Chapter Twenty-Nine: Enter The Crystal Beasts
The team could not believe what they were looking at. The ghost in front of them had just transformed into a dragon ghost. Jazz had been quick to say that his name was Aragon. And according to the dragon ghost himself, he also used to be a prince until Phantom and Siren came along.
But after hearing that the two gained their own royal status from dethroning two other corrupt monarchs, it almost makes sense that they would have helped dethrone another. Guess Pariah Dark and Obsidian Siren were just the first two to go down.
"Anyone else shocked by this," Gar asked.
"I think shocked is the understatement of the century," Roy says.
"I was wondering where that tyrant had gotten off to," Valerie says over the link.
"Princess Dorathea did say that he escaped the dungeons of her castle not too long ago," Jazz said. "We were surprised when he didn't try and retake the kingdom for himself and instead just disappeared."
"Looks like we can add another ghost to the list of traitors to their species," Valerie stated. "At least Technus now had company on that list."
"What about the demons for betraying the mystics," Jazz asked.
"As Krinos has drilled it into my head, they may use magic but are not mystics," Valerie responded. "There is no Isle of Demons in the Mystic Isles."
"This is why I wanted to be a psychologist for human," Jazz shook her head. "They are a lot less complicated than mystics and ghosts."
The heroes all looked at each other. They were all thinking the same thing. Black Canary was overworked as she was, add in being the therapist to Young Justice and that only adds to her already overfilled workload. If Jazz is as uncomfortable here was Phantom and Siren were, maybe she would agree to come back to their realm and take the job. They would also be happy to bring Red Huntress back with them as well.
"Jazz, mind telling us what you know about this guy," Jaime asked.
"I've always wanted to try downloading a story into someone's head," Jazz seemed a little too excited.
"Uh… you're going to do what," Impulse asked, confused and worried.
"You might get a bit of a headache after this," Jazz warned them.
*****Story Time*****
Aragon first appeared during a beauty pageant even where, in an attempt to get himself a beautiful human bride for his wedding, he ordered his sister Dora to hold a beauty pageant in Amity Park, allowing him to choose just the right girl.
After seeing Danny as the current judge of the pageant, Aragon sent out his two henchmen, the Archer and Executioner ghosts, to keep him and White busy. After Sam was captured by Dora for Aragon, Danny, White, and Tucker go into the Ghost Zone to save her.
Meanwhile, in Aragon's castle, it was revealed to Sam that Aragon pushes his sister around, always getting what he wants. Dora is forced to obey his every command and whim.
After Sam tries much convincing to lift Dora's confidence and hope, she turns herself into a wild, goth, and sloppy bride to convince Aragon that she is not the girl for him and thus call off the wedding.
Her plan almost worked, but Aragon planned to lock her up if not for Danny, White, and Tucker arriving at the same time to rescue her. The prince did not seem to think that the ghost teen and siren could defeat his minions. He had clearly underestimated them.
Feeling angry that his future wife is being "kidnapped," and hateful towards his sister, Aragon turns into his dark dragon form and fights Danny and White while burning the castle and the trees. Just he temporarily knocks White unconscious and before he finishes Danny off, Dora begins attacking him after a big pep talk from Sam to fight back.
Afterward, White removes the amulet on Aragon's neck which grants him the power to become a dragon, transforming him back to his normal form. The amulet was given to Dora to lock away. After Aragon's defeat, Dora turns the sky from dark to light, causing time to move forward than continue its permanent hold as it had been for 1600 years.
Prince Aragon's final appearance during the Disasteroid incident. He's first seen attacking Amity Park, only to be subdued by Masters' Blasters. Later, he is one of the many ghosts who helps Danny, Skulker, and every other ghost turn the entire planet intangible so that an asteroid can pass through it. He is only seen in his dragon form.
*****Story Time Over*****
"Wow, I really do now have a headache," Karen stated.
