Ah ha... ^^' Err... sorry about not updating yesterday guys, it's not because I was unable to or that I hadn't worked on it recently... it was more like I forgot to. I'm really sorry about that! I didn't want to make you guys wait another week because it slipped my mind, so I decided to update it today. Anyways, we're coming to end with the Pirate Radio episode here, and thank you all for your lovely support! Of course I wasn't letting ignorant bad comments like that stop me from writing the story, but it does bother me to see reviews like that and I was just letting off some steam, but it really made me happy to see so many of you supporting me about it, so thanks everyone! :)
Linkonpark100: Who did you want to see become a huge leader? I wasn't sure if you meant Danny or Andy. ^^'
OMNISENSE95: That would certainly be an interesting episode to do. ;)
ShiraYukiShadow: Well Clockwork is someone Andy looks up to, so that might be a reason. ^^' Plus Danny needs to learn lessons the hard way for it to work its way into his brain.
Mimi1012: Yes and no on that, you'll see what I meant. And ironically this is Saturday. ^^' Thanks for the defense and support, it gets annoying when people review just to say they're not going to read the story because of this or that.
Blue: Yeah, things get weird when Andy becomes sleep deprived. XD And the jacket is growing on me after seeing him wearing it all the time in your pictures.
I know, right? People don't even have the right to judge a story without even giving it a chance, they just see an OC or the length and write it off as a bad story and then have the gull to criticize or attack the author for it. It's annoying and a blow to self esteem! And I'm glad you enjoy my story and Andy. :)
CalmTheHydreigon: Uh... nice dance moves...?
ZAFT Prime: Yeah, being sleep deprived is not fun at all. I've always seen Paulina as someone who, because she's been praised and complimented her whole life, thinks she's better than most people and looks down on them, especially the 'unpopular' boys since so many of them just stare in a trance while drooling over her and making them look like complete donkeys. The fact that Andy doesn't do that and sees her as more of a witch than a gorgeous angle like his brother and most other boys do, made him not care about being popular and plays off well against her. This could also be the key to give Paulina some character development as she sees not every 'loser' is a stepping stone like she thought they were.
Guest: I know OCs have a bad reputation, which is why I always try hard to make mine as likable as possible, but the fact that people still don't give it a chance just because it's an OC does bother me. I don't want them thinking I'm a writer with a fetish or something because I put in an OC, but I guess I can't help it if they want to believe what they want to believe. I'm actually very flattered to hear you say those things about Andy, because I gave him most of my personality. ^^' I hope you enjoy the rest of the series!
Captivity: Uh... were you talking about Andy and Danny being alike in that way? Cause I wasn't sure who you meant. ^^' And yes, Jazz knows. :3
Of course, even talking wouldn't just magically make Andy's fear go away, but it's a start. Heh, interesting little theory for The Ultimate Enemy, now I'm really hoping we can get to it soon.
Of course, like I said earlier I'm not letting ignorant people like that stop me from working, but it is annoying to see those kinds of reviews and I was just blowing off some steam about it. I trust you guys may have seen reviews like that in your stories at some point, right? Just wanted to share the experience. I work hard to make my OC likable and integrate them into the story without coming off as cringe worthy. Of course it also makes me a bit paranoid, it took me a long time to decide if I should give Andy ghost powers at all because I didn't want people thinking he's now going to be a Mary Sue character because he has powers now.
But seeing how you can't watch DP without thinking Andy's missing at least once means I'm doing a good job! :D And as for why he's not canon... it's a cartoon show made by Butch Hartman, and unfortunately I'm not one of the writers working for him. ^^' It'd be awesome though, being able to write for DP...
Acacia: I'm glad to know that Andy's personality complements Danny's, for a while I was worried it wouldn't mesh well together when I first started writing My Brother's a Ghost, but it's sure come a long way since then!
Tallygirl02: You like OC stories? That's pretty rare among the fanfic community, most people just outright hate or are indifferent to OCs, it's why I was nervous about uploading this kind of story in the first place since the main character is indeed an OC. Of course, because of this, I had to prove that Andy's not one of those Mary Sue OCs that I put in just to glorify my own character or whatever, he's an actual character and will react as if he was really a part of the show itself. I'm glad you enjoyed the story so far and hope that it will continue to be a success. :D
muney73: Yeah, the ironic thing is after I put up that complaint, another reviewer told me that the story was too long and didn't want to read it. It's really stupid to not want to read a story just because it's too long, maybe they didn't have a lot of time on their hands or they don't like reading long stories, that's fine and all, but is that a good reason to leave a review to the writer, who put in a lot of time to write a story that long in the first place, that you're not going to read it simply because it's too long? That's like slapping them in the face for putting in a lot of time and effort into a story they wanted people to enjoy reading. If it's too long, don't bother leaving a review at all, and yet they do.
Personally, I don't really go looking for OC stories myself, but sometimes I do find a few that's good and I take inspiration from those. It's sad that a lot of OCs have a bad reputation though, and that makes good OC stories under-appreciated simply because people aren't willing to give them a chance or just outright flame the writer just for having it.
