DarkFoxKit: So it seems that Onyx has really got into gaming… and playing DnD with some online friends. Perhaps we should skip the AN and just get right on to the chapter?
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Comes into the room* No, no. That isn't necessary. While I've been having fun playing Assassin's Creed III Remastered, as well as playing DnD, I still want to participate in the ANs.
DarkFoxKit: Oh, Onyx! … I didn't have anything planned for this AN… so uh… anything you want to talk about to the readers?
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Hmmm… well, we could do the mundane stuff like ask them how they are or ask them what they might want to see in future chapters, but I'm not sure how many responses we'd get. One thing we can do however, is-
*A doorbell chime suddenly went off*
DarkFoxKit: Oh, who could that be? *Goes and answers the door*
*There wasn't anyone there, however there was a large box*
DarkFoxKit: *Picks up the large box and brings it inside* Onyx! Did you order anything?
*The box exploded into a cloud of glitter and confetti*
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Walks over* What was tha- Fox… why are you suddenly a large anthro black and white bunny?
DarkFoxKit: …. Apparently someone thought it was funny to send a joke package!
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Giggles* Most likely Mew, but it could be someone else. For now, how about we hop over to the couch, say 'Hi' to the readers, and then I can get you some yummy carrots?~
DarkFoxKit: Why hasn't any transformation stuff happened to you? Other than changing your gender!
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Because I'm usually careful about things. Now, let's go.
DarkFoxKit: No. You know what? You can finish up here. I'm going to my room and sulk. Honestly, whoever sent that stupid package has it out for me, people these days just have no respect. *Grumbles as she slams the door*
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Nervously chuckles and walks over to the couch* Uh… hey readers. You… should probably get to the chapter so I can go help Fox feel better. Oh, if any of you have any ideas for a name to call Fox while she's a black and white bunny, share it in the reviews. For now, cya!
Chapter 73: Dark Magic
"You thought you saw a vision of Tucker wearing the Pharaoh's clothes?" Danny asked me when we were in our bedroom that night, I had told him about that brief vision I had of Tucker.
"Yeah… but I'm not sure what to make of it," I answered. "If it was a vision of the future, does that mean Tucker will turn into a pharaoh? What the heck does that mean?"
"Maybe it could just be something symbolic rather than a literal interpretation. Like maybe that means Tucker is going to win the Student Council President, and since we were just at the museum, learning about Ancient Egypt, maybe that's why you saw Tucker as a pharaoh?" Danny guessed.
"That's never happened before…" I raised an eyebrow. "My visions always showed me what I'll get."
"Have they though?" Danny asked in a knowing tone. "Haven't they been changing since you first got them?"
"Well… yeah, I guess they have. I mean I used to just get one future vision on what I was looking at, and now I seem to be getting different branches of the future, and I don't even have to be looking at something anymore," I replied. "But I mean, that feels more like it's been advancing from what I had originally."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Danny questioned.
"I don't know… maybe? I don't know how far these powers will grow," I admitted. "I mean what if one day I get lost in my own visions? Not sure what's the present or future anymore?"
Danny chuckled a little. "You worry too much, bro. How about we get some sleep? We still have a lot of campaigning to do if we're to have Tucker win."
"Yeah, you're right. I guess I shouldn't worry over something that hasn't happened yet," I sighed as I laid down in my bed and hugged Hope to my chest. "Let's just hope nothing bad happens to Tucker…"
Over the next week, Danny, Sam, and I worked hard to help Tucker with his campaign. We put up posters of his slogan around campus, Tucker was also working hard to win the students over. Due to his interactions with Danny Phantom and Andy Phantom, however, it was easy for Tucker to draw in the crowd. The crowd wanted to know more about our ghost forms, but Tucker told them the ghost boys liked to keep their afterlives to themselves, but he was hoping maybe one day they might be comfortable enough to share some information with him.
Dash and Valerie were putting up a good fight, however. Dash's campaign was mostly about sports, and how he plans to fix up the bleachers, have it where they'd replace the old rickety bleachers by the football field and perhaps build them with a shelter over top of them that would provide cooling shade in the summer, so people wouldn't be so hot during the day games. Dash also went on to say that he planned to add in more sports from other countries, to get to know their culture better and to see how different cultures played different sports.
