Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any of the characters. Danny Phantom is the sole property of Butch Hartman, Nickelodeon and Viacom International.
Dreamt
Chapter 17: The Return of Starlight Spirit
Dream Danny and Star, still dressed in their wedding clothes, were now about 50,000 feet in the air and opened the door, both about to make the ultimate commitment to each other.
"Ready?..." Dream Star asked, looking excited.
"As I'll ever be..." Danny responded, grinning widely.
They put on parachutes and jumped out together as they held hands together, looking at each other lovingly as they jumped.
"YAHOO!..."They both screamed as they sky dived together hand in hand, holding tight as they were about to bound together in holy matrimony.
They kept falling together hand-in-hand as they were surrounded by guests, bridesmaids (one of which was complaining over the dress she was forced to wear) and grooms men and their loved ones who have come to support the soon-to-be-newly wedded couple.
And once again, Mr. Lancer was chosen to officiate the ceremony as the priest. Why? They are not sure, but it was time that they got to the vows.
"Danny Fenton, do you take Star Strong to be your lawfully wedding wife?..."The balding man asked, smiling as all eyes were on the ghost boy.
"I do and always will, without a second thought!..."Dream Danny answered, totally under the dream's influence.
His "bride" heard this and smiled, intent to finally have him.
"And do you Star Strong, do you take Danny Fenton to be your lawfully wedded husband?..."The balding man asked.
"Of course I do!..."Star declared, holding on tightly and looking pleased.
That was it, Danny felt his happy days were ahead of him as this "perfect dream" continued and was about to reach it's highlight point.
"Then, by the power invested in me by the state Amity Park calls home, I now pronounce you-..."The teacher was about to declare them married, only for someone to interrupt them.
"I object!..."Was heard.
Everyone turned around and saw who halted the wedding.
It was the REAL Star, who was in her "Starlight Spirit" form and flying in fast, shocked everyone there.
Especially the groom.
"Starlight Spirit?..." Danny asked, looking to Dream Star and Starlight repeatedly.
He was curious, but the affects of the dream just made him smile and not see the obvious. It made him think that this was all normal.
"Another Star? I guess that you're so wonderful that this just turned into a double wedding..."He said, happy and unaware of the dream affecting him.
Starlight Spirit saw this and shook her head.
"He's getting worse..."She said as she reached for him, an idea suddenly came to her mind.
"Maybe I can emulate my dream copy and attract his attention..."She considered.
Knowing how Danny can be when she wears alluring outfits, she decided to use that and she knew the best way how. She utilized her cheer leading moves mid-air and made poses, captivating his attention and getting a smile from him.
"There's no need to worry Danny-boo, because I am here!..."Starlight said as she tried to play the part of the beautiful heroine.
She stood in a super hero pose as she stood up, dazing the ghost boy...even more so than usual.
"Star…you look…even more wonderful…"Danny drooled at the last word, making the Dream Star jealous as he stared.
"Thanks…"Star twirled with a blush.
It was such a relief to see Danny paying more attention to her than the dream version of herself. Her dream doppelganger, however, was not pleased by this and would not have it.
"Danny...darling...it's our wedding day, remember? And I believe there's a bride that you're supposed to be kissing!..."She insisted, getting impatient.
"Huh? Oh... right... uh..." Danny went, but got interrupted again by the other Star.
"Actually, it's not. You're dreaming, literally..." Starlight said, confusing the boy.
"Wait, I am?..." He asked, looking lost and unsure, which Star knew was partial due to Nocturn's actions.
The blonde heroine nodded, trying to get him to listen this time.
"I've tried telling you this before, but you wouldn't listen! You're under mind-control here!..." She said, trying to get him to snap out of it.
"Don't listen to her!..."Dream Star said, sounding impatient as she grabbed Danny's arm.
The real Star glared at this phony, having been fed up with her!
"She's the one you shouldn't listen to!..."Real Star snapped, while her boyfriend stared blankly at this.
"She is?..." Danny asked, still sounding lost.
"Yes! Nocturn's taking special precautions to keep you here! He created this perfect dream and hypnotized you into wanting to stay here forever!..."She shouted at him.
"He is?..." Danny asked, while his bride scoffed.
"Danny, don't be silly! Nocturn doesn't have a signal around to keep you here. Now it's our wedding day and let's get back to getting married..." Dream Star said.
"Shut it!..." Starlight snapped.
"No!..." Dream Star said.
"Yes! Y-..." Starlight then stopped as she noticed something. "Wait... who said anything about a signal?..."She asked, sending her copy a suspicious look.