Anyways, enough of my rants about that... Secret Weapons is gonna be fun, I'm sure... though I haven't thought of a plot for it yet. ^^'
Heh, Dustin does seem to be that kind of guy, right? We'll see if you're right or not once we get to Reign Storm.
PrincessDragon96: Glad to know you understand why it bugs me. I'm not going to let them discourage me of course, especially since I have a lot of support, but it does get aggravating to see reviews like that.
Heh, glad you enjoyed Andy's confession to Jazz, it was kind of hard trying to think of an appropriate reaction for Jazz... I mean, would she be accepting, scared, sad, upset, or break down like Andy did when they saw Danny's secret? I was able to get Key to help me a little on that part though. I'm glad to hear the reaction provided for her was perfect though. :)
randomphandom: Yeah, I've been trying really hard to keep Andy from being OP but not too incompetent either as people hate incompetent OCs just as much, if not more so, then OP OCs. I'm keeping Andy as balanced and realistic as possible, but also keeping in mind that he's in a cartoon world too. I remember reading a DP fanfic before I even wrote My Brother's a Ghost, it was a twin fanfic and the two were almost replicas of each other, I mean they think alike, they like the same things, heck they even finish each other's sentences. While that might be common in twins, that's annoying and not something I was willing to do when making My Brother's a Ghost, besides, I didn't think a lot of people would like that either. Just because they're twins doesn't mean they're clones of each other, they are their own person too. Heh, seems you had a marathon of My Brother's a Ghost and We Are Phantoms, hope you enjoyed it! Seems like you did. :) Though I won't lie to you; the original storylines are a lot harder to do since I have to come up with a plot from scratch rather than follow the basic plot and putting in my own twists to them. I'm amazed the movie finale in My Brother's a Ghost became a big success as it did.
Well Andy hadn't overcome his fear of Bearbert exactly, but he's less scared of it now... at least until the Christmas episode, but yeah, Andy's willing to do what it takes to help those he cares about as seen in the previous book, he and Danny both share that same passion and that's why they've become heroes rather than using their powers for personal gain like Vlad and Tucker did, of course that's not to say they would sometimes fall into that temptation, but they try not to abuse their powers too much. I did decide that it would be better for Andy to just outright tell Jazz since she already knew Danny's secret, so why not let her know his? And as for Andy's future vision powers, thank you for liking that. It was from an original scrapped idea when I was going to give Andy psychic powers in the last book, but decided not to, so I gave him the power to see the future as a side effect from those temporal powers instead. There are a few powers that I plan to give Andy that Danny himself either never used or used at least once in the show, so I like to think that Andy's more of the experimental thinker of the two while Danny is more of a physical fighter. And I have a lot of plans for TUE, but getting there is still a challenge. ^^'
Well of course Andy's not canon, I'm not one of Butch Hartman's writer sadly, ^^' so you'll just have to settle for fanfiction. School isn't a problem for me... but motivation is hard to come by once writing starts to get stale and become a chore, but I am still going strong with this series and hope I will be until the very end. :D
Chapter 20: The Battle of Pirates
Why was I doing this? No- I know why, but maybe this is a bad idea after all… I used my ghost powers and turned us invisible to sneak Jazz and myself out of the house while everyone else were staring at the sky, seeing the ghost pirates stealing away everyone's parents.
"This is so cool! We're invisible and we just went through the wall!" I heard Jazz almost fangirling behind me and I had to shush her.
When we were a good distance away from Fenton Works I returned us to visibility. "Okay, Youngblood should probably remember us from last night, so he'll want to capture us as a way of revenge. Be sure Danny sees us being taken, so he'll know he has to take charge."
"I still think this is dangerous and crazy, Andy. What if they hurt or try to kill us?" Jazz asked, still uneasy about it.
"I'm not going to let that happen to us, okay?" I said to her. "You said you wanted to help Danny more, this will be helping him."
"... I-I don't know… I mean I've never actively tried to help before... what if I mess up?" She asked me, sounding unsure.
"Hey Jazz, you were always the one who told us to believe in ourselves, so now it's time for you to do the same. I can't do this alone, so are you with me?" I asked her and she thought about it for a minute before nodding.
"Alright little brother, let's show those ghost pirates what we're made of." She said and I gave a smile.
We looked around before Youngblood himself appeared in front of us. "Well, well, well, looks like we finally found the runaways from the other night. Don't think you'll be getting away from me this time!" He changed his hooked hand into a fork again before using a ball as a sling shot at us. I hugged Jazz and shielded her with my body, but nothing happened… well something did but it didn't hurt.
We looked up to see Youngblood trapped us in a red sphere, like a hamster ball. He laughed at us, "You should've seen the looks on your faces!"
I frowned a bit before glaring at the obnoxious kid, "What are you going to do with us?"
"Well… since you can't be hypnotized by the music… I suppose we should keep you in the dungeon to keep you from ruining my plans." Youngblood said, trying to act cool.
"The 'dungeon' would be the hull." The parrot said to him.
"Whatever, just know you two will be locked up at the very bottom of the ship!" Youngblood said before picking us up and flying us towards his ship.
