Happy Saturday ya'll and I hope you're having a good week. I'm on fall break, but spent both days working... that sucked, anyway I'm sure most of you don't care. So a new chapter! The end of one part and the beginning of another ahead so enjoy!=^-^=
Ch. 9 - Theory of Possession
The first to exit was Dr. Grey who was followed by Mizuki, his tiger and then Beeman. They all raised their hands over their eyes at the contrast of light. "Where are we?" Dr. Grey questioned.
"Do not worry, human, you are back where you once were." After the scientists stood Gaia, the blue ghost cat. Miranda lowered her hand as her eyes adjusted and quickly realized she was exactly where she once was. The Saturday's airship still sat covered in snow while the family themselves stood in battle ready stances before it.
"Looks like fuzzy wasn't pulling our legs." Beeman commented in annoyance. "But I don't remember Paul being here before."
Gaia gave a nod. "You may not realize right away, but it has been a full day since you were taken." She then left them in their confusion before turning to the wolves. "And you, that is enough of your childish antics. You need not be so harsh to strangers and especially children no matter their abilities." The wolves growled in reply while the leader glared at her. She glared back calmly, but not even the pack alpha could hold their ground to it. After not even a full minute, all of them dashed away in retreat and without any further shows of aggression. All around watched in minor surprise at how easily the feline specter could chase them away.
Professor Mizuki gave a bow in thanks to the ghost. "I thank you for your assistance."
She gave an accepting nod before walking towards the Saturdays. "You should leave now. They will come back if you remain." She warned as she specifically looked up at Drew.
"Thank you." She said in appreciation as she began sheath her fire sword.
"Now hold on." Dr. Beeman began with an arrogant tone. "We came here to get Kid Kur there and we're not leaving without him."
Drew raised her sword back up. "Oh you're leaving without him alright you-"
"You must understand! You know we do not plan to hurt him." Professor Mizuki tried to reason.
Doc stepped forward this time. "Yeah, and plans can change. My son is staying with his family." He responded as he charged up his battle glove.
Dr. Grey was the next to try and reason with them as she directed her plead towards Drew. "You know what Kur is. His evil terrorized the ancient world-" She was then cut off by their gracious savior.
"KUR IS NOT EVIL!" Gaia snapped. "And you humans would see that if you weren't all so blinded by that single incarnation!" She then paused and seemed to realize something. She glanced back at the Saturdays though, more specifically Zak. "Soon…" And then she apperated away without any more warning. The confusion and slight surprise was shared all around, but it didn't last.
Beemen pulled out a remote from his jacket which seemed to control his ship. It flew over readily as he crossed his arms. "This isn't up for debate." He then turned to Mizuki with a nod which prompted him to turn with a fight ready stance.
"Sorry, Beemen, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with you. I know, shocking isn't it?" Maddie quipped as she pulled out a quarter staff.
"Didn't you hear the cat? She said we're leaving, but feel free to stick around for those wolves. Can't say I'll complain." Drew suggested in a sarcastic tone.
The other scientists didn't seem to be backing down at all despite the obvious disadvantage they had. Beemen scoffed at the comment. "I don't care what it was, but I'm not backing down because the kitty witty said so!" He declared.
His angry expression faltered at the sound of a loud and deep growl. "Maybe not the 'kitty witty' but what about a twenty ton sea serpent?" The three of them all turned and immediately lost any color to their faces as they gazed up at the serpent that rose to several stories. The creature wore a cocky smirk as he glared down at them.
"By Zol…." Beemen uttered out as his glasses fell down his nose.
"At this point I would normally say 'Boo' but maybe this would be more appropriate." He then proceeded to roar viciously causing more than one of them to stumble as they moved back. They were gone only minutes later after the serpent gave them a bit more motivation. As the ship flew away the serpent made to snap at them for good measure, but didn't do anymore to stop them.
Zak, who stared in surprise with the rest of the Saturday family, raised his hand to ask a question. "Alright, tell me I'm not the only one who heard the giant sea serpent talking."