Dream Star stiffened, realizing she made a mistake but tried to save face.
"Uh... you did..." She said, clearly lying.
"No, I didn't..."Starlight said as she glared at her, while her dream self was looking nervous now.
The blonde heroine then started to put two and two together and gasped as it finally hit her!
"Wait a minute... it's you. You're the signal!..."She accused, looking surprised.
Her dream self suddenly became pale and went in denial.
"W-What?! I have no idea what you are talking about!..." Dream Star said, playing dumb but the others didn't buy it.
The real Star, however, was mad and continued.
"You're the one whose been trying to lure him away, you're obviously aware of me, so you're not just a product of his dreams and you've been gaslighting him the whole time..."She said, wondering why she didn't see it sooner.
Her dream self was obviously self-aware and tried to keep Star from waking her up, something the other versions of her didn't do. The real Star got angrier as she a vicious look to the copycat.
"You're the signal, so I gotta get him away from you!..." She shouted, intending to do so.
The dream Star, realizing she's been caught, tried to trick Danny.
"If there is an evil ghost, it's you!..."The faker shouted, pointing at her.
"Let's see which of us is real then..."The real Star said, intending to tear this faker apart and take her man back.
Before she could do that, a large hand appeared out of nowhere and grabbed onto her, wrapping around her from the neck down.
"There you are!..." Nocturn exclaimed.
Star glared while her doppelganger blew raspberries and Danny blinked in surprise at how things have escalated.
"Wait...Nocturn?..."He questioned, realizing how strange things are getting right now.
Starlight wrestled her way out and reached her out hand to Danny.
"Danny, trust me! Please!..."She called out but Nocturn would not have any of it.
"You will not interfere any longer!..." Nocturn said as he tossed Starlight aside and grabbed her by the leg.
"DANNY!..."Starlight shouted but he then dragged her far away from the plan, while the dream variants watched.
Danny was horrified, while Dream Star smirked.
"STAR!..."He said in worried, but Dream Star tried to regain his attention away from his REAL girlfriend.
With Star
Star managed to break free from Nocturns grasp by freezing his hand, angering him even more.
"INSOLENT BRAT! I'LL MAKE SURE YOU NEVER WAKE UP AGAIN!..."The villain snarled.
"Try me!..."Star said, not backing down as she readied herself.
"Alright Nocturn! Time to face Starlight Spirit!…"She shouted as she charged into the Dream master.
She sent a blast at his head, almost stunning him as she flew around. In response, Nocturn grew to gigantic size, forming multiple arms. The extra limbs swung around, swatting at the girl as the ghost still smiled.
"So what if you have powers now? You are still no match for the likes of me. Especially in this world..."He taunted. "I'm practically invincible!..."He declared proudly.
"That's what you think, goat face!..."Star shot back, as she charged up energy in her hands and fired at him.
Nocturn dodged by stretching his body like taffy and mocked her.
"Do you forget? You're in my realm now. I control the dream. I still have the home field advantage…"Nocturn gloated.
Star buzzed around, doing her best to survive as the many hands came at her. She felt like the last dog fighter against an army, and her engine was starting to run low on gas.
"Oh man, how does Danny keep up with these guys?…"Star wondered.
As this went on, Danny watched the fight, wondering why no one else stepped in. To his surprise, everyone else didn't seem to notice or care about a ghost battle happening, they were still acting like the wedding was still going on but the ghost boy watched and couldn't look away from this.
"She's fighting him..." Danny said to himself, feeling the urge to step in.
However, Dream Star tugged on his arm, trying to get his attention back on her, clearly trying to keep him here.
"Forget them, Danny! Let's get married now!..."Dream Star said, fluttering her eyes to get him to agree.
Normally, this would have worked on him but it's clear seeing Nocturn affected him and started to clear his mind. Danny turned his head and started to get suspicious, which she noticed.
"What's wrong, Danny-boo?..."She asked, trying to look cute but Danny was getting more suspicious.
Something doesn't feel right and it's only now he realized it.
He started to look at her with a questioning look on his face as he started to realize that something is amiss.
He felt a strange sensation in his head that he briefly felt earlier when he had encountered the other Star...it was brief then, but it's back now and much stronger, especially as he saw the Starlight that was battling Nocturn and then faced the Star that claims to be his bride.
"Wait a minute... you might not like it when I have to cut our time short, but you'd never intentionally keep me from helping someone..."He said and she suddenly turned pale.
"B-But I...uh...it's our wedding day and we need to be together...and we haven't even kissed yet..."She insisted, but it sounded weak to Danny.
