Author's note: If you've seen it on Danny Phantom, you know the rest. This chapter , as well as the next few, are going to introduce new enemies to the story, so brace yourself!
Yes! 103 hits and counting! I love you all! (smack!) I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me, but anyway, I've now had over 100 hits on this fanfiction. If I knew who you were I'd give all my readers five bucks. Keep Reading! The story gets better yet!
I'd like thank the following for their reviews-
enigmatic penguin- Thank you. I pride myself on my ingenious plot twists. If you want more, keep reading!
the sleep warrior- No, his mom doesn't know just yet. As for Danny's part in the story, I don't think he'll appear again before the sequel. If you want my opinion on any written work, just think through your ideas. It never hurts to add a new character or two, but if you don't, just try to keep everyone in the usual cast in "character" so to speak. Just don't make them do something they wouldn't normally do, unless the circumstances say otherwise. By the way, I like the word ghostliness too. Good luck in your writing! I'll add a few reviews myself!
Chapter 5 (Getting your butt kicked: Priceless!)
Over the next couple of weeks I honed my skills of phase-shift, intangibility, invisibility, and flight. At 88mph, I could move at a pretty good clip. I learned stealth and speed with intangibility and invisibility, combining those skills with my martial arts prowess. School was no big thing. Word about the fight got around, and people were either patting me on the back or keeping their distance.
Even Vice Principal Ishia seemed to hold me in a different regard. Usually she treated everyone as if they were little children compared to her. But to me she showed the same respect she would an adult. It was rather shocking really.
My karate sensei, sensei Yamato, both berated me and slapped me on the back for my achievement, as did my fellow karateka. As for Tai, he didn't seem the same. He was out of classes for a week, and when he came back he looked as if he had been thoroughly humbled. Most people avoided him, though they needn't have bothered. He was as quiet and harmless as a newborn kitten.
He didn't avoid me, or at least he didn't seem to try, but he never belittled me again. The principal tried to press charges at one point, but the police saw it as fitting that the one whom was the "victim" should be the one to press charges. To their great surprise, I didn't. The one whom was most surprised however was Tai.
I'll never forget the look of almost pitiful happiness he gave me when I said I wouldn't try to get him put in prison. Things seemed to be going my way. Or coming.
It was a Monday afternoon, and Ronnie and I were just walking home from school. "So, are you ready for the midterm tests, Tir? I almost failed mine when I was your age."
"Yeah, but you never so much as opened one of your textbooks," I chuckled mischievously, narrowly avoiding the slap that I knew was coming for my face.
"By the way, did you hear the new lunchlady in the cafeteria? If she looks half as good as she sounds then she'd make the sun look like a cold barren cinder."
"She is rather well-endowed, but there was something about her I didn't like. And did you notice Sai Yashimiru? He's one of the nicest guys in the entire school, but after lunch he chewed the head off his best friend!"
"Oh please, Ronnie, you're just paranoid, that's all. Everyone has their breaking point. Sai just reached his early this afternoon. Everything'll be fine by tomorrow, you'll see."
Everything was not fine tomorrow. The coldness that had so suddenly gripped Sai seemed to be spreading.
"I hate to say I told you so," Veronica grimaced as she saw the way a group of friends were yelling at each other, "But I told you so. There is definitely something wrong here."
"Unfortunately I have to agree with you," I observed as I heard banshee-esque shrieks coming from further down the hall.
Lunch rolled around, and things were not looking any better. As a school record there had been over a hundred fist-fights, two hundred and thirty-six yelling contests, thirty-three cat-fights (which were more a form of entertainment than one might think) and just plain a lot of pushing, shoving and harsh name-calling.
Only a handful of people weren't showing the same mean streak, including the hot-sounding lunchlady.
I was just coming back to the lineup when she mentioned, "Isn't that like your fifth helping of triple cheese pizza? You do realize that your last two helpings had a cardboard-based crust substitute and are colder than a frozen hell right?"
