"You leave him alone!!"
Suddenly, something struck Bertrand in the side of his head, and the beam missed its target, striking the asphalt to the left of Danny's neck. The object fell to the ground, clattering on the pavement. Bertrand loosed his grip, standing up over Danny, turning his attention to where the object had come from. Danny fell back on the ground, gasping for breath, putting a hand to his side.
"Fire two!"
Bertrand was smacked in the face by yet another object. He drew backwards, hissing. Danny turned his head to look; somehow or another, Bertrand was getting attacked by flying trashcans.
Down in the alley, which was in almost direct alignment with where Bertrand stood, Tuck had pulled back a number of clotheslines in a single bundle, having rigged the entire apparatus as a slingshot. Together with Sam, he had his arms around another trashcan, pulling the clotheslines back with it as far as they would allow.
"Fire three!"
Bertrand sidestepped the third assault, then raised his head and opened his mouth, preparing to retaliate.
"Meddling humans...!"
Recognizing the sound of Tuck's voice calling the shots, Danny found it within him to get back up onto his feet. He then turned and leapt at Bertrand, slamming into him just as the beam left his mouth. As he hit the ground with Bertrand underneath him, he heard the impact of the energy blast in the alleyway, followed by the sound of his friends' screams, which were then muffled by the sound of the debris falling on top of them, drowning them out.
Danny sprang to his feet, towering over the fallen Bertrand.
"You... you monster!"
"No, really, what did you expect?"
Bertrand swung his body around, knocking Danny's legs out from underneath him, sending him crashing to the ground. Leaping to pounce on him again, he was suddenly caught off guard when Danny's fist shot out, socking him right in the jaw. Flinching from attacking again, Bertrand received another punch to his stomach. He fell to the ground, Danny leaping on top of him and grabbing him around the neck with one hand, choking him. Bertrand tried to wrap himself around Danny again, but failed to succeed as Danny was able to catch and hold each of Bertrand's limbs in his hands and feet.
Danny then flapped his wings and took to the sky, carrying the trapped Bertrand in his talons, holding his limbs together between his hands and legs. Bertrand struggled to break loose from the grip Danny had on him, but it was almost as if Danny's body had turned into solid steel; he could hardly move at all within his bonds. Together they rose higher into the sky, clearing the low-level clouds, then coming into a level. Bertrand looked down at the distant ground, and saw the Danny was taking him over the city park. It was when Danny suddenly made a sharp tilt toward the ground that Bertrand realized what his next plan of attack was.
"You... You don't have the guts... You'll end up killing yourself too...!"
The air rushed past them with greater intensity as Danny picked up speed, heading straight down at the ground. He made no other response to Bertrand's words. Bertrand turned his head the best he could to look at Danny's face; it was clear by his expression that he meant to do was he was planning on doing. Bertrand looked back down at the ground as it flew up to meet them, and a scream barely escaped his mouth.
Danny and Bertrand slammed into the earth at full force, Danny shoving Bertrand in front of him at the last moment to take the brunt of the impact. Unable to retain his dragon form, Bertrand's ectostructure collapsed, scattering green blobs of ectoplasm everywhere. The ground shook from the hit, sending a shockwave through the city. Nearby, a radio tower toppled over from the quake. After a short while, the shaking died down, and everything fell quiet.
Danny lay where he landed, feeling a sharp pain in his neck where Bertrand's body didn't cushion his fall. He rolled over onto his back, sparks dancing before his eyes from the nerves being touched off all over his body whenever he moved. He didn't count on the effect that coming to a stop at high speed would have on his elongated spine. Remembering his friends back in the alley, he got up onto his feet, withstanding the pain, taking a moment to shake himself to remove the bits of Bertrand that had clung to him. He checked to see if his wings still functioned, then leapt into the air, taking flight.
From above, the central city area looked like a war zone. As he looked over the fallen buildings, he hoped everyone had gotten out of the area all right. After a while, he was finally able to find the two buildings between which he last heard his friends. He landed in the street in front of the area, realizing that only part of the alley had collapsed from Bertrand's attack; the buildings still stood on either side, and the beam had only grazed the roofs, sending the bricks and other masonry falling from the top part of both buildings.