He then thought back to earlier and noticed he had no ghosts to fight. In fact, he's had no need to be Danny Phantom. He also noticed that his parents didn't speak about ghosts even once this entire time. Not to mention that Sam was wearing a PINK bridesmaid dress and Danielle was present in human form, yet his parent's never questioned it.
All of these things were wrong and yet he was too induced by...something...to notice.
Until now.
"I haven't seen any trouble..."He said. "In fact, I haven't needed to go ghost all day. Not to mention, that second Star appeared in front of us, not just once but twice and kept telling me that I'm dreaming all this but...I brushed it off for some reason...why would I do that? Plus, she seems kinda right…everything seems…too good to be true..."He said as he tried to fight the sensation until he felt something was definitely off about his wedding day.
He gasped when he suddenly recalled the situation and how he basically seemed to spend years with Star here, but they still looked like teens.
If anything, it's been only a few hours but he's suddenly getting married and he's only just now realizing that!
Everything he went through was just too sudden and fantastical to be real.
Maybe...because it wasn't.
"Oh man, this is a dream, isn't it?..." He let out as it finally sunk in.
Dream Star grew nervous and tried to save face, having a nervous smile on her as she reached for his hands, trying to look innocent.
"Don't be silly! I would never do that! Now be with me like the hormonal teenager you are..." She said through her teeth, trying to salvage what little control she had left.
She tried to reach him but her "groom" avoided her and glared at her.
"That's not something she'd say, my Star wouldn't use the term 'hormonal teenager', she also wouldn't talk to me like that or talk me out of helping someone who clearly could use some help either...and I also just realized... we're still falling. I might be a C student, but I know we're not that far into the air to fall this long...!" Danny said, looking down and seeing the ground was no closer to when they came out.
"It's... a trick! Come on!..." Dream Star insisted, losing her cool and even her eyes glowed red for a moment.
Danny noticed this and pulled away, glaring at her. Her grip on him was broken and she was now visibly shaking.
The ghost boy just glared at her.
"No chance, I'm sorry Star or whoever you suppose to be, but I'm calling the wedding off..."He said and the dream girl got furious.
It was clear she can't trick him anymore but she refused to give up!
"I'm not letting you get away! Get over here!..."She snapped at him, demanding him to come marry her right now.
Before Danny could respond, a shout of pain caught his attention.
"ACK!..." The real Star went, sounding like she was in pain.
Turning his head, he saw Star being squeezed tightly by Nocturn in his grip.
"Let go!..." Starlight demanded as she struggled to free herself.
"Now... it's time my dear for permanent nap time!..." He said as his eyes glowed red, glowing as he readied to finish the blonde heroine.
With that, Danny's felt both of his anger and concern rise as his power spiked up, as he knew that the real Star needed help.
"Star!..."He said as his eyes turned green, glowing intensely.
Earlier
With Star
Star had been battling Nocturn and tried her best, but the dream ghost Star had been battling was in his he field advantage. Nocturn was doing well, but the dream ghost was underhanded and used the unfair tactic of disappearing and reappearing to hit her from behind. He wore her out and now held her in his hand, tightly.
"Let go!..." Starlight demanded as she struggled to free herself.
"Now... it's time my dear for permanent nap time!" He said as his eyes glowed red as he readied to finish the blonde heroine.
"Oh man, I'm toast!..."Starlight thought, worried as this looked bad.
However, her salvation came quickly and without mercy, in an unexpected way.
It was then a stray blast hit Nocturn between the eyes. The dream master winced in pain, slapping all of his into his face on reflex. It made everything ten times worse as he glared in all directions, spotting Danny Phantom floating around him.
"Danny!..."Starlight said in relief.
"YOU!..."Nocturn shouted, not liking this.
"Hey Nocturn, I think it's time you learn something important. And just for you, I'll use a big voice…"Danny said as he inhaled sharply.
"Leave my Starlight ALONE!..." At that last word, the ghost boy screamed his ghostly wail, encompassing Nocturn in ghostly sonic energy.
The force alone pushed the dream master back, while Star managed to free herself while he was distracted. The heroine saw this and quickly flew to her boyfriend's dream self while Nocturn dealt with the attack.
"Danny...is...is it really you?..."Star asked, hopefully.
The dream version of the ghost boy gave her a warm smile and tried to explain as best as he could.
"I... it's me...sorta...I think that I'm more like some sort of representation of my consciousness or some kind of dream avatar. I think. It's really hard to explain..."He said as he recalled what had happened earlier.