"No worries, mini-man, I heard him too." Doyle said as he pat Zak on the shoulder and continued to look up at the beast in amazement.
Doc couldn't wrap his mind around it. "Since when could it talk!?" He turned to see Ulraj running up to them in equal astonishment. "You never mentioned it could talk."
Ulraj shook his head as he stopped in joining them. "I-I didn't know it could….. it never has before." He defended in confusion.
"For a cryptid to gain the ability to speak like this-" Drew started before Maddie cut her off.
"Relax, all of you." She insisted as she put her weapon away. "The sea serpent isn't the one talking."
Doyle raised a brow and pointed at it. "You seeing something I'm not? Cause that's what I'm seeing."
Maddie nodded at his confusion. "Yes well…. You could say the serpent is talking, but it doesn't know it is." She took a few steps towards it and crossed her arms. "Don't you think it's about time to get out of the sea serpent, Phantom?"
The serpent turned to her with a smirk. "I guess I didn't make it too hard to figure out, huh?" He then seemed to laugh a bit. "But seriously, that was fun." His amusement appeared to wane when he noticed she wasn't as amused and began to tap her foot. "Uh…. No problem…" The serpent's expression went from sheepish to disoriented as his head fell to the ground. Although cushioned by the snow, the surrounding land shook slightly under the impact. Drew raised her hand to her chin as she watched the scene. It seemed interesting to her how Maddie talked to Phantom despite how she'd described him before. It was like she knew him better all of a sudden, which would be unrealistic seeing as they had talked about him only earlier that day.
"So, Phantom was inside the sea serpent? Awesome!" Zak shouted in excitement before a bit of realization hit him. "Wait a minute…. Phantom was the one who told me to bud out then?!" He finished in irritation.
"Your powers may have been interfering with his concentration, Zak." Maddie informed.
"What exactly do you mean by that? How was that Phantom kid able to control the sea serpent." Doc inquired in annoyance.
"Phantom is a ghost remember? So it only makes sense that he can possess things right?" Doyle pointed out as if it were obvious.
Doc was not amused by the information. "What kind of B movie answer was that?"
Maddie quickly added in her more intricate explanation to alleviate Doc's frustration. "While it is more complex than that, he's basically right. Possession is a standard ghost power, but it isn't as simple as any movie would portray it. When a ghost over shadows a person, or possess them, they actually exert their will over the host. The weaker a person's will is, the easier it is for a ghost to replace it with their own. In the same way, it is also much harder for a ghost to control a strong willed individual though circumstances of the situation can change that as well."
Doc crossed his arms. "I'm still waiting for the science in that answer."
Maddie rolled her eyes and sighed. "I figured you wouldn't accept it so easily. Anyway, Ectoplasm, which makes up a majority of a ghosts body, is very receptive to neural impulses. Even though it is fundamentally different from what makes up living nerves, the highly charged impulses that allow for a ghost to move, can easily be transferred into a person or animal unhindered. All a ghost really has to do is phase their form into the host's body and use their own impulses in place of the host's. This happens on multiple levels which can range from a person being fully conscious and aware, to them being unconscious completely. In most cases of actual possession the host is unconscious and cannot recall what happened while being overshadowed." As she finished Doc seemed a bit more receptive to the idea, but he wasn't sold on it quite yet.
"Um…. Will my city's serpent be alright?" The young king questioned as he stood beside its head and pat the front of its nose.
Maddie turned with a nod. "Don't worry, Phantom didn't hold him long enough for any damage to be done. Even in long term possession though, harm to the host is all dependent on the ghost doing the possessing." Her words were reaffirmed when Ulraj heard the low groan of the serpent regaining consciousness.
The young king let out a breath of relief before turning to see Zak looking over at him. "What?"
Zak took a few steps. "Nothing… I was just wondering where Phantom went. He's not in the sea serpent anymore right?"
