"Bad news? What do you mean bad news?" Tucker panicked. "Don't tell me these are the guards you were talking about?"
"Nah, these are just Walker's lackeys." All in sync, the circle of ghosts around us pulled out their weapons and covered themselves with shields. Tucker jumped up, and grabbed me by my suit.
"What do you mean, just lackeys?" I removed his hand, and turned my attention back to the group at the other side of the circle. In front Walker and Skulker, and behind them Ember, Johnny, Kitty, Technus and Prince Aragon.
"Escaping from prison, destruction of state property, violence, theft. All crimes you committed," Walker started, aimed at me. "And all against the rules." He shut his little book - which was definitely just for show, that guy had every one of his rules burned in his memory - and while he put it away, next to him Skulker let a green line come out of his arm, catching and reeling in the Box Ghost with it. When he was close enough, he lifted the screaming blue ghost up by his collar and pulled a little beeping machine out of his hat.
"You should've known I never let my prey go. Imagine my surprise when I could get two pelts for the price of one!"
I held out my arm in front of Tucker in a protecting stance, in case Skulker decided on another one of those surprise attacks. "So you gathered everyone here that hates me. What, thought you couldn't handle me alone? That's cute, but I unfortunately don't have time to play with you now."
"Good, 'cause we didn't come to fool around, punk," Johnny butted in, walking forward until he was standing next to Skulker, his shadow already hanging over his head. "Give me my bike back. I might just leave a part of you whole if you do that."
"Sorry, no can do. Not the bike, nor the 'beating up'-part." I gave him a confident grin, and Johnny almost blew up. He tried to charge at me, but was stopped by Skulker, who then whispered something in his ear.
"Hey, what's the plan?" Tucker began whispering as well.
"Don't worry, I got this. Cover your ears and stay behind me."
"Let's wrap up the chitchat, ghost boy!" Skulker loudly declared. "EVERYONE, ATTAAAA-" The sound of his battle cry was drowned out in my ghostly wail. I slowly turned around in a circle, making sure to not miss a single lackey. When I was done, I took a short moment to catch my breath.
"Dude, give a better warning next time! My ears are still ringing!" Tucker screamed, clearly startled by my sudden attack.
"Sorry, I wanted to beat them to the first attack, so I had to be quick." I took a deep breath and regained my battle posture as the thin smoke screen let up. The first thing I saw was that all the prison guards had been taken out. The next thing was less positive.
"How do you like my shield?" Technus' voice screeched. "It's been upgraded!" The shield had protected Technus, Walker, Skulker, Johnny, Kitty, Ember, Aragon and even the Box Ghost, who was currently oddly fascinated by the box Skulker had locked him up in. I clicked my tongue, having hoped that attack would take them all out. Instead, the most annoying enemies were all still standing, and the loud noise might've alerted nearby royal guards. And if they found out, it might ruin our only chance at a surprise attack. Luckily, we were no longer surrounded. That meant, the best option was…
"Come on, we gotta run!" I said, grabbing Tucker's arm and dragging him along while running away at top speed. We'd have to leave the Box Ghost, but we could always free him later. But just when it seemed we'd get away, shadow and Aragon in his dragon form - I should've hidden that amulet, instead of tossing it in the treasure pile - appeared before us. I was going already going too fast to stop, so I redirected the momentum by flying directly upward. I barely avoided crashing into the ghosts, but was unable to see Aragon's tail coming at us. He knocked us back down, forcing me to let go of Tucker's arm. We quickly collided with the ground in a loud and painful crash. Even so, I immediately forced myself up to check on Tucker, who didn't have any ghost powers to break his fall or lessen the pain. He was slowly getting up, bringing a hand to his head, and instant relief washed over me. However, the next moment a blue light hit him, and made him disappear without a trace.
"Your aim sucks, you could've surprised that white-haired kid!" I heard Ember yell.
"Oh, well I haven't seen you do anything yet, with that fancy guitar of yours!" Kitty replied, and I turned my body their way, which also happened to be the way the blue light came from.
"You wanna see me get serious?" she turned the dial on her guitar. "Listen to this!" she played her instrument, sending a red wave toward me, which I reflected back to her using a ghost shield. Ember was pulled out of the way by Skulker, and I averted my attention to Kitty. She took a battle pose and brought her hand to her lips - though I had no idea why. It was possibly for some attack, but I wouldn't let her. I flew at her, avoiding another blue light she kissed (?) my way, and grabbed her by her shirt.
"Where is Tucker? What'd you do to him? Whatever it is, undo it! Bring him back!" Overwhelmed by my questions, she didn't answer, and before I could push any further, something wrapped itself around me, dragging me away from her. When I looked down, it seemed to be Johnny's shadow, and looking up again the man himself was standing before me.
