Phantom Dreamland
By Prenn
. One of the things you reader shall enjoy from DLH is all the fancy gadgets! And a huuuge thanx to Nosilla for giving me the motorcycle idea!
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Chapter 4 Unlikely Allies
A whisp of red hair. A green glow from outside. The smell of burnt coffee. The clicking of a keyboard.
Taylor opened her eyes. She was lying on a mattress. A cheap one. In somebody's bedroom. The wall paint was faded blue. Ivan was lying beside her, a helmet on his head. Taylor felt her own head. She didn't have a helmet. Thank God.
She slowly inched her way across the wooded floor. There was a vanity set just a few feet away. Taylor's heart pulsed. She felt her hair. What was once golden blond had been transformed into raven black…that and her eyes were glowing blue. Midnight blue. Suddenly her soft face boiled hot and she began to panic. The person she should have seen in her reflection was no longer there.
And then she remembered the situation. Why had she remembered a flash of red hair?
Taylor put up her fists. There was a hushed conversation happening just a few meters away from this bedroom. Taylor slowly opened the door. Nobody was there. The floorboards of the hallway creaked. A chilly breeze blew in from a fan that was placed in another room.
The voice was getting louder. Taylor had entered the main room. There was a flash of orange as someone moved past. Taylor crouched up against the wall. "Taylor? Is that you?"
She stepped out of hiding. "Aunt Jazz!" She hugged her thin, red-haired aunt. "I was so afraid! What happened? How'd you find me? How are you even awake?"
Jazz Fenton took a good look at her young niece. "You're a lucky girl, Taylor. I nabbed you and Ivan just as the sleepwalkers were booting the scene."
"Sleepwalkers? I'm so lost, Aunt Jazz."
"Those big globs of ghost you were trying to fight off. They're the ones who are responsible for everyone in those helmets. They're Nocturn's minions. They do his bidding. And he's the one who's responsible for this disaster."
"I take it you've encountered him before."
"Once or twice." Jazz half-smiled. "Now I have a question for you."
"Shoot." Taylor and her aunt sat down on the large, boisterous floral print sofa.
"Why didn't you ever tell anybody you were half ghost?" She asked in a gentle, matter-of-fact tone.
Casey Baxter scanned the streets for any sign of activity—human or spectral. Preferably human. His body was scorching hot from wearing the black outfit.
Somebody was tailing close behind him. She was invisible, though, at the moment. She had her eye on him for a while now. But she still needed one little tidbit of confirmation to prove he was trustable. So she whispered in his ear. "What are you doing?"
The voice was fluid, almost like that of a ghost. It echoed through the empty streets. "Whoa? Who's that?" He aimed his bow in all directions, hands quivering and teeth chattering. "Someone there? I've got grenades! And a bow!"
A thin, average-looking ghost of a girl appeared just a few feet away. She was giggling. Her skin was pale, and she had wavy green hair and glowing green eyes. "You're a bit tense, huh?"
"Who are you?" Casey gathered his strength and readied an arrow.
"A friend. A friend you can trust. My name's Karmen." She said calmly.
"How do I know I can trust you?" He asked through clenched teeth.
She shrugged. "I'm a friend of Taylor's. You know her, right?"
Casey put on his best poker face. Taylor…Casey was momentarily distracted, but snapped right out of it.
"Anyways, I'm the only other person around here who's awake." Karmen stated coolly.
"Yeah. I can see. Why's that?"
"I'm a ghost. I had been living with my parents in the ghost zone for several months now, until I heard the news about Nocturn invading your world again."
"Nocturn? Again? You mean this has happened before?"
"Yes. Only, Danny Phantom was there to stop it. But by now the whole state of Colorado's asleep. So it'd be of little use now. You may as well give up and help me gather all we can to take refuge in the ghost zone."
"Wait wait wait a minute here. You're telling me to just give up and retreat to the ghost zone?"
"Pretty much yeah."
"Well, that is NOT going to happen."
"Great!" Karmen smiled broadly. "Then you'll want to come with me."
"What?"
"I was testing you. To see if you'd just give up. But you proved to me that you're not. And I want you to help me."
Casey got that queasy feeling in his stomach. "…Oh."
"Come on. Follow me."
Casey followed the ghost girl to a black, silver and green motorcycle. She got on and expected him to sit behind her. "Aw, no. I'm not a motorcycle guy." He shook his head. Karmen pulled him by the shirt and threw him onto the back seat. "Gosh, what did I get myself into?" Casey muttered under his breath.
Karmen revved the engine loudly. "Hang on tight. You ready?"
