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Chapter 27. To Fear No Evil (Part 3)
Cyborg shielded himself as debris resulting from the mighty dragon-like Guardian's roar crashed against his metallic hide. Scourge, who need not fear the falling rocks and pieces of trees, simply went intangible. The Guardian seemed to be more enormous than Cyborg remembered since it snatched Raven off the rooftop. Its entire body had to be hundreds of feet long and was covered in black alligator-like scales that were as hard as diamonds. Its short but muscular neck supported a massive dinosaur-like head more than twice the size of and SUV. Massive horns protruded from the creature's head, it roared again, exposing rows of enormous razor sharp teeth. What seemed to be abnormal bone growth beneath the creature's skin gave it a skeletal and most terrifying appearance.
Massive forearms and hind limbs were tucked under the creature's body while it kept airborne with massive wings that seemed to stretch for miles. Its gargantuan razor-tipped tail swayed back and forth menacingly. The Guardian seemed to even dwarf its master Tyranus in size and majesty, the beast was truly a sight to behold.
"Now that the Guardian has been awakened, you and your friends are doomed." Scourge gloated.
Cyborg angrily swung at Scourge with his right arm, the specter simply caught the cybernetic limb, and effortlessly plucked Cyborg off the ground.
"Hey!" Cyborg protested.
Scourge grinned and with all his ghostly might, slammed Cyborg into the ground. For a moment, Cyborg was dazed, and then he heard a Tommy gun load. Scourge stood over Cyborg triumphantly with his weapon in hand; the barrel of the gun was pressed against the soft tissue of Cyborg's right eye.
"I may not be able to damage your machine half with my weapon," Scourge explained. "But your human side, that's a different story isn't it?"
A devilish grin spread across Scourge's face, the specter pressed the trigger, when a boomerang-like object flew out of nowhere and cut the weapon in two. Scowling, Scourge threw the weapon aside and was meet with a fierce jump-kick. Robin dealt Scourge blow after blow with his bare fists. When it seemed as though Scourge would surely fall over, Robin spun around for a kick to the skull. Unfortunately, Scourge was faster than Robin anticipated.
Scourge caught Robin by the heel and single-handedly flung him to the ground. Before the hero could get up, Scourge caught the teen in a headlock.
"You got guts kid, but now it's time for me to spill 'em!" Scourge declared, that's when he heard a gunshot.
Scourge reacted much to late to avoid the massive blast of energy that nearly decapitated him. With a massive hole in his abdomen, the dying Scourge stood quivering as Cyborg moved in for another blast. Otherworldly fluid oozing from his grievous wound like ghostly blood, despite being in great pain, a painful-joyless smile became visible on Scourge's skeletal face.
"You're the first to have ever gunned me down, I applaud you." Dying, Scourge managed to clap his hands together in a strange gesture of admiration.
The barrel of Cyborg's gun was on the specter's head now, "Go back to hell, Scourge. It's where you belong."
The ghost chuckled. "Hm, 'bout time too. See you on the other side, kid."
Cyborg fired, Scourge's head was blown off his shoulders. His ghostly body remained on the earth for a few moments, before disappearing into nothing. Cyborg helped Robin up and stared down at the dematerializing Tommy.
"To hell I will." He spat.
The ground shook again, a great shadow spread itself over Cyborg and Robin, and the two realized much too late that while they battled Scourge, they'd forgotten about Tyranus' little pet. The Guardian swooped down from the clouds towards the young heroes, its jaws wide opened. No chance we can fight something that huge! Cyborg realized.
"Run, man!" Cyborg and Robin took off at the same speed, trying to outrun a most gruesome fate in the gullet of the beast.
Behind them they could hear the flapping of the dragon's wings as they picked up speed, the shadow descended upon time, they could smell the foul stench of one thousand rotting corpses and brimstone. The two could only pray for a miracle. All of a sudden there was a great rumble was heard; the earth shook as the dragon was knocked to the ground. Cyborg and Robin turned to sea the massive Guardian struggling to get to its feet.
Cyborg's head snapped up in perfect understanding as the titanic green behemoth made its way towards the Guardian. The Guardian faced its opponent and hissed angrily, the massive emerald Tyrannosaurus stood unafraid of its opponent, but replied to its opponent's warning with a mighty roar. The dragon flew into the air for a quick dive-bomb, Beast Boy charged in a deadly headlong rush. The pillars of heaven shook as the two titans met each other with flesh ripping claws and bone-crushing jaws.
Danny Fenton wished that he had never opened his eyes, shrouded in darkness; he tried moving his arms and legs, but soon discovered that some unseen force bound him. His body felt weak and drained, as though he had not eaten or drank anything in what felt like years. It felt like there was a whirlwind inside of his head, he couldn't see anything clearly, despite the weakness of his condition, instinct told him to free himself, Danny summoned all of his pitiful strength to wrench free what bound him.
