Chapter 8: The Kidnapping

At the Country Club

The Beviers had no idea what was going on in their home. They were too busy enjoying their time as Jean-Luc closed his deal

Meanwhile, Colette was in a bad mood.

"I will tear Estelle's stupid hair out for giving me this phobia!" She snarled under her breath.

She was embarrassed beyond belief that she freaked out over a small cat and, as always, she blamed her stepsister for her troubles. It didn't matter to her that she snuck out of home in another poor attempt to ruin Star's life again.

She stopped for a moment, leaning on the wall for support as she took a breath, not caring how undignified she must look.

"Stupid felines..." She muttered under her breath as she tried to think of how to get out of this place and home, to make sure that Star does not go into her room.

Suddenly, the sounds of what she mistook for roaring made her eyes bulge open as she screamed and ran away, thinking it was indeed a tiger.

Had she remained, she would have seen that it was a car getting its battery jump started from a tow truck in the parking lot.

"Thanks!" The guy went as the truck driver waved to him.

Both were unaware that they just terrified a young lady.

On the rooftop

Danny arrived on the rooftop, intent on dealing with this ghost.

To his surprise, Zoren was just lying on the floor like it were a couch, using one arm to keep his head up.

The fox spirit saw him and smirked.

"So you're this ghost kid who I hear about all the time in prison." Zoren says.

"I don't recall seeing you in the mess hall last time I was there." Danny points out.

"I've been in solitary confinement for 50 years. Walker can't let me out unless he wants all sorts of chaos to ensue. And he hates chaos without question." Zoren responds.

The ghost boy blinked upon hearing that.

"Solitary confinement?" Danny asks.

"That's right, I'm the prisoner that everyone after you today has been wanting to avoid." Zoren responds.

"You are?"

"Indeed, and Walker has gotten so desperate to protect his record that he's even willing to make a deal with little ol' me to bring you back. It's nothing personal, I bring you to him, he lets me go and is willing to make sure he never bothers me again."

"But you're free now, right?" Danny asks, seeing Walker's goons were absent.

"On the contrary, his right-hand man Bullet has been watching you from a distance this whole time, and still is. Even though I could easily avoid that blowhard, I'd rather he willfully leave me be." Zoren responds, cleaning his ear out with his pinky finger.

Danny frowned and decided to get to more pressing matters.

"Regardless, where's Pierre?!" Danny shouted.

"Who?" Zoren asks.

"You know who! The baby."

"I don't have him… you should have checked under the covers." Zoren responded.

Danny's mouth opened a bit, surprised to hear that.

"You… don't have him?"

"Believe me, I could have taken advantage of you not knowing I was around and taken him at any point. It's you I'm after…" Zoren states.

"Well…" Danny's fists glowed. "Here I am!"

With that, Danny flew to Zoren, intent to punch his lights out.

However, to his surprise, his fist was blocked. It took a moment to register that it was a finger that blocked the blow.

Zoren used his other hand to block the attack before flicking the fist, causing Danny to fly backward due to being pulled by his arm and sliding on the floor.

Nonchalantly, Zoren stood up.

"Well then… let's get started, shall we?"

"Let's!" Danny shouted.

He flew at his foe, swinging his leg. However, to his surprise, the fox spirit bobbed to the left, avoiding it completely.

After sliding on the floor, Danny only looked back and saw his foe standing calmly.

Ignoring that, Danny fired his ghost rays. He unleashed three.

However, each shot was avoided with ease, as if Zoren avoided slow moving bubbles rather than blasts comparable to light in speed. Danny only blinked at this.

"Okay… he's faster than I thought…" His eyes glowed blue. "But maybe this will slow him down."

He fired optic ice blasts at his foe, who simply stepped to the side to avoid the attack. Danny grinned as his idea worked as he flew in with a punch ready.

He was expecting his foe to move aside, but the ghost fox caught the fist quickly, much to his surprise.

"I didn't exactly spend all of my time sitting down, I did do a little exercising… like this!"

Within an instant, Zoren sent a flurry of uncountable strikes from his finger to Danny's arm.

"HEY!" Danny shouted as he pulled back. "Back off!" Danny rose a hand and, to his surprise, the ghost ray he intended to fire fizzled out. "What?!"

"I can numb your powers with the right blow… I could even knock you out if I need to. I could… but I'm having too much fun." Zoren said with a playful smile.

"See if this will still be fun!" Danny shouted as he tried to throw a punch with that arm.

"Kids these days'..." Zoren scoffed before he made his move.

To Danny's dismay, Zoren's tail shot a blast of blue fire, melting the ice before his foot could reach it.

''What the-" He exclaimed before he got mad.

Danny swung a kick, but his foe caught his foot in time.