Valerie's campaign was more about ghost protection. She planned to set the school up so it would have an emergency Ghost Shield installed, that would activate if there was a strong ghost in the school. All the school staff were to be given ghost weapons and proper training so they could keep their students safe should the Ghost Shield fail. The students themselves were to have some kind of protection from the ghosts as well. She also promised other practical things, like fixing up the school so it wouldn't fall so easily to a ghost attack as well as more mundane things like repairing things that had been damaged or broken for years.
Admittedly, all three of them had great ideas for when they became the Student Council President. I could tell that the votes were going to be close once we get to voting day.
So far, outside of the race to become Student Council President, everything seemed to be okay. Tucker hadn't had any issues with Hotep Ra as far as we know, however, on the 9th day of campaigning, we noticed that Tucker was holding a familiar golden scepter when he came to school today.
"Tucker… please tell me you have a really good reason to be holding that scepter, which Scarlet warned us is so very clearly a dark artifact?" Sam confronted Tucker as she approached him.
I could sense the scepter's power starting to grow, but it was still weak.
"I didn't want to hold it at first," Tucker admitted. "But Hotep Ra said that it really belongs to me, and it would help me rule over the school."
"Tuck, listen to what you just said," Danny responded. "'Rule over the school'? Does that sound like you? I mean sure you want to be Student Council President, but 'ruling the school' is definitely not what you will be doing if you win. And don't get me wrong, I have faith that you will win, your campaign is strong, but I don't think you need to use an obviously… magical scepter to do so."
"You're right, I don't need some magical artifact to win," Tucker agreed. "But… watch…"
Tucker dropped the scepter onto the floor, but a second later, it disappeared and reappeared in Tucker's hand.
"That doesn't raise any alarms in your mind?!" Sam nearly shouted.
"I did ask Hotep Ra about that, but he assures me that it's normal it goes back to its owner," Tucker explained. "So I can't really let it go even if I wanted to."
Danny gave a thoughtful expression. "Tell me, Tucker, how are you going to eat any delicious meat if one of your hands is constantly holding that scepter? I know you prefer to eat your meat yourself and get uncomfortable when anybody else messes with something you're about to eat."
"I could…" Tucker frowned. "Well… crud… I can't eat with both of my hands. How the heck can I enjoy a good sloppy joe like this!?"
"Maybe you should ask Hotep Ra if there is a way you can put down the scepter for a time?" I suggested.
"That or we could go talk to Clockwork or Dora about the scepter," Danny offered.
"Maybe, but that should be the last resort, we can't keep relying on them for everything after all," I sighed.
"I'll talk to Ra about it," Tucker stated. "Maybe the scepter's controlled by something and I just have to figure out how to use it."
"Well, since you're stuck with it for now, I guess it does kind of give you a more… commanding vibe," Sam admitted as she studied Tucker. "Maybe you can tell Mr. Lancer it's just a replica so he doesn't get suspicious that you took it from the museum or something."
"True, there were replicas of the scepter being sold in the gift shop," Tucker remembered. "Come on, let's go. I've got a lot of work to do."
I looked over at Danny in concern. Danny frowned as he looked at me. Suddenly my vision of Pharaoh Tucker didn't seem so far fetched anymore.
Despite Tucker telling us that he had spoken to Hotep Ra about the Scarab Scepter, he still couldn't get it to stop coming back into his hands. So Tucker had to eat with one hand. But, after a few days, Tucker started getting someone to feed him, which was unusual. The person seemed more than happy to comply, however, because Tucker promised to give them some 'inside info on Danny and Andy Phantom'. I didn't know what story Tucker told them, but I hoped it was anything but the truth.
This went on throughout the week. Tucker started to get more and more bossy as well as easily irritated. He started to speak differently. He would call someone a 'mortal whelp', or 'this will be my domain'. It was starting to scare me.
During class at one point, I heard Tucker whispering to Mikey, who was one of the smartest kids in Casper High. I heard Tucker telling Mikey to give him his homework. I was surprised at this. I wasn't sure if that meant Tucker was taking Mikey's homework for himself, or if he got Mikey to do his homework for him. Either way, it didn't look good for Tucker.
"Mr. Foley!" Mr. Lancer called out near the end of class angrily, holding up a stack of paper as he stood up. "Would you care to explain yourself?!"
"What do you need me to explain to your mortal brain?" Tucker questioned.