He looked down into the alley, seeing a large mound of debris. He saw no sign of either Sam nor Tuck.
"Guys...?"
He heard a cough. Part of the pile of rubble shifted, and he could see an arm waving about, scattering dust. Danny stepped forward, but realized that he was somewhat barred from entering the alley by the remains of a fire escape, which hung from the side of the building on his right. There was more movement on the ground below, and he saw Tuck sit up, covered in dust. His leg lay bent in an unusual manner.
"Tuck! Are you alright? Where's Sam?"
Tuck looked up at him, and coughed again. He tried to move again, but stopped, crying out. He clenched his teeth, his eyes screwed shut from the pain. His leg was broken.
"Don't move... Stay right there. I'm coming to get you."
Tuck raised an arm to try and clear the dust from the air around him, still coughing from the dust trapped in his lungs. He looked up at Danny, his muscles still tight from the spasms of pain blasting his nerves from his injured leg. He noticed the damaged fire escape.
"No, Danny... Don't try it... cough... You'll get stuck..."
"No, I won't... Don't worry..."
Danny looked at the twisted metal, noticing how it was still attached to the wall. If he tried to tear it away, he could end up causing the building to collapse. He dared not risk that happening. That only left one option: try to crawl underneath it without causing any more damage to both buildings' infrastructures.
Carefully, he lay down on his stomach, folding his wings to his sides, lining himself up with the space beneath the fire escape. When he felt he had himself perfectly straight, he began crawling forward on all fours toward the alley, belly to the ground, moving in a manner similar to that of a snake.
His head went in first, naturally. He felt his hair brush against the metal, followed by the spikes on the back of his head, which scraped against it, almost catching on it. He stopped, hearing a loud creak. Tuck was watching him from where he lay, his back to the pile of bricks. He wasn't coughing as much now.
"Danny, I'm telling you... You're going to get stuck. You're too big."
Danny was unable to reply, seeing as how his lower jaw lay flat against the ground, making him unable to open his mouth. He simply growled in frustration and shoved forward with his neck, freeing his horns from the hanging structure. It swung back and forth slightly from the contact, but otherwise did nothing else. Danny pulled his arms back against his sides, lifting his head to look at Tuck.
"Have a little faith in me, would ya?"
Now all he had left to push himself along were his hind legs. Moving his head close to the side of one of the buildings, he pushed as hard as he could with his feet against the ground behind him, bringing his upper body underneath the fire escape. With his wings down against his back, he was able to slide underneath the structure without anything catching. Soon, he was able to bring his arms around in front of him; even though he was only halfway into the alley, that was as far as he needed to go.
Arching his back downward, he reached out with one hand to slowly clear away the bricks that lay on the other side of the pile from Tuck.
"Did you see where Sam landed?"
"Not exactly, but it was somewhere close to where you're digging..."
As Danny brushed away another layer of brick with his claws, he found a black boot, still worn by a leg clothed in a torn purple legging. He felt a lump in his throat as he carefully dug around Sam's body, freeing it from the debris. She lay still, her eyes closed, her body half-covered in dust like Tuck was. Danny could see a thin line of red running down the side of her face. Taking great caution in his movements, he prodded Sam with one claw; she didn't respond.
Feeling his blood turn to ice, Danny lowered his hand slowly to the the ground. But then, Tuck spoke up, having leaned over to get a good look at Sam.
"It's okay, she's still breathing! You might not be able to see it, but she's breathing. She's just unconscious."
Danny sighed deeply. She was going to be fine... for the most part.
"Tuck, hold still. I'm coming to get you. I'm going to try and get you two to a hospital..."
Sliding his hands underneath himself, Danny shoved down against the ground, pulling himself further through the space under the fire escape. It was up until he had dragged his lower body underneath the metal when he noticed that he wasn't able to move forward any further; the structure had caught on the ridge of bones on his back that connected his spine to the base of his tail. He tried to move, but the structure only creaked louder, threatening to collapse.
