Just gonna keep this short and sweet: I took the space heater. It is mine. Infinite heat.
Anyways, I am editing the first few chapters to improve the writing quality. They should be up soon. When they are up, you don't need to reread them because I didn't change any story, but they'll be more aesthetically pleasing. Expect them in the next few days.
This chapter's a long one. It felt better being long rather than split in two. Strap in, this one's a ride.
Chapter 28: Gauntlet
The Ant General finally saw it: Land. It must have been the south tip of Florida. Days of travel led them here, and now it was a day's flight from Amity Park. They island hopped from South America, to Puerto Rico, then the Dominican Republic, then the Bahamas. They never wanted to see the ocean again after that. The sun was just coming up; they'd get there by nightfall.
Hours later, in the lives of the trio...
It was a few days after Danny told his secret. A minimum day at school meant lots of free time at home. Free time at home meant a chance to go to the Ghost Zone. So, thats what the trio did. They only had four hours to find the other two gems. They didn't want to take the chance and hope Karma was being kind, but they had to. They didn't have many chances to get into the ghost zone, so they had to do this now.
Their first stop was Dorathea's Kingdom. The Soma Zeto led them to the kingdom. They met up with a kind ghost, Princess Dorathea, the ruler of the kingdom and one of Danny Phantom's allies.
"So, you kids are looking for a Reality Gem?" Dora asked as they walked down the halls of the castle.
"Yes, and this staff lead us here. Do you have any sort of treasure room, or jewel collection, or something?" Alex asked.
The Princess nodded. "I'll show you to it."
So, they were lead to a treasure room with piles and piles of gold, gems, and all sorts of golden artifacts. It was grander than the sight you'd see in Scrooge McDuck's money bin. The kids wanted to stop and take in the beautiful sight, but they knew they didn't have the time.
The staff lead through the deep piles of gold. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack, except you had a magnet to help find it. The green glowing mist went through the piles of coins like a tether linking itself to the gem. They kept digging through the gold until they finally found it. A small square gem, bright magenta in color, was being wrapped in the green mist. Ray picked it up and gave it a good look. It started glowing in his hand, and got hot. Really hot. Way too hot.
"OUCH!" Ray yelped. He dropped the way-too-hot gem onto the pile of gold. What happened next was not good.
The gold rose up. It formed into a dragon head with jewel-embellished swords and daggers as teeth and huge diamonds for eyes. Two golden shields made up the ears and two big crystal swords made up the horns, and right on the tip of the nose was the gem of life. The serpentine neck sprouted out from the gold like snake fireworks.
Once the neck was formed, the body burst from the gold in an explosion of coins. It was an impressive sight. Gold rained down on them as the golden dragon burst a hole in the roof of the treasure room, breaking into the massive dining hall above. It roared a metallic roar, and instead of breathing fire, it breathed molten gold. It blasted the molten gold at Ray, who was saved by Heather's intangibility.
"We need to get that gem!" Ray yelled over the roar of the gold dragon.
"Leave that to me!" Dora yelled. The amulet around her neck glowed, and she turned into a giant blue dragon.
The dragons looked equally matched... but Dora wasn't a mindless beast like the gold dragon. She dodged the blasts of gold and lunged at the gold dragon. Blue claws met gold as they wrestled.
With the gold dragon busy fighting, Heather flew at it, trying to grab the gem on the dragon's nose. She was knocked away by the dragon's tail.
Soon enough, Dora pinned the gold dragon with her front claws and bit at the dragon's nose until the caught the gem in her teeth. She slipped as the gold stopped holding together and fell to the ground. The Princess spit the gem out, and Heather quickly put it into the globe of the staff before it could bring anything else to life.
"Thanks for the help, and I'm sorry we made a mess of your castle," Heather said.
Dora smiled. "The castle wasn't your fault. That gem is a dangerous artifact, but to save both the worlds, the daughter of Phantom and his friends are the best to keep it."