All eyes turned to Maddie. "I doubt it." She responded as she pulled out her mobile ghost tracker. "He doesn't seem to be in the area at all anymore."
Drew raised a brow. "I'm a bit surprised he would suddenly show up out of the blue."
Maddie nodded to her question. "So was I when I ran into him last night. When I asked why was here he simply refused to tell me."
Zak was shocked, along with most of the others. "Wait… he's been here since yesterday?!" The ghost hunter gave him a confirming nod. "Why didn't he jump out before now?"
Doyle crossed his arms in agreement. "Yeah, I mean how many times have those ghost mutts attacked us?" He then gave a pause as he thought back.
"What's wrong, Doyle?" Hi sister inquired at his sudden change of mood.
"Hold on I… Maybe he did come out before?" He started as he furrowed his brow. "Back when I was flying through that snow storm."
Zak's eyes widened in realization. "So when you were talking about how you thought you saw Phantom….?"
Doyle nodded. "Yeah, I'm starting to think maybe I wasn't seeing things."
"That would explain how you made it through that snow storm." Drew concluded.
"Not to mention how Danny could have found him and gotten him back in the airship before he froze." Doc added in getting an amused smirk from his wife. He frowned as he let out a sigh. "But regardless of him being a 'ghost'," He used air quotes and directed them towards Drew. "He did just save us from another fight with the Secret Scientists."
"Duh, dad, that's what super heroes do." Zak pointed out with his claw draped over his shoulders. "I was just wondering why he waited so long to help us out. I mean if he'd jumped out back when that giant ghost grabbed mom or when those wolves were attacking the village, it would have been way cooler." Fiskerton happily agreed with an excited gleam in his eyes. "Plus, I could have gotten an autograph." Zak added in after watching Fisk get excited thinking about Phantom fighting the ghost wolves.
Later on that day as the sun started to descend in the sky, the Saturdays said their goodbyes to Dr. Cheechoo who, along with his assistants, was picked up by another team to go and recover their equipment. The catacombs they were researching were not close enough to the village that they had to worry and so he didn't need the Saturdays to help him out anymore. "I appreciate you guys coming out to help despite all the craziness."
"We were just doing our jobs." Doc responded as Paul climbed into the research transport. "If another creature turns up, you have our number."
Paul shook his hand as he nodded. "It's on speed dial." And with that he shut the door and the geologists were off to get their equipment.
"Looks like that's one more problem out of the way. I doubt those ghosts will have much to complain about once they finish packing up and we leave." Drew stated as Doc walked back over to the ship.
"Yeah, but there's still plenty to take care of." Doc pointed out as he turned towards the city of Kumari and the serpent it sat upon.
Drew turned to the city herself and crossed her arms. "Yes, but what exactly do we do about it? If cryptids really are homing in on Zak, then it wouldn't matter if we could send it away."
Doc nodded. "True, but we should at least move this one to a warmer ocean."
Now that the ghosts were gone, Maddie had more time to talk to her son about his abilities. There was still a lot she couldn't wrap her mind around. She waited inside their shared room and it wasn't long before Danny finally showed back up. "I was wondering where you were." He stated as he phased through the ceiling.
She wore a happy but conflicted expression as she approached him. "I had to do a bit of explaining to Drew and the others about ghosts and possession. Then Paul left, and we had to figure out where we were going from there. They want to move the sea serpent to warmer waters."
Danny crossed his legs as he floated before her. "Oh, so where exactly are we going? We're still working with them right?" He inquired curiously.
She gave a nod. "That was my plan. Despite meeting with the ghost, I'm still not sure what they were after, and that is why Drew asked for my help in the first place. Being gone a bit longer wouldn't be too bad would it?" She asked remembering how against this trip Danny was.
He shrugged. "Can't say it would be. Besides, they need help, and I can't help feeling like I need to be here. Zak's problem isn't too far off from issues I've had myself."
Maddie nodded in understanding with a cross expression. "Yes, I'd imagine…."
