Hey guys! Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays! ... It's a shame that I couldn't upload the Christmas episode on here, it would've been a lot more fitting. ^^' Oh well, take what you can get. I was going to upload this last week, but since next week a.k.a. today is Christmas, I decided to wait so I can give you guys a nice present in the form of another chapter. Enjoy! And in case you're wondering, I still need a new computer, but at least I can make this work. ^^'
sjsreader: Yeah, technology can be so troublesome once they breakdown. Heh, well this is rated K+ after all, so no vulgar words allowed, otherwise it probably wouldn't have been 'fudge cake'. ^^' Ah, funny story about that scene. Originally I had a full scene with Danny's point of view seeing Vlad put in his unconscious twin in his bed. And then talks to Jazz about him, but I deleted it since I wanted the readers to be just as confused as Andy was. XD And you'd be surprised how much we humans sabotage ourselves because we overthink things, and I'm applying that same logic here with Andy. Ah, Dustin's quite the character as you'll soon see. ^^'
Captivity: Do you really want Valerie to figure it out now? ^^' And you want Andy to tutor Paulina... is it because you ship those two?
muney73: Merry Christmas! :D Well I am getting a hand-me-down computer if that means anything. ^^' Well he didn't overshadow Vlad, but he did manipulate him. And you'll see Dustin's reason once the story reaches the climax of Reign Storm. And technically it wasn't a ghost that possessed Danny in the movie finale, more like an ancient power Freakshow and his family held in their crystal ball that corrupts the wielder.
Blue: Thanks for the picture! :D And it seems most people really liked the cuddling scene. ^^' I was more worried people would get the wrong idea with it.
CalmTheHydreigon: Too bad, I'm a writer who loves leaving cliffhangers. :3
Mimi1012: Dustin is quite a character. ^^' He... finds Valerie? What?
ZAFT Prime: I'm getting a hand-me-down... but hey, it has all I need... hopefully. ^^' I think you'll like this chapter. :)
OMNISENSE95: Heh. Hand-me-down computer should be fun. Well most people, especially with low self esteem (like me) tend to subconsciously hold ourselves back due to overthinking and fear. Of course Andy will grow as a character so it won't last too much longer.
Jade Knight: ... Why are you even here? Have you even bothered reading the sequel to Child of Mew? Cause it's been out for two years or so already. It's called The Child of Mew: Shadows of Kanto. Please don't leave a review in a completely different story just to tell me to update another, it's kind of insulting.
KingStarfire: We think the hard drive went bad. But I'm getting a hand-me-down computer to use anyways.
Nine-tailed k: Everyone loves the cuddle scene. X3 Heh, Dustin as Johnny 13. XD I guess in a way he is Andy's Johnny 13.
anjanishe: I'm glad you enjoyed reading about them then. XD Had to find someway to replace Dash, right? The brothers are indeed cute together, in a brotherly love kind of way. Dustin's got some interesting powers as you'll soon see in this chapter.
lokiAU10: Yeah, I think it's pretty obvious if the series wasn't cancelled then Dan a.k.a. Dark Danny Phantom would've returned. It's really too bad though, they had so much potential for it. And I'm pumped for it too, now I just gotta get there. ^^'
Luna Lillyth: Of course, these stories are in Andy's point of view after all. And everyone loves the cuddles.
PrincessDragon96: Yes, yes they are cute. And well I also needed a bit of a break from the story since I have to focus on other stories too, plus I kinda hit writer's block and I really hate that. Have fun trying to figure out Dustin.
BrawlerOfBeasts: I am just relishing in your compliments about Andy, I hope you don't mind. When I first started writing My Brother's a Ghost, I was worried people would write the story off because of having an OC as the main character (and some people actually were), but I am very glad to see Andy's rising in popularity and becoming a respectable character that could easily integrate himself into the actual series without it being cringe worthy. Thank you again for saying why you like Andy in detail and giving me full support!
Mana: Heh, thank you for the compliment, but I'm nowhere near Pearl84's level. I'll admit I did take some inspiration from her ideas about how halfas and ghosts in general works, but I also use my own theories and ideas. And yeah, I knew a lot of people would be skeptical with the whole twin thing, or even the OC thing, but I wanted to show how the show could've benefited if they had a twin like Andy added into the mixed. Something I like to think Jazz went through herself with Danny, but to a greater extent since the twin was much closer to Danny than Jazz was. It certainly made for an interesting idea and I wanted to make a whole story based off it. The whole making friends with Dash thing took me by surprise too actually, the idea came when I read another DP fanfic that was based off of the Yugioh story line and I realized that Dash is rarely ever portrayed as anything other than a bully so I wanted to change that with this. As for the bullhorn thing with the parents, while that would've been funny, that's not in Andy's character. ^^' While it's not blatantly stated, Andy is actually pretty shy. And I don't plan on the Mansons being heartless, but I don't have much planned for them either so don't expect to see them much in this story. ^^'
The whole Reign Storm arc is already written, but if you want to make suggestions for Identity Crisis or The Fenton Menace, be my guest. I'm not really all too sure what to do in those episodes.