"Sorry, had to inject the story into your heads," Jazz apologized. "It was a lot faster than just explaining it to you guys."
"Good thing I keep aspirin in my quiver," Roy stated.
"Again, I apologize," Jazz says.
"If his amulet was taken away, then I guess he was able to get it back," Jaime was looking around the dragon's neck.
"He must have broken into Dora's vault after he escaped the dungeon," Valerie guessed. "I'll be there as soon as I can."
"I can't wait to get you all nice and roasted," Aragon growled at them.
He let out a giant breath of blue flames right at them. It was heading right toward Beast Boy and Blue Beetle. Beast Boy jumped off the second floor, changing into a bird and flying out of reach of the flames. Beetle dived out of the way using his armor's gliders.
"Blue fire, are you kidding me," Karen swore, before using her own pair of wings to start flying around.
"What a time for the only two water-powered heroes on the team to be in the Ghost Zone," Roy notched an arrow.
As Aragon prepared to open his mouth to breathe more fire at them, he shot the arrow. Turns out that it was one of the freezing arrows that he had, as when it hit the ghost's snout, his mouth was frozen shut.
"That's not going to hold for long," Robin says.
"I'm going in," Karen said.
"Me too," Impulse added.
"Bumblebee, Impulse wait," Roy tried.
But the two were already charging at the dragon in their own ways. Bumblebee in the air and Impulse speeding on the ground. Bumblebee sent a volley of her stings at the dragon. Zapping him up his body in her shrunken form. Impulse was continuously running around him in a circle in order to confuse him. His super-speed was not something that a ghost would be used to.
Ghosts may have the common abilities to turn invisible, fly, and intangible, but super-speed was more of a mystic thing than a ghost thing. There have been witches, warlocks, unicorns, were-creatures, and even angels known to have that power. Though, angels were only known to use it as a way to move at the speed of light and whisper conscience-like things into their charge's head.
"This guy is not as big of a threat as he seems," Impulse was way too cocky.
"Well, he's gonna pay for that comment," Jaime muttered.
Not even ten seconds later, Aragon did a quick spin. His tail nailed Impulse and Bumblebee and sent them both flying back. Red Arrow caught Bumblebee before she crashed, but Impulse crashed onto the second floor.
"Karma," Jaime thought.
"We heard that," the entire team said through the link.
"Oh Dios mío," Jaime muttered, shaking his head.
*****Ghost Zone*****
"DADDY," Danielle Phantom cried, jetting out to her father.
The clone/ghost girl/daughter of Phantom zoomed out from behind a column and basically tackled her father. Siren could not help but burst into laughter as he saw his brother hit the ground. Say what you want about how young she looks, but don't mess with any member of the Phantom family.
"I knew this was gonna happen," Danny groaned on the floor.
"So did I, but I laugh anyway," White snickered.
Superboy, Aqualad, and Tempest smiled as they saw a family reunited. Just like Phantom had predicted, they found her in the Greek mythology section of the Ghost Zone.
The three definitely thought that it was one of the most amazing places that they had ever seen in the zone. Second only to Phantom's Keep. The place was a kingdom made entirely of Greek architectural buildings with a Parthenon on top. All the buildings were made of white marble with gold accents. Every building also had columns, inside and out.
There were also plenty of unique ghosts around. Even in the little bit of time that they have spent there, they have already met ghost centaurs, minotaurs, harpies, one very weird-looking ghost Hecatoncheires, and a ghost version of Medusa that seemed to avoid Phantom like the plague.
"Sweet isn't it," White asked, still chuckling a little.
"Very," Kaldur stated, smiling.
"Hi, Uncle White," Dani gave her uncle a hug.
"Sorry, we didn't come and find you sooner, little ghostie," White hugged her back.
"It's fine," Dani said. "I should have listened to Auntie Jazz and Aunt Valerie when they told me never to patrol on my own."