"By the way, are you curious about what I am?" Zoren asks.

"Uh… something Cajun chefs put in soup?" Danny quipped.

"I'm a kitsune, a fox spirit from Japan. I have many powers… like this!"

He sent a surge of electricity, shocking Danny and making his hair stand before letting his foot go.

Danny twitched on the floor.

"AH!" He yelped in pain.

The kitsune snickered at this.

"Well… this has been wonderful and all, but I really do need to be going. I was hoping to try some roasted chicken or maybe try some ramen as the prison food is far from appetizing." Zoren says.

Danny struggled to get up, putting his hand through his hair to get it back to normal.

"You're gonna be eating that stuff from a straw when I'm done..." He said as he got up.

"I'm going to speed this up..." Zoren said as he made some more copies.

He had split three shadowy spots from his own shadow, which formed into dark copies of himself.

To counter these copies, Danny created his duplicates.

"I got tricks up my sleeve too!" All four Danny's shouted as they attacked.

"So you do..." Zoren said as his copies went on the offensive.

Danny remembered his fight with the shadows in the fridge and so all of the Phantoms used their ice powers by putting their hands together and fired a large ball of energy at them.

They tossed it at the copies, freezing them in place.

Although the copies were defeated, the real Zoren struck fast.

"Boop!" He went playfully, poking one in the back and making it disappear.

"Hey!" All the Phantoms went.

"Watch your back! All four versions of it!" He said to the ghost boy.

"You can't beat all of us at once!" All of the Phantoms said in unison.

Zoren merely scoffed.

"Really? Does an amateur at fighting really think he can defeat someone who knew martial arts before most humans knew it?" Zoren asked, hovering in the air yet looking as though he were laying on an invisible sofa.

"Let's answer that for you!" Danny and his copies all yelled.

The three flew towards him, but the fox spirit effortlessly elevated out of the way.

All three Danny hit the floor and shook their heads before looking up.

Zoren did a "come at me" motion with his hand. Without hesitation, the three attacked.

They all tried to gang up on the fox spirit.

One Danny tried to throw a punch, but his target ducked out of the way. One Danny tried to kick him, but a swipe of the tail blocked the attack. Another tried to uppercut, but was avoided with but a slight tilt of the head, which made the fist miss its target.

Danny's eyes only widened at this.

This ghost is somehow incredibly difficult for him just to land a blow and half the time, it didn't seem to be this ghost's powers that's making him miss. It's as if he was just a better fighter overall.

"What ARE you?" Danny asked.

Zoren's tail raised and, in an instant, a surge of electricity shocked the three Phantoms.

All three were twitching and making vocal sounds of stuttering before two of them disappeared and the last fell one to the floor, hitting it.

Twitching in pain once more, Danny looked up and saw his foe smirking playfully.

"Better…" Zoren answered.

"We'll see about that!" He yelled.

As Danny continued and failed to land a blow, someone was still watching.

It was Bullet, who was becoming impatient with each passing second.

"Quit playing around and knock him out already!" Bullet snarled.

At the Country Club

Inside the office of the owner

Jean-Luc's meeting had ended and he and his client got out of their seats.

"Oui oui. Pleasure to do business with you." Jean-Luc says.

"Likewise, Monsieur Bevier..."His client said, pleased.

During this time, Stella was sitting by with Fifi.

''Arf." The dog said in her arms.

"I suppose we can stay a bit longer. Star hasn't called and said she was in any trouble. Eh, Fifi?" Stella asks her dog, who barked in response.

"Mama?! Papa?!" Colette's voice went.

That's when she opened a door and shut it quickly, panting loudly as she leaned on it for support.

"Colette?" Stella asks.

The spoiled girl looked to see her father and stepmother, along with their client, staring at her. She realizes that they're in his office.

"Mama? Papa? I was..." She thought fast. "Looking for you..." She managed to say between pants.

"Why are you breathing heavy?" Jean-Luc asks.

"I was... in a hurry to find you." She lies.

Their client only shrugged before shaking Jean-Luc's hand.

"In any case, I'd be honored to work with you. Anyway, before we resume the party, let me show you my most prized addition to my collection..." He walked over to a painting that was covered in a cloth. "Some say the king of the jungle is the lion..." Colette walked up to join her parents. "But I say this is the true animal on top..."

He pulled the cloth back, revealing a very detailed painting of a tiger roaring at the viewer.

After a moment, Colette dropped faceup on the floor, alerting everyone.

"Colette?!" Stella asks.

"Ma fille!"Jean Luc said in French as they checked on her.

Colette was passed out with eyes wide open as Stella shook her by the shoulders.

Meanwhile, on the rooftop

The ghost fight continued, and both Danny and Zoren were engaged in a battle where the hero was obviously outmatched.

