Chapter 2: Fighting and Forgiveness

Good that I was on time this time. Ha. With me going on vacation to New England, including Salem, Massachusetts, while writing parts of this chapter.

Anyway. Hope you guys and gals enjoy this chapter.

I was in shock.

A ghost invasion, here and now. Those things were surprisingly common, of course. But at such a large scale, Amity Park hadn't seen such an invasion that incident with Ghost King.

"And now Ghost Boy, you shall face our wrath for humiliating us." The Fright Knight said in a vengeful voice.

The Fright Knight then fired a blast from his sword, which Danny instantly dodged.

The Fright Knight then said, "You and your friends are not enough to stop us this time."

Hyperion then spoke with a smirk on his face, "I don't think so." He then clapped his hands together creating a shockwave aimed at the ghosts. It caused them to fall down, some even flew back into the portal.

"I don't have time for another hero that could be another thorn to my plans." Fright Knight said referring to Hyperion.

The Fright Knight then raised his sword and made a giant swipe at all of us, which caused a wave of green energy to fly towards us. Which hit us all. Then I noticed that all of us were glowing green.

"Not again!" Tucker yelled with both dismay and fear.

"What do you mean?" I asked in concern.

"I remember when I was last struck with this stuff. It's causing us to be transported to a realm of your worst nightmare." Tucker explained, "I remember being struck by that stuff the first time the Fright Knight attacked us." He then shuddered.

I shuddered as well. I didn't want to face any nightmare that ghost had planned for us, most especially Peter, who tightly held my hand.

Then the room changed suddenly and I screamed.

The place that I was in now was a hallway at Casper High. I then stopped screaming as confusion took over me. Why am I here, or least some realm, as Tucker called it, made to look like the halls of my school. After all, when Tucker said the term nightmare realm, I pretty much expected to see a horror movie version of hell with the rest of everyone touched by Fright Knight's blast.

"Hello." I said with some uncertainty in my voice.

I got no response.

So I called out again. "Danny. Tucker. Hyperion. Peter."

This time I heard a laugh from a distance. So I followed the sound of the laughter to its source. It led me to the girls locker room. As I came close to the door I noticed that laughter was from two people, both of which sounded familiar.

I opened the door and the noise became very clear to me. That laugh was Paulina's and… mine?

I saw both Paulina and some duplicate of myself. My duplicate was wearing the clothing that I used to wear during my days as an A-Listers, white shirt, red pants, and an overwhelming amount of makeup. Paulina was of course her usual smug self.

"What the hell." I said speaking for my mind.

Paulina then spoke, "Oh, look. It's… you know what. You're such a loser, I don't even know your name." She and my double then laughed at what was Paulina's attempt of a crude joke.

I then spoke while they were still laughing, specifically at my double, "Your me."

"No shit Sherlock." My double said.

"But how is me being confronted my former best friend and some bitchy version supposed to be my worst nightmare?" I said with some confusion, though I was beginning to realize what my double and Paulina were supposed to represent.

"Well looks like the baby needs to be spoon-fed." My double said in condescending voice, "I'm what you always were, has been, and will be. Your basically a satellite Estelle Strong. Because let's face it you were always meant to be nothing more then a satellite to whoever the most popular girl at school is."

"I am not that person anymore!" I said aggressively.

"Come on Estelle. You really think that you can really be something more." Satellite, as I referred to my double as, laughed, "Please your just a little girl playing dress-up." Referring to my Captain Carter costume. "Believe me, because I am you. Your better being nothing more than Paulina's shadow."

"That's not true I'm more than that you Satellite!" I yelled at my double. "My name is Star Strong and I'm a better woman than you! I'm no longer you and I'll never be you!"

I thought if yelling confidence at yourself works in the movies when getting out of these types of situations. Then it's worth trying at least.

"I'm not you anymore! And never will be again!" I yelled, this time with confidence.

Satellite then laughed smugly and said, "Really. That's all you have to say. Quite generic don't you think."

I ignored her by just saying the same line over and over, "I am not like you anymore!" Each time I said it, I yelled louder.