Jazz and I began knocking against the sphere and yelling for help, hoping to get Danny's attention. Everyone was looking at us due to being in a giant red ball, so I think it's safe to say they noticed we were captured.
And now we're being taken to the hull. Youngblood phased us into the bottom of the ship, which looked really old and dusty here. He popped the hamster ball he trapped us in with his hooked hand. "Now you stay here quietly while we finish up in this town. Soon no adults will be left in this pitiful place."
I was expecting Younblood putting me and Jazz together in the brig, but he grabbed her and said, "Now I'll be making sure you two don't cause trouble. This one will be helping out with fueling the ship since she was such a great helper. All I have to do is get my partner in crime to find the right note to get her under control again."
"Wait, what are you going to do with my sister? Who's your partner?" I demanded.
"She's just someone who rocks. It's too bad you're half ghost, otherwise I could've made use of you too." The little pirate wanna-be said to me.
"Let me go!" Jazz snapped as she struggled in Youngblood's grasp.
"Jazz!" I yelled for her as he took her away somewhere. I didn't know he was going to take Jazz away… but there's nothing I can do now… except go through with my original plan until Danny and the others can help me save Jazz and everyone else. I hated that I had saved her only for her to end up captured again, but at least she did help me with one thing… I know I don't have to count on just myself anymore. "I'll save you Jazz… you and everyone else." I promised her as I curled my hands into fists.
I tried to go ghost, but when I did it felt like I was wearing a shock collar because my entire core felt like it got electrocuted. It's impossible to change with that ghost shield up… but why? Just because I'm in the shield doesn't mean it should prevent me from changing… was it modified so half ghosts can't transform? … It'd make sense since Youngblood and his partner wouldn't want Danny Phantom to interfere… but now that makes it harder for me since I can't use any of my powers.
"Don't stop… go for it… with everything you've got."
There was that voice again, but I nodded. I can't afford to let this stop me now, no way did I get captured just to play the damsel in distress. I checked around the brig… there's no way I can get out without using intangibility, but that's impossible right now… there's gotta be a secret trapdoor or something. This ship looks pretty old… but I'm not sure if it's fragile since it is a ghost ship. I knocked around the walls and tried to see if there was any way out… but then my head began to tingle again and I knew that meant a vision was coming… maybe it can tell me how to get out of here.
Someone's coming through the door… it's Ember… Why am I not surprised? Even without future sight I knew it would be her of all ghosts. She came floating in and smirked at me.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't little Andy. I remember from Walker's little tournament that you've upgraded to halfa status like your brother, that's too bad since I think you would've quite enjoyed my new song if you were still fully human. But perhaps I can find a way to affect you." She turned a knob on her electric guitar and aimed at me. "After all… we can't have you conscious if you're going to cause trouble." She strummed her guitar and the vision abruptly ended.
I gasped and fell back from the vision… ow… Ember's going to come through that door… but she strangely opened it up rather than phasing in… is it possible the ghosts are limited to their own abilities as long as this modified ghost shield is up? If that's the case then I better make the most use of it, otherwise she'll just knock me unconscious.
I quickly stood up when I heard the door being open, this is my chance. I hurried into hiding as she floated her way down into the hull. Quietly, ever so carefully, I was sneaking my way up the stairs where she left the door open. She was looking around, probably trying to find me no doubt.
"Where is that identical dipstick?" I heard her mumbling to herself as I was slowly trying to get to the door, hoping the steps don't squeak and draw her attention to me.
Come on… just a little more… I'm almost there… but suddenly when I took another step the wood gave a snap suddenly! I gritted my teeth as that was enough to get Ember's attention. I quickly made a jump for it, but she was already in front of me- dang it... I wish I could be that fast.
"Oh-ho, already trying to escape I see. And here I thought you'd be easy pickings now that you're trapped in here without being able to use your newly acquired ghost powers." Ember smirked at me. "Although I must say I'm surprised you had enough time to hide yourself before I came in here."
I glared at her defiantly. "What do you want, Ember? Why are you helping Younblood now?" I was tempted to add 'because your concert was such a big blowout you had to take up babysitting now?' but I knew better than to anger someone more powerful than I am right now, especially since I have no means of defending myself.
"I guess you could say we share the same opinions of adults; we both hate them. So I help Youngblood lure in the people over 30 so he can fuel his ship, and they give me the energy I need to get stronger and be out of the way so I can make a comeback without annoying adult interference." She told me with a smirk, "Of course… now that you have ghost powers you and your brother will be a threat, so I'm going to have to keep you out of the way until I'm powerful enough to put both of you under my spell."
"You know Ember, you shouldn't hate everyone who's over 30, it's not their fault their bodies are aging. Everyone is different, children, teens and adults-" I began to say but she interrupted me.
"You think I care? Adults are just adults to me, nothing more, but everything less!" Ember snapped at me.
"I don't know what you have against people who are over 30, but I'm not going to let you absorb their energy. Some of them may die if you do that." I growled at her.
"Oh? And what can you do to stop me? You can't use your ghost powers in here and you have no weapons to defend yourself with." She sneered.