He sent her an apologetic and even embarrassed look now.
"I guess I got carried away but if there is a way to make it up, I'll pummel this creep with you..."He said as pounded a fist in his hand.
Star smiled and nodded.
"Then let's make this a date, Boo..."She said as the two hovered next to each other.
Nocturn saw this and growled after recovering from that attack.
"SUCH INSOLENCE! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG IT TOOK TO DISGUISE MY SIGNAL TO LOOK LIKE HER?! I'LL GIVE YOU A HINT, LONGER THAN YOU HAVE TO LIVE!..."He said as he grew large and more menacing but the superhero couple were not afraid.
"Get over yourself! Danny isn't under your power anymore! It's over now, Creep!..."Star yelled.
"What she said!..."Danny nodded as he couldn't have said better himself.
Nocturn just got angrier.
"Don't think this is end! Things are only getting started! Prepare to never wake up again!..."He shouted, losing his cool while the heroes kept their distance from him.
"Oh yeah!? We'll get ready, Creep!..."Star yelled.
"Cause now everything you've done is gonna be undone. It's time to lose the third wheel..."Danny nodded as he cracked his knuckles.
Nocturn jetted at the ghost boy, his eyes leaking ectoplasmic energy. He swiped with his claws, releasing a wave attack that boomeranged around. The ghost smiled as he went into corner the ghost boy, but found his side blasted by Star.
"Don't think I'm gonna stand on the sidelines…"Star quipped, kicking away at the very annoyed ghost.
"You have ruined everything! Do you not realize how easily things would have been for me if he stayed asleep?!..." He shouted at her.
"That's the idea..." Star responded.
Nocturn tried attacking her but she kept dodging him with her agility, combined with impressive athleticism.
This continued for what felt like hours, but in reality it couldn't have been more than a few minutes at most. Especially given how Nocturn was already through with dealing with Star all night.
The ghost's attacks became more erratic as he swiped at the girl, intending to cause as much damage in his state of rage but he himself tiring out
"If I had known how stressful you are, I'd have left one of the pillows in my chamber!..." Nocturn said.
"One of the pillows? Wait... are you some place with a lot of pillows?..." Star asked, getting a clue.
"You won't live long enough to find out!..." Nocturn says menacingly.
"Don't you dare threaten my girlfriend, you nighttime creep!..."Dream Danny warned as he fired at him, landing a few hits here and there.
Star followed his lead, dodging and firing a barrage of ecto blasts at the enemy. Most only kept Nocturn from escaping, some even managed to damaged its target.
Nocturn backed away a bit, but smiled to himself. Despite the power of the ghostly couple, nothing seemed to crack his confidence.
"Great. There's that look that bad guys have when they still have one last trick up their sleeve…"Danny groaned. He had seen the look so many times, it was annoying now.
"Perhaps, but in case you forgot…"Nocturn gestured to everything. "We're still in my realm. And no matter the odds against me, this is still my kingdom…"He declared dramatically.
The ghost of dreams laughed as the couple winced. Despite their anger, that was a valid point.
"I hate it when the bad guy has a point…"Danny groaned.
"Well, then we're gonna just get out…"Star retorted.
"And how do you propose to do that?…"Nocturn glided up to the girl. "This is the ghost child's dream, locked in by my specially designed helmet. There's no way he can break the spell with a simple shock…"He said smugly.
Danny growled, but concentrated as an idea came to him.
"Then I'll just have to try harder!…"Danny said.
The ghost boy charged in his fist and sent an attack, hitting Nocturn and sending him flying back from the big blast. However, they both knew that this would be temporary. They had to get him up before anything else happened.
"Okay...I gotta get my body awake..."He said while his girlfriend looked concern.
"But last time you woke on your own. Why not try again?..." Star asked.
Danny knew that she had a point and he knew that he is still technically dreaming, despite everything that had happened.
"I don't know why I'm still sleeping...I managed to shock myself away last time..."Danny said, scratching his chin... and wisely keeping WHAT shocked him to himself for the time being.
Star was deep in thought.
"Nocturn said that he put a special helmet on you and Tucker said we might need a special scanner get you up..."She explained.
"We don't have time or a scanner. There has gotta be some way..."Danny said as he tried to brain storm.
"Well, I shocked myself awake. Then next thing I noticed after waking up was seeing the helmet in pieces and Noctun's goons all over town..."She said. "Heck, I'm the reason everyone else woke up..."She pointed out.
"How?..."Danny asked, curious.