"Seriously." Satellite said, still in that condescending voice, "Might as well just give up on that and just accept that your meant to be Paulina's shadow."

Paulina just continued to laugh.

While I said words of self-esteem to myself. Each time louder. "I am not you anymore! I Am Not You Anymore! I AM NOT YOU ANYMORE!"

I closed my eyes and thought of images. Images of me talking to Winn in that weird place. Spending more time with my family. The time when Paulina tired to flirt with Danny (one of her many attempts to score a date since he revealed his identity as Phantom) and brought up the death of Kwan's Dad in a rude way, which resulted in me smacking her across the head. The memory of Captain Carter saving my brother's life. Idea coming to my head of wanting to join Team Phantom.

And I continued to yell with "I! AM! NOT! YOU! ANYMORE!"

And then suddenly everything around me changed once again.

I was back in the Fenton's Lab as soon as I opened my eyes. Everyone else was laying on the ground, including Peter and Hyperion. I went to Peter and shook him.

"No. Dad. Mom. Star. Don't leave me." Peter muttered. Most likely a fear of being left alone.

I continued shaking my brother hoping that eventually that I'll wake him up. But after a few minutes I realized that it was to no avail. I then tried to wake up Danny, but it was also to no avail.

Frantically, I began looking for something. Anything that will help me wake up Peter, Danny, and the others. I then saw a laptop and noticed that it had video messaging mode on it. So I pressed the last call button on it and after a couple of minutes, the camera attached to the laptop turned on.

On the monitor, I saw Jazz, who looked like she had just gotten up and was really groggy.

"Dad. It's still early in the morning in Germany. Can you…" She then noticed that I wasn't any of her relatives. "Star? What are you doing in the lab?"

"Oh… um… Your Danny's older sister Jazz right?" I said quickly, to which Jazz nodded yes. I explained, as quickly as I could what just happened with the Fright Knight and what he did to all of us.

Jazz, now more wake, responded in horror, "Oh my. Danny. Mom. Dad. And Tucker I guess as well. But why are you here?"

I explained the reasons why I was at the Fenton's Lab and how I escaped Fright Knight's fear realm designed for me. I then said, "So can you please help me?"

Jazz then pondered for a moment and said, "You were able to escape that ghost's illusion and you seem to really want to turn over a new leaf. Sure I'll help you." She thought for a few seconds and then said, "I think Nocturn's sleeping helmets might help you gain access to their minds."

I remembered Nocturn, a ghost that had the ability to control and command dreams. He tried to take over Amity Park once, sometime after the Dash Plasmius incident, by making the whole town go to sleep. But to make a long story short, Danny Phantom managed to defeat him. Apparently the Fenton's got hold of some of the devices that he used to make the entire town go to sleep.

I immediately searched the lab for those helmets. I knew what they looked like because I recall being forced into that thing a month back. After a few minutes of searching, I found where the Fenton's stored the helmets.

Grabbing them, I quickly went up to Danny and placed one of the helmets on him. I hoped to enter the Ghost Boy's mind and that this will be easy, though I doubt it, especially compared to my own nightmare realm. I then placed the helmet on myself.

I was then transported to what looked like downtown Amity Park. Well, it looked like downtown.

The area that I was in had ruins, not the ancient kind, but the kind that I saw from the various of ghost battles. But on a much larger scale. I then noticed that the attackers, weren't ghosts.

They were the Derichets from a couple months ago. They seemed to be surrounding someone, I had a good idea who. So I snuck around them. As I did I saw a corpse at my feet. It was Tucker.

Or rather, the corpse of Tucker for whatever illusion this nightmare realm had to offer. I nearly screamed and had to cover my mouth as to not to attract some attention to myself. Illusion or not, I was not about to take that risk.

I continued to sneak around the Derichets and saw more corpses, including Sam, Danny's parents, and most shocking, Captain Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers. The Captain's shield was broken in two pieces. Steve's mech suit in broken shambles. I also saw the body of a little girl, the same little girl that I saw in suspended animation in the Fenton's Lab.