"That doesn't mean I can't at least try," I said to her before I suddenly dived under her legs and rolled out the open door and began running like I'm in a marathon.
"The boy has escaped! GET HIM!" I heard Ember shout as I ran through the haul. Oh how I wish I could use the Plasma or Fenton Rod right now!
I didn't know where I was going, just that I had to get away from the ghosts and find a way to bring down this ship so Danny can get his army onboard. In my vision he was using a blimp to catch them, but this ship can be fast when it wants to be, so a blimp isn't going to do squat unless I can slow it down… I know! I just have to get to the ship's wheel and try to steer it off course enough until Danny can catch up to us. I just hope he and Dash are able to get along enough to actually lead everyone up here.
Until reinforcements arrives I'm on my own. I quickly ducked behind some crates as the pirate ghosts were flying past me, trying to find me. There's got to be an easier way to get there… with all these ghosts flying around it'll be almost impossible to get there without being spotted. Still I can't just stay here all night… I opened the crate and coughed at how dusty is was. I know it's supposed to be a ghost ship, but could they at least clean up the dust? I put my shirt over my mouth and nose as I climbed into the dust-filled-otherwise-empty crate and put the lid over me. I used a peephole to see if any of the ghosts were out there… and began walking with the crate- yeah it's old, so it was easy to break the bottom.
Slowly… carefully… I had to stop and wait whenever a ghost was passing me by… yes I realize this is an old cartoon trick, but if it works then I'm not going to complain. I didn't know the ins and outs of this ship, didn't have a map or the knowledge of a ship, but I know I saw the wheel somewhere above and I have to get up there.
Well the crate became obsolete when I saw a narrow hallway with stairs, the stairs leads up and up is where I want to go. I got out of the stuffy crate after checking to make sure no ghost pirates were near and made my way up the stairs.
I slowly peeked outside of the ship, to see the ghost pirates were looking out, probably to see if my brother was out there or something. Whatever it was, I was thankful for the distraction as I quietly made my way towards the ship's wheel.
Suddenly I heard Youngblood yelling something. "SHIP AHOY! ALL HANDS ON DECK!"
I turned and that's when I noticed the Fenton Blimp, and suddenly sound waves were emitting from it and causing the entire ship to rock and be blown back! I yelped as my body rolled into a wall… Ugh… I better hurry. I could see cannon balls are being fired. I ran up the stairs to the back of the ship where the wheel is and grabbed it, trying to steer is closer to the blimp. I knew next to nothing about ships and I know there are different names when you want to go left and right, but that's basically what I'm doing, is turning this ship around towards the blimp… and because I'm only 14 and don't have a driver's license yet I had trouble steering this thing!
"WHO IS STEERING MY SHIP!? YE SHALL PAY FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!" I heard Youngblood yelling in anger.
I didn't have time to try and react when the kid and his parrot were right beside me and he glared at me. "You!? How did you get here without anyone catching you!?"
"It's called being stealthy," I said to him. "And you kidnapped my family so I'm going to make sure you pay for that."
"Give me that wheel!" Youngblood snapped as he grabbed it and began spinning it around.
"No! You're going to have to face the consequences kid, we all had to and ghosts are no different!" I snapped back at him as I grabbed the wheel myself and tried turning it my way. I felt the ship swinging a bit… if this was in the water I think it would stall, but it's in the air so I guess there's no water to stall it.
"Let go!" Youngblood growled as he turned his peg leg into a cannon. "Or taste hot cannon ball!"
I kept glaring at him but knew better than to risk that since I can't go intangible as long as that modified ghost shield is still up. I slowly let go of the wheel and backed away as he grabbed the wheel. "You are so troublesome for someone who's as human as everyone in the engine room right now."
"Well I have spent a lot of time fighting ghosts as a human before." I said. "So I can't say I'm without experience."
"Well then…" I felt my blood go cold when I heard Ember just behind me. "I guess we'll have to get rid of you now before you become a much bigger threat."
"WAH!" I yelled when she strummed her guitar and sound waves hit me from behind- It's hard to think sound waves could even become a force like that, but it was enough to push me into a wall and it hurts! I groaned as I felt a bit dizzy from that sudden attack from Ember.
"Did you think you could get away from me and not pay the consequences dipstick? My music may not be strong enough to put you under my spell right now, but it can still hurt you enough to knock you out." She hissed at me as I was trying to scramble away from her- I hate being defenseless like this.
Ember came at me ready to strum her guitar in my face to knock me, but I reacted quickly as I jumped back to my feet and grabbed her wrists to keep her from doing so. She glared at me before her eyes turned pure red and the blue fire on her hair began rising up- she's going to fry me to a crisp! I quickly kicked her in the stomach to get her away from me and hurried away from her, but Youngblood wasn't having it as he suddenly had that hook hand of his around my throat and I didn't dare to move or my head would be separated from my body.
"Where do you think you're going, shark bait?" Youngblood hissed in my ear since I couldn't turn to face him like this.