Danny raised a brow as he noticed her demeanor change. "Come on, mom, it's alright really." He comforted as he stood on the floor firmly. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I wasn't thinking about you guys at all just now. Besides, his parents are the ones on his side."
She gave him a small smile as she pulled him into a hug. "Yes they are, just like I'm with you now. They're a team and so are we." She expressed with a clenched fist.
"Yup." He agreed with a determined expression. "We've got 'em covered." He then pulled away and shifted to a more serious expression as he took to floating with his arms crossed. "But the biggest problem is figuring out how this fits together. That cat ghost wasn't evil if what you and Mrs. Saturday experienced was any indication."
Maddie nodded. "Yes and what she told us was also very confusing. Those other strange ghosts seemed worried about something degrading the Ghost Zone."
Danny turned to her with a curious gaze. "Other ghosts? You mean to ones with eyeballs for heads?"
She nodded. "They were the ones who took me and Drew to begin with, though it seemed to be some sort of accident."
Danny wore an annoyed expression as he scoffed at them. "Observants…. Man those guys are annoying."
"Observants?" Maddie wondered aloud before she thought back. "Right, I think that's what Gaia had called them." She paused in thought again as her own eyes widened at Danny. "How did you know what they were called?"
Danny was surprised at first by her question before he dawned a cocky smirk. "Let's just say I have more experience with ghosts than you might think. I've had the pleasure of being on their black list before."
It seemed that with that one statement, Maddie could almost see the experiences in his eyes. Phantom had been around for about a year, and that meant Danny had at least that much experience fighting ghosts that she had no idea about. She was conflicted….. although she was appalled thinking back to all of those fights she watched, she couldn't help but be proud of him too. To think her son would follow in her and Jack's footprints without them even realizing it. "I guess you'll have to tell me about some of these ghosts at some point." She stated with the confliction obvious on her face.
Danny wasn't blind to it though as he nodded. "Of course, but I also keep files on them in the main computer." His serious expression faded as he let out a breath. "And please don't look at me like that, mom, I know you're worried, but I'm fine."
She shook her head. "But I can't not worry, Danny. Ghost or not, you're still my little boy." She then pulled him back into a hug.
Danny was obviously embarrassed as his arms fell to his sides. "Come on, mom!" He grumbled while lacking the will to stop her. "I'm not a little kid anymore."
"You will always be my little boy, Danny." Maddie countered as she released him.
His green blush turned red as his morph ring encroached from his waist. She couldn't hide her curiosity at the transformation. Danny noticed rather quickly as he inquired about it. "What's up, mom?"
"You know you don't have to hide what you really look like anymore don't you? I guess though, if you don't want the Saturdays to know, that's fine with me."
Danny seemed confused by her statement. "What are you talking about? This is what I really look like, mom."
The ghost hunter returned the puzzled expression with a question. "So you change your appearance to keep people from recognizing you?" She asked as she took to inspecting him a bit with one hand.
Danny took a moment to figure out where she was going with this before his eyes widened in realization. "Oh wait, hold on there, mom, I think you misunderstood something about before." He grabbed her hand which had found its way to his hairline just above his ear. He brought it down to the top of his neck. "I'm not a ghost right now mom, I'm human." Her puzzlement only increased as his words were backed up by the obvious pulse in his neck. "When I transform into Phantom, I become a ghost. I'm really only half ghost."
Her expression grew into bewilderment at the revelation. "B-but… That can't be…. How?" She really couldn't wrap her mind around this one. How could a human have ghost powers?
Danny released her hand as his migrated to the back of his neck. "Well…. I'm not exactly sure of all the specifics, but I know I'm not all ghost. Do you remember that incident I had with the portal and how it miraculously started working?"
She gave a nod. "Yes, and you were lucky you didn't sustain any serious injuries messing around with something so dangerous." She scolded before thinking more on it. "But….. wait are you saying it has something to do with your powers?"