"I do not blame you, Dani," Danny patted his daughter's head and kneeled down to be her height. "You want to be like me, and I guess it is my fault that you inherited my old habit of running into danger without thinking things through. I will make sure to always be able to be reached by you so you can always ask for advice."
Phantom felt so bad for spending less time with Dani since he was moved realms and joined the team. He always made sure to spend time with her whenever he was in the Ghost Zone, but he would also constantly get distracted by his duties as prince of the zone. And he did not want to give her any royal responsibilities as their future princess until she was older and had matured a little more. She was still too much of a free spirit. Pun intended.
"Who are you three, anyway," Dani asked, noticing the teen heroes.
"Oh," Danny said. "Dani, these are three members of the hero team that we joined over a year ago."
"This is Kaldur'ahm, also known as Kaldur. He goes by Aqualad," White introduced. "Then we have Conner Kent, he also goes by Superboy. And last, but not least, is Garth. His hero name is Tempest."
"So cool," Dani flew around them all, making them laugh.
"She has boundless energy, doesn't she," Kaldur remarked, smiling.
"We're ghosts," Danny stated. "Unless we're fading, we will always have energy to spare. It's just how we are."
"Without a single doubt, Daddy," Dani giggled.
"You want to hear something cool, little ghostie," White asked the girl, looking at Superboy as he asked.
"Yes," Dani immediately answered.
The half-Kryptonian nodded, silently giving his permission.
"Conner is actually like you," Danny tells her. "He's a clone just like you."
Dani's face seemed to light up. Other than the unstable clones that Vlad created, she had never met anyone like her. And she definitely has never met another stable clone.
"Wow," she cheered, floating right in front of Superboy. "You're a clone! Just like me! That is so cool! You were created by evil nutjobs too, right? Because no sane person would ever try to cone a powerful person like Daddy or whoever you're cloned from."
The three knew that she had definitely inherited her father and uncle's tendencies to talk a mile a minute when it was a topic they knew a lot about. They felt like if Dani had been a boy, then she would be an exact match for him when her father was that young.
"I will be the first one to say that she is way too innocent to hear anything about Lex Luthor," Garth stated.
"If anyone ever mentions that maniac to my daughter before she is, at least, fifteen, I will lock you in the dungeon," Danny narrowed his eyes at them.
Siren had to laugh at the look on their faces.
*****Back To Amity*****
Aragon had finally managed to get the ice off of his dragon mouth. He was in the process of basically burning down the entire mall.
"And here I thought that we would only ever meet a dragon once Siren introduces us to one," Karen flew around Aragon, avoiding his flames.
"We've already met so many magical creatures and beings because of him," Roy fired another arrow before jumping out of reach of a fire blast. "How do you still want to meet more?"
"I'm a scientist," Karen reminded. "New discoveries like this always excite me."
"At least your scientific mind is not as clouded against magic as Wally's mind is," Robin said, he threw a few bird-a-rangs at Aragon.
The dragon ghost was not even phased by the weapons as they bounced almost harmlessly off his scales. All they seemed to do was annoy the ghost.
"Pathetic humans," he yelled. "You should be honored that I want you to be my dinner. I am the rightful ruler of my kingdom!"
"Boy, is this guy ever pissed about being dethroned," Impulse says.
"Seems like that is turning into a thing with Phantom and Siren," Roy said. "We should ask if there are any former mystic monarchs that they dethroned that we might need to worry about."
"Chat later, fight now," Karen called.
She shrunk down to the size of what people would think a stereotypical fairy would be. Only this time, the 'fairy magic' hurts. Aragon tried to slash her out of the air with his claws, but her tiny form made it very difficult for him to get a clean hit in. She got in a few good hits around his face and even a few directly in his eyes.
"BRAT," Aragon yelled, trying to dragon slap her out of the air.
"Out of the way, Bee," Jaime yelled.
His armor arms joined together and formed a powerful cannon. Just as Bumblebee flew out of range of the blast, he fired. The beam of energy nailed Aragon right in the chest, sending him crashing into one of the abandoned shops behind him.