"Try touching my girlfriend again with those filthy claws of yours, punk, and I'll make you regret it!" His expression did a good job at conveying his anger. The other ghosts wouldn't let him have all the glory of catching me it seemed, 'cause the next moment I felt like I was electrocuted, presumably by Technus' rod. Shadow, who was baked along with me, drooped down, ironically freeing me again. I took that single moment as a chance to catch some of my breath, something that turned out to be a bad idea afterwards. It had given Walker enough time to creep up to and grab me. He kept flying forward, backward for me, forcing me along with him.
"It's a shame I have to team up with criminals, but it's worth it if it means getting you," he started talking. "Don't think you'll get away with just a few thousand years prison time."
"Actually, I think I'll pass." I shot freeze rays from my eyes at him, and at the same time shook his hands off of me, leaving him a large ice cube while I landed on my feet.
"Anyone else want some?" I asked, my eyes still glowing ice blue. There wasn't much reaction among the ghosts, and I hoped they would peacefully surrender now. Of course, that wasn't to be granted, when two green arrows were shot my way. One hit Walker, breaking the ice, the other hit me in my chest. I lost my balance, and fell to the ground, where a metallic foot nestled itself on top of me. Skulker shoved a ready-to-fire gun in my face, while looking down at me with a grin.
"Got you, whelp. Too bad this is the end, I would've loved to hunt you some more."
"I'm sure you would. Couldn't really do that in prison, could you?" He narrowed his eyes, looking annoyed and interested at the same time. A provocation like that would have certainly set off the Skulker in my world, so I why slightly surprised when this Skulker just stood still for a few seconds. They passed by, and yet he was just observing, or maybe lost in thought. Finally, after a much shorter time than it had seemed to me, I understood what was going on. He'd taken my sarcasm to heart, he hadn't gotten angry like usual because he realized what I'd said was true. And Skulker wasn't the only one to act a little off. Just like the humans, these ghosts had gone through a lot. I bet I could get them if I aimed for those sore spots.
"And you, Ember! Don't you want to spend your days playing your guitar and singing your songs, watching your fans fall head over heels for you? That guitar attack just now was all rusty, when was the last time you used it? Too long ago, right?"
"Heh. If you're trying to make me all sentimental, it ain't working!" she replied with a sneer.
"How about you two?" I continued, turning my plea toward Johnny and Kitty. "You used to go to earth on dates all the time. You're not the type of good, obedient ghosts who'd just give that all up because someone tells you to." They looked at each other, slowly calling the other's name, but couldn't voice their questions or give any answers to them.
"And Technus! Weren't you gonna become the master of all technology, ruler of the world? Come on, shout it out, I know you like to do that. Unless you gave up that plan because some king took away most of your tech." He opened his mouth to say something back to me, but didn't find any words in the end and just closed it again.
The next would've been Aragon, and I was reminded of his long monologue when I fought him in his castle the other day. His sad gaze told me he knew exactly what I was going to say, so I decided to not reopen his wounds. I turned my head toward Walker, the last one I had to convince, but my vision was filled was a single hand snatching me away from under Skulker. That hand belonged to Walker, now holding me by my collar close to his face.
"Cut it out, punk. These guys might be taking your little mind game seriously, but that doesn't change what's in the rules."
"But they were changed, weren't they? When the king took over, you suddenly had to enforce his rules instead of your own."
"I'm a warden. Rules are rules, whether I made them or not." He threw me back on the feet, and took out a pair of handcuffs, clearly keen on ending this as soon as possible.
"No, they're not. Not to you. Those rules were your essence, they made up who you are and the king took that away from you. From all of you! But you can't just sit around and accept that!"
"Then what do you suggest we do!?" Skulker agitatedly asked, already flaunting around with his weapon arsenal again.
"Fight with me! Tomorrow I'm leading an attack on the Ghost King! We're taking back the Ghost Zone!" I enthusiastically threw a fist in the air while exclaiming my goals. Meanwhile, the ghosts around me didn't seem so excited.
"Ha!" Ember broke the silence. "I was wondering what kind of crazy stuff you'd come up with, but this beats it all! No one could ever beat him, let alone a kid like you!"
"I'm not doing it alone. We've got a large army of ghosts and humans, all together! Everyone is fighting for their home. Why wouldn't you?" Silence returned to the battlefield, and I mentally crossed my fingers in the hope they'd agree to fight.
"Why don't we fight…?" Aragon repeated, back in his human form, claiming the attention from everyone present. "A question I oft asked myself while rotting away in that dungeon. Only after that man took away everything important to me, I realized how valuable my sister and subjects were to me, but I couldn't even apologize anymore for the way I'd treated them for centuries. So why wouldn't I give everything to take them back? Worst case scenario, I'd only be freed from my loneliness. But I was a coward, held back by my own fear and anxiety. And everyone here is the same in that aspect. Everyone, except you. You have the courage to keep going despite your fears. Perhaps we needed someone like you in order to overcome ours. I'll join you."