"I think... there's still some ecto-energy or whatever in my system after your powers were given to me that one time..."She said before getting an idea. " Maybe I can... give it back?..."She suggested, surprising her boyfriend.
"You think so?..." He asked.
"Yeah, maybe I can give it a shot and use this whole dream place as a sort of connection and make your body go ghost or something. That might be enough to wake you up..."Star said as she placed her hands on his forehead and tried to will whatever was in her back to its owner, hoping that it could somehow help him wake up.
Unfortunately, Nocturn came back. He saw this and pulled her away.
"I don't think so, my dear..."He said.
"Star!..."Danny shouted in worry.
"Hands off, dreambutt!..."Star shouted as she struggled.
"Not a chance!..." The villain said as he was about to crush her then and there.
Danny saw this and got angrier.
"Get your hands off my Starlight!..."He shouted as he wanted to rush in and knock the stuffing out of Nocturn.
However, he soon felt something strange.
"Wait a minute..."He said as he felt something flow through him as he got angry.
Nocturn noticed this and gasped.
"Oh no!..."He said but it was too late.
Danny smirked as his body glowed and felt something flow through him.
"I think my body in the real world just got Star's gift... giving my body a charge!..." He declared, smiling as he felt his body as if it was in turbo mode.
The world around them started to turn to change, fading away piece by piece.
Dream Star, who had been watching everything from a distance, saw this and sighed, knowing that she had failed and it was all over now.
"Well, it was fun while it lasted..."She muttered before she turned to static, vanishing completely.
Nocturn saw this and panicked before he growled angrily.
"You'll pay for this!..."He yelled.
"Send us the bill..." Star said sarcastically, smirking as she watched the following happen.
Danny's body glowed as the world shook. The environment became intense as the sky cracked and the ground dissolved like sand in an hourglass.
Nocturn saw this and gasped in horror as he saw what his young enemy was doing.
He was breaking free!
He couldn't believe his own eyes as the dream world began to fall apart around him.
"IMPOSSIBLE!..."Nocturn shouted, unable to believe that his enemy broke free.
"AHHHH!..."Danny yelled as static happens as the "dream world" began to dissapear, all of it becoming static-y and things vanishing.
"YES!..."Star said in relief as Danny's dream world began to fade in and out before she did the same, vanishing completely.
Soon, the "perfect dream" was gone and so was everything that bound Danny to this place.
In the Real World
"AHHHHHHHHH!..."Danny shouted as his special helmet finally broke, freeing him.
During this time, Star found herself forcefully ejected from the dream, groaning in pain from the not-so-graceful landing.
"Ouch, I'm never gonna get used to that..."Star mumbled as she rubbed her temple before she noticed that she was back in the real world.
She then gasped as she saw Danny on the ground, hissing and breathing heavily, as the remaining bits of the helmet were now off him and scattered all over the ground.
"Danny-boo!..."She said in concern as she cradled him in her arms.
He opened his eyes and saw her, looking at him with concern. The ghost boy, still a little groggy and hesitant, smiled weakly at her.
"Star...is that really you? The real you? Or are we packing for our honeymoon already?..."He said in a somewhat drowsy daze as he kept looking into her eyes.
His girlfriend laughed in relief, holding him lovingly as she realized that he woke up and he was back!
"Danny!…"Star hugged her ghostly boyfriend, happy he was out of Nocturn's grasp and in her arms.
"Star!..."Danny said as he finally came to and aware of his surroundings.
"You're awake, you're finally awake!..."Star said, nearly crying for joy as she quickly planted a kiss on him.
Danny returned it and felt himself melting in her touch, knowing that this is indeed real.
For the first time that night, they both felt truly free and happy as they knew that this was no dream.
-To be continued-
Next time on Dreamt
Awakening
A/N(1): Special thanks to NeoMark, Jay The Average Fanboy and BeConfuzzled Writer for assisting in this chapter. You guys rock :)
A/N(2): I dedicate this chapter to my family, my friends and my love for God :)
REPLIES to my loyal and totally awesome reviewer:
RonaldM40196867: I will think about it. Thanks for the suggestion.
Jebest4781 and girlbook: Thank you :)
Eecobeo: I hope that this chapter clears things up more.
Invader Johnny: :)
Hmilles02:
1) I try to publish it as soon as possible.
2) Maybe.
3) Everything.
Luiz4200: :)
Jay The Average Fanboy:
1) Well, nothing major yet but she tries to be nice to them.
2) No.
3) Nocturn didn't want his victims waking up, so he gave them good dreams.
:) I hope you enjoyed this! Remember to read and review :)