He gave up on trying, and finally lay down on his stomach, moving his arms back around in front of him. Tuck lay back against the bricks, watching him.
"I told you..."
"Shut it, Tuck, I'm fine. I'm just fine. But as for you..."
Danny reached behind Tuck, bringing his claws down underneath his body. Tuck whimpered, feeling pain in his leg when it was moved. Danny slowed his movements, trying to keep from hurting Tuck.
"Sorry..."
Having managed to lift Tuck bodily from the debris without causing him too much pain, he tilted his hand back and pulled it toward him, arching his back the best he could so that he could hold Tuck in his arms, in the same manner a youngster would hold a favorite doll. Able to hold him with one arm, he reached out with the other, lifting Sam's body and pulling her to him, cradling her alongside Tuck.
Making sure that he had a good hold on both of them, he then closed his eyes and concentrated. Tuck began to feel prickles all over his skin, realizing what Danny's plan was; Danny was never in danger of getting stuck under the fire escape at all. Danny then rose up onto his feet, stepping backwards, phasing right through the twisted metal and rubble. He stopped in the middle of the street, standing upright. He looked down at Tuck.
"Hold on tight."
Tuck wrapped one arm around Danny's hand, and grabbed hold of the bottom edge of Danny's collar with the other. Danny slowly crouched down, raised his wings, then sprang up into the air as hard as he could. Tuck watched as the ground fell away beneath them, his knuckles turning the same color as the cloth he grasped. Danny continued to gain altitude, leveling off once he was a safe distance away from the buildings below.
Tuck's gaze remained toward the ground, watching as the cityscape swept past them. But then something grabbed his attention. He looked down at Danny's long shadow as it passed over the buildings and empty streets, realizing that something was missing from the picture. He then leaned back against Danny's shoulder, looking back at the pair of wings that were folded down against Danny's back.
"Don't you need your wings to fly?"
"What...?"
Looking back down at the ground, Tuck suddenly found himself concerned with something else entirely. A streak of dark fire leapt up from below, seemingly out of nowhere, heading straight toward Danny like a ballistic missile.
"Danny, look--"
Before Tuck could finish, the flames struck Danny in the stomach, then all of a sudden disappeared. Danny looked down, reacting only to Tuck's shout, as though he didn't feel the attack at all. Suddenly, his back arched sharply in a spasmodic fashion, as though Danny's body had been bent by a pair of invisible hands. He cried out, part in surprise and the other part in pain.
Unable to keep himself aloft, he flipped over in the air and began to fall. Tuck managed to let out a scream before Danny crashed into the earth, and he was flung from Danny's arms, coming to rest against a hard, unforgiving surface upon which he was knocked unconscious.
Danny lay suffering for a moment before wearily rising to his hands and knees, opening his eyes. He had torn through a parking lot, his body having dislodged several large sections of pavement as it came to a stop. Sam and Tuck didn't land too far away; Sam lay face down on the flat part of one of the torn-up pieces of asphalt, whereas Tuck lay on his side with his back against a nearby concrete wall. Neither one moved.
Worried, Danny got up onto his feet. Suddenly, another spasm caught him off guard, and his legs buckled underneath him, causing him to fall hard on his side. He rolled over onto his stomach and tried to get up again, but something was causing his arms to lock up, preventing him from moving them. A feeling of helplessness engulfed him, suffocating him. He knew this feeling from before; it was the same feeling he had when the locker ghost Sidney Poindexter leapt into his body to attempt to drive him out of it.
"Give me your body..."
Danny's hands, as though under someone else's control, suddenly reached up and wrapped around his neck, squeezing his throat. Danny gasped for air, bringing his feet up under his arms to try and pry them away. After much effort he was able to break their hold on him. He lay back against the ground, his breathing labored.
"No!"
"Don't try to fight me, Danny..."