"Don't bother, you wont get loose, Ghost Child." A familiar voice told him.
Focused sharpened, and Danny found himself face to face with a hunter that had tirelessly tracked him for years throughout Amity Park and the Ghost Zone.
"Skulker?" Danny replied.
Skulker hissed and shifted his massive frame in a useless attempt to make himself more comfortable beneath his restraints.
"He's not the only one." Ember added.
"And don't forget the rest of us!" Technus insisted.
"I am the Box Ghost!" An all too familiar voice cried out.
"SHUT-UP!" Everyone seemed to shout.
"What are all of you doing here?" Danny inquired.
Skulker's face immediately turned grim. "He captured us-Tyranus, hunted us down; one-"
"-By one." Ember finished for him.
"He needed us for our energy, to use us as living batteries so when he finally was free, he would have all the power he needed to begin his conquest." Technus explained.
"When all of us fell to his minions, it became clear that you would be out last hope." Ember muttered.
"But, it appears as though even the great Danny Phantom was no match for the Ghost King." Danny's head snapped up-that voice. That horrible, evil, inhuman voice that took him back to the incident in the lab years before-Plasmius.
Vlad grinned when he saw the disgusted look on Danny's face. "Remember me, Daniel?"
"How could I forget?" Danny felt his gut turn when Vlad addressed him by his name.
"Ah, how truly wonderful this is-when I first arrived here I thought that this was a punishment worse than death. Never growing old, but feeling as though you're a brittle old man, never dying of thirst or hunger even though it feels as though you are starving to death. Never again to see the blue sky, to hear the trees sway in the wind, or to smell the wonderful aroma of flowers in a spring day. And most of all-never to see my one true love again."
Mom. Danny reflected, after all this time of being imprisoned Vlad still lived in a deranged fantasy that Danny's mom had the hearts for him.
"A little fitting, Vlad, don't you think? A person who has committed such atrocities during his lifetime deserves a fate such as this."
Vlad didn't display any sign of anger or annoyance, but merely chuckled lightly. "Yes, but let's not forget Daniel-it's a fate that you and I now share, to spend eternity within the bowels of a monster."
Funny, the Ghost King was so terrible even Vlad referred to him as a monster. But what Vlad had said cut deep, "A fate you and I now share."
"Yes Daniel, this is most fitting for the both of us. Now that Tyranus has you, there's no one left to stand in his way. The realm of mortals will be his again, as it was centuries ago."
Danny felt what little coursing strength remained in his body vanish-Vlad was right. Now that Tyranus had a hybrid, he had what he needed to conquer all. Even if the titans did prevail over Tyranus' forces, they could never hope to prevail against him. The world of darkness they were in appeared to shake, Danny could hear the faint sound of something exploding, Tyranus roared in pain, it was then Danny realized that there was hope of getting out of this prison.
Morgan descended to the ground as he watched Beast Boy and the Guardian duel. The Guardian is more than a match for the changeling, Morgan reflected, but I suppose I could lend a helping hand nonetheless. The specter readied a blast of energy-enormous amounts of spectral power surged within him-he aimed for Beast Boy. The pile of rubble beside him exploded, startled, Morgan fumbled the blast and his wave of energy disappeared into the night sky. He spun on one heel to face a very angry Raven.
Cut spewing blood from her forehead, eyes glowing red, the miserable piece of cloth now tattered and torn from Morgan's previous attack still clung to her body, she was a fearsome sight to behold. Frightened Morgan stepped back, in an instant Raven fired and Morgan dodged by going flying up.
She's stronger than I anticipated. Morgan realized. No matter, I will strike her down and-where the devil did she go!
Morgan looked down and discovered that Raven was nowhere to be seen, that's when he heard the whoosh of cloth meeting wind.
Oh no.
The blow was quick and precise, Raven's blade cut through Morgan's body, severing vital organs, bones, and cartilage like a knife threw butter. Morgan's face was pale, incredibly he still held himself together long enough to pass one last glance at Raven's face.
"For your love, Raven?"
"No," Raven spat, voice full of venom. "For me."
Morgan felt himself chuckle before his wind- pipe split and blood exploded out of his mouth; his spectral powers fading, Morgan transformed back into a human before his body split in two plummeted to the earth-never to rise again.
Tyranus cackled as he made his way towards Jack and Maddie who had taken cover in the nearby clump of trees, the weapons that had decimated Savage and Executioner were now useless against the Ghost King himself. Soon Tyranus was upon them, the eye, which Danny had damaged previously, was now fully healed. Growling the Ghost King ripped out the massive trees-roots and all-and glared down at the puny ghost hunters.