"Hold still!" Danny shouted.

"Come on now… you can do better than that!" Zoren says with a chuckle.

"Let me show you!" Danny shouted.

He sent more blasts to his foe. However, the fox spirit only bobbed out of the way with each shot before knocking Danny off his feet with a sweep of his tail.

"Oopsie…" Zoren says in faux-regret.

This annoyed the ghostly boy very much as he got up.

"Are you fighting me or playing around?" Danny asked, realizing he's not taking this seriously.

"Fighting? We were fighting?" The fox went, acting clueless.

Getting annoyed, Danny fired shards of ice. However, to his shock, the fox spirit just hopped into the air, skipping on each chunk of ice before landing gracefully.

Danny only blinked in surprise before resuming his one-sided fight.

He sent more ecto and ice blasts but each one wasn't so much dodged as they were just avoided like he was playing a game.

"Should I use the Ghostly Wail? No… he's countered everything so far. If he counters that, I'm a sitting duck…" He whispers to himself.

"Surely, the boy who imprisoned the Ghost King can do better than that." Zoren challenged as they kept battling.

As this went on, Bullet was getting impatient with each passing second.

"I would be enjoying this if we weren't on a deadline…" He muttered as he watched through the binoculars.

He watched the fox spirit toy with the half ghost boy. Bullet was getting tired of this and wanted it done.

Unfortunately, that's when his boss called.

"Bullet! What's taking so long?!" Walker shouted from the wrist device.

Snapping out of it, Bullet pressed a button and spoke

"Uh… good news and bad news, boss…"

"I hate bad news, just give me the good."

"Well… you'll be pleased to hear the kid has no chance to defeat Zoren. He's countered almost everything except the kid's Ghostly Wail, and I doubt he'd risk it."

"Perfect!" Walker said, sounding pleased for once. "How soon can he bring him in?"

Bullet's grin disappeared.

"That's… the bad news. Zoren isn't even trying to knock him out anymore. He's just messing around, tiring the kid out."

Walker was heard groaning.

"I knew he'd be wasting time… make him hurry up!"

"I can't… I'm… scared." Bullet admits sheepishly.

"You're scared?!" Walker shouted.

"Did you forget how difficult it was before finally capturing him?! He's one of the few ghosts the Behemoth won't touch because it knows how skilled and crafty he is!" Bullet shouted.

"Remember how we caught him before?! Just use that to your advantage!" Walker shouted before disconnecting.

Bullet scowled before taking a breath.

"Okay… Now, where's the floor that the kid's girlfriend is on?" He asks himself.

In the Penthouse

Star looked upward, curious as to why there's not a lot of loud noises going on.

"What's going on up there?" She asked out loud.

Pierre held onto a ball and giggled as he bounced it on the floor.

"Bah." The baby went.

That got her attention.

"Are you trying to speak?" She got on her knees, eager to hear him. "Come on, Pierre. Say something…" She says with a smile.

"Babaa…" He went, speaking in incoherent baby talk.

Star signed but smiled regardless as she stood.

''At least, you're still adorable..." She said as she picked him up.

As Star held onto her half-brother, she thought about how Danny is fighting a ghost, not knowing how bad it's going for him, and smiled a bit.

I wonder if this will be our life in the future, me waiting for him to save the day, then come home to me and our ba- She shook the thoughts of her head. Why did I think that? She thought.

They are teenagers and have been dating for a few months, it was far too soon to think that.

Still, the idea was very pleasing.

"At least, he'd be a good influence..." She said, blushing a bit.

As she gave her brother his bottle of milk, she didn't hear that a certain someone phase into the room from the floor.

Pierre saw a figure behind her and cried.

"Aww, what's wrong?" She asks.

"Me." Bullet, behind her, said.

On the Rooftop

With each swing of Danny's fist, his target was just avoiding. Each blow missed as Zoren was smiling mischievously. One swing was only inches from his nose before he stepped back one foot to avoid the blow. He kicked Danny in the chest, knocking him off his feet.

"Ooh, you almost got close enough to at least touch my nose." The kitsune teased.

The ghost boy growled at that.

"I'm getting really sick of this!" He yelled back.

"That so? Well, you'll need to step up." Zoren says, motioning for Danny to resume.

It was then that Danny thought to himself.

"Come on, Phantom… think. This guy's fighting style is just to avoid your attack as soon as he sees it coming… so, maybe we try an invisible approach."

Danny then became invisible.

His intention was to attack his foe, kick him on the other side of his head. However, Zoren raised a hand to block the blow.

"Oh, how predictable..." He yawned as he then pushed Danny back.

Zoren swung his arm out, knocking Danny to the floor and turning visible again.

