Disclaimer: I still don't own Danny Phantom. Nickelodeon and Viacom do, and they are very big companies armed with lots of money and lawyers. Since I'm not making any money from this and I never will be, there is nothing for the law-ninjas to sue out of me.
Author's Note: Hey, I'm aaaalmost on time this time! ... And I've got a real good reason why I just missed the update deadline. And that reason? California. Brushfires. I spent the past 2 days watching flames creeping toward my house. I think that's a pretty good reason to be too distracted to work on fanfic, don't you?
Chapter 22: Shattered Skies
"As the red day is dawning
And the lightning cracks the sky
They raise their hands to the heavens above
with resentment to their eyes."
-"Through the Fire and the Flames" - Dragonforce
The tyrant stood his ground, an unmoving statue carved of silver, blackened steel, and polished red leather armor; surrounded on all sides by a seething green and crimson mass of skeletal soldiers and beasts, the army ringing most of the crater and even spilling over the rim like some kind of post-mortem trickle. Discounting Maghnus and his gauntlet, just his army alone was a daunting prospect to try and tackle. If the tyrant chose to enter the fray in immediate support of his minions, the odds of their success even with the Reality Gauntlet were positively abysmal.
"There's... so many-!" Valerie stated in a strained voice.
"Reminds me of Pariah's Keep all over again." Dan remarked dryly, casting a knowing glance at Danny in the Ecto-Skeleton.
"Getting scared?" The black haired ghost retorted.
"As if fear has ever stopped either of us before?" The fire-headed ghost countered, an indirect admission of his own trepidation.
"Save the witty banter for later." Sam groused. "Does anyone have a plan?"
A brief silence fell over the gathered combatants, broken eventually by Dan snorting in disdain. "I don't know about you, but my plan was to fly down there, ignore the odds, and win."
"Valerie! Is that you up there?" Paulina's voice came over the huntress' armband.
"Yeah. Where are you?"
From the image on the tiny screen, the Latina was somewhere dark, vague forms visible in the shadows around her. "Hiding with the surviving Patrol- we got into some of the old parts of the Underground... Valerie, there aren't many survivors."
Already having a good idea of the civilian losses didn't make that confirmation any less painful to hear for most of those in the ship. The near-total loss trumped anything Dan had thrown at the city in the past decade. At his worst, he still left broken buildings, maimed corpses; some sign, some proof that those places had existed, that those people had once lived . Maghnus left nothing in his wake, no rubble to clear, no bodies to bury or burn; just an unnaturally perfect hole in the ground.
"That's still better than no survivors." Danny said quietly into the silence. "And if we don't get moving, there won't be any, period."
"We're on our way Paulina. Stay hidden... if they don't know where you guys are, we can use the rest of the Patrol as an ambush while the ghosts have the big guy occupied." Valerie instructed. "Hang in there, it's about to get busy."
"Everybody ready?" Tucker asked, transformation amulet already glowing as the royal geek fidgeted with the talisman.
"Bring it!"
Valerie kicked the throttle on the craft, and sent the bulbous vehicle careening toward Maghnus' army. Everyone else manned the smaller control consoles; the ship spewing energy beams from various gun turrets as it roared overhead. The beams chewed gaps in the mass of veiled ghosts, but any shots that chanced too close to Maghnus simply disappeared in a silver flash from his upraised left arm. The shockwave of the craft's passing knocked several of the ghosts on the ground over, but it merely made the tyrant's wild red hair whip about like a frenzied beast.
Maybe we can do enough damage this way and save the close-in fighting for the finale. Valerie mused, pulling back on the controls to send the craft clawing skyward for a second pass. She frowned. And maybe you'll hang up your guns and forgive him for what he's done. That's probably just as likely to happen.
True to the huntress' prediction, a horde of winged beasts lurched into the air, and siege engines down below began launching giant green boulders and spears. Most of the ghosts that closed in got shot down by the gun turrets, but the weapons clanged hard against the hull, causing it to wobble and shudder midair, smoke beginning to spew from damaged areas. A silver beam from below lanced the engines, the ship's momentum taking it higher for a moment before the back end exploded. With a groan of metal gone past the breaking point, the nose of the ship arced back downward, plummeting to earth.
"Everybody bail out!" Sam yelled over the racket.
Valerie punched a button, and the exit hatches clanked open; all the ghosts on board streamed out, taking positions and readying for battle as the ship plunged into the green mass below. The explosion sent another shockwave rolling over the area, incinerating hundreds of the tyrant's goons and knocking a few thousand over from the blast wave. More ghosts swarmed across the normal looking crater to fill the gaps in the ranks.