"You two will be the first of millions of souls that I will devour!"
Tyranus extended his right arm to scoop up Jack and Maddie-BAM! A rocket exploded directly into Tyranus' open hand, severely damaging it. Tyranus angrily shook out the flames on his hand and faced the small, but tank-like vehicle accelerating towards him. Jack's eyes widened in terror, "No." he murmured weakly.
Having taken the wheel again, Jazz fired what remained of the rockets. The warhead exploded into Tyranus' body and knees, injuring the mighty Ghost King but not as severely as Jazz would have hoped. Dash and Paullina quivered in the back as they saw the gargantuan Ghost King stomping towards them. Tucker, who was once again riding shotgun, felt his stomach turn and his legs tremble. A boy who had faced down specters and ghouls in the past with his best friends now felt as though he was going to wet and shit himself at exactly the same time.
"Why the hell are we doing this again?"
Jazz didn't bother answering but merely kept focused on the task at hand.
"Why couldn't we just take off, like your dad said!" Paullina screamed.
The Ghost King approaching them fast, Jazz turned the wheel, without any kind of restraints, Paullina and Dash were nearly thrown in the air, but Dash still managed to hold onto the unconscious Sam to keep her from injury. Luck her, she doesn't have to go through this hell, yet, we do!
Jazz headed in the opposite direction of the Ghost King at full speed, Tyranus-grinning-was taking small strides towards the small vehicle, playing with them.
"We've been through this before, guys. Just trust me." Jazz reassured.
Taking her eyes off the road for a moment, Jazz hit some buttons near the steering wheel. A cannon emerged from a cockpit on top of the vehicle. It was an experimental weapon, designed to generate massive amounts of anti-ectoplasmic energy. Problem was, Jack could never get the first two prototypes to fire without them bursting into flame. And with the amount of energy that cannon could generate, it was even possible it could decimate everything from within a two- mile radius of this place if something went wrong. Jazz prayed to God that it would work before taking aim with and beginning the firing sequence.
The Ghost King's hand slammed down on the ground in front of them, Jazz hit the brakes and the car spun to a stop. Almost immediately the Ghost King's hand descended on the vehicle and held the five- ton vehicle in his hand as if it were nothing but a toy. The Ghost King tightened his grip; steel that was two inches thick, crumbled like paper under Tyranus' might grip. The firing sequence was soon disrupted and red sirens went off inside the vehicle.
Jazz cursed and slammed her hand angrily against the fire button. "Come on, come on! Damn-it! Fire!"
Outside the Ghost King chuckled, the teens would be dead in no time. A black energy blade similar to the one, which decapitated Morgan Deprea only much larger, cut through Tyranus' shoulder. The Ghost King cried out in agony as ghostly blood oozed out of the wound.
Raven, smiling triumphantly readied another blast. Now that was for my love.
Distracted, Tyranus swatted at the small sorceress-as though by miracle, the cannon came back online. Jazz without hesitation smashed the firing button, there was loud crackling noise as massive amounts of energy was gathered in the barrel of the cannon and was released, at the same time Raven fired her own blast of magic at the behemoth. Tyranus staggered back as his chest was blown open, unimaginable pain coursed through Tyranus' body and the mighty King of Ghosts let out a horrible scream.
Deep inside the bowels of Tyranus' Danny felt the Ghost King shudder before the first beam of energy crashed into the behemoth and created a gaping hole. Danny saw the pale moonlight and an ocean of stars. Almost immediately, whatever invisible chains bound him was broken. Danny felt his strength returning, inside the world of darkness all of the prisoners of the Ghost King found themselves free from Tyranus' hold. Skulker rubbed his wrists and grinned.
"What are we waiting for? It's freedom!" He declared.
As if on command, all of the specters and souls that had been swallowed by Tyranus flew out of the enormous wound. Some descended towards the heavens, others disappeared in the horizon. Vlad chose to stay for a moment to face Danny. Danny scowled and readied for an attack he knew was coming. But instead, Vlad grinned cockily and waved a dismissive hand at Danny.
"Perhaps another time, Daniel." He said. "Right now I have more important things on my mind: a fortune to reclaim, a house to return to, and of course-a ghost zone portal to construct."
"I'll be seeing you again, Daniel." With that, Vlad faded into nothing.
Danny saw his parents' assault vehicle in the palm of Tyranus' hand, he noted that Tyranus was losing his grip and any moment the car would plummet hundreds of feet to the ground. With new strength coursing through every vein, Danny transformed into his hybrid-self.
"Yes!" He shouted, levitating in the air. "Guess who's back!"
Part 4 coming soon!