Johnny snorted. "We could do without the long monologue, geezer. But I get your point." He directed his attention to me. "Fine kiddo, I'm in, but you will get me a new bike after that."
Kitty wrapped her arms around her boyfriend. "It will be dangerous," she whispered.
"Right, baby. Which is exactly why you should-"
"-come with you. When you die, I will die. We did that once, one more time wouldn't be too bad."
"You're seriously gonna risk your skin for what this little babypop is saying?" Ember reacted confused. "You can fight all you want, just don't count on me."
"Great! You'd only drag us down after all!" Technus confidentially exclaimed, apparently ready to join the fight as well.
"What was that!?" Ember answered, taking out her guitar and aiming it at Technus.
"Cut it out Technus, Ember can choose not to fight if she doesn't want to," Skulker told him off with a grin. "That only means more prey left for me."
"Oh awesome, you too now!? Then what will I do if you don't come back!?"
"Not my problem, the choice is yours," Skulker brushed Ember off. She threw a short, jealous glance at Kitty and Johnny, before sighing deeply.
"Fine! Oh, I can't believe I'm doing this. I'll fight with you guys! Are you happy now?" Skulker answered the last question with a grin, which seemed to satisfy Ember. Now the only one left was, once again, Walker.
"Chapter 53, article 1, paragraph 1: 'The rules as stated in the Ghost Zone Code of Conduct shall forever be upheld and protected, never to be altered in any fashion.' The one rule that had never been broken, until he showed up," Walker stated with a blank expression that didn't reveal the anger that his tone couldn't keep hidden. "He should've known better than to change my rules." He shifted his gaze to meet mine. "Alright punk, you've got a deal. Put the king down, and I'll let you go free just this time."
"That's exactly what we'll do. Tomorrow, the Ghost Zone will finally be free of its king!" The ghosts answered in a loud 'yes!', after which I continued explaining. "I need you to standby on the small island near the Fenton portal, tomorrow morning. That's where we'll begin our attack!"
Skulker stepped forward. "We'll spread the word. Gear up as many ghosts as possible, and then kick some royal ass! Oh, and by they way…" he aimed a large gun from his left arm at me. "After that, the hunt's on!" Okay, I take it back, this guy never changes. Well, at least that means I can trust him with delivering the message to everyone.
After that, the mood was a lot better, everyone was determined to fight, and relieved they would finally get to. No more letting the king and his army take everything away from them, everyone felt the time for change was now. It made me happy (and a little proud my words had had that effect on them).
Though, I feel like I'm forgetting something…
Suddenly I gasped for air in shock, startling everyone around me. "Tucker! I completely forgot about him!" I turned around to face Kitty, the one that had made him disappear in the first place. "You can bring him back, right?"
I took her a few seconds to comprehend the question, before she finally remembered too. "Oh, that friend of yours. Sorry, I totally forgot. Here, just a second," she blew another one of those 'kisses' (seriously, why did I never know she had that power?) and there he was again, in exactly the same lying position as before. I ran to his side, pulled him up by his arm and forced him into a very manly best-friend hug.
"Wh-what?" he slowly brought out while trying to understand what had happened.
"Tucker! I'm so glad you're back! You disappeared when you got zapped, and I was so afraid I'd lost you in the Ghost Zone!"
"Dude… you're choking me…"
"Oh sorry," I said after quickly letting go of my friend. He looked around, and noticed we were still 'surrounded' by the ghosts. He took out a ghost-gun and flung it around at them.
"Dude, get behind me, I've got this!" he exclaimed, semi-confidently. I had to hold back my laughter.
"No, Tuck, it's okay. I've already convinced them to join us."
"Seriously? Man, how long was I gone…?"
"Not that long, seriously. I can be pretty persuasive, you know. Anyway, we gotta go back to Sam and the others, these guys will spread the word to the other ghosts."
"Really? Finally! Home sweet home, I always say." I let out a small laugh, glad Tucker was back with us, before grabbing him and flying him back to the portal. The end of this all was coming awfully close now, and honestly I started to feel a little nervous. Could I really save this entire world? I looked over my shoulder at Skulker and the others. No, there was no need to worry. I'd saved the world with their help before, I could do it again.
Just you wait, Ghost King, 'cause you're about to get dethroned!
So, I hope everyone enjoyed this last chapter :D You guys getting pumped up for the battle with the Ghost King yet? Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter, the fic as a whole, or on what you expect to come! (Oh, and good luck with guessing everyone!)