"Okay guys, let's do this!" Tucker bellowed, voice going deeper and ending in a roar as the freefalling geek transformed midair; the red, yellow, and black dragon spreading wide wings and arresting his descent. "Don't forget the plan!"
"Try to keep up." Dan sneered, hovering alongside Valerie's jet sled.
"Back at you, ghost." The huntress snarled.
The two dragons had divided the ghosts into two groups back before they left Vlad's mansion; Tucker had command of one, Dora the other. Their plan was a crude one, but the two groups would try to clear a path through the minions so that Dan and Valerie could get at Maghnus himself and bring the Reality Gauntlet to bear. No one was exactly sure how Valerie was going to stop the tyrant; if history was any indication, the best they could hope for was simply pigeonholing the giant ghost back into some alternate dimension like Pariah had done in the distant past. They hadn't been able to plan that vital final stage of the attack.
The two dragons tucked their wings in close and let gravity take over, a pair of long arcing dives to the left and right over the nearest of Maghnus' goons. As they got within range, both gaped wide and shot wide swathes of green flame over the crowded soldiers; the flames causing chaos in the ranks as those burning flailed in a panic, setting their neighbors alight. Small gaps began to open in the crowd as the troops tried to avoid their char-broiled compatriots.
Just in time for the second wave; Skulktech 9.9 blasting overhead in the wake of Dora's passage raining ecto-beams and missiles into the mess; Ember tailing Tucker, her guitar in hand and unleashing a cacophony of shockwaves. Those ghosts more skilled at melee combat hung back for the moment, waiting for the ranged attackers to cleave an opening in the amassed army.
After the first pass, the dragons traded speed for height in near-matching climbs. Tucker was the first to wingover for a second run, when a series of loud shunk!s sounded from below, further back from the front line. The red and black dragon yelped and lurched over sideways, a hole punched through one wing and trailing a chain with a weight on one end, and a wicked barbed shaft dangling on the other side. He turned intangible, the weapon falling through the injured wing and crashing to earth. With the weight gone, he was able to right his flight path, not much worse for the wear.
"Tuck! You okay?" Danny shouted, seeing his friend take the blow.
"Ow... yeah, it's nothing major." The drake replied with a wince, climbing higher to get out of range of the harpoons below. "Woulda been bad if it actually hit!"
"Leave the machines to us!" Technus crowed as he and Skulker rocketed down into the fray, spewing beams from a large cannon in one arm, keeping ghosts and their weapons off with a large blade mounted on the other arm of the power armor. Explosions marked the path of the pair, a jagged line of fire ending at one of the large siege engines and punctuated with the loud report of another explosion.
"We of the Far Frozen won't stand to be outdone!" Frostbite roared, the yeti ghost and his tribe charging into the fray with blades and spears of ice; a clump of white and blue advancing into a field of red and green. Instead of explosions, great spikes and boulders of ice marked their advance, a frigid blast from Frostbite catching a ballista and its harpoon mid-launch in a massive block of ice.
Clouds gathered overhead, lightning spearing outward from a tornado that formed around one of the larger ghosts. "These machines are nothing more than little toys against my art!" Vortex roared over the wind of his own making.
Despite being outnumbered at least several dozen to one, the massed denizens of the Ghost Zone held their ground, fighting with everything they had. Perhaps the sight of the vaporized Amity Park had driven the point home; if they lost here, it was all over. Over for everyone, for everything; human, ghost, or otherwise.
"Enough hanging back." Valerie glared, revving her jet sled, autocannon in one hand, Reality Gauntlet on the other.
"About time." Dan sneered, flashing the huntress a fanged smirk. "Let's dance!"
"Don't forget me!" Danny hovered in the Ecto-Skeleton nearby.
"Oh you aren't going into that mess without me, Danny!" Sam declared.
Dan rolled his eyes at the display. "If you slow me down, don't expect me to wait for you to catch up."
The fire-headed ghost was the first to tear across the battlefield, a volley of small, explosive green blasts chewing through gaps in the enemy forces. Mimicking Tucker and Dora's two-stage aerial strike pattern, Danny arced down after, wide blue beams lancing out from the Ecto-Skeleton's hands.
