Ok, I know I'm going to have a hard time writing this one, but I've got to get to it sooner or later. Well the battle is going to start, and we get to see more of what's going on with Daniel, so lets get on with it already! I'm not sure how long this will be but I'll do my best.
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Skulker had not spoken to anyone since the incident with Dan's agent impersonating his son, nor had anyone tried to speak with him, they knew that he had nothing to say to them. In fact for a twelve hour period no one had seen him at all, not even Ember. When he had finally shown himself again, barely anyone recognized him.
He had apparently been making some heavy modifications to his suit. Now he appeared to be something out of hardcore sci-fi film, with a helmet that covered his hair and face, massive guns strapped to each of his forearms, and an increased height of about two feet, making him nearly ten feet tall. So now he looked like a ghostly combination of a storm trooper, Master Chief, and every other generic space marine from the video game world.
If Danny were to fly around the human world as he was now, people wouldn't believe it was him. His hair was slightly longer, and his face unshaven, so he had light fuzz on his chin. On his shoulders and arms he wore armor plates that had been designed to channel his ectoplasmic energy to create a protective barrier around his skin.
The resistances leaders were not the only ones who had gotten a pre-battle makeover. Sam appeared to be some kind of flora goddess (Danny thinks so at least), with her hair now halfway down her back and plants of all kind covering her slender body, she was half beautiful, all deadly. Ember had strapped portable amplifiers to her belts, and golden record throwing stars strapped to her hips.
The armies had assembled quickly, and now floated together in a huge mass directly outside of the resistance base. Even after two years of ghost fighting, never once had Danny seen so many different ghosts gathered in a single place. Not even when he had gathered ghosts to power the transfer device to turn the world intangible had there been so many.
Now Danny floated next to Skulker at the front of the army, the custom sword Technus had crafted for him held lightly in his right hand. There was a light hissing noise as Skulker remotely lifted his heavy visor from his face.
"Are you ready, ghost child?" he asked darkly, clearly eager to get into battle. Slowly, Danny nodded.
"Just give me one more minute". He gestured to the frontline, where Sam floated beside Ember. She quickly flew to his side. Like they had done so many times before, they stood their awkwardly, eyes on the ground in front of them.
"So…" Danny said scratching the back of his head.
"Yeah…" Sam continued for him.
"I guess this is it" Danny said quietly. "After today, well I'm not sure".
"You're not?" Sam asked him. Danny looked at her oddly, she smiled.
"You need to stop being so dramatic, you're acting like you might not come back." Danny opened his mouth to interrupt, but Sam continued on.
"Yeah, this is the worst situation we've ever been in, but so what? You'll pull through just like you always do."
"But what if I don't?" Danny asked almost pleadingly. "I know you believe in me, and it makes me happy that you do, but what if this is it? What if I fail and leave you and everyone else to clean up from my mistake?"
"Because you're the hero Danny, you fight even when there isn't any hope left and every time it's looked like it's the end you've always turned things around". Danny opened his mouth but no words found him. He looked down.
"I love you". This was all he'd really wanted to say, a final farewell before they charged into battle. He felt Sam's soft but strong fingers lift his chin up, and saw her beautiful violet eyes stare into his.
"I love you too. Now let's go finish this so we can get on with our lives. I'm looking forward to being 'Mrs. Fenton'". Danny couldn't help but grin, and nodded in agreement.
'Yeah, let's go kick some demonic ass". Their lips met, and both would have been happy to simply stay like that forever. But considering who was with them that would be impossible.
"Hey lovebirds! Save it for the after party!" Dani called to them, laughing herself silly in midair. Danny and Sam exchanged a look.
"Remind me to get back at her for that later" Danny whispered to his girlfriend. She nodded, they could beat her up later, they needed her for the battle though.
"Ok!" Skulker bellowed to the crowd, silencing the chattering at once.
"If you're all expecting some kind epic speech out of the movies, sorry to disappoint you. We don't really have an elaborate plan either. We can't flank them, the gates into hell aren't wide enough. So just get in and blast whatever you can see, kill them all." He gestured over his shoulder at Danny. "We'll be taking care of Dan. No let's move out!"