Angel wings? *raises an eyebrow* He's half ghost, not half celestial being. Besides, I already have something else in mind for him. I've seen a lot of artwork depicting Danny with angel wings, but I'm not interested in adding wings on either brother, sorry. ^^' And the reason why Andy can't fly right is because he's really sabotaging himself by his fear and overthinking, it has nothing to do with him physically.
Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Valerie. She's going to be important later on in the story. I can imagine a lot of people are ticked off at Valerie's prejudice against ghosts just because a ghost dog made of mess of things. She had every right to be angry, but this is just too much. And since the story is in Andy's point of view, well don't expect everything that wasn't in the show to be shown here if Andy isn't there to hear it himself. As for the weapon in choice, would you prefer they used exorcism or the Bible to fight ghosts or use actual weapons to have an action packed battle with ghosts? I get that it would require a suspension of disbelief and all, but hey, if it works then don't question it. Happy holidays to you too! :D
Chapter 24: When a Ghost Boy gets High
I looked up and frowned as I noticed a large green dome was covering the entire city. What's going on? "I now claim this city now and forever under the territory of Pariah Dark, the king of all ghosts!" The Fright Knight finished his earlier sentence.
Danny suddenly flew up at the dome and tried to punch it, but it repelled him back as if it were a ghost shield. I saw Valerie doing the same, but it repelled her too… Looks like nobody, human or ghost will be leaving this city as long as that dome exists.
"Hey! Put down this stupid thing!" Valerie demanded as she moved her hoverjet towards the Fright Knight.
"Wait, stop!" I yelled to her, but he smacked her away. "Valerie!"
She fell to the ground unconscious, and her suit suddenly deactivated, showing her true identity and her injuries. I quickly ran over to her in concern… She's out cold- how hard did the Fright Knight hit her?
"Is she okay?" Danny asked as he flew down beside me, checking her too.
"The sword is sunk, the die now cast. The sword removed shall signal fast- make reappear the ring thou hast, or your next day shall be your last." The Fright Knight said suddenly before he disappeared in a puff of smoke, turning into bats flying past us.
"'The ring thou hast'?" Danny questioned, looking at me in confusion.
"..." Valerie has it… but she's not wearing it right now. I wish she was so I could take it off her and move it far away… Vlad himself flew down and frowned… I can't help but wonder what was he thinking giving a 14 year old girl such a dangerous item? I wanted to demand why he'd do that, but then I'd have to explain how I knew about it… and he probably already thinks I'm crazy. Besides, I'm uneasy that he knows I'm half ghost too, what's he going to do now?
"Vlad-" I began speaking up when suddenly we heard a loud vehicle heading our way. My eyes widened in shock when I saw it was the Fenton RV, and Mom was yelling through the microphone while driving it… and running over the skeleton ghosts that were… standing still for some reason… Why are they standing still? She's yelling at the children- mainly me and Danny- to get into the safety of the assault vehicle… Yeah, that sounds safe.
"Maddie!"
"Mom!"
I looked at the two more experienced halfas as they spoke at the same time. "I can't let her see me like this!" They both said at the same time before Vlad teleported.
"Come on Andy!" I yelped when Danny grabbed my arm.
"W-wait!" I needed to check Valerie's pocket for the ring! He didn't stop as he dragged me to behind a nearby tree.
"Hurry and change back, we can't have Mom firing at us right now!" Danny said to me.
"B-but we need to take Valerie with us, okay?" I said to him as both of us changed back to our human forms.
"What? Why?" He asked me, blinking in confusion.
"She's hurt… and she needs to be watched so she doesn't push herself to go ghost fighting." I quickly said, though I mostly needed her to stay with us to protect her from the ghost king. As long as she has that ring she's a prime target.
"You have a point there, bro." Danny frowned in concern before sighing. "Alright, come on!"
We both hurried over to Valerie, just when Mom pulled her RV up to us, and she and Mr. Gray both came out. Seeing us standing over the injured Valerie, they both narrowed their eyes suspiciously.
"... Now before you go accusing us, she was like that when we got here," I quickly said, glancing at my bro. "Danny… why don't you help me get Valerie into the RV?"
"Hey, no problem!" Danny and I both lifted Valerie up, helping to bring her into the RV while Mom and Mr. Gray kept looking at us suspiciously. Afterwards, we both quickly buckled in, my bro glancing at the adults in confusion. "...Well, what're we waiting for? Shouldn't you be driving away by now?"