I knew I was doomed the minute they caught me, but before I could face my doom the blimp suddenly came crashing itself down onto the ship! Due to the sudden force of it, Youngblood, Ember, myself and everyone else on deck fell and rolled over as the black sail came down on us. I was tangled somewhere in that mess, but I noticed Youngblood's hook wasn't around my throat anymore- thank goodness, and he instead used it to slash through the sail and yelled, "HEY! QUIT IT!"
I was still trying to get out myself, doesn't look like I'll be able to tear a hole in it so I needed to crawl out. I was glad to find my way out and by the time I did I heard a lot of yelling coming this way, which sounded almost like battle cries. I looked up and saw Danny and the other students were swinging on board while kicking the ghost pirates in their way and they're all wearing that orange jumpsuit Dad always wears- hey cool, looks like my vision came true! I just hope this means Danny and Dash will start getting along after this, but more importantly I'm not alone anymore, the cavalry have arrived.
But before I could stand up from being buried under the sail, one of the bulkier pirate ghost stomp in front of me. It glared as it pointed its sword in my face and I gave a nervous gulp as it was about to slice my face off, but it was suddenly hit by a Fenton Rod and disappeared in a puff of smoke- I hadn't realized they were that fragile- and my brother, wearing that orange spandex suit, bend down to me.
"Hey bro, need some help?" he gave me an out stretch of his hand.
I smiled back at him as I took his hand and he helped me up. "It's about time you got here, bro."
"I figured you wouldn't get caught so easily," Danny said as he handed me a Fenton Rod. "Now are you going to help?"
"Heh, just like old times," I smirked as I took the Fenton Rod, smiling at the familiar weapon in my hands. "As you probably may have noticed, we can't change with this ghost shield up."
"Yeah, it gave me a rather nasty shock when I tried." Danny admitted to me, "But let's see how much humans can put up a fight against ghosts!"
It felt very good to have the Fenton Rod in my hands again. The ghost pirates were charging at us and we countered their swords with our metal rods with a CLANG! I was actually surprised when I saw Star and Paulina using their cheerleading skills to dodge and beat up the pirate ghosts.
I pushed a button on the Fenton Rod to allow the tip of it to be sparking with electricity and slam it at three more pirate ghosts, causing them to vanish in a puff of smoke. Then some of the bulkier pirates tried to push me back, and I found myself back-to-back with Dash.
"Hey Andy, guess your brother and I probably can get along if we need to," Dash said casually to me as if we weren't struggling against pirate ghosts with swords. "But it'll still be a while before you can even call us friends."
"Well at least it's a step in the right direction." I said to him before both of us pushed the ghost back, and I pushed another button to change electricity into fire, using it like a blade as I swing it at another incoming skeleton ghost pirate and literally melted it into nothing but ectoplasm… eew… I think I prefer it when they turned into a puff of smoke… or dust.
I swung the rod around as the pirate ghosts attempted to surround me, that was a big mistake on their part as that just made them easy targets. I ran through another group of them and easily took them out, and I could see my brother Danny running towards them before Paulina threw him a skateboard and called, "Danny!"
I couldn't help but smile at that as he jumped on the skateboard- wait… is that the same skateboard that tripped me into the Ghost Portal during the second accident? Danny rode on it to help him take out more of the ghost pirates, pretty soon there was hardly any of them left. I couldn't tell you how satisfying it was to destroy these guys after they cheated during the Walker Tournament, granted they may not be the same pirates but it felt good anyways.
Then there was a sudden loud guitar strum and a familiar sound wave sending Danny back and hit his group. I ran over to them when I saw they all fell in pain from that attack- why were they all suddenly bunched up together? "Are you guys okay?"
"The only one rocking THIS boat is ME!" I heard Ember say before she strummed her guitar again, this time it was a different color sound wave and instead of hurting us, it formed a red ball of ecto energy, trapping us inside.
"H-hey! Let us out!" I tried slamming my rod into it while the others were trying to punch or kick the ecto-hamster ball we're in, including Danny. "Guys, we have ghost weapons, use them!"
Before any of them could reply, Youngblood reached his hooked hand into the ecto-ball and snacked up Danny's suit and dragged him out,
"D-Danny!" I yelled for my brother.
"Time for you to walk the plank, shark bait!" Youngblood said to him before he glanced at me. "Don't worry; you're next for all the trouble you've caused!"
The ship was floating over the city and if Danny can't turn into a ghost then he won't be able to fly to safety, Youngblood and Ember knew this as they forced him onto the wooden plank. Youngblood began shoving that hook right at his face, trying to push him off the edge of plank.
I turned to Dash and said, "We've got to do something! They're going to kill my brother!"
"I would love to Andy, but unless we can get out of this hamster ball we can't save your brother!" Dash said before he frowned. "But we'll try! Everyone, hit the ball as hard as you can with the weapons!"
Everyone nodded, including Paulina and Star- which made me smile a bit- they began bashing against the ecto ball we were in as hard as they could, and I did the same with my own Fenton Rod. Seeing Danny so close to the edge of the plank was sending a panicked shrill up my spine, "We're never going to get out in time!"