"I'm sorry to ruin the moment, but Heather, we have three hours left. We need to go," Alex prompted.
They said quick goodbyes before flying off, following the Staff's directions.
It was a very long flight. An hour straight. The only stop they made was at Heather's lair for a quick rest, and then they were off. It was in the opposite direction of the portal, and Dorathea's Kingdom was already fifteen minutes away from the portal. That meant only a few minutes to get in and out, if Karma was on their side in this. If they were lucky and the final gem was nearby they'd just barely make it home before Heather's parents.
The Soma Zeto led them to a giant jungle island, only named The Orange Jungle on Ray's map. The thick glowing orange leaves on the purple-trunked trees blocked the kids from seeing what was hiding in the jungle. Glowing green rivers flowed off the edges and faded into nothing.
They went into the jungle, walking fast, following the trail of the staff. The orange glow of the jungle and the ice blue ghost fireflies flying around made it feel magical. Eerie sounds echoed between the trees put the kids on edge.
A rustling sound in the bushes made them stop and listen. "What was that?" Alex whispered.
SNAP! A giant green vine burst up from the ground. Alex screamed as it wrapped around him and pulled him underground.
"Alex!" Ray yelled, right before getting snatched underground by another vine.
Heather flew up, trying to run from the vines that were exploding from the ground. The trees seemed to come to life, though, their leaves blocking her path out of the treeline. The vines pulled her by the feet, and they somehow prevented her from going intangible and escaping. She was pulled into the ground, just barely able to keep a grasp on the staff.
She wasn't drowned in the dirt, though. The vines made tunnels. Whatever these vines were, they wanted her alive. And soon enough, she found out what the vines were when she was pulled out of the ground in a very different part of the forest.
The trees were covered with vines. There were so many vines on the ground the dirt couldn't be seen, and they spread out for what seemed like forever. And in the clearing where they were, vines sprouted up into the sky and formed a monster. It had a body made fully of the vines. It had spikes on it's head and shoulders, and it's mouth was a beak. It had a cape made of a giant torn leaf. And worst of all, it was huge, and it was not happy.
"You are trespassing in the land of Undergrowth!" the monster screamed. He held the three kids in front of his face. "You desecrate my jungle with your filthy footsteps, flesh-walkers! You will be fed to the children!"
Alex, always tending to talk first in near-death situations, spoke. "We didn't know this was your land! We were looking for a reality gem!"
"Yeah, Alex, go ahead and tell him our entire plan. Good idea!" Heather said sarcastically.
Undergrowth growled. "The gem is mine! It feeds my children with it's power! You will not take it!"
"I think Karma's finally coming around," Ray said.
Undergrowth tied them to the trees. "Two humans to feed the children. And you, ghost, you wear the suit of the ice demon. I will not let you do the same he did."
"Heather, get the green gem from the staff," Ray whispered. "We saw what the gem of life did, now let's see what the gem of form does."
Undergrowth turned his back to them, slowly raising two massive Venus fly trap-like plants out of the vines.
While her arms were tied to the tree, she could still just barely move. It was enough to bring the globe of the staff close enough to reach with her other hand. She tapped the top, and grabbed out the green gem. She didn't know how to use it. She just hoped something would happen.
And luckily for her, something did happen. All of the vines holding her, Alex, and Ray turned into caterpillars. Hundreds and hundreds of caterpillars. They fell to the ground.
"Run!" Heather yelled, sticking the gem back in the staff and following the trail again.
"My vines! What have you done!" Undergrowth yelled. He sent vines chasing after the three, but this time, Heather was ready. She lifted up the boys and flew at top speed, going right through the trees, until she found a tree fifteen times the height and thickness of the others. The staff's mist was pointing at the very bottom.
At the roots, was the orange gem. The gem of power. Heather picked it up and put it in the staff.
The rustling in the bushes was back. Vines were on their way to burst out of the ground.
"Let's get out of here!" Alex said.
"Agreed." Heather grabbed the boys as the ground went snap and blasted through the leaf canopy.
