Konnichiwa, minasan! (That's 'hello everyone' in Japanese)
Well, this is a lot later than I had originally intended, but trust me, it's well worth the wait. Looking down on this, it took up eleven whole pages without all of my notes; probably my longest chapter yet!
On a side note, I'm coming down with a slight cold now. Heh, kind of ironic, really...
Well, thanks to all of my reviewers who, well, reviewed! I now have over 100... Wow! I love you all so much! (hugs reviewers)
And, on the note of reviewers, I must give credit! The part of this chapter concerning Griffin is dedicated to GIR's Cupcake for your suspicions. Suspicions inspire, as all you readers shall see.
Disclaimer: I own Danny Phantom! Mwa-ha-ha! Today is my day! I have succeeded! (Hartman walks up with a heavy wooden mallet and bonks me on the head) I mean, no, no, I do not own Danny Phantom. (Glares at Butch and rubs head) Happy now?
Chapter 11: Into the Ghost Zone
It was nearing six o'clock, and Danny hadn't sneezed or coughed once since he had tried Jazz's remedy. It seemed a little too presumptuous to assume that the medicine had been successful, but that didn't mean he still wasn't hopeful.
But by six thirty, Jazz proclaimed that, although it was really too early to know anything for sure, she believed that the medicine had worked.
"Although," she added as an afterthought, "in most cases, it can take up to a week to tell for sure. But this isn't a normal case, and if ghosts come down with the Sleeping Sickness faster, it does stand to reason that the cure would work faster."
And all that remained was to test the remedy upon an actual ghost.
"Jazz, I'm not going into the Ghost Zone to find a ghost to test this on," Danny said firmly, continuing (much to Vlad's distaste) upon his second caricature of the elder halfa.
"Well, you're going to have to, because it's the only way we're going to find out if this cure actually works! Unless you can somehow magically procure a ghost out of thin air-"
"Wait a sec, Jazz!" he said suddenly. Danny had been looking at the purple quill as she had been speaking, and had remembered something. He jumped up and began looking through a pile of various ghost-hunting apparatus in the laboratory.
"Danny, what are you-?"
"Found it!" he cried, straightening, with the Fenton Thermos clasped in his hand. He opened it up and pressed the release button, and lo and behold, the sleeping purple griffin appeared right there upon the floor. It was a good thing that the room was so big, because the griffin took up a sizeable amount of space.
"Oh!" Jazz exclaimed. She seized the antidote from the table and sized the griffin up.
"What are you waiting for?" Danny asked.
"Well, normally, the dose of medicine is dependent upon factors such as height and age…" she said.
"I thought you said this wasn't normal at all?" he asked.
"Oh. Well, then, that'll work," she said. Jazz poured the medicine from the beaker into another vial, and walked over to the griffin's lethal beak.
"Help me with this, will you, Danny?" she asked. Danny went over and opened the beak so she could pour the substance down its throat.
A few seconds of apprehensive waiting, and the griffin stirred. Its red eyes snapped open and it gave a loud, roaring yawn.
"We did it!" Jazz exclaimed, hugging Danny. The griffin noticed her, and swiped with its claws.
"Oh no you don't," Danny said in the tone of voice he always reverted to when confronting a ghost. "Going ghost!"
Danny was as good as his word. But, instead of attacking, the griffin did something which surprised the young ghost boy. It sank into something of a bow.
"Um… You're welcome?" Danny said, looking at the griffin with an eyebrow raised in confusion.
It was at that moment that Vlad happened to walk into the room, carrying a glass of water. It took him a few seconds to take in what he was seeing, and when he did, the glass of water fell from his hand.
"D-D-Daniel?" he asked. Danny looked over at his archenemy, and back at the griffin.
"Um, so, hi," Danny said, giving the griffin a small, nervous wave. "So... you're name's Griffin, right?"
He hadn't really expected the creature to understand him, but the giant purple beast nodded its head slowly up and down. Danny blinked, taken aback.