I moved past the corpses and was on the other side of the group of Derichets. I saw Danny, in his ghost form, battered and beaten. His black and white uniform was torn and green ectoplasm was on various of areas on Danny's body. I gasped at Danny's bloodied state.

I then saw Plasmius hover down in front of Danny. Recognizing him from the incident when he possessed Dash and from other fights I've seen on TV. He was carrying Jazz in one hand by the throat and had a statistic grin.

"My boy." Plasmius stated smugly, "My new friends and I have beaten you and your friends. Both old and new. Yet, you still pathetically try to fight on."

Danny simply grunted in pain and spit at his arch-nemesis in response.

Plasmius and Derichets just laughed in response of course.

After the villains stopped laughing Plasmius said, "You always were a fiery one Daniel. Maybe this will snuff out your spark." Plasmius then snapped Jazz's neck.

Danny yelled out his older sister name, unleashing his ghostly wail as he did so. Which did nothing to the villains in front of him. With this being an illusion and all. As such, the villains continued to laugh.

But I didn't have any time for this. So, summoning up all of the courage I can muster, I ran to Danny. In front of Plasmius and the Derichets.

I ran to Danny's side and shook him.

I then yelled at Danny, "Danny! Danny, this an illusion by the Fright Knight!"

Danny then blinked and then said weakly, "Right. Hyperion came to warn us about something. You and your brother came so you can join our Team. And Fright Knight and his minions coming through the portal and trapping all of us inside these illusions."

I smiled and then told the superhero, "Danny listen to me. I was able to get out of my nightmare by saying that this is all not real."

"What really? That seems kind of cliche." Danny said.

"It worked for me. Then it must work for you as well." I explained as fast as I could.

I noticed the villains were now focused on the two of us. I knew we had to get out of this nightmare quickly. We muttered what I said in my nightmare realm. This wasn't real. We muttered it as quickly as we can. Before Plasmius and the Derichets fired on the two of us. The area began to change.

I woke up and so did Danny, back in the Fenton's lab.

"Whoah. That was something." Danny first said, in a very tired voice as he removed the helmet from his head.

We then both seated ourselves on the nearest wall.

"Yeah. I never expected to be inside your head today." I said, relieved that I was able to get Danny out of his nightmare realm just in time.

"Thanks by the way. I would never have expected you of all people to save my life." Danny said in relief as well.

We then both laughed at what we both had just said.

Danny then spoke, "By the way, I'm curious why do you want to join my group."

I then spoke, "Well if your curious. I really want to change and be a better person. After I was dusted and bought back, I realized. What was the point of being popular if all I was is being Paulina's satellite. I was mean to mostly everyone I came across and basically copying whatever Paulina did. I want to be a better person and a good woman by joining your team and to prove to my brother that I'm actually a good sister."

Danny then put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Star, listen to me. You were able to get both of us out our respective nightmare realms. That's something that I most likely wouldn't have been able to do without your help."

"Thanks." I smiled at Danny's compliment. I then said, "Maybe we should use those dream helmets to free the rest of the team."

Danny nodded and grabbed the nearest dream helmet to free the rest of us.

I think a half hour had passed when finally we were able to free everyone from Fright Knight's nightmare realms. I got Peter and Danny's parents, while Danny did Tucker and Hyperion.

Now we were seated in the living room pondering on how to deal with the Fright Knight and his army.

Hyperion spoke first, "Danny, you defeated the Fright Knight before I take it. How did you do it? Given of course that, sorry for being rude, but you're not as strong as him."

"None taken." Danny replied, "How I defeated Fright Knight the first time was that I smashed his sword into a pumpkin."

I noticed that Peter was snickering a little but everyone just seemed to ignore it mostly.

Danny continued, "Yes, I know that sounds ridiculous but that's what happened. Sam got a book about the Fright Knight and hey, it worked."

I noticed that as Danny was talking he seemed to be shaking a little bit. Mrs. Fenton noticed as well and said, "Danny are you you alright?"