"What happened here?" Mr. Gray asked as he sat in the back with his daughter.
"Er… Some ghosts were attacking us- we ran out here to get away from them but there was more out here." Danny said with a nervous smile.
"In other words, we were stupid enough to run outside where most of the ghosts were." I grumbled, crossing my arms and beginning to think. I wonder where Vlad went... He could be anywhere since he can teleport.
"I'm going to get us home and put a ghost shield up," Mom said as she was driving us. "Mr. Gray, you and your daughter are welcome to stay with us- I don't think it'll be safe to take you back home right now."
"That's fine. With all these ghosts running around, my daughter will be safer under the protection of the ghost shield," Mr. Gray said, and I couldn't help but smile- he's a lot more understanding than the Mansons are.
Danny then glanced at me, whispering quietly, "Soooo, uh… what's the plan? Do you even know what 'ring' Fright Knight was talking about? Cause I don't…"
I looked over at Danny and began fidgeting with my fingers nervously… should I tell him? He thinks I've gone crazy because of those so-called relapses… would he even believe me if I told him Dustin's been doing that to me? What should I do?
"You should tell him." I blinked… there was that voice again. Well… the voice hadn't steered me wrong yet… so maybe I can trust it…
"Uh, well… the ring is… an ancient ghost artifact that grants the user some special power- but it's useless on its own." I said quietly back to him, shrugging.
"Whoa, really?" Danny blinked, whistling quietly to himself as he crossed his arms in thought. "That sounds pretty cool, actually- so whatever's going on, Fright Knight's 'king' wants this ring and whatever else it needs to get a special power?"
I'm rather surprised he didn't ask me how I knew about it- maybe he thinks my visions told me or something. "Actually, the other thing would be the Crown of Fire. If one were to wear both it's said they will be given unlimited power. Can you imagine someone with unlimited power? They'd be invincible."
"Geez… a king with unlimited power- that's kinda scary actually…" My bro then looked at me, looking as if he just thought of something. "Wait, how do you know about this? Was it your visions or something?"
I wanted to facepalm right then and there… he can be so obliviously slow sometimes. "No, I didn't see it in a vision. I think… Dustin showed it to me." I looked at him to gauge his reaction to this news- he hadn't seen nor heard from Dustin since that tournament blow out two months ago.
"Eh?" Danny blinked at that, looking at me in surprise. "You mean that ghost we worked with in the tournament- you saw him recently? Where?" He frowned, clearly thinking of something else. "Was he causing trouble or something?"
"If by causing trouble you mean visiting me in the middle of the night or giving me very realistic nightmares, then yes. But if you meant causing chaos everywhere else, then no. He mostly just sits there, looking all smug and playing that stupid ocarina of his all day!" I grumbled, feeling irritated thinking back on all those times Dustin kept giving me that smug look.
"Whoa, easy there bro! Why's he giving you nightmares?" Danny frowned a bit more at that news, giving me a worried look. "And when did he have an ocarina? He didn't use it during the tournament or anything…"
"He stole it from a store or something, using some kind of ghostly telekinetic power." I told him, shrugging, before I remembered something. "Could you use telekinesis, bro?" He blinked at me- obviously that's a no, or at least he's never tried. "Right… Well anyways, he plays music on it, which I believe causes something to happen to your mind. He might have a power similar to Ember in that regard."
Danny blinked again at that before he frowned, clenching his fist. "What, did he try hurting you with illusions or something? I didn't expect something like that out of him, but-"
"No… I… I actually don't know what he's trying to do! Sometimes I wonder if he's helping me or hurting me or… well, he seems to have a keen interest with me, and it's kinda creeping me out," I said as I looked out the window, seeing more ghosts flying around and scaring people out of various of stores.
Danny sighed, gently turning me away from the window. "He's not like Vlad, is he? I swear, there only needs to be one fruit loop interested with us…"
"I don't know, but Vlad hasn't said anything about me yet, has he? I don't know what he thinks now that he knows I'm half ghost too," I said in a worried tone.
I heard someone screaming outside and looked out the window again to see the Lunch Lady had just taken over the Nasty Burger. It should've been horrifying, yet it felt kinda fascinating to watch- almost like driving through a ghost movie or something. When Ghosts Take Over, that'd be a fun watch if it's not too focused on blood and horror.