The crowd cheered as they began to fly as one, beginning the long journey to the gates of hell.
"For Daniel?" Skulker asked Danny in a hushed tone. Danny nodded, determination clear in her eyes.
"For Daniel".
The army flew through the endless expanse of the ghost zone, passing entrances to dozens of different ghosts lairs, most of which were empty, as nearly every ghost in the zone was part of the attack force. Danny allowed Vlad to lead the way, as he had thoroughly explored the realm over the years. He'd never been this deep in the zone, seeing as he usually tried to avoid coming in here if he could.
The atmosphere began considerably darker as they continued the streaks of green that littered the space around them slowly fading into nothing but black. The floating rocks and objects also lessened, the zone becoming more and more of an empty void, making it easier for the army continue onward.
After what seemed like hours of slow and steady flight, the gates came into sight for the first time. There appeared to be no doors to the gates, just a large rift like opening suspended in midair by an invisible force. Flames seemed to pour from it, tongues consuming anything that got close. There was however a border around the opening, large skeletal hands that seemed to be ripping the gateway open, and holding it open at the same time.
"Well," Danny said awkwardly as he turned to his comrades, who were staring aghast at the flaming portal. "Who's first?"
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Daniel's fingers fidgeted nervously on the steering wheel of the family van as he drove to the organic market. Sam had sent him out for party supplies, and they didn't usually fly everywhere, it drew too much attention. He had been doing his best to hide his emotions from his family members, but they had quickly seen that he was acting odd.
But he simply couldn't think straight, let alone convincingly act like himself. Was this some elaborate illusion put forth by Dan? If it was why had nothing happened yet, why hadn't Dan swept in to take the happiness that the few hours he'd spent in this world had brought him? It wasn't like the devil to allow his enemy any happiness, especially this enemy who he seemed to get off on tormenting.
What bothered him the most was that his memory was becoming fuzzy. He couldn't discern between what had happened and what was happening now. Had all of that really happened? Was it just some horrific nightmare of incredibly terrifying detail? He just couldn't decide whether or not he was being manipulated by Dan, or simply going insane. Both?
He pulled into the parking lot and made his way into the store. After twenty years of his identity being public, he was used to people turning their heads to look at him as he walked by, or calling out to him with thanks or praise. He ignored several calls of 'Hey Mr. Phantom!' and quickly began his shopping.
After piling a shopping cart full of organic flower, non-dairy milk and tofu squares (the whole family's vegetarian), he paid and left the store as fast as he could. When he arrived home he was immediately greeted by his children, who had been asleep when he left.
"Morning Dad" Jack mumbled sleepily as he came to hug his father.
"Mornin' Daddy" his little girl said as she kissed him on the cheek.
"Morning Dad" David said, seeming much more awake than the other two, as he was the early riser of the family.
"Good morning kids" Daniel said with a smile, doing all he could muster to not simply break down right then and there, to sob and hold onto his children for as long as he could. He really was going mad, wasn't he?
"Better get in here and eat before the guests arrive" he said as he lead the trio into the large marble kitchen. "Especially you, birthday boy" he said giving his white haired son a playful wink. Jacks tired looking eyes instantly brightened.
"Oh yeah, I gotta call Tyler, be right back." Light blue rings formed around his waist and his hair turned jet black, and his violet eyes became green. He jumped into the air and phased through the ceiling into his bedroom.
"We've got to ghost proof the walls" Sam said as she filled David and Lily's bowls with oatmeal. "Otherwise his body will be useless if he just flies everywhere".
"But walking is boring!"Lily put in loudly. He mother gave her a look. "What? It's not like you walked everywhere when you were first able to fly".
"No" Sam agreed with her daughter. "But I'd been walking for sixteen years before then so being able to fly was a little nerve wracking". She smiled at Daniel as she sat down between her children. "Your father hated flying at first, it scared him half to death when he first accidentally launched himself a hundred feet in the air."