''How did you do that?" Danny demanded.

"I have big ears, remember? I can hear your breathing." Zoren pointed out.

"Of course you did..." The ghost boy muttered.

It was then Danny got another idea.

In the Penthouse

Star held onto Pierre tightly as she stepped back. Bullet stepped closer, intent to attack the two.

"Are you… this Walker guy?" Star asks with growing dread.

"Name's Bullet. I work for him. And our foxy friend there is taking his sweet time, so I figure that we speed this up…" He says.

"I don't think so!" The blonde girl shouted.

Thinking fast, Star kicked the ghost in the stomach, doing some degree of harm as he pulled back and clutched to where she hit him.

"Get back here!" Bullet shouted.

Star ran to the kitchen, setting Pierre down as she looked through the cupboards.

"Come on… I didn't bring my gear, there's gotta be something that I can use as a weapon." She says. She found a pair of metal salad tongs. She groaned but accepted it. "Well, every little bit helps…

Bullet then appeared in the kitchen, looking mad.

"Come on, Blondie!" He said with a threatening voice.

He tried to reach for her but Star swung the tongs into his head and managed to land a hit.

"Take that, you one-eyed creep!" Star shouted.

She struck him again, this time in the face.

However, her third attempt ended with Bullet grabbing the tongs, using intangibility to pull them out of her hands.

"Nice try, but no." Bullet says.

Before Star could do anything, Bullet backhanded her, causing her to fall on her back.

Seeing Star hurt caused Pierre to cry.

One she was down, Bullet's attention was toward the crying baby.

On the rooftop

Danny fired his ghost rays one at a time with each fist, but each one was dodged as Zoren did playful motions as if he were stretching.

"Come on, pick up the pace here!" Zoren said.

He didn't see the smirk on Danny's face.

Now's my chance. He thought as he puts his hands together and fires his icy energy into a large ball.

"Oh… this again?" Zoren questioned with some disappointment. Danny fired, but the fox spirit avoided it. "Come on, do better!"

"How about this?!" Danny fired his ghost ray again.

Zoren ducked away.

"Ha!" He got up. "Too-" He's cut off as a look of small surprise was on his face. He looked back and raised his tail to swat a blast of energy from behind. "How did-"

Once he looked back to Danny, he saw a fist about to connect with his face.

Zoren moved his head back, although his snout was tagged for a brief moment.

He pulled back, blinking in surprise before looking back again. He saw a wall of ice formed and he realized what happened.

Danny's ice attack was meant to be dodged. The moment it hit the floor, it forced a wall of ice, one he energized to be solid and white. Danny's blast was intentionally not as strong so that it would reflect off the ice and go for its target. Either Zoren would be hit in the back, or caught off guard for a hit.

Although Danny didn't necessarily hurt him, he did tag him.

"Not so smug now!" Danny said with a smirk.

"Well, I'm actually impressed… not many have caught me off guard." Zoren admits.

"You'll be more than impressed." The ghost boy quipped.

Before they could go further, Zoren's ears perked up.

"Do you hear that?" He asks.

It was then that Danny heard crying.

''Huh?" Danny said as he looked around.

"Hey! Foxy!" Bullet shouted.

Danny turned his head and saw a familiar ghost.

''Bullet?!" Danny asked in surprise.

''What are you doing? I'm working here!" Zoren said, agitated.

"Well, you're taking too long! So, I thought I'd speed things up!" Bullet said.

Danny then saw the crying baby in Bullet's hand.

The ghost boy gasped.

"Pierre!" Danny shouted.

He would have made a move, but Bullet held Pierre out from his shirt.

"One false move and your girlfriend's an only child!" He warned.

The ghost boy, unwilling to get Pierre harmed, did as ordered and stopped moving.

He glared at the ghost as Zoren also looked angry, much to Danny's surprise.

"This wasn't part of the deal…" Zoren snarled.

"Regardless, hurry this up, or the deal's off!" Bullet warned.

With that, he flew off.

Once he left, Danny realized what this meant.

"Star!" He shouted in horror as he phased downward.

This left Zoren alone, and looking upset.

"This wasn't supposed to happen again…" He muttered.

New chapter, with help from Flower princess11.

I plan to finish this up as soon as possible.

Sit tight for the next chapter.

Flower princess11: Super grateful you let me do this.

RonaldM40196867: It's possible, but he didn't need it. My bad, been busy.

Girlbook: He barely landed a hit, and even then it was barely a hit.

Invader Johnny: He clearly has no desire to hurt a baby.

61394: Thank you.

Jebest4781: Sit tight.

guardian1989: Checked.

Jay the Average Fanboy: We may. Mostly during less serious moments. Not sure.

hmilles02: We see he clearly didn't want Pierre involved.