I felt Danny's grip on my shoulder tightening slightly. "No, not the Nasty Burger…!" He actually seemed upset about this- then again, he doesn't really seem to know that this is more temporary than anything else if we're lucky…
"I remember when everyone were turned into ghosts at the time… They do love their meats." I sighed before Danny gave me a worried look and I quickly backtracked. "O-oh, I didn't mean to bring that up! It's just a lot of this seems kinda similar to that… But hey, at least I'm not alone this time and these are the natural ghosts- I'm not helping am I." I scratched my head and blushed, why am I even saying this to him? I didn't want to bring up a past that would hurt him…
Danny frowned, still looking pretty worried. "I… er… not really- I dunno what to say to that, Andy…" He rubbed the back of his neck, keeping a close eye on me. This is getting kinda awkward… In fact, if I didn't know any better I'd say he's acting kinda like me when I first discovered his ghost powers…
The rest of the ride home was kind of quiet… I felt rather bad for bringing up that corrupted era so casually like that in front of Danny. When we got out of the RV I saw Mr. Gray gently taking Valerie into Fenton Works.
"Come on kids, your father turned on the ghost shield," Mom said to us. "We're going to fix it so it can protect the entire city in case we need it."
"Mom, how about we help out?" I suggested, giving a smile. "You can get everything battle ready and done faster that way."
Suddenly I felt Danny's hand on my shoulder and he said, "Actually, bro… I think you should get some sleep. I can help Mom and Dad… and I can call Tucker and Sam to help out."
"What? But I can help out," I said with a frown.
"Bro, you just… need to rest your mind for a bit, okay?" Danny said to me in a serious tone.
I frowned at this, what's with him? It's like I'm some kind of fragile object to him now. "I'll be upstairs, but call me if you need anything." I said as I narrowed my eyes… is this another one of Dustin's doings?
Before anyone could reply to me I was already running upstairs and shut the door. I looked around the room before I shouted, "Alright Dustin! Come out! I know you're there!"
The ghost boy appeared in front of me and smirked floating upside down. "Aww, what gave me away? Was it my ocarina?"
"Ghost sense. What did you do?" I snapped. "Are you controlling my brother? Because he's suddenly becoming more and more protective of me."
"Now what gave you the idea I could control people?" Dustin said casually as if I wasn't accusing him.
"You did it to me, making me see those illusions earlier so I'd fly faster." I snapped.
"And it worked, didn't it? You have the ability to fly as fast as your brother, but you hold yourself back." Dustin told me with a casual shrug. "You can't just keep thinking about it or you'd fall or keep going at a snail's pace- all I did was keep you from thinking about it."
I glared at him before sighing and crossing my arms. "What is it that you really want? You're messing with me, but you haven't tried anything on anyone else… unless you've been doing this to my brother secretly too."
"Now why would I do that to your dear brother? He's already got enough pent-up darkness within him- it doesn't need to be released by my hands." Dustin scoffed, crossing his arms.
"What? What do you mean by that?" I demanded, glaring at the ghost suspiciously. He keeps saying all these weird things… and none of them make any sense… does he know something that I don't about Danny?
Dustin shrugged, beginning to play his ocarina while he mentally spoke into my head. "Oh, did you think all the darkness from your little incident just faded away? Heh… not even close- it's all in there, just hidden away."
"Ugh!" I growled in frustration, huffing. "Stop talking in my head! You're right in front of me, is it too much trouble to just speak through your mouth?" I looked down before what he said began to sink in. "Wait… by darkness did you mean the Corrupted Danny incident? That's impossible! That red mist never fused with him, I made sure of it!"
"Yes, but who ever said it didn't just give his darkness a form?" Dustin chuckled darkly, still playing that stupid little flute of his. "Nothing ever is just created out of thin air… Something needs to be there beforehand."
I really wish he would stop talking in my head… it's creepy and it makes me feel like I'm going insane. "Then shouldn't something be done about that? What if he goes rogue again because of it? I… I don't think I can face him a second time…"
"Third. It would technically be your third time." Dustin quickly corrected, making me blink and frown. Right- he knows everything I've had to experience… and the first time was when Freakshow brainwashed my brother.
"I rather forget that I had to fight him twice okay!?" I snapped. "And what if this whole incident with this… Pariah Dark corrupts him again? Isn't there any way I could stop it?"
"Eh, relax- Pariah Dark doesn't corrupt, he just takes over and destroys any ghosts powerful enough to possibly stop him." Dustin shrugged, flipping over so that he was right-side-up once more. "It's just not in his style to corrupt. Other ghosts, though… They love to do it a lot."
I glared at him suspiciously, crossing my arms. "... You… you can manipulate people's mind from what I've seen. You could easily do the same to him. So… am I just a puppet in your game now? Are you just watching me to see what I would do while you pretend to be on my side?"
That made Dustin blink, pausing in his ocarina playing. "What? I- no, heck no!" He scoffed, glaring at me as if he was insulted. "I'm trying to help you by giving you all this information! I just don't like to fight if I can help it- former spoiled rich boy, remember?"
"But you didn't even like me when we first met," I told him, raising an eyebrow. "And now suddenly you're interested in me? I don't believe you'd just invade and read my memories without any reason, Dustin. You're up to something and apparently you want me involved in it."