Daniel couldn't help but smile at the memory of his first flight, even if right now he didn't know if any of the was real.
"When did I fly for the first time mom?" Lily asked Sam curiously.
"When you were a baby" she answered. "You kept floating out of your crib, and when we tied you to it you shot it off with an ecto beam." The family laughed, this kind of thing was normal for them. Daniel gave a genuine smile. He didn't care if this was real or not. That of course, was a mistake.
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Needless to say, no one jumped at the offer to be the first to purposefully fling themselves across the devils doorstep. But luckily for them, they didn't need to decide who would go first anymore. A great noise that sounded like the cawing of some sick and twisted bird echoed across the emptiness. They all peered around to see creatures numbered in the thousands, pouring out of the rift.
The demons were of every size and shape imaginable, ranging from the size of mice, to the size of dragons that would take up an entire football stadium by themselves. Many appeared to be animals, seemingly covered in dark crusty blood and with black leathery wings on their shoulders. Others looked humanoid, like demonic angels with horns the length of katanas and vampire fangs dripping with unknown fluid. They flew at the ghostly army like a blackish red cloud of energy, ready to rip each and every one of them to shreds.
The ghosts prepared for battle quickly, wasting no time with battle cries or quirky catchphrases. (as disappointing as that may be) Danny drew his sword and began to channel his power through it like electricity through a lightning rod. Behind him Ember could be heard powering up her amplifiers, and Sam had produced masses of thorn covered vines from her forearms and lower back.
There was a loud mechanical whirring as Skulkers weapons powered up, rocket launchers folding out of his shoulder plates, the chain guns on his forearms spinning as they activated, and two smaller guns emerging from his shin plates. Vlad had a sword of his own, a old style fencing sword, which glowed purple as he prepared for battle. Dani's arms were covered in flames as she literally heated herself up for the fight, her eyes burning brightly with both ectoplasm and fire.
And then, they were upon them. The demons attacked with the ferocity of wolves, tearing mercilessly at anything they could reach, friend or foe. The ghostly army had let loose a wave of energy large enough to knock out the first wave of opponents, but that was only the beginning. Within seconds, Danny was slashing wildly in all directions, periodically freezing several demons at a time.
Skulker was a walking (floating) tank, and fought with more bloodlust that Danny had ever seen him. His chain guns ripped the smaller demons apart like tissue paper, and black blood covered his face plate. It seemed for a while that the ghosts were winning, loosing virtually none of their forces. But that was before they realized just how many demons there were.
If you were to look at the ghost army from a distance, you would see a single large green cloud, speckled here and there with other colors such as purple and blue. But if you looked at the army of hell from a distance, you'd see a mass of red and black clouds that would fill the sky and eclipse the same from its size alone.
Danny suddenly felt himself being flung out of the way as a dragon came crashing through the frontlines, eager to get at the weaker ghosts behind them. He charged through the air and attempted to stab the dragon, but his blade vibrated violently as it bounced off the rough scaly armor that covered it's skin.
"I got it!" Skulker yelled as he rocketed onto the dragons back, straight over Danny's shoulder. Danny returned to the fight, cutting down demon after demon, but he peered back over his shoulder and watched what the ghost zones best hunter would do. Skulker ran up the dragons back, directly onto it's head.
It shook itself hard, trying to get the armored foe off, to no avail. The hunter grabbed a rocket from the launcher atop his shoulder and ripped it off. He shoved it into the dragons mouth just as it was about to unleash a huge spurt of flames. The beast exploded in a mass of blood and gooey cartilage, covering Skulker from head to toe.
"What are you looking at?! He bellowed to the onlookers who had stopped to watch. "Fight!"
Ok, this took a lot longer than I wanted it to and it isn't as long as I wanted it to be either, but at least I got the battle of the ground. I've got about five papers for school, so I haven't had any time lately, but I promise that the next one will come sooner and I'll do my best to make it a little bit lengthier. Although even if the chapters are shorter than I want, I'm still going to make this one hell of a fight, so stay tuned!