Danny screamed as he felt an intense burning sensation spread throughout his body. He thrashed about on the pavement, feeling each of his nerves seemingly burst into flames. He put his hands to his head, finally coming to rest on his side, curling into a fetal position.
"You cannot win, ghost boy... I will regain control of you..."
"No...!"
But he could feel it deep inside of him; something was pulling him away, tearing his senses away from him, causing him to become detached from himself. The pain began to ebb away as he lost feeling in every part of his body. His vision dimmed.
Suddenly, he found himself surrounded by the dark flames. Evil laughter pervaded his hearing. He hadn't been forced out of his body; he had been trapped inside it, like a hostage, while Spectra had taken it over from the outside. He could barely feel it when his side scraped against the ground, his body rising up onto all fours, the neck bending and the head turning to look out over its surroundings.
"Spectra... Get out of me..."
"Oh, I'm not through with you, not just yet... You're going to do what I want you to do before I let you go."
He felt his right arm lift off the ground, move forward, then come down, the left arm following suit. The head tilted down, and Danny knew what Spectra was looking at.
"First, your girlfriend."
"NO!!"
Danny lashed out with whatever strength he had left, trying to prevent Spectra from taking another step in whatever way he possibly could. He felt her come to a sudden stop, as though her arms had suddenly frozen up. He heard her roaring in frustration, but other than that she had nothing else to say to him.
He felt his center of balance shift as his body rose up on its hind legs. She took a step forward with his left leg.
Danny tried looking behind him, but all he could see was a wall of black fire. He directed his energy straight backward, dispersing the flames, blasting a hole through his outer consciousness. He was able to see the jagged asphalt that lay around where he had landed before. His tail was dragging against the ground. Focusing his energy down his spinal chord, he forced the tail to wrap around one of the sections of torn pavement. With his mind, he gave a hard tug, pulling the dirt and rock sideways and sending it crashing down on top of the tail, pinning it down.
He felt Spectra wheel around to look behind her, roaring, absolutely infuriated at finding herself unable to approach her target any further.
"Fine, if that's how you want it...!"
She swung her neck back around, and Danny felt something burning in his neck. He looked down at the ground, finding Sam laying there before him. She was slowly starting to come around; he saw her arm shifting position, sliding up underneath her, her eyes fluttering open.
Colors and lights flowed about confusedly in Sam's vision. The first thing she felt was a throbbing pain in the back of her head. She could tell that she was laying back against the ground, but she wasn't exactly sure what she was laying on. She turned her head, feeling a pang in her neck as she did so. As her surroundings slowly began to come into focus around her, she thought she saw a familiar shape.
"...Danny...?"
The burning feeling in Danny's neck became more intense. Suddenly aware of what Spectra was about to do, he directed his fading energy up his neck, through his head, into his jaws.
"I know I'm gonna feel this later, but right now... This is gonna hurt you way more than it's gonna hurt me!"
Pulling his last shreds of strength together, he clamped his mouth shut.
The dragon-fire caught in Spectra's throat, and she screamed out in pain, the sound muffled through her closed teeth. Try as she might, she could not open her mouth; it was like it had been welded shut. Tearing at her face with her claws, she threw herself onto her side, thrashing about in agony as she felt her insides getting scorched. Finally, Danny let go, and the jaws flew open, the stream of emerald fire blasting out from her mouth, missing its intended target completely.
Spectra fell backwards, spent. As she slammed into the ground, Danny reached out with his mind, finding her dark essence starting to falter. Remembering how he was able to repel her the last time he faced her in battle, he called forth the spiritual energy and performed the same maneuver, sending a wave of white light crashing in every direction. The light struck Spectra's essence, catching her off guard, sending her flying backwards, out of her physical shell, into the open. Now nothing more than her normal shadowy self, she slammed against a nearby wall, then fell to the ground.
Danny then felt his senses returning to him; he was nearly overwhelmed by the intense pain in his neck and tail. He lay on his back on the ground, his wings underneath him. He rolled over and got up onto his hands and knees, teeth clenched from the pain.