"Your brother will be fine! If Inviso-Bill is out there he'll make sure Danny will be okay!" Dash said to me- did I hear him right? Did he just call my brother by his first name? But he didn't know 'Inviso-Bill' is actually my brother and if he can't change then he'll-
"DANNY!" I screamed when he screamed as he fell from the plank. As if on cue the ecto ball zapped from the electricity of my Fenton Rod and blinked out of existence. "How dare you… how DARE YOU!?"
I charged at Ember and Youngblood without thinking, my rage and anger consumed my rational thought as I swung the Fenton Rod at Ember and she yelped from the unexpected hit. Youngblood tried to slash at me with his hook, but I dodged and he turned the hook into a sword and tried to slash at me again. I slammed the rod into his sword and pushed him back. The skeleton parrot flew at me, trying to peck my eyes out, but I slammed the rod into his tiny body and pinned him to the ground.
The parrot was squirming from under the rod… I could so easily melt its pathetic bones with fire right now if I wanted to.
"N-no! Please stop! Don't hurt him, please!" My head snapped up when I heard a little kid crying out… that was Youngblood, but he dropped that pirate accent he kept using and sounded like a pitiful little kid, begging a bully to stop from destroying something precious to him, "He's my only real friend… please don't destroy him…"
I glared coldly at him, "And why should I? You didn't stop when I begged you not to kill my brother."
The kid looked a little horrified as if just realizing what he had done. Heh, it's funny how you don't think about what others feel until you lose the same thing they lost.
Before either of us could make another move, Ember strummed her guitar at me. I had been too distracted with Youngblood that I forgot she was there, and the soundwaves hit me back and away from the parrot. She glared at me before she said, "Listen kid, you shouldn't provoke someone that could easily destroy you."
"I wasn't provoking him, if anything I wanted to show him how it feels to lose someone precious to you." I said to her coldly.
"Andy," I stopped when I heard Paulina's voice not too far behind me. "This isn't like you."
"Your brother's okay, we were above water," I heard Dash say as he was looking over the ship. "It looks deep enough for him to survive such a fall."
I frowned as I looked at the group that had bravely fought against these ghost pirates. We all had come together to save those dear to us, popular and nerds alike were all doing their part to help. Jazz was right… I should learn not to always rely on myself. Danny is fine, he's shown he can take care of himself and proved time and time again he wouldn't be taken out so easily. There are people I can rely on, so why do I always insist on doing everything myself? … No, I know why… it's because I had to rely on myself for a long time… especially when I became the last remaining human…
"That's not true. Even then you had help."
There was that voice again… Oh… right, I almost forgot… I couldn't have stopped Corrupted Danny without the help of all the ghosts who came together in a last ditch effort to save him, just like how everyone here is now… even Vlad had helped me, Clockwork and Dora too. Everyone came together to help me stop that era… so why couldn't I let them do the same here? My hand tighten around the rod… I had been so wrapped up in my own problems that I blinded myself to the future… a future I am now a part of thanks to Danny.
"Ember, your song," I said to her as I turned back to her. "I've remembered the lyrics to your song 'Remember'. And the meaning behind it means you're lonely and bitter. Someone you loved and cared about left you to die and I feel sorry for you."
Ember was staring at me in shock before she glared and her eyes glowed red angrily, "Watch it, kid, you're treading on dangerous thin ice."
But I wasn't intimidated, "Through that loneliness you've become obsessed with attention and wanted to make sure nobody forgets you. You get stronger whenever people chants your name because you felt alone for so long, and you think it makes you stronger."
Ember hissed angrily as she made her fire hair flare over at me, but Dash pushed me out of the way and I gave him a silent thanks for that, "But it's not such a bad thing to rely on others. You don't want to because you've been hurt and you don't want to experience that hurt again, but if you don't learn to trust others then you'll only end up with solitude, and that's a fate worse than death."
Ember looked like she was about to charge and strangle me to death, but a familiar green energy blast shoved her into the ground. I smiled as I saw Danny in his phantom form flying above us, guess this means the ghost shield is turned off.
"Andy's right you know," Danny said as he landed beside me. "I don't know what you've been through Ember, but it is important to learn to rely on others."
"Oh I rely on others. I'm relying on this kid, aren't I?" Ember pointed at Youngblood beside her, who had the parrot in his hand in concern.
"Hey ghost boy!" Paulina smiled to him, "I'm so glad you came to help us!"
"Of course, I'll always help those in need!" Danny smiled at her and I rolled my eyes.
"But didn't you have a twin brother?" Star asked curiously.
"He's… not here right now," my brother answered a little nervously.
"What happened to Da- I mean to Fenton?" Dash asked.
"He's safe… I uh… rescued him!" Danny answered.
"We can talk about this later, I don't think Ember and Youngblood are going out without a fight," I spoke up when I saw the two ghosts looking ready to attack, although something about Youngblood seemed… hesitant this time.
Danny flew at Ember and began having a one-on-one combat with her, "Guys, he can take care of the ghosts, we're going to search the ship for our parents." I said to the group.
"You heard him! Spread out and find our parents!" Dash yelled as everyone began spreading out.