"You- you can understand me?" Another nod.
"Um, Danny...?" Jazz began. He turned to face her. "What exactly are you doing?" she continued.
"I'm... not really sure," Danny said. "Trying to talk to him-"
Griffin gave an indignant, shrieking cry, and shook its head very quickly to the side several times. Jazz shrieked and jumped. Simultaneously, Vlad did likewise, although, much to Danny's dismay, he didn't scream like a girl. Danny blinked and turned his head swiftly to look back at the griffin.
"Um... D-did I say something wrong?" Nod.
"What did I...? 'Trying to talk to him...' Him! Oh, duh! You're a girl, aren't you?" Danny asked, realizing his mistake. She answered with a nod.
Griffin then lay down and nuzzled Danny. He drew away at first, but then hesitantly stretched out his hand and patted her beak. She closed her eyes and purred lazily.
"So, um, n-now what, Danny?" Jazz asked, still shaken from Griffin's shriek. Danny shrugged.
"I don't know. I'm going to call Tucker and Sam and tell them it worked. And then," he said, with a newly determined voice, "we have to give all the other ghosts the medicine."
"We're going to do that tonight?" Jazz asked, startled. Danny sighed.
"No, we're doing that as soon as Tucker and Sam come over." And Danny flew upstairs.
"It worked!" Sam said, hugging Danny tightly.
"Sam...can't...breathe..." he gasped. Sam blushed and quickly let go. Tucker smirked.
"Yeah, it worked," Danny said, rubbing his slightly bruised ribs with a gloved hand. "All thanks to Jazz."
"Aw, well... Really, I didn't... I mean, anyone could have... Aw, thanks, Danny," Jazz said, blushing as much as Sam had. She regained her composure and looked up at her brother.
"So, now we have to give all those ghosts the cure?" Jazz continued. "How do we know which ghosts need it?"
"Why don't you just use that lid-thing?" Tucker suggested, looking up from a picture of Sam hugging Danny that was now on his PDA screen. Sam grabbed the device from his hands and furiously deleted all twenty-four pictures he had taken.
"Why didn't I think of that?" Danny said, hitting himself in the forehead.
"Because you're a C student?" Tucker replied.
"Do you even know what a rhetorical question is, Tucker?" Sam asked, thrusting the incriminating picture-free PDA back into his hands.
"No," he answered. Sam rolled her eyes.
"So, where is that lid, anyway?" she asked.
"I took it back into my room," Danny said. "Here, I'll go get it."
Danny flew up through the ceiling, into his room. The lid was on his desk, luminous symbols glinting. He went over to it, and did a double take.
Three of the names had disappeared from the surface of the lid. More importantly, those names missing were Griffin, Danny Phantom, and Vlad Plasmius.
Next to the lid was the book. And next to the lid...
The time medallion glinted, its faded silk ribbon twisted on the desk. Danny remembered what one of the Observants had told him.
'Once you have found the cure, Clockwork requests that you come to his abode.'
And he decided that he might as well return the book, too. Danny scooped up all three and flew through the floor, back to Tucker, Sam, and Jazz.
"Okay, I've got it," he announced. "And my name's gone."
"What do you mean, 'gone'?" Jazz asked.
"Gone. Disappeared. Vanished," he answered. "So's Vlad's and Griffin's."
"That lid… It must get rid of your name when you're cured," Sam mused.
"Exactly," Danny said. "Now, let's go save the Ghost Zone."
They passed Vlad in the living room on their way to the lab.
"Aren't you coming with us, Mr. Masters?" Jazz asked.
"Nope, sorry, that's all you," he said, sitting down in an armchair and opening his book on knitting.
"Gee. Gotta love the support," Danny said dryly. He then confronted Vlad in a threatening tone, pressing the book down so he could look him in the eye.
"Just because this Sleeping Sickness-thing is cleared up, doesn't mean you're welcome in my house. Don't think I'm on your side now." Vlad smiled his crafty, mysterious smile.
