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 18: Awakening

"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.

Star cried tears of joy as she held onto Danny, so happy to be able to hold him, especially after those nasty dream helmets kept shocking her every time she tried to touch him.

To say she was happy to have him back in her arms is an understatement.

"I was so worried..."She said as she began kissing his face multiple times, not that he minded.

"Uh...sorry I worried you, Starlight..."He said as she continued this and he made no effort to stop her.

Why would he?

It feels so nice...and real.


A few moments later

Star was still embracing Danny.

It was one of those moments that neither didn't want to end. Sadly, there were more important matters to attend to and they knew it.

After a few moments of this, he tried to get back on his feet with Star helping him up. He checked his surroundings to make absolute sure that he was back in reality.

The young halfa was smiling before he remembered the current crises...and sort of hoped it was just a dream.

"So...was I just dreaming the whole situation or is Nocturn really on the loose?..."He asked, already knowing the answer but he wanted to be sure.

"The second one. Nocturn is back and he trapped you in the dream world with a special helmet and hypnotized you into never wanting to wake up from it..."She explained.

"Then...how did I manage to wake up this time?..."He asked, still confused.

"Well, to make a really long story short...I had to go into your dream myself to snap you out of it..."Star said.

"You used the helmet that Frostbite made, didn't you?..."He asked.

"Well, at first...I kinda jumped through a few weird dreams until I eventually found more of our friends to help me out but then Nocturn sent me to a different dream to punish me for interfering..."Star said, frowning as she recalled WHOSE dream she was in.

"Where did you go?..."He asked, almost afraid to ask.

"Colette's..."Star said bitterly, while Danny's eyes widen.

"Oh man, what did you see?!..."He asked, worried and mildly horrified.

"I don't think you'll ever sleep again if I tell you..."Star said, not wanting to talk about it now.

She decided to get this conversation back on track and NOT think about what she had to see earlier.

"Anyway, I ruined her dream and I managed to escape. Then after getting back to the others, we ran into Nocturn and eventually, I returned to your dream and I managed to finally wake you up..."She said, sounding proud.

Danny went wide eyed after she explain everything that's happened while he was trapped inside own dreamland.

"Wow, you did a lot this whole night..."He commented, since that couldn't have been easy.

"You have no idea..."Star sighed, recalling her time in the dream world through out the entire night.

"Seriously, are you okay, after all that?..."He asked, worried about her.

"I'm fine, thanks. I'm just happy that you're here..."She said, meaning it.

Before Danny could continue, he suddenly hissed in pain.

"Are you okay?..."Star asked, concerned.

"I'm fine, but my hand kinda hurts for some reason..."He hissed. "It feels like it was it was hit by a ton of bricks..."Danny said, trying to sooth it.

Star suddenly remembered her previous attempts to wake him up and flinched.

"Uh, maybe a bowling ball..."She said, nervously.

Danny sent her a look while she smiled innocently.

"I did try to wake you up anyway I could..."She said, hoping that he's not too mad.

After staring at her a moment longer, he laughed.

"Well, you did try what you could..."He said, flexing his fingers as his healing factor started to kick in.

Star felt relief that he wasn't upset and that he'd be okay.

Once that was over, she finally noticed that she was no longer in her Starlight Spirit form and was back to being her regular self. She tried to see if she could change again but nothing.

She sighed, looking a little bummed to be honest.

"Well, it was fun while it lasted..."She said, but accepted it.

Now is not the time for her to feel down about losing her powers again, they had to a town to save and friends to find.

"We'd better find the others and let them now that you're okay..."She said, hoping that they were okay.

"You're right, we should go..."He said, wanting to see how his friends and sister are doing.

Still, her boyfriend had one last thing to do.

"But first...consider this my way of saying thanks..."He said before he kissed her once more.

"This feels right..."Danny thought, happy to feel the real Star instead of continuing with a fake dream version of her.

"I've been waiting all night to keep doing this..."Star thought, loving every moment of this before pulling away.

The two shared a tender moment before the ghost boy spoke up.

"By the way…"Danny said as he looked at her. "Did I see you in as Starlight Spirit on my dream...and were you also briefly in your jumpsuit, but in silver?…"He had to ask.

"You saw that I looked good didn't I?…"Star asked and her boyfriend nodded.

"Yeah, silver really brings out more of…well you…"He said, as he could help but really admire her.

Star blushed at the ghost boy's words as she made a mental note to try the outfit on again in the real world when this is over.

However, it was short-lived as their "friend" showed up. It was Nocturn and he looked mad to say the least.

"YOU ROTTEN GIRL! YOU AND YOUR ANTICS RUINED EVERYTHING!..."He yelled, looking angry.

Star rolled her eyes.

"Oh please, that's your opinion..."She said, arms crossed.

Before the ghost could go back to yelling at her, a certain ghost boy decided to step in, looking more than ready for a fight.