"First off, if you keep up that 'holier than thou' tone, I'm sending you straight to detention!" Mr. Lancer warned. "Secondly, why was your homework done by Michael? And before you say it wasn't, I can tell his handwriting apart from the rest of the class, especially since he had been doing other people's homework before. In fact, looking back at your homework for the past few days, none of it was done by you."
"Tucker, you did what?" I heard Sam hissing in surprise since she didn't hear the exchange between Tucker and Mikey.
"My reasons are quite clear," Tucker began. "I simply used the child for his talents to help his ruler with a mundane task that I do not have time for."
"You get a 0 for the homework until you complete it again, yourself this time," Mr. Lancer warned, not taking any of Tucker's excuse. "And if this keeps up, you will not only have a meeting with the Principal, but with your parents as well. And most likely, you will be disqualified from running for Student Council President."
Tucker scowled. "You dare to threaten your king, mortal?"
"You dare to talk back to your teacher?!" Mr. Lancer shot back, raising a brow.
Tucker glared back defiantly. "I should have you-"
I stood up and ran up to Tucker to get him to stop, Danny must've gotten the same idea as me because he also hurried towards Tucker about the same time I did, and both of us slapped our hands over Tucker's mouth.
"I think you've said enough, Tucker," Danny hissed at Tucker, before looking up at Mr. Lancer. "Sorry for what Tucker said, Mr. Lancer… he's going through a… phase right now. That Ancient Egyptian exhibit gave him the idea that he is the reincarnation of Pharaoh Duul Aman and can act like a pharaoh because of that."
"We promise we'll talk to him and hopefully straighten him out before it gets any worse," I added.
Mr. Lancer looked at us skeptically before giving a sigh. "Very well, I hope you can help talk some sense into your friend before I have to get the Principal and his parents involved. And make sure he redoes all his homework on his own."
"Yes, Mr. Lancer," Both Danny and I said at the same time, making us look at each other briefly.
The bell went off then. Mr. Lancer looked over at the rest of the students. "And that's the class. Michael, if I may have a word with you before you leave for the day."
"Y-yes, Mr. Lancer sir," Mikey nervously said as he walked over to the desk.
Danny and I dragged Tucker out of the classroom, with Sam following us. We didn't stop until we headed into a janitor's closet, and closed the door behind us.
"Tucker, what is going on with you? Why have you been acting so bossy and cocky lately?" Sam demanded. "That's not like you."
"Yeah, you're scaring us, Tucker," Danny agreed. "We're getting really worried about you."
"You're also talking differently too, almost like you're changing…" I frowned.
Tucker blinked, almost looking like he was coming out of a daze. "Oh… oh, no… I'm so sorry guys. I don't know what's coming over me. I just… felt like I had to do all those things, but I don't know why…"
"Is it a ghost? Are you getting overshadowed?" Danny questioned in concern.
"I haven't been sensing any ghosts though," I stated. "But I have been sensing something from that scepter you're holding, and it feels like it's getting stronger."
"Considering it was called a dark artifact by Scarlet, it may be the source," Sam agreed. "We should definitely get some outside help with this one. I… am starting to think that Hotep Ra may be behind the fact that Tucker can't put down the scepter that just so happens to be affecting his attitude."
"Will you be okay with that, Tuck?" Danny asked.
Tucker nodded. "Yes, please, whatever's going on, even if it is because of Hotep Ra… just… find a way to make it stop… please…"
I felt bad for Tucker, it was clear that he was scared of what was happening to him. Tucker was well aware how he was when he was mutating into a ghost monster, he didn't want it to happen again.
I put a comforting hand on Tucker's shoulder. "Don't worry, Tuck, whatever is going on with you, we'll find a way to stop it."
"Maybe for now… I should stay out of school," Tucker thought aloud. "At least until we fix this problem…"
"What about the Student Council Election?" Sam asked.
"The election will still go on if I'm not here…" Tucker replied. "The only thing I'd be missing is the debate… which can make or break anyone's campaign."
"You make it sound like you've given up…" I frowned.
"I haven't… I just don't think I should be around anyone besides you guys until we get this whole scepter thing resolved," Tucker assured. "Maybe… even stay away from Hotep Ra for now, in case he is behind what's happening to me."
"But Hotep Ra is following you, isn't he? How are you going to stay away from him?" Danny asked.
"Order him to stay in one place until I come back to get him?" Tucker suggested.
"If you'd like, I can stay with you and keep an eye on you, Tucker," Sam offered. "Danny, Andy, you two should find out more about the Scarab Scepter and perhaps find someone who can unbind it from Tucker."