"Don't think I'll stop trying to get you on my side. You and your mother."
Danny gave him a last glare and turned away.
It was unanimously decided that the Specter Speeder would be taken for the heroic sojourn into the Ghost Zone.
Well, almost unanimously. One being in the room seemed to have a problem with that, and raised her disagreement loudly.
"ROOHOOOAR!" Griffin shrieked, and although it still wasn't as loud as she could have been, the three people standing in the room clapped their hands over their ears and winced.
The fourth person in the room happened to be floating, and was quick to pat the mythological ghost on her downy head, which calmed her down.
"Shh!" Danny reprimanded, still petting. "Don't- just don't do that again, Griffin."
Griffin pulled away and cocked her head at him, letting out a low purring churrip.
"Prrrrrreeep?"
"I don't- Wait, do you- do you want to come with us?" Danny said, realizing what she meant.
"Prrrrruuuurrr!" her head bobbed up and down, and she scratched herself with a lioness's hind leg, doglike, behind one wing.
"Danny, we can't bring a giant purple ghost griffin with us! Besides, I don't think he's house-trained," Tucker said.
Griffin gave another loud shriek at being referred to as a male.
"She's a girl, Tucker," Danny said wearily.
"Oh," Tucker said, backing away from the sharp beak and putting his hands up defensively. "Nice griffin... Good griffin... You don't want to hurt old Tucker now, do you?"
"Anyway," Jazz said, turning away from him, "I think there's enough of our cure to work for everyone. I made more than just that beaker, and I don't think we'll need much more than a drop for each ghost."
"A drop? Jazz, I thought you said something about size and weight affecting this! Besides, if we only needed a drop, then why'd I have to drink so much?" Danny complained.
"I did. But it seems that with ghosts, the usual rules don't apply. And consider that payback for that- that thing last Monday."
Danny grinned. "Oh, right, you mean with you and A-"
But Jazz had clamped her hand over his mouth.
"Jaff, et offif ee! Ee heed to safe te ghosh shone!" Danny muttered, but his words were indistinct and muffled, given that Jazz's hand was impairing his speech.
"What was that, Danny?" Jazz asked, tentatively removing her hand. Danny thrust it away.
"I said, 'Get off of me! We need to go save the Ghost Zone!'"
"Oh, uh, right," Jazz said. She jumped into the Specter Speeder, pushing Tucker away from the controls. "I'm the one who'll be driving," she said matter-of-factly.
"Okay. So, how 'bout a travel song?" Tucker suggested. Three pairs of hands were slapped over his mouth, and three voices shouted, "NO!" with an almost scary urgency.
Tucker crossed his arms and sat sullenly in the seat.
"It was only a suggestion," he lamented mournfully to the cup holder.
Jazz shivered, looking around at the twisting green mist which comprised the Ghost Zone. It was icy cold in the paranormal realm, which was partially responsible for her shiver, and visibility was somehow both clear and foggy at the same time. Everything glowed with a sickeningly green light, and it was as silent as the grave.
"It's really creepy in here!" she said nervously. Her voice was barely more than a whisper, but it seemed to echo in the spectral depths.
Danny, mounted upon Griffin's feathery back, nodded in agreement, shivering himself. In his case, the shiver was more from the atmosphere than from the cold. Whether this adaptability to low temperatures came from being half ghost or just from being so used to it, he did not know. The human part of him could not deny that the eerie silence and mysteriously swirling ectoplasmic patterns were unsettling, and even his ghost self was uneasy. He often wondered if the reason ghosts were so keen to escape into the real world was because of the appearance of the Ghost Zone, rather than a desire to lead a dim shadow of the life they once had, or to satisfy an obsession that could range anywhere from boxes to revenge.