Finally Valerie swooped down in a blaze of gold light, lashing the ground with beams from the Reality Gauntlet. With a groan of wood and steel creaking, siege engines caught in the beams shifted and... growled? Veiled ghosts yelped and scattered as several of their own weapons took on a life of their own, smashing mindlessly into the massed troops.
Maghnus smiled, the expression twisting his stark white face into a hideous sneer at the display of power.
"There!" The tyrant boomed over the noise of battle. "The human girl, bring her to me! He who brings that which is mine will reap many rewards when the world is remade at my hands!"
The veiled ghosts rallied, many floating into the air to try and go after Valerie. A volley of green-fletched arrows arced toward the group, clattering against a blue shield as Danny dove in between the huntress and the barrage.
Dan growled a curse, grabbing a winged beast by the throat and snapping the bony neck. "If anyone is going to kill her, it's me!"
"Yeah, keep dreamin', ghost!" Valerie retorted, blasting several more flying creatures with her autocannon, while using the Reality Gauntlet to turn anything against Maghnus' forces that she could. Transformed siege weaponry, rusted steel beams and old concrete and glass from the ruins, massive boulders from the ground formed a mass of incongruous golems; mindless automatons bent on following the simple order to destroy the enemy.
Several divisions of Maghnus' forces spread out at orders bellowed by the tyrant, moving to flank the smaller band of defenders; there were certainly enough of them to hem the motley group in completely. Still, by and large they fought in terms of traditional warfare, not seizing the full advantage of flight and aerial combat. It was only a slight edge for the defenders, but every little bit helped.
"Guys, look out!" Sam called. "Behind!"
Dora wheeled around in a maneuver that flagrantly defied physics, the blue dragon making an otherwise impossible arc to snatch one of the chain-weighted harpoons out of the air. Gripping the shaft with her foreclaws, she sideslipped into a steep dive, speed aided by the metal ball attached to the weapon. Ghosts scattered out of her path as she snapped her wings open only a few dozen feet from the ground, turning her plunge instead into a blisteringly fast level flight. Between the weight and her speed, the harpoon and chained weight smashed a long line of destruction through the flanking forces when Dora released it, spraying fire to the sides to cover her ascent as she flapped madly for height.
"We need more air support!" Tucker shouted, sweeping low over the battlefield to grasp one of the smaller catapults in his talons and send it smashing into a group of skeletal ghosts. "It's our only advantage over these guys!"
"Workin' on it!" Valerie growled, pulling her jet sled into a near-vertical climb out of harpoon range.
A few moments later, the huntress swept back down, now leading a gathering of several dozen winged creatures, mostly cloud-colored and streaked with bright green. The huntress set them to savage the enemies below, joining the efforts of the golems that the Reality Gauntlet had already made.
"Hah! With this we can make our own army!" Valerie crowed, the Reality Gauntlet blazing with light as she created more automatons and weapons.
"And I can destroy it!"
A flurry of silver beams shot across the battlefield, scorching golems and veiled ghosts alike. Where the beams struck, spheres of black formed briefly, and anything caught inside them was simply gone when they disappeared, dismembered bits falling to the ground where something was caught only halfway in a blast.
Maghnus floated above his forces, smiling coldly as he fixed Valerie with scathing black eyes.
"Come, human, and drink deep the taste of despair!" The tyrant boomed, left arm a silver beacon. "Die, and know it was in vain!"
He whipped his massive sword in an oblique arc, a wide crescent of red energy cracking off the blade and sweeping through the area. The defenders had to scramble out of the way, gawking in various degrees of shock as the tyrant's unaided power alone cleaved a huge trench where it hit the ground, the wound gaping dozens of feet wide in some places and easily a hundred or more long.
"Despair?" Valerie spat, her blood up and body high on the adrenaline rush. "Don't make me laugh, ghost! I know more about despair than a stonefaced freak like you would ever know!"
A green blast caught Maghnus upside the head, making the tyrant stagger briefly. Dan... or rather, five of him, floated a short distance away in a loose formation, each copy wearing a matching sneer.
"And you and I have a score to settle." He sneered, five voices in perfect unison. "Something about your brother, I recall?"
Maghnus glared, launching a barrage of black and silver beams from his left arm at the offending ghost. Dan scattered in five different directions, flanking the tyrant and countering with his own volley of green blasts, cursing when they were countered by the silver gauntlet or deflected by red shields.
"Begone, you." Maghnus lunged with unexpected speed, bodily smashing one of Dan's copies across the face with his spiked shoulder guard. "For I have greater business which demands my attention than a meager nuisance such as you!"