"Hey Nocturn!…"Danny said, his voice cut through the ghost confidence like a hot knife through butter.

With quick and confident crack of his knuckles the ghost boy walked up to the dream master, making Nocturn fuming with rage.

"Guess who's well rested, relax, and more than ready to kick your butt…"Danny said, eager to get some payback.

The evil ghost sneered at him, before he smirked, still strong enough to fight back.

"Don't get to full yourself, Ghost Child. I managed to trap you in slumber once and I will do it again!..."He said.

"Maybe you should sleep on it!..."Danny quipped, hands glowing.

Nocturn just scowled, his patience long gone now.

"That's it's! If I can't destroy you two in the dream world, then I'll simple do so in this one!..."He shouted, losing his cool while the heroes kept their distance from him.

"Dream on, Sleepy! You're about to go back to bed!..."Danny and Star both said in sync before they stood together side by side.

The couple then charged at the dream ghost as they attacked him.

Star watched as Danny released his arsenal of ghostly powers onto Nocturn. She knew he'd need a moment to get back at the ghost for everything he has done!

"THIS IS FOR TRAPPING ME AND DISGUISING YOUR SIGNAL BEACON OR WHATEVER AS MY GIRLFRIEND!..."He shouted as he kept firing all sorts of things at their foe.

Star saw this and smiled.

"Aw, he's defending my honor~..."She gushed as she clasped her hands together before joining the battle.

Star assisted with an extra blaster she had on her, since her ecto-saber had been misplaced. She kept this up as her boyfriend fired from high above at the evil ghost.

"How do you like that?!..."Danny shouted as his girlfriend followed his lead.

"Try sleeping this off, Sandman!..."Star shouted as she fired again.

Danny gave her the peace sign, pleased to see her in action.

"Nice one, your aim is improving..."Danny said, impressed while Star returned the gesture with a flirty wink

"Thanks..."Star said, sending her boyfriend a very affectionate smile, as well as annoying the ghost.

"Will you both stop treating this like a date?! It was already obnoxious enough making that dream world as saccharine as it was..."Nocturn complained.

Danny heard this and shook his head, choosing to mock him.

"Aw, Nocturn apparently is lonely. I guess you did a great job making that version of Star a little too into me while I was asleep, too bad the real one can kick butt better AND stand up to you and that's without her powers too..."Danny said, gesturing to her and bragging about how much better she is than the dream version.

"Good job, Starlight..."Danny said.

"It wasn't easy but totally worth it..."Star said, sending him a loving smile.

"Well, I agree..."Danny said b before the two kissed, ignoring the ghost enemy there.

"This feels too real not to enjoy..."He said after pulling away and making her giggle.

"Stop, we've gotta stop the bad guy..."Star said in between giggles.

"In a minute..."He said, kissing her once more.

Nocturn was getting impatient by this to say the least.

"Ugh! How disrespectful! I'm right here, you know!..."He said, annoyed by these teens and their antics.

"Of course we don't respect you, Creep. Now, do you mind? We're having a moment here..."Star said, waving her hand at him dismissively.

Nocturn frowned, ready to assault them.

"I'm going to enjoy putting a stop to this!..."He said, ready to fire his sleep dust at them.

However, Star pulled away from Danny and fired at Nocturn's hand, making the dust unable to reach them as he fell back.

"Go suck a lemon!..."She shouted, also blew a raspberry the annoyed dream ghost.

"Such language!..."He snarled.

Before he could attack, a shot from nowhere hit him in the head, knocking him down.

"AHHH!..."The villain yelled in pain.

Danny and Star blinked at that. The two turned to see where it came from. It came from a familiar redhead, Jazz, who had fired a blaster at the ghost.

"Be glad she didn't use anything PG-13!..."Jazz said, happy to have hit him.

"Guys..."Star said, happy to see that they were okay.

Danny was relieved when he saw the others.

"Sam, Tucker, Jazz!..."Danny said in relief, only to pause when he saw two more additions here. "With Val and Cujo?..."He questioned, looking surprised.

Val saw this and rolled her eyes.

"It was Star's idea. I just wanted to fight some ghosts..."She explained, shrugging before readying her blaster.

"RUFF!..."Cujo barked, looking innocent in his puppy form.

Danny raised a brow but decided that they had more pressing matters to attend to.

Like kicking Nocturn's butt!

"Well, let's get to it..."He declared, pointing to Nocturn.

Nocturn got up and wiped his mouth of drool that came out when he fell. He saw the other teenagers and their dog and was shocked and angered at the sight of them.

"YOU?! How did you escape my Sleep-walkers?!..."The villain demanded.

"Well, while you were dealing with Star, we managed to outsmart and wipe the floors with those goons you left behind..."Jazz bragged.

"Yeah, those sleep-walkers were pretty lost without someone to give them orders..."Sam said and the others nodded.