Danny responded by saying, "I'll talk about it with you guys later. Right now we have more important things to worry about."

I noticed that as Danny was saying that, Hyperion seemed to have a slightly worried look on his face as well. He then said, "Danny, I'm sorry what you saw, but we can't control what we fear."

"Thanks Hyperion." Danny said as he stood up, "But now's not the time. Now it's time to go on a knight's quest."

For a big vehicle that is the Fenton's RV, it was really cramped in there. Especially that there was a bunch of ghost hunting equipment and five people, including myself, inside this gas guzzler. While Danny and Hyperion were flying above us at around the same speed. I held my brother close to me. All of us were carrying Fenton Thermos, the device used to capture the ghosts.

Then suddenly, we heard a blast of ghost on the RV's radar.

"Ha! Finally tracked you down you ghostly menaces!" Mr. Fenton said rather boastfully.

Peter and I looked out of the window and saw a lot of ghosts attacking random people and causing mischief around town. We saw both Danny Phantom and Hyperion fly towards the center of the mob of ghosts. Thermoses at the ready.

The RV then stopped at the edge of the swarm of ghosts. Mrs. Fenton then jumped out of the vehicle. I decided to follow her, still in my Captain Carter costume by the way.

Tucker then yelled at me, "Star! What do you think you're doing!?"

I faced Tucker and responded, "To do something and be something. Not to be some satellite to whoever's popular in Amity Park. I want to be me."

Mr. Fenton then said, "It's great that your fighting ghosts, but this still dangerous."

I replied, "If I wanted to be safe, I would have begged my family to move to a different town."

Mr. Fenton responded, "Fair enough. Catch." He then threw me a sword that was glowing green, which I caught. He then told me what it was. "It's called the ecto-sword. A more recent invention of mine. It basically a regular sword, but one that weakens a ghost in one swoop. Oh, I almost forgot, it comes with this as well."

Mr. Fenton then handed me a shield. One that looked stronger and much more sturdier than the plastic one that came with my costume, which I threw back into the RV. Mr. Fenton then continued to explain, "And this is the Ecto-Shield. It allows you to deflect the ghosts ecto-blasts."

Tucker immediately responded, "Wait Mr. Fenton, are you sure that Star will be able to handle all of these ghosts? Even with the help from Danny, your wife, and Hyperion."

But before Tucker could say anything else, I said, "Listen Tucker, I'm sorry with how I treated you, Danny, and Sam. But now's not the time for such grudges. I want to help you guys in anyway I can. So please give me another chance. I freed you guys from the nightmare realms, isn't that enough proof that I can handle stuff that your Team encounters on a regular basis? Besides in elementary and middle school I took karate and fencing classes. And I have a very good memory as well."

I felt that Tucker tried to come up with a counter response, but it seemed he couldn't. All I got was a nod from him, that was basically a yes. The RV closed it's doors and drove to a swarm of ghosts. To contain any ghosts from going out of Amity Park.

While the Fenton RV blasting any ghost that were around town, Mrs. Fenton and I went into the center of the ghost swarm. Fighting our way through them and hoping to reach Fright Knight before things got worse.

Mrs. Fenton and I fought our way through the various of ghosts. It took a while for me to get a handle on the Fenton Thermos and the various of other ghost hunting equipment. But eventually I got the handle of it. Remembering the various of fencing and karate skills I can recall from lessons years ago. We stunned numerous ghosts and sucked them into our respective Thermoses.

We reached the town square of Amity Park and a giant battle was ensuing. Danny and Hyperion were dodging and fighting not just Fright Knight, but also Skulker and Technus. With Danny firing his green ghost blast from his hands and Hyperion firing red laser from his eyes. Skulker fired rockets at his foes, while Technus fired electric energy at both their foes. Mrs. Fenton and I continued to fight the various of ghosts that surrounded the town hall.

I took a quick glance during our fight to Hyperion sucker punching Skulker, causing his metal head of his armor to fly off. Revealing the pathetic looking green blob that was the real Skulker. Hyperion immediately pulled out the Thermos that he was given and sucked Skulker into it.