But, still, there was a job to be done, as distasteful as it was. Danny had been in the Ghost Zone numerous times before; this wasn't his first, and there was no doubt it would be his last, either. Oddly enough, he found the slightest bit of comfort in the depths of the Ghost Zone; some old familiarity, like a house he had once lived in and had revisited. Danny supposed it had something to do with being half ghost, or maybe with the comforting fact that, as a human, nothing could hurt him in here.
In the Specter Speeder, Sam unfurled a map they had sketched of the Ghost Zone. It covered only a small area in the endless ghost world, but it was something.
"Okay, so we know where Skulker and Technus live, at least. Oh, and you have the Box Ghost marked on here too, Danny."
Green eyes alert and scanning the surrounding area, Danny replied to Sam without looking at her.
"I kind of just threw him in here when he was unconscious, so he's probably just floating around somewhere. I have a good idea where Spectra and Bertrand live, though."
"Well," Sam answered, rolling up the map, "at least we only have-" she counted the names on the paper Danny had translated "-eight ghosts to give this to. Shouldn't be too hard, should it?"
Danny slapped his forehead with a gloved hand. "No. Ugh, I am so stupid! I didn't translate the rest of that lid!"
"What?" Jazz exclaimed. "How many ghosts are on that thing, anyway?"
"Well," Danny said, looking over the long list of names on the lid, "it starts with Ember, then some guys I've never heard of... What kind of name is 'Camera Ghost', anyway? And then... Well, Desiree's thrown in there somewhere, so's Poindexter, the Lunch Lady, Walker, and Wulf... Then a bunch of other ghosts... Hah, look at these names! 'Frederick, Tibbles, Fluffy, Snowball, Percy...' Then it just goes to Skulker and, well, you know the rest." Danny looked up.
"That's a lot of names," Tucker remarked.
"Wow, thanks for pointing out the obvious, Tucker," Sam said sarcastically.
"You're welcome," Tucker chimed. Then he looked down. "Hey, what's that?"
"Hm?" Danny said, looking down to where his friend was pointing. "Hey, isn't that Johnny Thirteen's motorcycle?"
"Looks like it." Jazz's look darkened; she hadn't quite gotten over the incident with the biker ghost. But she steered the Specter Speeder downwards, to where a twisting path of land formed a sort of road through the Ghost Zone. Griffin followed, and landed besides the four objects.
"It is..." Danny murmured, looking at the slumbering figures sprawled upon the ground.
Jazz got out of the Specter Speeder. "Here's the cu-UUUUURRRREE!"
"Jazz!" Danny said, running over to grab her hand. She had stepped out of the Specter Speeder and onto the thin bridge of land, and had fallen through the surface. Danny only barely grasped her, and pulled her up through the ground, Jazz looking quite shaken.
"Are you okay?" he asked, holding her firmly above the ground. Jazz nodded dumbly. "Okay, Ghost Zone rule number one: in the Ghost Zone, we're the ghosts."
"Got it," Jazz said weakly as he put her back into the Specter Speeder.
"Well, Griffin?" Danny asked, turning to his new ally. "Which one should we wake up first?" Griffin put her paw on Kitty. Danny shrugged. "Kitty works."
He picked up an eyedropper that Jazz had thought to bring along and inserted it into the beaker. Danny held it over Kitty and opened her mouth. He let one drop fall.
A few moments, and then Kitty's eyes flickered open.
"Johnny? What happened?" she said weakly. Her eyes came into focus, and saw Danny. "W-wait! You're not Johnny! You're that ghost boy... Danny..." She sat up and looking around, seeing Johnny. "Johnny! Oh, what did you do to him!" she cried.
"I didn't do anything," Danny stated. "Now, you can either sit there with your mouth hanging open, or you can help me."
Kitty closed her mouth, and moved over to kneel by her beloved Johnny. Danny administered the medicine to him, and he, like Kitty, woke up.
"Wh-what happened?" he asked dazedly, sitting up. "K-Kitty?" Kitty smiled and embraced him. Johnny looked up at Danny, who had just finished giving the cure to Shadow.