Nocturn heard this and dragged his hand down his face, exasperated.

"This is what I get for using less intelligent enforcers..."He muttered, dragging a hand on his face.

"Also this!..."Danny said as he managed to land a hit on him, sending him into the side of the building.

Nocturn recovered and growled.

"You're all about to be punished for staying up so late!..." He said, a menacing aura surrounding him.

They all turned to Nocturn and readied for battle. Danny raised into the air while his friends and girlfriend aimed their weapons and Cujo was still growling in his beast form, surrounding him.

"Give it up, Nocturn. Your outnumbered AND outclassed..."Danny said as his eyes and fists glowed brighter.

"That's what you think, Ghost Child. It's not always about the numbers.."Nocturn said, growing in size.

"Dream on, Creep!..."Val said as she fired at him.

"Alright everyone, let's take him down..."Danny ordered as he did the same.

Everyone else followed suit and fired away. Each shot aimed to try and hit their target. However, once the smoke clears, Nocturn seemed to have disappeared.

"Uh... did we... vaporize him or something?..." Tucker asks.

"No... my gear isn't that powerful..." Valerie said.

"Up here!..." Nocturn said as he attempted to unleash his sleep dust.

"Scatter!..." Danny shouted, all of them going in different directions to avoid the dust.

Nocturn looked pleased with it until someone took aim and hit his eye.

"ACK!..." He went, as it hit the eye with the scar.

"I got him, Bullseye!..."Jazz cheered, happy to land a hit.

"Yes, you got him, now he's got you!..." Nocturn shouted as he flew down and tried to grab her with his giant hands.

However, Danny flew in and kicked him in the face, while Cujo bit him in his lower region and swung him down.

"AHHH!..."The villain yelled, hissing in pain.

Angered, Nocturn rose his hands and his sleepwalkers arrived.

"Like this works..." Danny scoffed.

With that, quick work was made of them. Some were blasted by Danny, some where trampled by Cujo, others were punched by Valerie and the others. However, they just kept coming at them but despite the many sleep-walkers, the heroes were making quick work of them...

And their leader knew that too.


With Nocturn

"Why is this happening?!..."He thought, hating this.

Nocturn was breathing heavy. He was in the real world and while he still had some power, he felt himself get a bit winded and his sleep-walkers were even getting slower than before, due to all the power he had used to create more.

He knew why this is happening too.

The master of dreams was losing power, since he had used so much fighting these kids all night and their constant interference.

He was also losing the ability to think straight due to the stress he's been given. He knew that he was backed into a corner and he hated it. He had one option and decided to use it, even though it was a last resort.

"I have no choice..."He muttered, as he knew that it was time to make a strategic retreat.

"I'll need a recharge..."Nocturn said as he took off, having one last trick up his sleeve.

He released his sleep dust, knowing they'd try to avoid it so he can escape.

"Watch out!..."Danny said as they managed to avoid it.

However, they soon saw what their enemy did and why.

"He's getting away!..."Star pointed at Nocturn, who was fleeing.

"Not for long! Don't forget you got another ghost hunter here!..."Valerie said as she summoned her jet board. "Dibs on the first strike! Come on!..."She said.

Despite some protest from Tucker, Team Phantom (Minus Danny and Star, who was flying and carrying the latter) grabbed hold of her as they flew after Nocturn, chasing after him and staying right on his ghost tail, until he opened a portal and escaped through it.

The portal closed before they could reach it, much to their frustration.

"Darn it, he got away! We have to go after him!..."Val said, not yet finished with the dream invading ghost .

"But we don't even know where his hide out is..."Tucker complained.

"I do..."Star said, surprising everyone.

"Really?..."Danny asked and his girlfriend nodded.

"When I was in Danny's dream, I figured out that it has something to do with beds...and that Nocturn is also very lazy and unoriginal..."She commented. "He also mentioned pillows when we were fighting him in Danny's dream..."She explained.

"So, where is it?..."Sam asked, being impatient.

Star sighed and frowned as she began speaking again.

"There's only one place that would have a lot of pillows and be big enough to house machinery from an evil, power hungry ghost that's obsessed with other people's dreams..."Star said as she began to tell them her theory.

-To be continued-

Next time on Dreamt

Facing The Nightmare


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:

Jebest4781: Thank you :)

Invader Johnny: :)

Girlbook: :)

RonaldM40196867:

1) I added her because I thought it be awesome :)

2) Like I said, I will think about it but I have quite a few fics that I already have planned out for the time being.

3) I hope that this chapter answers that question.

Hmilles02:Thank you.

1) No, not at this time.

2) Maybe.

3)I haven't decided yet.

4) I haven't thought of any yet, sorry.

5) Maybe, I guess it depends on the plot and how much character development that they would get.

CZS4: :)


:) I hope you enjoyed this! Remember to read and review :)