"Or maybe I saw how much potential you have as a halfa- not to mention how similar we both are in strategy and in combat!" Dustin frowned, still looking pretty insulted, as he pointed at me. "Remember who taught you how to use the Plasma Rod, even when he didn't necessarily think you were good at fighting? Maybe I'm just trying to be nice!"
I turned away from him… Something about him just didn't sit right with me, but he did bring up good points… what should I do? Should I trust him? A sudden flash of that evil, adult version of Danny went through my mind, and I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. "Then what am I supposed to do about Danny? If that darkness consumes him I'm afraid he'll turn out much worse than how he was as Corrupted Danny."
Dustin shrugged, flying around so that he was in front of me. "Sadly I don't know how to help with that- but I do have one way to get you some ideas on how to fix that…" He smirked, seemingly getting an idea as he waved his ocarina playfully. "After all, you can't have a healthy relationship if you keep hiding stuff from him."
"Wait, what are you going to do with that ocarina?" I demanded, stiffening up a bit. Considering my last experience with that thing I can't say I really want to know what else this sadistic ghost had in store for me.
Dustin just chuckled, holding the flute up to his lips and beginning to play a… really weird song. "Oh, it isn't anything harmful… It'll just give you some ideas- help you understand yourself more, and hopefully be more honest with people~"
I have never heard a song as weird or messed up as this one. It sounded like someone's… going insane or something. … Hmm… actually, now that I listen to it a little more… it kinda sounds pretty catchy… I closed my eyes for a second… and my head started feeling weird. I felt like I was overcome by an odd sensation. When I opened my eyes again, the room began spinning and psychedelic colors began slowly flashing in front of me. What's… happening… to me?
The entire room suddenly changed into a bright, pink-ish color, and I think it… somehow turned into a jungle…? Why's there a frog on the bed? Why is there a lamb on the desk? Why are the books flying around like birds?
I frowned in confusion… where did Dustin go? I walked down the pond, which strangely enough didn't require me to hold my breath. And under the pond there was no water, instead I see more bright pink in the living room… I think. The table looks like it's barking at me…
I looked over across the room to see Sam standing over there. I walked over to her and said, "Does this room look a little weird to you?"
She looked at me before she said, "You're trying to copy me aren't you?"
"What-?"
"The black shirt, it needs to lose the blue and the triangle. And the red pants is a bit too bright. But you're doing a good job with your 'no hope' attitude." She said. "After all, your brother is the cheery one out of you two and he's been a ghost far longer than you have."
I frowned, why was she saying this? I turned to see Tucker there, he was playing with his PDA. "Uh… Tucker, Sam's kinda being weird."
"Oh hey Andy. Would you like to see my new PDA? I treasure it more than your life after all." Tucker said with a creepy smile on his face.
I backed away from him before turning around to see Danny himself, he was smiling at me. "Uh… Danny…? What's going on?"
"Hey Andy. Do you remember when we used to always hang out together? Remember how my heartbeat felt? It was very much alive and human. Can you feel it now, Andy? Doesn't it feel good to be warm and alive again?" Danny said to me.
"U-uh… what?" Okay, now I'm freaking out. Then what else confused me was Danny Phantom himself was floating above my brother.
"Everyone's waiting for you bro, we're all waiting. We want to make your life a living nightmare, so you'll never gain any self confidence. After all you're nothing but a shadow destined to disappear like how you should've when you turned me into a monster." Danny Phantom said to me and I felt like I wanted to cry.
"Andy?" I turned to see someone coming up from the lab… I think. It looked more like they were coming out of a pond to me. "What's wrong?"
It looked like that evil, Vlad-Danny hybrid guy I saw in my nightmares a few times. He was looking at me funny. Well if he's gonna destroy me I might as well enjoy my last few moments of living in this strange, bizarre world.
"Oh nothing's at all wrong. I just thought maybe life's too short to be such a sourpuss, so we might as well enjoy it while we still can." I gave a smile, feeling as light as a feather now.
It felt nice being free as a ghost rather than being weighed down all the time with so much worries of life. I think it'll be fun seeing the bizarre world as a flying ghost now.
Danny's Point of View
I can't believe Vlad! Mom and Dad are working hard to finish that battle suit and all he's doing is giving Dad a hard time. I decided to just go upstairs for a bit and check on how well Valerie's doing after she regained consciousness.
When I came upstairs I thought I heard Andy. I wish he would get some sleep… he could use it after all. Maybe I should try to talk to him… but when I saw Andy… something was… off about him. He looked like he was giggling and his eyes… his usual green irises were now a weird psychedelic red-purple kind of color. What happened to him? "Andy…? What's wrong?"
My brother just looked at me for a second before smiling even more and it was creeping me out. "Oh nothing's at all wrong. I just thought maybe life's too short to be such a sourpuss, so we might as well enjoy it while we still can."