"Yeah, but cheese is cheese, no matter what you put it on or how cold it is," I grinned as she gave me another slice.
"Okay then, it's your happiness," she replied almost cryptically. I thought nothing of it and returned to my seat.
"Is that frozen cardboard I smell?" Ronnie asked me wryly as I took my seat beside her at "our" table.
"Ha ha, Colin Mockerie," I shot back, shoving yet another slice down my throat with lightning speed. I was just going back for more when my eyes flickered. I stopped walking as they flickered again, and started moving back over to my seat.
"I told you to stop at your third slice but no, you were still-" she caught the serious expression on my face and went silent.
"Cover me," I hissed as I ducked under the table. Just as I phase-shifted there was a loud crash. I actually leapt through the table as a great figure descended into the cafeteria, and my jaw just dropped.
A woman with lime-green skin and crimson eyes descended to ground level. She wore a sort of red robe over her considerable torso that was bound at her wrists and just above her midriff by gold bands. A matching skirt concealed a great deal of her lower body, save the greater portion of her right leg.
Her midriff and her left shoulder were entirely bare, as were her feet. Long flowing black hair extended down almost to the ground, nearly concealing her right eye. For a ghost, she was gorgeous. However, given her entrance and her ten foot height I assumed correctly that her soul was not so comely as her form.
"BOW MORTALS!" an almost warped, "double" voice roared through the room, "BOW BEFORE DYNASTINA! SURRENDER THE FIRES DEEP WITHIN YOUR SOULS TO ME!"
People fled like deer before a pack of wolves, running for the exits. Ronnie was overseeing the immediate evacuation of the school, helping the teachers in whatever ways she could.
"Hey Giganta!" I yelled as I shot towards Dynastina, "Where's Grod?" My fist connected with her chin, and she flew backwards.
A huge pillar of flame shot high into the air, vaporizing all in its path. She rose again, this time floating just above the ground. Her entire form was swathed in bright red flames, and her eyes were dark with rage.
"INSOLENT WRETCH!" she spat, pointing a burning finger at me, "YOU DARE STRIKE ME! I AM THE MISTRESS OF THE SACRED FLAMES, WIELDER OF THE BEACON OF THE NEXT WORLD! NO ONE STRIKES ME AND LIVES!"
With that she raised both arms and roared, "I WILL DRAIN THE WARMTH FROM ALL THIS WORLD, AND I SHALL DESTROY YOU WITH IT, GHOST BOY!"
"ANSEN HIL TORI!" Her whole body unleashed an enormous fiery shockwave, knocking me back and out of commission. When I looked again, she was gone.
Soon as she was I heard a door slam and the lunchlady rushed to my side. "You poor boy, are you hurt at all? Let me help you up."
I must have shifted back to my usual self, because neither she nor anyone else reacted strangely to my presence out on the school's front lawn. Ronnie found me sitting against a tree.
She sat down beside me and asked, "So, what happened?"
"Say hello to Ghost Enemy #1: Dynastina, Post Sorceress of Fire. She kicked my butt into the ground while I only got her one punch to the face."
"Ooh, tough break bro," she said sympathetically, "Looks like you can't win all of them over with your innate diplomacy."
"Gee, thanks," I said sarcastically. "What got me was how easily that sorceress thwarted me. And what about those magic enchantments of hers? Her lips barely moved and I was on the ground."
"Maybe your ghost powers aren't fully developed yet," she answered, "Maybe that ghost was just too powerful for you. Maybe-"
"Alright, alright I get the point," I growled. We were about to continue our banter when the bell rang, and we were dismissed from school for the day.
School was closed for the next couple weeks or so, so that the cafeteria could be reconstructed. Apparently, the incident had been mentioned on the news, but only of the sorceress ghost, nothing about a white ninja ghost in the lot of it.
Either way, mom had us wearing "Fenton single person ghost shields," shields that deflected ghosts around a single person, patented by Maddie Fenton. They also fired anti-ghost slime, a disgusting green solution that neutralizes ghost energies temporarily.