"Yeah, we'll do just that." I nodded.
"Thanks Sam… I think I should stay with you, I'm going to need a friend to keep me from losing it again," Tucker answered.
"We'll go find out more about the scepter now," Danny spoke up. "If anybody asks where we are, just tell them we had to leave for an important family emergency."
"As far as we're concerned, that's the truth anyways," I said, looking at Tucker.
Tucker nodded.
"You can stay with me, so long as you don't try to order me and my grandma around," Sam chuckled. "She'll whoop your butt if you try to order her around."
"Good, maybe she'll knock the dark magic out of me too," Tucker replied with a small chuckle of his own.
Danny and I transformed into our ghost forms before we both turned invisible and intangible and flew out of the school.
"Should we go to the museum to find out more about that scepter?" Danny asked as we were flying in the sky.
"No, the museum said that the Scarab Scepter's magic was lost over the ages, so they won't know much about it," I answered.
"Then should we go to Clockwork?" Danny inquired.
"Maybe… but…" I stopped in midair and looked over at the opera house. Danny stopped and floated over to me. "Before we try Clockwork, let's talk to Juliette and Scarlet. They may not be as ancient as Hotep Ra, but they do have knowledge on magic. They might be able to do something about it."
"That… would be a quicker stop," Danny agreed.
Danny and I flew down to the opera house. We didn't bother to go through the door this time, instead we turned ourselves intangible and flew in from the roof. We landed in the office area outside of Juliette's bedroom.
"Princess Juliette, Danny and Andy are here!" Scarlet called out when she saw us.
"I'll be right there!" Juliette responded from inside her bedroom.
After a few moments, Juliette emerged from her bedroom with a smile on her face.
"Hello, Andy and Danny," Juliette greeted before tilting her head a little, a curious expression on her face. "Shouldn't you two be at your school right now?"
"We came out here due to an emergency," Danny informed quickly. "Well, not an emergency exactly, but we are really worried about Tucker."
"Did something happen?" Scarlet asked.
"Tucker's been acting really strange lately. Hotep Ra apparently gave him the Scarab Scepter, and Tucker can't let it go, because it keeps teleporting back to him whenever he tries," I explained. "We've noticed that Tucker has been acting more and more commanding, angrier, and seems to see everyone else beneath him. We managed to snap him out of it, but I'm sure he'll get taken back by whatever the scepter's doing to him soon."
"And it might get worse if we don't take that scepter away from him soon," Danny added. "But we don't know how to deal with magic or dark magic. That's why we came here, we were hoping with your knowledge of magic, you two might be able to help."
Juliette frowned at that. "I would have to actually see what is going on to try and help. I may be able to separate the scepter from Tucker, but at the same time, I'm not sure. It might also be that Tucker has to consciously will the scepter to stop coming back to him."
"My Princess, are you sure? That scepter, it reeks of dark magic, it might hurt you or worse," Scarlet warned. "I knew that ancient ghoul couldn't be trusted."
"I'm sure," Juliette answered. "If that ghost attempts to hurt me, I will have Danny and Andy there to assist me."
"I still don't feel good about sending you out there, my Princess," Scarlet sighed. "So I will accompany you. With my holy magic, I'll be able to keep most of that dark magic at bay."
"That is fine, but please stay at a distance and out of sight of Tucker, I do not want to startle him or make him feel threatened," Juliette instructed.
"As you wish, Princess Juliette." Scarlet bowed.
"We should go now, the sooner the better," I said.
"Lead the way," Juliette replied.
All four of us turned intangible and flew up through the roof. Juliette held out her furry hands, letting Danny and I take them so we could fly quicker back to Casper High.
When we got close to Casper High, I heard Scarlet hissing.
"That ghoul is nearby… and so it that artifact… but the artifact is now active," Scarlet remarked with a frown, a hand on the hilt of a sword on her waist.
"Don't do anything hasty, we don't want to scare the entire school," I warned.
"We're almost there," Danny said. "We better go in invisible."
The four of us turned invisible. I was able to still see the outlines of Danny and Scarlet, though Juliette was much harder to make out. We phased into the school.
"Now where did Tucker go?" Danny quietly asked, looking around in the school hallway, we were all still invisible.
"Scarlet, where is the energy of the artifact strongest?" Juliette asked.
Scarlet looked around. "Near the far end of the building on the right side… I believe the second or third room from the very end."
