feeling pretty awesome right now." Picking up the chair and his brother, the boxer bounced on his feet a bit.
"How… did you do that, and what words came out of your mouth?" To say George was dazed would be the understatement of the week. It's not everyday you see your brother get engulfed in light and healed by magic. "Did you just cast a healing spell? Did you learn that in those journals upstairs? How did you do that?" His voice grew higher and louder with his last question, mind racing for answers and discarding possibilities as quickly as he processed the thoughts. "Dude, this is amazing!' The bespectacled teen shouted as his brain got itself back together. "You can use magic! Do you know how awesome that is?"
"Bro, let us not forget that you are a telekinetic, hm?" Rick sat down on the bed and felt exhaustion wash over him like a wave at the beach when he was five. "I don't think I'll be doing that kind of thing again anytime soon, I feel like passing out and throwing up at the same time. Please, dim the lights."
"You are aware that the desk lamp stays on while I write up some notes, right?" Faithful brother or not, George had some writing to do. There was just too much information to trust himself with remembering unaided. At the nod he was given, George pushed up his glasses, returned to the chair, and pulled out his writing supplies telekinetically.
A pencil, a leather bound book with some completely blank pages still remaining, and his phone and headphones laid out on their shared desk and the lights were flicked off after an insisting whine from the bottom bunk. "I'm gonna levitate you back up into your bed when I go to sleep, so don't get too comfy in there." Ignoring the other flipping him off, George put in his headphones and turned on some upbeat guitar instrumental as he got to writing in his beloved journal - the first note being that it was apparently a family tradition for Pates to keep journals - both twins unaware of the dim, violet light pulsating from the dreamcatcher hanging over Rick's pillow. Neither saw when the light stopped.
show of hands, who predicted that some weird supernatural bullshit would be happening with Rick? who saw this coming?
also, yes, Danny is a genius as much as his family in this, but doesn't realize it cause he grew up in a house where building a machine that can defy gravity is literally child's play.
and uh... hate to say it but with all these blocks, i can't just keep you on a hook like this any longer. from this chapter until the next i post, The Summoning is on hiatus.
also, the first thing Rick said in a mix of latin and a phandom favorite language "Fall on your ass"
the second? that's a secret~
CrayonPencil: why thank you so very much my new friend! i hope that you've enjoyed all of this so far.
the6thSpectralKing: actually Bill was refering to you being the 6th king. he has also left my skull, or burrowed so deep there in that i can't hear him anymore and my fingers are mine again.
Phantom J Ryder: I'll be saving that answer for a while now.
EmeraldSeaGamer: apologies dear reviewer, i should check before posting more often. also yes, something went very wrong.
Kimera20; gracias
Guest: that it is, i like your thinking.
Great: i will spoil only in saying that no, that was not the Celestial Sea, but good guess there.
Mizar De Gleeful: well Mabes, it seems that something happened mid ritual that interfered wtih the spell, and now Danny is in a lot of trouble, but mabel juice might help him!
Savorix: ah. actually it was meant to be "little phantom." bt thank you!
TheHowlingBehemoth: i love the way you think but it's the last one and that's all i'll say~ (also, i apologise for not checking it out um. xotol thing is Bill's last words. go on youtube and type in 'Bill's last words" and you'll find it.)
Jim89: well, you make excellent points that prove i need to go back and watch all the episodes involving valerie over again. Ah yes, An-Ghostwriter is questioning Elle's past, but he's respecting her privacy so unless she decides to spill, he's not gonna find out. And Vydia guiding Elle to the book on Biomes was totally coincidental, because coincidence is a thing that exists in this show. I'm putting someone semi compitent in charge of the GIW instead of agents O and K. Vlad has created technology for skulker, perfected the Fentons' ectoskeleton and made clones who's ages were accelerated by a signifigantlyhigh and possilbly dangerous rate. probably the real reason that Elle and the others were unstable is because of the fact that he forced them to be older than they should have logicaly been. however, with all that genius, there's little to no chance that he was unable to create weapons that were set to ignore his ecto signature and thus be completely harmless to him if the GIW decided to go after his ghost form. Danny was in a rush, he doesn't know anything about the capabilities of GIW scanners and R&D team. and uh, i shall reveal what happened with the ritual later. probably. maybe. and yes, those government paid ghost murderers are up to something, but what?
LittleLadyBug2: aw. awwwww thank you! i shall!
FangedMe: I seem to have a greatly fangirling fan! no please continue, i am enjoying this. also, i did technically give you more danny. I'll see myself out now for my horrid puns
Mizar de gleeful: Danny of course. as the one writing out his timeline, i know exactly how he would treat me.
lexi1220: Nnnnnnope! but i like your logic!
OK SO, LIKE I SAID, THERE SHALL BE A HIATUS! HOWEVER, THAT'S JUST WITH THIS! IF ANYONE WANTS TO SUBMIT THEIR OWN THING THAT WOULD PERTAIN TO THIS STORY (not an idea, but a drabble, a one shot, so on) THEN CHECK OUT MY PROFILE WHERE I POST A LINK TO THE TUMBLR PAGE FOR THIS AU AND I SHALL FIGURE OUT MANAGING SUBMISSIONS AND THE LIKE ON THERE. I LOVE ALL YOU MY CHILDREN! LONG LIVE KING PHANTOM!