"There have been reports of at least half a dozen ghost sightings and encounters in this town in the last month alone," she said as she strapped one of the devices to my wrist, "I just want to make sure that you kids are safe and sensible enough not to take them off, especially you, Tir."
There was a slight buzz as the device whirred on my wrist. a tiny voice said, as a tiny tube extended from the shield emitter, "Ghost detected. Engaging anti-ghost spray. Fire!"
If I hadn't been totally covered in six inches thick of anti ghost spray I would have laughed. As it was I just stood there, angry expression on my face and grumbled, "This has long next few months all over it," Just before Ronnie's sprayed me in another foot of goo.
"So, how was that?" I asked, breathing lightly after having just run a ten-mile obstacle course.
"Okay, go!" she said excitedly. The look I gave her must have been intense enough to melt steel because she immediately said, "Twenty-three minutes six seconds."
"Well, I am getting faster," I said as I sat down on a log, "Remember the first time I did that course and went intangible at the wrong time, knocked myself out and ended up stuck in that tree for four hours while you tried to get me down?"
"Yeah," she laughed. "You really are improving, Tir. You're getting faster, stronger and more skilled, in both of the arts you study."
"Oh, that reminds me," I exclaimed, "Do you remember when my karate testing is?"
"Early next month, if memory serves," she said as she put down the text book she had been studying from while I ran my laps. Yet another advantage of our break. Not only was school closed, including every third Saturday, but the midterm tests that we were going to take had been postponed until the school had reopened, and Ronnie was taking advantage of every minute of it.
"You know Tir, Dad would be proud of you," she said as she placed a hand on my shoulder.
"What for? All I've done different these days is fight crime in a white ninja getup and acquire ghost powers," I said sarcastically.
"Seriously Tir," she said reproachfully, "You've gotten a lot more responsible since he died, and you're doing more with yourself. Just look at you. Even with your five years of karate you were never this fit, but look now! With or without ghost-form you're way faster, way stronger, and you're more skilled and happy than I've ever seen you! Dad would never say this to your face, but I know that he'd be proud to call you his son."
I sat there a moment, letting her words sink in. Finally I said, "Thanks, sis." and we started walking towards town.
"Uh huh, yeah, I'll have three triple-patty deluxe nasty burgers, two triple-thick Nasty shakes, and what am I forgetting..."
"Hmmm?" I said airily, giving Jazz a look of moderate suspicion. "Oh right, and an onion log, and one Nasty patty and coke for me," she finished.
The cashier punched our order into the register and replied, "Total is one thousand zen. Enjoy." I tried to tune out the cook's lingo in the background as the cashier called, "Hey Yutaka, Ten cows in two mudholes with a tearstick and sizzlers between 'em!"
We took our usual seats by the window and waited for our order.
"Well, school starts up again tomorrow," she said enthusiastically, "And with it so begin the midterm tests. Are you ready?"
"Just barely. The past couple weeks have been driving me nuts. We still haven't seen hide nor hair of Dynastina, that ghost shield mom gave me keeps-"
I stopped for a moment as the device said, "Ghost detected. Engaging anti-ghost spray. Fire!" and covered me for the umpteenth time in goo.
"Spraying me with goo," I finished after I had gone to the bathroom to clean the gunk off. "I don't care what mom says I'm turning this thing off," I said as I threw a tiny switch on the side of the device. It flickered for a moment, then shut down.
"There's your burgers," one of the waiters said as he dropped off our orders. We ate in silence. I wolfed down my three triple patty deluxe burgers and milkshakes like I'd gotten wind of a three-year famine, whilst Ronnie ate more slowly and calmly, watching me gorge myself on junkfood.
I finished just before her, and we were on our way again, walking around town and talking, which, when we have any spare time, is what we usually do.
"You know, I am really starting to hate having these accursed powers of mine."