I was running to the back of the ship, wondering if our parents were in that room I saw in my dream once before. Youngblood suddenly landed in front of me and said, "I'm not going to let you get them so easily."
The parrot was on his shoulder, and I frowned as I remembered Youngblood was very heartbroken when I almost obliterated the parrot… I wonder what kind of relationship those two had. "Youngblood, did you hear what I was talking about earlier? You did seem genuinely interested. Why did you decide to work with Ember?"
"Because we both wanted to do kids everywhere a favor and get rid of the adults that are always bossing them around. We decided to give them a more practical use," Youngblood said to me.
"Using them as power for the ship is rather brilliant," The parrot said from beside him.
"So Ember and you are both doing this to take away the adults?" I asked as he nodded, "Is this some kind of game to you? Kids need adults to raise them, to teach them things, to help protect them. You can't just take them all away because you don't like them, people rely on each other, both young and old."
Youngblood seemed hesitant before he glared, "Shut up! They brainwashed you!"
"You're the one brainwashing the adults around here!" I snapped back, "Well if this is a game to you, then think of us as the protagonists who are trying to save those they love because the antagonists, which are you and Ember, kidnapped them from us."
"Fine! If you want to rescue the adults so badly then we shall duel for them! The winner gets the adults!" Youngblood said as he transformed his hook into a sword. "What's say ye?"
"I would've had to fight you anyways for them," I said as my grip on the Fenton Rod tighten. "Fine then, let's duel, one-on-one."
Youngblood launched himself at me with his sword. I retaliated with the Fenton Rod with a CLANG! Metal hitting metal. I swung the rod down and got him off balance and tried to kick him, but his body went intangible and my foot went right through him. Fighting a person is fine, but a ghost like this is next to impossible, it's too bad I can't use my own ghost powers with so many witnesses here.
The ghost kid aimed his peg leg at me and fired a cannonball! I yelped as I rolled to the ground to avoid being hit, this kid is dangerous. I heard Paulina scream, she almost got hit! Okay, so dodging those cannonballs could end up hurting someone else… I'll need to be more careful.
Youngblood fired another cannonball at me and I gripped onto the Fenton Rod tightly before swinging it at the ball as if it was a bat and the cannonball was a baseball. With a loud CLANG and taking almost all my strength into that swing, the cannonball flew back and hit Youngblood right in the face! Ooh that looked like it hurt.
"Ow! Hey that's cheating! You can't use my own attack and hit me in the face with it!" Youngblood complained.
"Actually he can…" The parrot said to him with a sigh.
I pushed a button on the Fenton Rod and the tip began sparking with electricity as I approached him. "Will you let us by now and give back the adults?"
"I haven't lost yet!" Youngblood glared at me as his eyes suddenly flashed red. I only had enough time to gasp before he fired his laser eyes right at my chest and pushed me back a few feet… ow… ow… ow… Of course, I always forget the laser eyes.
"Ha ha ha!" Youngblood dived at me with his sword and I reacted quickly by putting the Fenton Rod in front of me so he'd hit it instead of me! I was pushing against him from the floor. "Give it up!"
"I'm not going down that easily." I hissed as I pushed harder against him before he shoved his peg leg at me, no doubt ready to shoot a cannonball to my face… oh dear…
"Give up now or your head will be blown off," The pirate kid hissed at me.
"BR- I mean- ANDY!" I heard Danny calling out to me.
"Where do you think you're going, dipstick? Your fight is with me!" I heard Ember snap.
"Get out of my way!" I looked slightly to see Danny just took her guitar and slammed it into her.
Ember's eyes turned red as she shot fire at my ghostly brother with her hair, only this time she accidentally hit one of the sail that didn't fall on us and began burning it, "Uh… okay, not my best idea."
"MY SHIP!" Youngblood screamed, taking his eyes and weapons off me when he saw that his precious ship was on fire.
I used his distraction to my advantage as I slammed the electric rod into his back, paralyzing him, "I think at this point I won." I said to him before I turned to the group. "Dash! I need you to push down this door! I think everyone's in there!"
"Alright, get back!" Dash charged at the door and tackled it down.
"Oh well, bon voyage kid! I can see where this shipwreck is going." Ember suddenly said as her hair suddenly grew and wrapped around her body before she literally disappeared… wow, I guess ghosts can teleport.
"H-hey! She abandoned me!" Youngblood cried.
"Come on, everyone out!" I heard Dash yelling as the adults began running past me.
"Argh! Me prisoners are escaping!" Youngblood yelled.
"So what's powering the ship?" The parrot asked before the ghost ship began falling down… this can't be good…
It's a GHOST ship! Why does it need people to run it? I'll never understand ghost logic…
"Andy!" I perked up when I saw Jazz running to me.
"Jazz!" We gave a quick hug with each other. "I'm glad you're okay!"
"Yeah, me too. They took me where everyone else were hoping I'd be hypnotized again, and I saw Tucker there. He was in disguise and deactivated the Ghost Shield." Jazz quickly said. "But if we don't find a way to abandon ship soon I think we're all going to be ghosts!"