The other copies vanished as Dan went flying from the blow, the ghost disappearing before smashing into the ground; he'd probably gone invisible and intangible to avoid the impact.
Valerie didn't wait, and blazed into action herself, diving down and beneath the massive ghost. She slung her autocannon over one shoulder; Dan's attack proved that the weapon was going to be useless in this battle, the Reality Gauntlet was her only weapon of consequence.
She had to dodge a flurry of red energy beams as Maghnus tried to hit her; but years of dueling with Dan had honed her flying skills to near perfection and she ducked and dovetailed her jet sled through the barrage.
"Have a taste of your own medicine!" She snarled, aiming the Reality Gauntlet and firing.
Maghnus responded with a silver bolt of his own; energies collided midair and the fireworks began. The rest of the defenders had to scatter as the opposing powers sent boulders and other debris reeling through the sky; things being created, only to be destroyed instantly, the detritus remaining to plummet to the ground or conversely drift into the sky. Deflected bolts ricocheted wildly over the area, sending spires of warped rock and steel clawing for the sky like hideous plants; or cleaved great gaps in the ground, some glowing orange and red in their depths.
"My fool brother tried these games ages ago, human." Maghnus sneered, almost sounding bored. "It failed him then, as it shall fail you now!"
Valerie broke off the attack, pulling her sled hard to one side. The direct approach wasn't working, but maybe she could outmaneuver the larger ghost and catch him on the unguarded flank or back.
"Dance about all you like, in the end your fate shall not change!" Maghnus roared, whirling to get a bead on the huntress.
"I don't think so!" Something snared Maghnus at the shoulders, holding him back and wrecking his aim.
"Hit him!"
Valerie was startled at the intervention; pinning the tyrant's sword arm was Tucker, the dragon geek veritably wrapped around the limb and trying to paralyze it through sheer weight alone. Holding Maghnus's left arm, the one with the gauntlet, was the white and black of Danny in the Ecto-Skeleton. Dora joined the dogpile, tangling up the giant ghost's legs and trying to bite through the armor protecting him.
"Game over, ghost!" Valerie took aim and fired.
"For you, perhaps!" Maghnus snarled, spinning to put Danny in the path of the attack.
Valerie yelped and pulled the blow, the golden beam narrowly missing her friend and crashing uselessly against the ground below, warping a rock formation.
"Whoa-!" Danny fought to hang on as Maghnus shifted his arm despite the added weight, slamming his armored fist into Tucker's face. The drake yowled and let go, clutching at his battered snout.
Before the others could respond, the tyrant stooped over, clutching Dora at the throat with his newly-freed arm. The blue dragon squirmed, trying to find purchase for her claws as he pulled her up, but they merely scrabbled uselessly across Maghnus' red armor.
"Dora-!" Sam darted in, scoring the tyrant across the eyes with a lash of her thorn whip; with an angry yell, Maghnus threw the battered dragon away, one hand going to his scratched eyes, the other launching red beams at the retreating goth.
"No you don't!" Danny growled, still holding on tight to Maghnus' gauntlet-covered arm and blasting away with the Ecto-Skeleton's weapons at point-blank range. "You're not touching her over my dead body-... ur... maybe that's not the best- Yikes!"
Alarms blared in the tiny cockpit as Maghnus swatted the suit, massive hand getting a grip around the midsection. The armor creaked and squealed as the tyrant pulled, shattering the suit's legs and lower torso. Danny yelled, more in surprise than pain; he was short enough that his legs were left dangling unharmed from the upper half of the suit.
"Get your hands off him!" Valerie hissed, flying in close and lobbing a beam from the Reality Gauntlet at the Ecto-Skeleton.
In a flash, the broken armor was repaired; perhaps even improved upon. Danny reacted swiftly, kicking hard at the tyrant's hand. He'd loosened his grip though, and when Maghnus smacked the restored suit, the black haired ghost had to fight off the vertigo as he was sent cart-wheeling wildly through the air.
"Danny! You okay?" Danny's flight was arrested sharply by Tucker catching his friend, giving the smaller ghost enough time to get his bearings.
"Yeah, that was close."
"Where the heck is Dan"? The dragon groused, looking over the battlefield.
"I dunno. Maghnus nailed him." Danny frowned.
--
"Hey, snap out of it!"
Dan didn't remember being knocked out. The fire-headed ghost shook the stars out of his field of vision, blinking a few times. That red spiked bit of armor nailed him... and then... what?