"Tir, I-" she started to say, but I interrupted her.
"My marks are dropping because whenever I do have time to do my homework there's some ghost or another out rampaging through town, I'm missing karate classes entirely on these late-night patrols, and I've got a thousand other responsibilities to worry about. Why can't I be normal!"
"Because you were given a gift, Tir, not a curse," she answered, laying a hand on my shoulder, "Now you can help people like no one else can. I know it must not seem like much, but I've seen some of the grateful and admiring looks people have given you. There must be some sort of reward in that."
I was about to say something right then, but my vision sparked.
"Oh no," I groaned, "Here? Now? Can't I even get evenings, weekends and religious holidays off?" Ronnie shook her head. I sighed, then hissed,
"Cover me." I leapt behind a dumpster and phase-shifted. That was when the screams started. I shot into the air like a bullet, following the eye-sparking that indicated a nearby ghost. It didn't take long to find.
An enormous pillar of fire had shot from the middle of a crowded street, knocking back several cars and sending a lot of people panicking away.
"YES, MORTALS," I heard a familiar voice crackle, "YES. GIVE ME YOUR HEAT, YOUR DARKNESS! GIVE ME THE DARK FLAMES THAT ROT YOUR OWN PATHETIC HEARTS. FOR I AM THE QUEEN OF FLAMES, AND THE DOOM OF THIS WORLD. TASKIL NEM FERION DRAUS!"
It was Dynastina, in all her fiery glory. And she was growing. Twelve feet and counting.
She extended her hands in all directions, and it seemed as if dark flames erupted from anyone within range and were absorbed into her hands.
As I landed behind her, invisible of course, "AH, IT'S WONDERFUL, ISN'T IT? HARVESTING THE FRUITS OF MY LABORS AND INCREASING MY PYROUS MIGHT? VERY FULFILLING, IS IT NOT, GHOST BOY?"
Before I could move a muscle she shrieked, "TANSUM AUR KAV TAKT!" and my arms and legs were bound by lengths of fiery chain. Dynastina cackled as she stepped closer, until her face was mere inches from mine.
With one hand she firmly held my head in place whilst she removed my mask with the other. "FINALLY, INSOLENT BOY, I HAVE YOU WITHIN MY GRASP, BUT WHAT IS THIS?"
She stared curiously at her hand, which gave off strange black wisps of flame when it came in contact with my skin. "NOW HOW CAN THIS BE, I WONDER? YOU HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN SUBJECT TO MY FEAST, YET YOUR HEART GIVES OFF THE SAME TWISTED ENERGY OF SOMEONE WHO'S HAD WAY TOO MUCH OF MY DELECTIBLES."
Her look of curiosity was soon replaced by a wicked grin as she ran a hand down my cheek, slowly exploring the contours of my face. My face, on the other hand, felt as if it was being rubbed with hot pokers.
"HMM, YOU LOOK SO MUCH LIKE HIM, BUT... NO, IT COULDN'T BE. THE LITTLE BLIND BOY AT THE SCHOOL WHO THINKS THAT CHEESE IS CHEESE, NO MATTER HOW YOU EAT IT. COULD THAT BE YOU?"
Inwardly I seethed to myself, wishing that this creature would just leave me alone.
I had been waiting until just the right moment, when she would be most distracted. Now was as good a time as any.
With all my strength I heaved forward and twisted a leg around her ankle, then pushed her backwards as hard as I could.
"Now you listen to me!" I said as she fell backwards, "I don't care how powerful you are, I don't care what kind of dark-hearted fool you think I am, but I am going to stop you if it kills me!"
"STOP ME? MY DEAR BOY AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED YOU'VE ALREADY LOST!"
"TASHIR!" and in a wisp of smoke, she was gone.
"She knows who I am," I whispered to myself, "But how?"
Author's note: The identity of Dynastina is obvious, isn't it? for those of you that haven't guessed though, I'll leave the explanation to the next chapter.