Casey wrapped his arms around the slim girl. One last roar of the engine signaled their departure. And not a departure into the street, but into the sky. Karmen's motorcycle could fly. It was as if she could read his mind as she laughed out, "All ghost motorcycles can fly, with the proper energy source of course. And my father makes sure of that. He manufactures and disperses them widely throughout the ghost zone."
"How great for you." Casey said sarcastically. "Where are you taking us anyway?"
"Around town. There's gotta be some more living, breathing people around here." Karmen gasped as they flew overtop a building. "Did you see that?"
"Those…"
"Those are sleepwalkers! They're the freaks who put everyone to sleep!" Karmen tried to excelllerate in speed. "And now they're on our tail!" She started pressing controls, one of which spawned a thin green ecto-shield around the motorcycle.
"Whew!"
"It won't hold us for long. It's not nearly as strong as a real ghosts' shield." The ghastly pair of sleepwalkers began to fire on them. Karmen tried her hardest to throw them off her tail, but they were gaining speed. "I'm going to have to open fire."
"What?!" Casey gasped, panicked.
"Yes. And to do that, I must take down the shield. Sooo… brace yourself."
Casey obeyed. And at the same time the shield went down, he launched two grenades. One missed and hit the window of a building and the other managed to hit the sleepwalker's arm. And then he regenerated. Casey groaned. Karmen launched a pair of booster rockets from the motorcycle. Both were hits, but the sleepwalkers were still able to regenerate. "What do we do now?" Asked an exasperated Casey.
"We go into the ghost zone. They won't dare venture in there."
"Allright."
So they entered through Jack and Maddie Fenton's old ghost portal, since Karmen said it was closer than the portal in the warehouse. And the sleepwalkers remained behind, just as Karmen had predicted. "Well that's a relief."
"What do you suppose we do now?"
"We go to the Team Phantom base of course. Someone's always there operating it." Karmen insisted.
The base was not far from the portal. But it looked closed. Jasper, a blue-skinned red-eyed ghost in a long purple cloak was guarding the base. "Jasper! Let us inside! Please! It's an emergency."
Jasper shook his head gravely.
Casey frowned, "Jasper, please!"
"Your father's looking for you, Karmen. He just drove by about a half-hour ago." Jasper stated.
"We need your help, Jasper, the fate of the world is at stake!" Karmen parked the motorcycle. "It's a matter of life or death."
"Several matters actually." Casey added.
Jasper rolled his eyes. "That's what they all say." He said softly.
"What would Clockwork do?" Karmen pulled Jasper's hood away from his face so that she could see both of his eyes. "Bury his stubborn head in the sand like you?"
Jasper sighed, barely affected at all by her words. "I'm only doing what I've been told. Clockwork gave me careful instructions not to leave this island, and not to let anybody in who isn't a member of Team Phantom."
"So, is anybody even in there?" Karmen prodded, trying to slip behind him. "Anybody who would want to talk to us?"
Jasper quickly blocked her. "No and no."
"Well there must be something we can do." Casey frowned at the ghost teens.
"Aha!" Karmen put her hand on Casey's shoulders. "You can get past him!"
"What?"
"In the ghost zone, you humans can pass through stuff. If you want to." Karmen shoved him close to the gate of entrance. Jasper raised a keen eyebrow. "Well, don't just stand there, kid! Get on with it!"
Casey rolled his eyes. He concentrated hard. It was difficult for a logic-bound boy to allow his imagination to process the possibility that he could, in fact, walk through solid objects and come out unharmed on the other side. It took several minutes, but he did it. He was on the other side of that gate. He didn't even pause for one moment.
He just marched on, carrying his bow at the ready of course. There was nobody outside. Casey was nearing the clearing of the front door. He rang the bell and tapped the door a few times. No answer. All was in silence, until Jasper and Karmen came through the gate.
"There isn't anybody inside!" Karmen shouted to Casey. Casey turned to see both ghosts flying up to him. "Jazz Fenton is at her house right now."
Casey turned to Jasper, knowing that he was the only way Karmen could have learned this. "Thanks." He said.
"Don't expect it again." Jasper was already regretting it, but he had a change of heart. He pitied them, as they pitied him.
"Do you know where to find this Jazz?" Casey asked Karmen.
"Of course I do." She gave him a playful nudge as they mounted the motorcycle. "I want to be a Team Phantom member one day."
"You'll make a great addition, I'm sure."
"Thanks…really, I appreciate it." Karmen smiled.
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Sooo Karmen's BACK! What did you think? ^.^ R&R as always!