I blinked at that… okay, something's definitely wrong with him. But before I could approach him, a bright flash of light appeared on his torso... Andy suddenly transformed into his ghost form. "Wah!?" I jumped back at the sudden change.
My brother kept giving me that goofy smile as he began floating in the air. "A-Andy! What are you doing!? Someone could see you!" With Valerie in the living room I'm worried she'll see him like this!
Andy didn't even look like he heard me, and instead he just kept smiling that goofy smile before floating around the ceiling like some fish swimming in the fish tank. "Andy!"
"Andy? Did you come in here?" My blood went cold when I heard Valerie.
My brother flew around a bit before before he turned intangible and flew through the ceiling… This can't be good. "Valerie?"
"Danny? Have you seen your brother? He was acting really weird when he came down to the living room. He almost looked like he was going to break down crying or something." Valerie said to me with a worried expression on her face.
"Uh… I'm not sure what's wrong with him, but I'm going to find out. You stay here with Tucker and Sam until you're better, okay?" I said quickly, not wanting her to get involved and see Andy in his ghost form.
I ran off to the stairs before she could protest and hurried into our room. There he was, still floating in the air, but this time he was fiddling with his ghostly tail… wait, what?
"I never knew a snake's tail would feel so smooth yet light." Andy said. "It's so cool how my legs could turn into a snake's tail and I could be like a naga."
"Andy! Snap out of it!" I yelled at him.
My brother noticed me and said, "Oh Vlad, you can be such a big meanie. Why couldn't you be more nice like when Danny got all red and sharp looking? You were such a nice guy, telling me to never give up. You could do that again and maybe my brother would actually like you."
"What?" I blinked in shock. Vlad was nice to him? Why does he see me as Vlad? "Andy I'm not Vlad! I'm Danny, don't you recognize me?"
"Oh don't be silly. I know you probably miss being a young teenager again, but you can't fool me, Vlad, I know you're not my brother." Andy chuckled before he flew around me… wow, he can fly a lot more naturally when he's… uh… is he drunk or something?
"Andy, could you please sit down? I don't want people seeing you floating!" I quickly said to him.
"Oh come on, Vlad. Life's too short to be kept grounded," Andy said to me with that goofy smile on his face… somehow that doesn't seem right on him.
"Well you need to be grounded before you make your own life shorter!" I hissed as I grabbed his arm and yanked him down. "Now stay!"
"You need to learn to chill, Vladdy-o." Did Andy just seriously call me 'Vladdy-o'?
"Andy, listen… I need you to tell me what happened to you," I said to him in concern. "Why are you… like this?"
"I just heard a really nice tune and it must've transported me to this really lovely world with no rules." Andy smiled at me. "It doesn't even obey the laws of physics, I mean look at me; I can fly no problem!"
"Andy, you're half ghost! That's why you're flying! Listen, I don't know what happened to you but we need to snap you out of it now." I just wish I knew how to snap him out of it.
"Oh heeeey, is that a dinosaur out there? Awesome! I wanna go chase it," Andy suddenly said before he went intangible.
"Andy. what are you- ANDY!" I shouted for him as he suddenly went intangible and flew out the closed window. "Ugh… just what I needed… a night to track down my high brother!" I sighed before transforming into my own ghost form to go after him. "ANDY!"
Andy's point of view
Look at the flying dinosaur go, it's so elegant with the way it moves in the pink sky. I wanted to join it, it looks so nice. But then I heard something on the ground… hmm… I decided to check it out since a flying dinosaur shouldn't be too hard to find. I flew down and landed before noticing Dad, he was smiling at me.
"Dad? What's… going on?" I asked him.
"Oh nothing son. I'm just about to go on a little ghost hunting trip. You're a ghost, so you're my prey now. I'm going to beat you up, Daddy's going to beat you up, and take you apart, molecule by molecule."
I gasped as Dad's smile suddenly turned sadistic and cruel, he aimed his bazooka at me and fired. I yelped as I felt the searing pain from the ecto blast and flew back a few feet. "D-Dad… why?" I wanted to cry.
"Because you are a ghost and I am a ghost hunter. That's how life works, son," Dad said, that cruel smile never leaving his face.
I squinted my eyes… that can't be Dad… even if he knew I was half ghost I don't think he'd be like this! It was creepy because Dad's face became disorientated and that smile was more evident. Whoever that is can't be my dad! How dare they try to trick me!? I fired a ghost ray back at the imposter, who groaned as he fell back.
The eerie smiling imposter stood back up and was floating. "Why must you hurt Daddy? Where is Maddie? What have you done to her?"
"Shut up!" I snapped, trying to keep his taunting voice out my head.
