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Ooze
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It wasn't as if Danny and Vlad weren't paying attention to their surroundings as the fought their way across the Ghost Zone. They were, if only to avoid running into various feature of the skyscape, use said features as weapons, or, on Danny's part, to avoid hitting the smaller, weaker ghosts scattering from their path. The issue was that they weren't paying attention to the implications of said surroundings.
The Ghost Zone was vast. Immense. Danny and Vlad were powerful. Incredibly powerful, for such young ghosts. In their element, they were a match for just about anyone. Even in a neutral environment, they were formidable. But the Ghost Zone was far from homogeneous.
Free-floating seas were not as common in the Zone as floating islands, but they weren't unheard of and tended to be just as interesting as their rocky counterparts. Currently, the two half ghosts were fighting adjacent to an amorphous, glowing ocean of liquid ectoplasm and water. It held itself together with surface tension, rippling slightly and throwing off little globs when one of Danny or Vlad's ectoblasts impacted the surface.
The ocean, as the name suggested, was huge. Perhaps its volume would not equal that of an earthly body of water with the same title, but it would more than rival most lakes.
(In other words, it was big enough to be inhabited.)
But back to the fight.
Danny and Vlad were, in most respects, evenly matched. Vlad was older, more experienced, more knowledgeable, more sure in his powers. He had a longer reach, and a more varied arsenal. Danny was faster, more adaptable, and, though neither he nor Vlad truly realized it, just a little bit smarter. His attacks had more force behind them.
Vlad, being a full-grown man who took very good care of himself physically, also had a higher endurance. That was what was giving him the edge in this fight. Danny, who hadn't gotten a full night's sleep in two weeks, was tiring.
So, Danny slipped up. Vlad managed to get a duplicate in behind him, grabbed him by the ankle, and threw him into the glowing sea of ooze. With a shout and a splash, Danny disappeared beneath the surface.
Vlad waited for him to come back up.
.
Hitting water at speed feels like hitting concrete. Liquid doesn't compress. It isn't soft. It hurts.
But Danny was, sadly, used to getting thrown into concrete. He had the presence of mind to hold his breath. He couldn't, however, keep track of which way the surface was as he tumbled deeper into the sea. When he finally managed to stop, he was highly disoriented.
Considering the lack of gravity, he couldn't simply try to float to the surface. He couldn't see past the glow of the liquid, so he couldn't follow the light. He could barely even see his own body in the reverse-gloom.
But he had to do something, otherwise he'd suffocate. Also, the ooze was, well, ooze. It was gross, and it was seeping into his suit.
(Forgive Danny; he had yet to realize that, as a ghost, he didn't need to breathe.)
He picked a direction and started flying, as fast as he could. This wasn't very fast, because the liquid the sea was made of was viscous.
(He was also going in the wrong direction.)
This was not Danny's element.
That didn't mean that other creatures didn't find it hospitable.
Something flexible wrapped around Danny's ankle, halting his progress. A similar item encircled his upper arm. Danny kicked and flailed, but soon his other limbs were held immobile as well. His attempt to summon a ectoblast fizzled out, he didn't know how to keep one going underwater.
Danny could barely see the things holding him still, but they reminded him of the arms of the ectopusses. More came, holding him more firmly, and others began to probe curiously at his body.
One looped carelessly around his neck, the end of it trailing gently along his face, and Danny froze. An old, deep instinct told him that the thing he was facing was the more powerful one, here, and advised him to play dead until it got bored. He did.
Right up until the one creeping over his face pressed its way past his lips and into his mouth. It moved around his cheeks, trying to find a way past his teeth.
Danny bit it. Hard.
The creature, possibly out of anger, possibly out of reflex, began to squeeze. Hard.
This was, frankly, an overload. Too much pain, too much sensation, and all on top of not being able to breathe and his exhaustion from the fight with Vlad.
Another, different, instinct rose to the surface, his core kicking into overdrive. Ice began to form on his skin and thickened, pushing away the creature's limbs. As soon as they were gone, he curled in on himself protectively, ice cracking like gunshots.
The ice kept forming.
.
It took Vlad longer than it really should have to realize that Danny wasn't going to come back up. He sighed and examined the back of his glove, wondering if he should leave and finish what he had been doing, or if it was worth it to go find Danny.
It was, from his perspective, likely that Danny was simply hiding.
But even he couldn't help but be slightly concerned. With another very put-upon sigh, he crafted a spool of fuchsia thread from his ectoplasm, and stuck one end of it to a nearby floating boulder and the other end through his belt. He had no desire to get lost in the glowing sea. Before he breached the surface, he encased himself in a glowing bubble. It would reduce his vision further, but he didn't care to be drenched in ectoplasm.
It took Vlad some time to find any sign of Danny. That sign, such as it was, was a slightly bluish glow to his right. Vlad rolled his eyes, exasperated that the child had already managed to antagonize and get in a fight with some sea creature.
The liquid around him grew colder as he approached, to the point where the temperature actually began to put some pressure on his shield. Something huge and tentacled swam by him, away from the cold.
Something clinked against Vlad's shield.
No. Not something. Someone. Danny had completely encased himself in ice. Thick ice. Thick enough to distort all of Danny's features to the point where he was recognizable only by coloration.
Vlad's mouth went dry. He rather doubted this was healthy. He pulled the chunk of ice into his shield, and knocked sharply on its surface. Danny did not respond.
"Come now, Daniel," said Vlad. "Whatever frightened you is long gone."
Nothing.
Vlad frowned slightly, not deigning to show how worried he was, even with no one to see. What was he going to do?
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I might potentially continue this on Day 29: Heat.