He took rapid stock of his surroundings; shafts of daylight pierced the otherwise monotone shadows of... a cave? No, wait, the underground warrens that the humans all hid in to get away from me a year ago?
A few dozen forms milled anxiously in the murk; the occasional stray bit of daylight showing the chrome glimmer of Ghost Patrol weaponry or falling flat on the dirty material of their uniforms. He was sprawled on his back against the dusty floor of the tunnel; he must have gone intangible out of reflex when Maghnus clobbered him. Paulina stood over him; she had him by the shoulders, evidently it was her shaking that had rousted him from his involuntary nap.
He turned intangible as he got up, causing the Latina to fall over when the shoulder she was gripping suddenly vanished from under her hand. Paulina scrambled back to her feet, wary.
Dan ignored the anxious murmuring of the other humans, pointed ears straining to catch the noise filtering down from above where the battle was still raging.
"What are you doing down here?" Paulina's tone was just short of openly scolding. "What about that Maghnus guy?"
"It hasn't exactly been a walk in the park." Dan retorted dryly, checking to see how badly he'd been injured. Thankfully he'd managed to open gaps wide enough so that the actual spikes on the tyrant's armor had only pierced thin air rather than his chest; it had been the bodily impact that had sent him reeling.
"What about the Commander?" One of the other Patrol members got up the nerve to ask.
"She was still in one piece the last I saw her." Dan retorted with a glare.
The ground heaved suddenly, the cracked roof of the tunnel groaning and threatening to collapse on the people taking cover in the ruins of the Underground. The rumbling of thunder and flashes of varicolored light filtered down through the dusty air; clearly the battle aboveground was still going strong.
"And it sounds like she still is." Paulina noted. "Okay guys, get ready. Sounds like a good time to make that ambush."
"You do that, but remember that Maghnus is mine." Dan growled, glaring skyward as he took a deep breath. "I'm done playing around."
"Wait, what are you-"
--
The ground directly beneath the battle bulged suddenly, the unnatural formation muting an otherwise loud howling noise. After a second, the debris gave way as it was blasted up and out, a rolling green shockwave knocking aside skeletal goons and the defenders unfortunate enough to be nearby. Siege engines were overturned or sent tumbling from the epicenter, crushing anything that couldn't get out of the way quickly enough.
Those in the air had enough time to get out of the worst of it, Valerie suppressing a shiver at the distressing cacophony of Dan's Ghostly Wail. Maghnus backed away, the tyrant shielding himself with a glowing red barrier as he floated back from the area hit the hardest.
"That attack failed against me once before, yet still you attempt the same foolish-" Maghnus started to boast when a black and white blur shot out of the crater below and behind the giant ghost..
"Hey, Your Highness!" Dan sneered, his tone turning the title into an insult, both hands over his head and cradling a big green blast. "Time for your royal portrait, so say cheese!"
"Watch out!" Danny shouted, throwing the Ecto-Skeleton in between the girls and the explosion.
"Has he gone nuts?!" Sam yelped over the noise, shielding herself against the shockwave. "Did he forget that we're all up here too?"
The thundercrack echoed wildly across the ruins, the blast itself knocking even those in the air away from where it hit. Valerie gave a yelp as she felt herself get flung from her jet sled; despite being accustomed to such midair acrobatics, the freefall before the device caught her still put her heart in her throat.
"What the heck are you doing?!" She shouted, shaking a fist angrily at the tall ghost.
"What I should have done awhile ago." Dan purred wickedly, both fists glowing ominously green.
Author's Note: Clearly, if I was still at risk from the fire, I wouldn't be getting this posted. It was pretty dicey up here the past two days; I spent most of October 14th watching the flames coming closer, and also getting right down at some houses not far from here (thankfully they didn't burn.) The last scene was written while still coming down off the "OMG THERE'S FIRE!" adrenaline rush, so I hope it doesn't suck too bad. Poor Dan, his patience with the entire situation is shot to heck and back! :D
As always, major thanks to my super cool readers: i AM the Random Idiot, Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, Trevor the Enchanter, fentonfan, Mappadouji, spiritmind675, Selofain, Akino Ame, Angelic Kittens, Skandragon Blackheart, Luiz4200, Sukoru, and Phantom-Akiko! Virtual fudge cookies for you guys (though they might reek a little of virtual brushfire smoke...)
Stay tuned for an announcement next chapter about my next fanfic project, and a special announcement regarding a chat party after the final chapter of Indemnification is done!