Another ghost nearly got the better of me, but a sucker kick knocked it out long enough for me to suck it into my Thermos. I heard the scream as he was sucked into Thermos by Danny. Who then flew towards the Fright Knight and unleashed a series of ghost blasts at his foe. It was enough to knock the Fright Knight off his horse. Having dealt with most the regular ghosts in the area, Mrs. Fenton and I ran towards their general, the Fright Knight himself.

As we ran towards him, the Fright Knight swung at Hyperion's belt, causing a small canister to fall down and break. What was inside it was a red gemstone that emitted a type of strange red energy that seemed to hurt Hyperion, despite it being a small rock.

The Fright Knight laughed and said, "A living god is brought to his knees by a tiny rock." He then picked up the red rock, "Been a while since I've slain a god."

I realized what Fright Knight was about to do. He was going to stab Hyperion with the red rock and most likely kill him. Luckily, Danny who was closer to Hyperion, flew quickly towards the Fright Knight and took away the red rock from him.

Fright Knight let out a scream of rage and prepared to strike his sword toward Danny. Being much closer I ran towards him and blocked Fright Knight's sword with my ecto-shield. Thinking quickly Danny fired a ghost blast at the Fright Knight's hand carrying his sword, causing him to drop it. I quickly grabbed the sword and put it into the nearest pumpkin. Which this being Halloween season, were all over the front of Town Hall.

As soon as I put the sword into the pumpkin, a green light surrounded the Fright Knight and then he disappeared completely while letting out giant "No."And with that another Halloween invasion was over. The rest of the Fright Knight's army disappeared along with him.

A couple minutes later, the mayor and a couple of his staff came out of the town hall and cheered at us. The Fenton RV parked in front of us. Peter, Tucker, and Mr. Fenton came out of the vehicle all of them cheering as well. In fact the rest of the town came out and cheered also.

"Bet your still used to this." I said to Danny.

Danny responded, "Actually, it's still flattering every time."

The crowd continued to cheer, but then I remembered Hyperion. He muttered, "Put it in lead."

I nodded and handed it over to Mr. Fenton who did as instructed.

Danny and Mrs. Fenton, carrying Hyperion then grouped with the rest of us and Danny told us to go back to Fenton Works.

"The reporters and paparazzi can get a little too much for me." Danny explained.

With that we drove the RV back to Fenton Works.

When we made it back to Fenton Works, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton were able to patch up Hyperion by giving him a vast amount of cosmic energy, whatever that was. Hyperion just gave the Fentons instructions on how to make it. As soon as Hyperion was fully healed he explained to us why he was in our universe.

"I see that you are all aware of the existence of the Fox Theory." Hyperion explained.

Everyone, including me and Peter, nodded.

Hyperion continued, by turning on a hologram that contained a picture of himself. Only something was off about his smile, "A while ago my team, the Squadron Supreme, encountered another version of me. But this me was a full on villain, who immediately upon arriving in my native universe began causing havoc and destruction. I lost several good friends that day." His tone became somber.

Peter raised his hand and asked, "You mean like the evil you is from a mirror universe like in Star Trek?"

Tucker then said in approval, "Good to know that some kids these days still are into nerd stuff."

"Your not that far off Peter." Hyperion said, "But to make a long story short, my teammates and I were able to beat my evil counterpart. Unfortunately, he escaped into the multiverse before my team and I were able to properly restrain him. Then a man called the Doctor…"

"Wait." Danny suddenly said, "The Doctor arrived in your universe as well."

"Yes." Hyperion said, "He arrived in my universe after my evil counterpart fled. He was with two companions named Vicki and Steven."

"You mean not Captain Carter and that Steve Rogers guy?" I said with curiosity.

"I'm sure those were the names of the Doctor's friends. Vicki was a teen genius, while Steven claimed to be a spaceship pilot. Also the Doctor I met was an old man with white hair and really grumpy if ask me." Hyperion explained. He then switched the hologram to a picture of three people. An old man, a blond teenage girl, and a brown haired young man.