And with what appeared to be good luck, the staff pointed in the same direction as home.
They got closer and closer to home, and the staff's direction didn't change. It pointed right at the ghost portal.
"Heather, Ray, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
The look on Heather's face was a strange mix of disbelief and anger. "I swear, if it's somewhere in my basement..." Exhausted by flying for almost four hours, she was in bad mood mode.
They went through the portal. Back in the lab, the staff pointed straight down.
Heather went down through the floor. It was solid dirt below, so she made the dirt invisible. It was very draining on the last of her energy, especially without the Ghost Zone's energy to fuel her. She was only able to get a few feet around her invisible, but it was all she needed. A big metal safe was underground. She brought it up to the lab, and then went human.
"Heather, can you get it open?" Ray asked.
"I can't do much more, guys. I'll try, but I can't promise anything."
So she used her last bit of strength to make the lock intangible and opened the door. Inside the safe was a box. Inside that box, the gauntlet and the final gem: The gem of fantasy.
"So this is the thing that's gonna save the world," Heather said as she put the gauntlet on her left hand and affixed the gem of fantasy to it. "Let's go upstairs. I don't know how often my dad comes down here, but I don't want to be here when he does."
When they got to the top of the basement stairs and peeked out the door at the top of the stairs to check if the coast was clear, they heard the front door being unlocked.
"That must be my dad. Run!"
The trio dashed up the stairs at top speed and got to Heather's room just as her dad yelled "I'm home!"
They all sat on the floor. They took the gems out of the staff. They affixed the gem of life and gem of form.
Heather held the beautiful orange gem of power in her hand. "This gauntlet can do anything. It messes with the fabric of reality. We read the books. So, whatever powers we get from this, let's try not to let it get to our heads, ok?"
"Ok," the boys said in unison.
Heather was about to affix the gem when there was a knock at her door. Her dad came in, and she didn't have time to hide the gauntlet.
"I knew Karma was gonna come back and bite us in the butt," Ray sighed. Alex gave him a quick side glance.
Danny stared intently. Heather wearing the second reality gauntlet and holding the gem of power in her hands, the staff on the floor, just the way they looked at him made him know they kept something big from him.
It was a staring match. Danny felt if he made one move to get the gauntlet, Heather would bolt. Bolt to where, he didn't know, but it was like looking a deer in the eyes, trying not to make it run away. The three stood up. Alex grabbed the staff.
"Do you know what that gauntlet is, Heather?" Danny asked quietly. "Do you know how powerful it is?"
Heather said nothing.
"Heather, please hand it to me. It's too powerful for you."
She slowly moved the orange gem she was holding closer to the gauntlet.
"Heather, don't put that gem in there. Please, just hand it to me."
She did it anyways. Nothing happened. Secretly, Danny was relieved she didn't know how to use it.
"Heather, how did you find the gauntlet and gems anyway? Don't even think about not answering."
Heather knew she was trapped. She couldn't leave without using her ghost powers, which she didn't want to reveal, or the gauntlet, which she didn't know how to use. So she answered. "The staff. It's called the Soma Zeto. If you have a gem and stick it in the top, it will show you the locations of the rest."
"Where did you find it?"
"The Hall of Typhon," she mumbled.
"You have ghost powers like me, don't you?"
Heather looked at her gauntlet, then at her dad, then at the blanket on her bed. Danny waited for an answer... an answer he wouldn't get.
In the blink of an eye, Heather pointed the gauntlet at her blanket. The blanket jumped to life and covered Danny's face. The perfect distraction while Heather, running on adrenaline, pulled them through the floor and back to the basement and jumped through to the secret storage room. She blasted the secret door with ghost energy, opening the lab, then rushed into the ghost zone. Danny was close behind, getting to the lab just as they jumped through the portal. He knew he didn't have a chance catching them now. He called Sam immediately.
"Sam, get home now. Heather found the reality gauntlet."
We're getting dangerously close to the end. This is fun.