Spectra smouldered where she lay, slowly getting her strength back as her fury welled up inside her. She raised up off the ground, turning to face Danny, her flames growing around her.
"You...!"
Danny saw her fly up into the air, coming straight down at him, her glowing hands out in front, her claws unsheathed.
"YOU WILL PAY!!!"
Danny said nothing. He raised his right hand, leaning over on his left, watching as she came at him. The aura around his right hand changed from white to green, glowing brighter than the rest of him. He then raised his hand over his head, baring his claws, then brought it down with tremendous force, swatting Spectra like a flaming fly, sparks shooting from his hand as he did so.
Spectra smacked against the ground, screaming in fury, her tone then changing to that of helpless defeat as Danny brought his hand down on her again, squishing her like a bug. Her flames were immediately extinguished under Danny's forceful attack, and her screams faded into silence. He waited a moment before lifting his hand, seeing nothing left of Spectra except a black scorch mark on the ground where she lay before.
His aura returned to its normal white glow. Slowly, he got up on all fours, and made his way back to where Sam lay on the rugged pavement, recovering. He stood over her, leaning his neck forward to get a better look at her. She turned her head again, having noticed herself suddenly in the shade. She did not open her eyes.
"...Danny... Is that you...?"
"It's me... I'm right here. You're safe now."
"What... what happened..."
"Don't try to talk, you need to rest... You're in really bad shape... I'm taking you to the hospital."
Sam sighed, and lay silent, her brows furrowed from the pain of her headache. Danny got up on his hind legs, bending over, sliding his fingers under Sam and carefully lifting her back up into his arms. Getting her secure in his embrace, he stepped over to Tuck, who was also starting to regain consciousness. Remembering his broken leg, Danny took greater care into getting his hand underneath Tuck's body, picking him up gently and allowing him to lay against Sam as he crossed his arms under the pair. Standing back up, he took one good look around, making sure nothing else was going to leap out and catch him unawares. He finally raised his aching wings, flapping them and taking to the sky, resuming his search for the city hospital.
Bertrand rose up from the gathering puddles of loose ectoplasm, regaining his regular amorphic form. He looked around with his glowing red eyes, noticing the wide, deep crater that surrounded him. Noting the damage, he grinned, sharp teeth showing.
"Well, well. If he keeps this up, there won't be a city left for him to protect, now will there?"
Checking to make sure he was all one piece again, he sprouted a pair of batlike wings, using them to fly to the rim of the crater. Landing on the grass, he looked up to find Spectra hovering in front of him, her black flames blazing with such intensity that she resembled a fireball with piercing red eyes. Bertrand knew deep within himself what was causing her to be so angry, and yet he was almost afraid to admit it to her.
"You... couldn't get him either, could you?"
Spectra raised herself to her full height, looming over Bertrand. She unsheathed her claws.
"You worthless amoeba... You said you would make him weak enough for me to overshadow him. You only ended up making him stronger!"
Bertrand cowered under Spectra, realizing the extent of her fury.
"Spectra, I tried... Believe me... I thought I had him!"
"You thought wrong, just like always. I can't afford to have any more screw-ups on your part. I want him back under my control NOW, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to get him back...!"
She began to advance toward Bertrand, raising her clawed hands at him. Bertrand backed up, becoming anxious, watching as her hands began to glow with a bright green aura.
"Spectra... No... You wouldn't..."
She leapt forward with a furious snarl, diving into Bertrand's ghost body. He collapsed, succumbing under the strength of her anger, his inner essence dissolving into oblivion as she destroyed him from within. He fell silent, his body melting, settling against the earth in a motionless mound of ectoplasm.
Slowly, the material lost its poisonous glow, taking on a red aura as Spectra's emotions began to assume a physical shape within it. Controlling it from within, she forced it into doing her bidding. The glowing slime rose up, flowing toward the sky, spouting outward to either side, covering a wide area. It spread about, increasing in volume, slowly taking the form of something huge and winged.
Spectra's anger was creating a beast of her own design.