"Oh yeah, the Doctor I met, well, his friends explained to Sam, Tucker, Kwan, and me that they also met a version of the Doctor that matched the one you described. Along with another one that can only be described as a hipster." Danny explained, "Plus the Doctor that came to Amity Park was brown haired and middle aged. His friends and him helped us take down my arch nemesis Plasmius and a group of aliens called Derichets."

"Yes, the Doctor I met explained to me that his species had a power called regeneration that is basically like reincarnation but as a superpower." Hyperion continued. "In fact, a teammate of mine, Skymax, met that incarnation of the Time Lord matching your description while helping deliver the Argonite to a team called the Freedom Force on Earth-110521."

"Argonite?" Mr. Fenton said, "You mean that weird red gem that hurt you."

"Yes. But also my evil counterpart." Hyperion explained, "My teammates are traveling throughout the multiverse to deliver a sample of Argonite to a champion of each universe, thanks to a magic spell by my teammate and Wizard Supreme, Arcanna Jones. I trust that the Argonite is somewhere safe in the lab."

Both Mr. and Mrs. Fenton nodded.

Hyperion said, "Good. I hope that you can handle what is to come."

As soon as he finished his sentence, Hyperion disappeared into nothing. Waving goodbye as he did so.

"Well, that was an interesting night." Tucker said, trying to lighten the mood of the situation that was given to the Team.

Mr. Fenton joined Tucker tone in the new conversation, "Yes, I'm sure if Maddie and I build the right device, we'll be able to deal with the evil Hyperion. Along with those Skrulls of course."

I then spoke, "Skrulls? Who are they?"

"Oh, Star. Peter. You're still here." Danny said, he paused for a moment before continuing, "Okay, before I explain anything else further I have this to say. Star, do you still want to be a member of Team Phantom?"

I gasped, "I… well… You mean it for real?"

Danny responded, "Yes. You have proven yourself to be a skilled fighter and have a strong will. Since Sam and Jazz are overseas, I think that we need as much help as we can get. So, are you in or not?"

I thought for a minute. Was I really to be a good member of Team Phantom? I then looked at my brother, who was giving me a look. A look that was pleading me to join his hero's Team. I then said, "Yes."

Peter cheered, while everyone else clapped their hands, even Tucker. Who I noticed seemed to clap his hands reluctantly. I just shrugged knowing I'd have to earn his trust in time. But here and now was my moment. My new leaf was being fulfilled.

I was a member of Team Phantom now.

Well, as Porky Pig said, "That's all for now folks." Well for this chapter at least.

Glad that I was able to post the main bulk of this story before Halloween day. But I'm not completely ending the story there. I'm planning on posting a few epilogue's to tie up a few loose ends before continuing on with my other projects, including "Spirits and Timey-Wimey Mischief" (which I really need to get back to writing on).

Also, I'd like thank Ben2Dartmouth for coming up with the idea of Fright Knight using his nightmare realm power to use on our heroes. His idea for the nightmare realms for Danny and Star's were his of course. But had nightmare realm ideas for Tucker and Hyperion.

For Tucker's nightmare realm it was seeing himself as a villain. Think a fusion of Tucker Phantom (from the episode, "What You Want"), and King Tuck (from the episode of the same name).

For Hyperion, well… I'll reveal that for one of the epilogues. Hint: take note of Danny's mood after freeing Hyperion from his nightmare realm

As for both Peter, Mr., and Mrs. Fenton, Ben2Dartmouth didn't give me any ideas for what nightmare realm they had. So I'll come with own ideas.

For Jack and Maddie Fenton, it would be in both of their respective nightmare realms of them being a joke in the scientific community for believing in ghosts. Maybe for Maddie it's also being unhappily married to Vlad.

For Peter, it would be every kids fear of being alone and rejected.

Oh, Skymax meeting the Eighth Doctor and his companions on Earth-110521 is a nod to that L1701E originally planned introduce that TARDIS team in "Freedom Force" before changing introduction to "Batman Family".

Tofa and see you fans next time.