Danny nodded. "Yeah…. Sam and Tucker actually brought me up to my room after that. Since I had turned into Phantom, they didn't know what else to do and panicked I guess. After I woke up, I eventually figured out how to change back and then when you guys came home we decided not to tell you about that part." He wore a regretful expression as he explained. "I didn't really think much about it after getting cleared at the hospital. I mean if a doctor said I was perfectly fine, who was I to disagree?"
She could tell he wasn't completely sure of his own reasoning, but she couldn't explain it any other way. A ghost could never pass as a human so thoroughly outside possession and she could tell Danny wasn't possessed. His skin was warm and aside from being older, she couldn't find anything to say he wasn't her Danny since the accident. She gently held his shoulders as she looked over him more. "I can't really say I understand, but I trust you. You would know more than me at this point." She then reached one hand to her chin as she gave it a bit more thought. "Hmmm... Given your proximity to the portal, it could have altered your DNA on a molecular level causing it to bind with some of the ectoplasmic energy it was giving off….. hmmm….. and to have conscious control over the molecular shift…."
Danny could see the gears of her mind turning as her inner scientist took hold. Despite him knowing better, he couldn't help but be a bit nervous about it. It's not like her hypothesis could hurt him, it was more the implications of it and how his mom's mind generally worked. "Uh… mom… I…"
She snapped out of her thoughts and looked over to her now anxious son. Her curiosity quickly turned to regret as she realized the implications of the way she was speaking. "Oh, Danny, I'm sorry about that. You know I didn't mean anything by it, I was just getting ahead of myself and got side tracked." She gave him a comforting hug and then pat him on the head. "You don't have to worry alright?"
"I know, I was just trying to snap you out of it." He defended in vain since Maddie wasn't fooled for a minute.
She gave him a knowing expression before taking a seat on the bed. "Anyway, about those ghosts…. The Observants?"
Danny gave a nod. "Yeah, they're a political power of the Ghost Zone who take it upon themselves to try and keep ghosts from going crazy in the human world. Honestly, they aren't too bad at it, but they are also helpless in most cases because most of the stronger ghosts are the ones who do it. They tend to rely on other ghosts to catch them, but aside from that they can handle them pretty well." His expression then showed exasperation. "But they are also bunch of idiots who have a bad tendency to jump the gun and miss the big picture. You could say that all they can really do is observe and decide based on that."
Maddie found herself chuckling at that. "You and Gaia seem to share the same opinion of them."
Danny raised a brow. "Who? The ghost cat? Can't really say I'm surprised. It's a pretty popular opinion." He then seemed to think over something else. "But that cat….. I've never seen that ghost before. If she's strong enough to send those wolves packing with a glare and boss the Observants around, this might be bigger than just those wolves and some ancient cryptid."
Maddie agreed as she turned towards the door again. "Well then, all the more reason to stay on board. I'm going to go and see what Doc and Drew decided on. She seemed to have something in mind, but wouldn't tell me earlier."
"There we go, I set the auto pilot for home." Doc announced as he stood up from his chair in the control room. "We can only hope the other Secret Scientists will give us a breather after the whole ghost thing long enough for you to find what you're looking for."
Drew leaned against the back of the chair as he passed her. "Hopefully. We weren't able to finish repairs from that robot rampage so I didn't get to check the damages on everything. I can only hope that the library wasn't one of the casualties." She stated in a serious tone. "We need more information if that ghost was telling the truth."
Doc raised a brow. "You mean about the multiple incarnations?" He inquired in interest and then crossed his arms. "It would be the first I've heard about it, but a scar on history can cover lots of things."
His wife nodded in agreement. "Or it was covered up on purpose. The Nagas did destroy Lemuria to try and prevent Fiskerton from learning his true origins."
"Good point." He concurred in a serious tone. "If your theory proves true, we may have another run in with them as well. I don't want to think what could happen if Argost, the Secret Scientists and the Nagas came at us all at once."
"Scared?" Drew teased with a smirk.