Someone else suddenly grabbed my arm and began flying away from the cruel man I called my father. I looked up to see it was Vlad again… I didn't want to deal with him right now. I turned myself intangible and flew away from him.
"Hey! Get back here!" he shouted for me.
"Oh poor boy, you're all high from the Song of Hallucination." I heard what sounded like Dora's voice say to me… I think that's Dora.
"H-huh? Who's there?" I demanded.
"Here, let me try to fix you up." I suddenly see Dash himself in front of me, but he was… floating? No wait… apparently I'm 'high'... well that would certainly explain a few things.
'Dash' flew behind me before smacking the back of my head. "Ow! What was that for!?"
"That's really the quickest way to snap someone out of the Song of Hallucination." The voice was different now… it sounded like…
"Sydney Poindexter?" I looked up to see 'Dash' was Poindexter… and the world around me lost the pink and weird texture and I find myself floating above Amity Park.
"Ah, there we go. You see?" Sydney smiled at me.
"Oh… wow… thanks for that." I felt my face heating up… I wonder what I did while I was… under that hallucination spell.
"The Song of Hallucination is a pretty nasty kind of music spell, not even Ember uses it," Sydney said to me. "I wonder how you heard it?"
"..." I clenched my fist as I knew exactly how I heard it. "Dustin!" When I get my hands on him I'll- That was when I realized something… "HOW DID I GET WAY UP HERE!?"
"You flew up here, how else?" Sydney pointed to me.
"But I never went ghost! I was just floating in- …" I looked down at myself to see I was wearing spandex and my body was glowing that ghostly aura. "... I really hope I didn't do something stupid while I was under the influence of that song…"
"Well… you were fighting with Skulker earlier," Sydney said. "Before your brother pulled you away and you flew away from him."
"What? Danny's much faster than me, he could've easily caught up to me." I frowned, raising an eyebrow.
"Dora's talking to him actually. She wanted to tell him what's going on while I try to see what was wrong with you. She told me all about you, Andy, I'm really quite surprised that you've joined your brother in the halfa rank," Sydney said with a smile.
"I'm just glad you've modernize the way you talk," I said, but not really in the mood to talk.
"Is something wrong?" Sydney asked me in concern.
"I just… realized that… I flew faster when I thought I was naturally flying as a human than I ever flew when I knew I was half ghost…" I frowned, rubbing my arm awkwardly. "It was the first time in a long time that I felt free…"
"Well being a ghost usually means being free from the limitations of life." Sydney pointed out. "So it's no shocker that you felt more free than ever before when you let go of your fear and thoughts of human logic."
Dustin did this to me… what was he trying to do? I frowned as I remembered that ocarina playing ghost boy.
"What's Dora telling Danny?" I asked, hoping she's not saying anything she shouldn't say.
"Oh she's just telling him about the ghost king who's invading Amity Park," Sydney answered. "We're going to need all the help we can get."
"Andy!" I looked back to see my brother flying over to us. "Please don't fly off again. It's dangerous to be out here right now!"
"Relax Danny, I've snapped him out of it," Sydney spoke up.
Danny regarded him for a second before looking at me in concern, "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine Danny," I said, hoping to reassure him. "But now do you know why we have to stop Pariah Dark?"
"Yes, she told me everything you basically already told me," Danny said. "But we still need to get the ring away from Valerie and then storm into the king's stronghold to put him back to sleep."
"Good luck with that," Poindexter said. "Pariah Dark isn't going to just let you put him back into the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep so easily."
"Yeah and we can't exactly stand up to an army by ourselves, let alone the all powerful king," I said to Danny, hoping he'd see the logic in this.
"But we have to do something," Danny said. "Or else we're all pretty much doomed anyways."
"And what do you plan on doing? Tell Vlad that he's putting everyone in danger?" I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, like THAT would go over so well."
"Come on Andy, we have to do something and you know it." Danny frowned at me. Then he gave a sigh, "Come on bro, let's go back home, maybe we can talk about it with Tucker and Sam. And… you need to tell me what the heck you were seeing while you were high."
I felt my face flushed at that… I wonder what kind of embarrassing things I've done or said to him while I was under Dustin's influence… actually I don't think I want to know.
"Come on bro," Danny said as he began flying down.
"Will you be alright, Andy?" Dora asked me.
"Y-yeah, I think so. I just hope Clockwork's alright with this king on the loose," I said as I moved through the air uneasily.
"Andy, you know why you have trouble flying, don't you," Poindexter said to me and it wasn't a question.
"... Yeah… I hold myself back. I still… want to be more human than ghost," I admitted.
"Do you think you'll be able to fly if you didn't keep thinking like that?" Dora asked him.
"Yeah, maybe… but I can't just stop thinking like that," I sighed.
"Just think about being free again, I'm sure that'll work," Danny said with a chuckle… oh dear, let the teasing begin.