"Hey! It's you, that punk who tried to steal Kitty from me!" he said angrily. Danny sighed and rolled his eyes.
"I'm also the punk who happened to save your miserable lives. Or, afterlives. Oh, whatever."
Johnny glared and looked for a few minutes as if he were going to attack, then sighed and turned away. "Oh, forget it," he muttered. "I'll waste you some other time." And, standing his bike up, he mounted and called to his girlfriend, "Come on, Kitty. Let's get out of here."
"Thanks, Danny," Kitty said softly, blowing him a kiss. Then she got on behind Johnny and put on her helmet, although, being a ghost, she didn't really need it. And Johnny drove off, Shadow trailing him like a, well, a shadow. But Danny could have sworn that Johnny had thrown him the most fleeting, but thankful, smile.
Danny settled himself back on Griffin's back. "Well," he said, looking down at her face, "Shall we go save some more?" Griffin squawked happily in reply. "Thatta girl, Grif. C'mon!"
They had found the Box Ghost and Technus floating in the Ghost Zone at random. Technus gave his sizable speech and went off to his lair after he was revived, and the Box Ghost did likewise after declaring, "I am the Box Ghost, master of all things cardboard and square! Beware!"
Danny, with much help from Griffin, led them along the path he was mostly certain led to Clockwork's abode. And they stopped some while later (although there was the chance that time moved differently in the Ghost Zone) at a particularly blank and silent part of the Ghost Zone.
"There's nothing here," Jazz said blankly, looking up for Danny for reassurance, as if he could see something they could not.
"Darn it! I was sure this was the right way," Danny said to himself. Griffin screeched. "You were sure too, weren't you, girl?" he asked, patting her beak absent-mindedly as he stared out at a space that should have been occupied by a large, spectral clock tower. He pulled the gear-shaped medallion from his pocket, looking at it sadly. Then, struck by a sudden idea, he pulled it over his head, and looked back at the spot.
Clockwork's tower was suddenly visible.
"Bingo," he said, smiling broadly. Danny dismounted and walked up to the enormous door.
"Danny? What are you doing?" Jazz asked.
"It's the medallion," Sam said with realization.
Danny hesitated at the door. Should he knock, or what? Spotting a button implanted upon the ghostly brick wall, Danny pressed it, hoping that it was the doorbell.
The chime resounded throughout the Ghost Zone, causing the halfa and his three companions to jump, and Griffin to shriek in annoyance. Then, the doors creaked open, and Danny hesitated momentarily before stepping inside, doors closing behind him, leaving Tucker, Sam, Jazz, and Griffin staring blankly at the spot where the ghost boy had vanished.
"Um, hello?" Danny asked. He was responded only by a thousand quiet, mingled sounds, echoing his own voice back at him.
As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, Danny saw a staircase ahead. He stepped cautiously up to the first step, then climbed the stairs, spiraling upwards into the darkness.
He reached a door, and, hesitating, knocked softly. This door creaked open, and Danny took that as his admittance to the room.
He'd been in here before. Here was the room where he had first met Clockwork, the room where he had been thrown ten years into the future...
Danny shook his head. He didn't want to remember that.
"Greetings, Danny Phantom," a voice said. Danny gasped at looked at the two Observants, who he could have sworn were not there previously.
"Um... Hi," he said nervously. "I was looking for Clockwork..."
"He had said you would come," the second Observant said.
"I shall tell him of your arrival," the other Observant announced, and vanished.
Danny was left with the other Observant. He felt somewhat nervous in his company; there was definitely something creepy and more ethereal about the Observants than other ghosts.
Danny, however, did not have long to wait. The first of the Observants reappeared, accompanied by Clockwork.
"Hello, Danny," Clockwork said. He turned to the Observants. "You may leave now." They looked to one another, nodded, and vanished.
"Um, hi..." Danny said. He seemed to be saying that a lot lately, and wished he could think of something better to say.
"So," Clockwork continued, "May I assume that you've managed to procure a remedy for the Sleeping Sickness?"