"Just being realistic." He countered with a smirk of his own.
"So am I to assume there's a plan now?" They both turned to see Maddie as she entered the room.
Drew walked over to her with a worried expression. "Yes, but are you sure you want to come with us? I don't want to drag you into this fight; you or Danny."
Maddie shook her head. "Believe it or not, I was in this the minute you called me for help. Any issues me and Jack had with the scientists doesn't negate an old friendship does it?"
Drew wore a grateful expression. "I suppose it doesn't, but what about Danny? I know you can hold your own but do you really want Danny involved in this?"
Maddie understood her worry as her own seemed to show. "No, I don't, but I also know he can handle himself." She wore a proud expression. "Considering how often we deal with ghosts I'm sure the scientists or these Nagas you were talking about couldn't be all that different."
"True, they can't jump through walls but they're just as ugly." Doyle chimed in as he entered the room with a cocky expression. "And then there's the nagas."
Drew rolled her eyes at the banter. "Okay, if we have all of that settled then I'm going to go get Zak off to bed."
Later that night a silent shadow slinked through the halls of the mobile airship. It was followed close behind by another much larger one as they crept through the halls. The smaller one peeked around a corridor. "Looks like the coast is clear." He whispered to his taller companion. They both then slowly walked up the hall being the quietest as they passed the gym which is where Doc and Drew Saturday had their late night sparing matches. Just as they passed it though, something caught their attention. The boy stopped and peeked through with his companion doing the same only higher. "Is that Danny?" Zak asked Fisk as he looked up. (It is….. right?) Zak raised a brow. "It was more of a rhetorical question, Fisk." He whispered in exasperation before looking back at what he saw.
Normally his parents would be the ones in here but now it seems Danny was alone within. "What's he doing?" Zak wondered aloud. Danny was standing in the center of the room with a bo staff held tightly in both fists. He held it out in front of him as he stood perfectly still. After spending a few minutes watching him do nothing else Zak started to get bored. Even though Danny had yet to explain the green laser thing, he had something else he had to do at the moment. "Let's get going Fisk. We don't want to miss any of it." He directed as he started to sneak down the hall again. The Lemurian followed soon after while nodding in agreement.
They found their destination in the control room where Zak brought down the big screen. "We should get a pretty good signal from here." He said as he climbed into the chair to get comfortable. Fisk leaned over the back with a nod as the TV flickered on just in time for the creepy theme music of "Argost's Weird World" to begin. Little did they know, however, that they had a silent observer themselves.
Phantom smirked invisibly as he floated over them. 'They aren't bad at sneaking around, but I heard them coming from a mile away.' Danny thought confidently as he began to watch the show with them. 'Kind of have to wonder why he'd have to sneak around to watch this show when he could just DVR it.' He then crossed his invisible arms. 'Or maybe he's just not allowed to watch it?' He continued his silent observation of the show with curiosity. The main character reminded him of someone, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.
The one known as Argost started talking about some creature called the Ahuizotle which seemed to baffle Zak. "How is this thing supposed to help me control my cryptid powers?" With that one question Danny finally figured out who Argost reminded him of and it didn't make him at all happy. He knew Zak could end up in serious trouble if he was doing what he thought he was doing.
And so ends another chapter! Hope ya'll enjoyed it! I added on to the the conversation Maddie and Danny were having when the ghost wolves attacked. You may not have noticed but they ever actually went over the whole half ghost part. Considering the events of "Doctor's Disorders" I figured neither Jack or Maddie would jump to that at first. I also used it to explain bit more of how I feel the initial accident played out. I gathered from "My Brother's Keeper" that they would know about the accident since Jazz mentioned it in that episode, but maybe not have the whole story.
Also please take all scientific sounding things in this fic with a grain of salt since I'm making it up as I go!=^-^=
Last bit would be directed at the ending. What Danny was doing will b explained later while Zak's behavior is just what he would do in the show I think.
Thx for reading and I hope you'll comment below!