"Everyone huddle together!" I heard Danny's voice from the center of the ship and Paulina was, of course, the first one to hold on to him.
I was surprised everyone listened to him, including Mom and Dad since they never would've trusted 'Inviso-Bill' otherwise, but I guess when your life is in immediate danger you don't really have time to ponder what your supposed enemy's intentions are. "Come on!" I grabbed Jazz's hand and hurried to the crowd that were gathering around my half ghost brother.
Jazz and I grabbed the nearest person in the crowd and hung on tightly. We waited a few seconds to make sure everyone was grabbing on before I sensed Danny's powers rising to high levels so he could pick all of us up at the same time. I felt my body tingle, the same kind of tingle when I'm about to go intangible, only this time it's not because of me but my brother. He spread his intangibility to all of us as he flew us off the falling ghost ship, which landed into the lake. I briefly noticed that Youngblood and his parrot friend tried to follow us but it's like they hit something invisible and could do nothing about it as they fell into the lake with their ship.
The night sky was getting bright… the morning sun is rising. Danny slowly flew us over the pier before dropping all of us down… ow… I should've helped him there, but I'm still a weak flyer and it's not like I could exactly 'go ghost' with so many people around to witness it.
"Did we make it?" I heard someone ask as I tried to get my senses together after that little rough ride.
"Yup… I think we did it…" I heard another say.
"Why do I suddenly feel like I have buns of steel?" I think that was Dad.
"AT LAST!" I heard what sounded like Mom shouted in relief before she cleared her throat. "I-I mean I love you just the way you are."
I blinked a bit and noticed a bright flash from behind a couple of barrels before Danny- as human- came out from behind… huh… guess he took this time to change back before Mom and Dad realized they had just trusted a ghost. "Hey! Is everyone okay?"
"Were you here this whole time when Inviso-Bill rescued you?" Dash asked him.
"Yeah, he thought it would be too dangerous to let me back on the ship. so he told me to wait here until he got everyone to safety… and uh… his name is-" Danny began to say but Dad interrupted him.
"Wait, that ghost boy saved us? … And why are you all wearing that jumpsuit? … Danny… Andy… did you two use the emergency Op Center while we were away?"
"Uh… whatever gave you that idea?" Danny asked nervously before I groaned, pointing at the big blimp with Dad's face on it. Sam and Kwan were waving to us… huh… so that's where they were.
Dad and Mom both glared at us in disapproval, Jazz just sighed. I decided to speak up, "Isn't the idea to use the emergency Op Center is when there's an emergency? You guys and all the adults in town were kidnapped by pirate ghosts, if that's not an emergency then I don't know what is!"
"Andy's right," Jazz said. "Danny didn't use it irresponsibly, he had to use it to save you and everyone else."
"... Is that true?" Mom asked and we both nodded. "Well… I guess that makes sense. But if there was a party in the house then you both are grounded and cleaning it up!"
And now I groaned because there WAS a party in our house. So to make a long story short, Danny and I were both grounded for 2 weeks while we have to clean up the damages from the party. Mom and Dad said we could've been grounded for a month if we hadn't explained the emergency Op Center situation, so I think we got off pretty easy. So here we are, back in our house cleaning up.
"At least we brought back some decent radio into this town." Sam said with a satisfying smile.
"But why hadn't Youngblood abandon ship?" I asked. "It seemed to me he was stuck on it or something."
"Oh right, I didn't tell you." Tucker said. "When we got off the ship I used my PDA to reactivate it. That kid and his pet parrot aren't going anywhere any time soon."
Wow… what must it be like to be trapped in one place like that? I kind of feel sorry for the kid. Before I could think about it anymore, both my and Danny's ghost sense came out of our mouths, mine still burning my throat.
"Oh great, what is it now?" Danny groaned.
"Ghost boy, I've come for your pelt!" I looked up to see Skulker was on the ceiling, smirking.
I frowned… I think Skulker worked with Vlad a lot… and I really didn't want Vlad to know about me yet. I just sighed picking up the Fenton Thermos on the coffee table and opening the lid, instantly sucking Skulker into it before he could do anything.
"What the? Oh come on Andy! Where's the sport in that?" Danny and Tucker both whined.
"Not in the mood." I grumbled.
"The rise of Pariah Dark is imminent. Be prepared, Andy." I stopped when I heard that voice again… Pariah Dark? … I suddenly feel like this week had gotten much longer and more complicated.
Was that a good way to end off Pirate Radio? I always thought it was rather stupid that the parents punished Danny for using the emergency OP Center when there really was an emergency. I can understand punishing them for the party, even though that wasn't really Danny's fault, but seriously? They're getting mad at Danny for using the emergency OP Center during an EMERGENCY? Either Danny sucks at explaining things properly or his parents were in a bad mood for being hypnotized for a few days and wanted to punish Danny just because. Oh well, just goes to show that even parents can be unreasonable, not that it's a surprise for most people growing up and having that rebellious stage. Anyways, I better go before some parents form an angry mob and try to strike me down for this comment. I am DarkFoxKit and I look forward to hearing from you!