"What about you guys? What will you do?" I asked them.
"We're going to see if we could recruit anyone to help us in this fight," Dora said. "Unfortunately it seems they're all too scared to even try to fight for our homes."
"Nonetheless, we'll keep trying. You two find a way to get that ring and keep it hidden from the ghost king, if Pariah Dark ever gets a hold of it then this world is doomed," Poindexter said grimly.
"Yeah, we know that already," Danny sighed. "I'm going to talk to Vlad, he's the one who started this and he's putting innocent people in danger."
"Danny, you-" but he already took off. … And I see he left me behind again. "... shouldn't cause trouble with Vlad." I finished lamely.
"Andy, you better hurry and get to the ring. Clockwork had shown me that Danny will pull the signal soon," Dora warned me.
I sighed before nodding, "I'll see what I can do."
I moved through the air, trying not to think about falling or how illogical this is for me. If I could just remember my experience in that… hallucination world… I could go faster.
I have to talk to Valerie about this, maybe she'll cooperate with me. I just have to get there quickly before Danny pulls the signal Dora was talking about… Come on, fly faster… It's like walking, I don't have to think about it, just do it. I find myself flying a bit more naturally as I recalled my experience of flying in the hallucination world… hey… this isn't so bad. I smiled to myself as I was able to fly a lot easier now, it's like a huge weight's been lifted from my shoulders.
I'm actually flying… wow, I almost can't believe it myself. It's like I was back in that hallucination world, free and happy… I just hope a murderous father doesn't suddenly show up to shoot me down. Since I was able to fly a lot easier now, I decided to test it a bit; I flew up and down through the night sky, then flew between buildings and over cars before flying back up into the sky, careful not to hit the dome. I vaguely noticed my feet turned into that ghostly tail, I was having too much fun to care at the moment. How did I not enjoy this before? This is so awesome! I feel like I was going faster, I wanted to go faster, faster than the roller coasters at the theme park, this is so much more fun!
"Having fun, Andy?" My joyful smile and my flying fun had come to an abrupt end when I heard that familiar voice in my head.
I stopped in mid air and glared… I couldn't see him anywhere, but the fact he could speak to me in my head means he can hear me. "You! You've caused a lot of trouble for me you know!"
I could hear him chuckle in my head before he said, "I hadn't caused you any trouble, I've been helping you. You refused to fly on your own, so I gave you the push and drive you needed to be able to learn. And now you have, see how much freedom you have now that you can fly at ease?"
"Why did you help me?" I asked.
"You were a hard headed teenager, I had to find someway to get through to your thick skull." I heard him chuckling.
"That's not what I asked; I asked WHY did you help me," I snapped.
"I told you why; you have potential and you need someone to help you push it," Dustin answered. "Now you better go talk to your girlfriend, I think your brother's already started a war with Vlad."
"What!?" I looked up in time to see Vlad flying through the sky and Danny chasing after him. They're heading for the football field where the Fright Knight left his sword.
"Very good Daniel, you're getting more like me with every battle," Vlad smirked at Danny.
"I AM NOTHING LIKE YOU!" Danny yelled at him angrily before tackling him down into the football field.
"Oh you're not? Throwing the first punch, using your powers to get back at people you don't like? If it weren't for your brother you would've done that with no second thought. You're more like me than you know." Vlad backhanded Danny right next to the sword.
Danny glared as he stood up and grabbed the hilt of the Fright Knight's sword. "Oh yeah? Well if that's the case then instead of asking you to give the ring back, I'll MAKE you!"
What's Danny trying to do? Slice Vlad in half with that thing? Suddenly Vlad looked distressed, "Daniel no! The sword is a signal!"
"Signal? Signal of what?" Danny asked, but he had already pulled the sword.
I wanted to dive at him to stop him, but my body wouldn't move… why can't I move? What's going on?
The entire place suddenly began shaking, the dome began to crack and fall to pieces. People screamed and panicked, the skeleton ghosts began looking up. Then… the sword flew out of Danny's hand and into the Fright Knight's, and beside him was… that ghost king, Pariah Dark.
"OF SURRENDER!" He echoed in a booming voice to my brother's question.
I blinked and saw Danny just tackling Vlad into the football field… wait… what? The sword hadn't been pulled yet…? Did time just rewind or something- wait… did I just have a vision of the future again? I didn't even realize I was having a future vision! I flew a bit towards the football field, but then I stopped… I don't think I can stop this from happening. Dora had told me that Danny would pull the signal… the sword was the signal… I could try to stop it but it may already be too late, or maybe it should happen. Some things are meant to happen no matter what, as I've learned long ago, some things just can't be changed. I curled my hands into fists as I knew what I had to do; I raced back to Fenton Works. I needed to talk to Valerie and fast.