"Did that finish him off," Jaime could barely see over the cannon.
A giant flamethrower of fire came shooting at him. Beetle barely had time to change his cannon to a shield before he got hit and was sent into one of the shops on the second floor. He was buried in mannequins in a former clothing store.
"That would be a 'no,' Jaime Reyes," the scarab answered the question.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Jaime muttered.
"You pests will be my dinner sooner rather than later," Aragon roared.
"This guy is all types of gross," Karen said.
"That also seems to be a developing theme," Roy says. "Wasn't that Skulker ghost saying that he would turn Phantom into a pelt on his wall."
"As I said, all types of gross," Karen repeated.
"Least you guys aren't facing an opponent as annoying as this guy," Dick stated over the link. "I can see why Danny and White hate him so much."
"We have only been fighting him for five minutes and he has screamed the word 'BEWARE' about twenty times," M'gann stated.
"If I had been those two, I would have left this place just to avoid this guy," Mal said. "I'm about ready to kill him… if he wasn't already dead."
"We should give praise to those twins for staying sane if they fought this guy on a regular basis," Cyborg says.
"You guys are closest to me, so I will be right over with a thermos for ol' Boxy," Jazz tells them.
"The sooner the better, Jazz," Mal said.
Before any of the mall team could respond, they had to dodge more of the fire that the dragon sent their way.
"Hopefully Valerie has one of those thermoses as well," Robin says.
"Hopefully this is the last time we ever have to face a dragon," Roy fired another arrow at the ghost.
"Not unless Phantom and Siren dethroned a dragon king at some point," Impulse tried to joke.
"Not funny, Impulse," Jaime said, back in the air on his gliders.
Beast Boy landed on the ground, changing from a bird to an elephant. He charged toward the ghost. But the dragon was apparently not in the mood to be tackled by a green elephant. He used his dragon claws to grab onto Beast Boy's tusks, somehow lifting him up and throwing him toward the rest of the team. Blue Beetle was knocked out of the air and Robin fell through the walkway of the second floor that collapsed because of the crash. Beast Boy was forced to change back.
"Valerie," Roy called through the link.
"I'm two minutes away," the former ghost hunter tells him.
Red Arrow fired another volley of his arrows. The electric arrows were the closest he could get to an effective attack against the dragon.
"ENOUGH," Aragon yelled.
He unleashed a bigger breath of his blue fire. Bumblebee, Impulse, and Red Arrow were just able to get out of the way.
"This is bad," Karen stated.
But when he let out a second blast of fire, something came in front of the breath. It caused the fire to be blocked and sent out in three other directions. Nowhere near the team.
"What the…" Gar gasped.
When the fire stopped, they got a clear look at what blocked it. Much to their shock, it was a giant turtle shell. When the shell landed, out came the giant turtle that had been in it. The entire animal looked about the size of a large bear. But the most shocking part were the large shards of emerald almost seeming to grow right out of its shell.
"They say that all that glitters is not gold," a male voice says. "And I have to agree with them."
The team and Aragon looked up and saw a very unique newcomer to their brawl. The boy looked no older than eighteen. He had short pitch-black hair with stunning amethyst purple eyes. Around his neck was a rainbow diamond teardrop pendant, matching the auora-colored cloak he also wore. The rest of his outfit was a dark purple leather vest and boots with white and sky blue t-shirts and pants. Around his wrists were diamond cuff bracelets. He was like a mix of a hunter and a precious gem collector.
"Wow," most of the team gasped.
"Try to take me on, you failed prince," he glared at the dragon.
He helped up a crystal shard. This one appeared to be a topaz. It glowed as he threw it onto the ground next to the turtle. In a flash, the gem became a giant white tiger with black stripes. Around its ankles, neck, and down its back were big shards of topaz crystal.
"Amazing," Gar stared at the animals.
"Let's see how you handle a mystic with a bigger punch," the boy stated.