Danny nodded, and supplemented this with, "Yeah, it's outside, with-" he slapped himself on the forehead. "Tucker, Sam, and Jazz! I forgot about them!"
"They're fine," Clockwork reassured him. Seeing the look on Danny's face, he added, "But I will bring them in here, if you wish."
Clockwork gestured with the staff he always carried, and Tucker, Sam, and Jazz appeared there, looking very dazed.
"I- what happened?" Jazz asked. Looking up at Clockwork, she gasped and jumped to her feet. "Who're you?"
"I am Clockwork," he said, extending a hand. Jazz stared for a few seconds, then looked to Danny, who nodded, and she took it.
"Jasmine Fenton. Uh, call me Jazz."
"Pleased to meet you, Jazz," Clockwork said, although Danny had the suspicion that he had previously known who exactly Jazz was.
"Now, I believe that you are the one who managed to construct the cure?" he asked. Jazz looked confused; how could he have known that she was the one who had developed the medicine?
"Well, I- yes, I did."
"So, anyway," Sam said, "We were wondering what exactly this whole thing is about. I mean, we never really found out that much about the Sleeping Sickness, and we want to know what you've been doing this whole time."
"Yeah," Tucker added. "And what about this sorcerer guy who was supposed to have started this whole thing? Danny said he was responsible this time, too, right Danny? Danny? Um, Danny?"
But the halfa didn't reply. His eyes were fixed on a table in the corner of the room, and on that table was a rather dented-looking, green-and-white thermos.
"Danny?" Sam asked. "Something wrong?"
Danny turned suddenly to Clockwork.
"That's not... is it?" It wasn't much of a question, but Clockwork nodded solemnly. Danny swallowed hard.
"Right, well, let's get back to the matter at hand," Clockwork said, shifting to his younger form. "Now, all of your questions will be answered. But, for now, it will suffice to say that it was a long time ago that the original Council is mostly gone. I was indeed one of its members; as were the Observants. And the sorcerer who was responsible is not gone. There was box which had once belonged to the sorcerer, and it was in such that we had sealed the Sleeping Sickness- for all eternity, we had hoped. As a precaution, however, the lid of this box was crafted to list the names of the victims. Now, if we could find that-"
"You mean this?" Danny said, holding out the gray lid to the Master of Time.
"Yes," Clockwork said, with some surprise. "What is the first name on the list?"
"Ember McLean," Danny read.
"Then, I believe that, if we find Ember, we will find the sorcerer."
"But, sir, what about the other victims?" Jazz asked.
"If you and your friends would be able to find them and administer the cure, there will be no problem. However, the sorcerer is priority. We must eliminate him. And, to do that, I must revive the rest of the Council."
"So what do we do?" Tucker asked. Danny intercepted Clockwork before he could speak.
"You guys give the cure to everyone else you can find. Clockwork's gonna find the rest of the Council and give them the cure. And me and Griffin are going to see if we can find this sorcerer," he said pointedly.
Clockwork nodded his approval of the plan. "Excellent."
"So, what are we waiting for?" Jazz asked.
"Nothing," Danny said. He strode purposefully out of the door, followed by Jazz, Sam, and Tucker. But Clockwork paused before he accompanied them. He looked deeply into the Window of Time for a few moments, his expression indistinct, then sighed and followed them out of the door.
And there you have it. Another kind of blah-ish, not very eventful chapter, but it was necessary for the set up of our next chapter. The final chapter and climax of this story. Wow, already there's only that and the epilogue left? Seems like it wasn't that long ago that I typed the prologue… Um, but I can reminisce later.
Heh, so next chapter… Well, I won't say anything, but it certainly will come as a surprise to some of you. Maybe someone will be observant and make a lucky inference, or maybe not. Heh, but even if you do, I won't give it away. We'll just have to wait and see, hm? And you'll see Griffin's other purpose that I managed to come up with, too.
See ya then!
-E.P.