I thought about the layout of the school in my head and remembered that the auditorium was around that area.
Why would Tucker be in the auditorium? I questioned myself. Maybe… to get his mind off of what was going on, Tucker wanted to practice his debate speech?
Whatever the reason was, it didn't matter, we just had to get there. The four of us flew quietly through the hallway. There were students walking around, some were getting books from their lockers, a few were being shoved into lockers by bullies, others were just going to class, and the rest were standing around, chatting with their friends. I heard quite a few of them talking about how Danny Phantom could have a twin brother.
I saw Mikey looking troubled as we were flying past him. It made me wonder what Mr. Lancer said to him. I saw Dash getting some posters of his slogan out from his locker, likely ready to hang more up in the school. I could see Valerie was looking through her own locker for something while Star and Paulina were going over a list of what else they should do for the campaign. I was grateful that if Valerie did have any of her ghost detecting equipment, she wasn't using them at the moment. I even saw Jazz for a moment, walking down the hallway, likely to her next class, completely unaware that we were quietly flying past her. Everything appeared to be normal in the school, but that couldn't be further from the truth.
We finally reached the doors that lead into the auditorium. We flew through the door easily, and saw Tucker standing on the stage. Sam was the only other person there, sitting in one of the empty seats.
"Tucker, I think you should practice for your debate later," Sam spoke up. "Right now, you keep switching between your usual self and your… commanding self."
"You must allow me to practice, otherwise I will be ill prepared for the upcoming event," Tucker said. "I will not allow my enemies to take what should be rightfully mine."
We landed on the ground, still invisible.
"What do you two think?" Danny whispered. "It's been going on like this for the past week."
"This is not good…" Juliette worriedly said, speaking quietly. "It seems there is a consciousness in the scepter that is actively overwriting Tucker's personality. In another week or two, Tucker would most likely no longer exist."
"What?" I almost gasped. "Something's taking over Tucker?"
"Yes, but unlike with how ghosts simply overshadow people, where they just knock out the person's soul temporarily, this… being is trying to absorb Tucker's soul and replace it with its own," Scarlet explained.
"How do we stop it?" Danny frantically asked.
"Try and get Tucker to take back control and then destroy the scepter while Tucker is himself," Juliette answered. "That may hurt Tucker though… the only other option I can think of is one of us takes the scepter from him and properly dispose of it…"
"Sounds like it's the best shot we have," I said.
"You two try to get the scepter away from Tucker," Scarlet instructed. "Then bring it over to me. I'll know what to do with that dangerous artifact."
"Okay, we'll try our best," Danny replied.
"Wait, before you two do anything, we should try to draw him out first," Juliette intervened before anyone could move. "Otherwise the consciousness of the scepter might rapidly and forcibly overwrite Tucker's being. At least one of us, not including Scarlet, should talk to Tucker in an effort to get him back in control. Between us, I think that it would be best if I did so."
"What? Why, my Princess? You could be put in danger," Scarlet asked, frowning at the idea.
"Because Danny and Andy are much stronger than I am, which the consciousness may find as a threat, and you wouldn't be very good at this sort of thing," Juliette explained. "I'm the best option to try and talk to Tucker."
"I think so too," I agreed. "Tucker does have a… soft spot for you, Juliette."
"We'll keep watch, just in case you need us," Danny softly said.
"Scarlet, you keep an eye on the doors, make sure nobody can enter and interrupt us," Juliette ordered.
"Yes, my Princess," Scarlet replied loyally.
Danny and I watched as Juliette floated up onto the stage and became visible.
"Hello, Tucker," Juliette greeted with a smile.
"Juliette?" Sam blinked, surprised to see her.
"Hello to you to, Sam." Juliette waved
For a minute, Tucker stared at Juliette. Then he blinked. "J-Juliette? Why… why are you here?"
"I'm here for a few reasons," Juliette responded. "I heard that you were running for a position within the student government of your school and wanted to show you my support. But I was also informed that you've been having… issues with the way you've been acting lately. I was told that ever since you started wielding that scepter, which you are unable to put down, you've been becoming a different person. I am concerned that if I do not assist you, you will be lost to the power of the scepter."
"Y-yeah… that's… that's what seems to be happening. I… I don't know what to do though." Tucker frowned in worry.
"I do have a few ideas that may work," Juliette offered. "If you would like to try them."
"What are your ideas, beautiful goat woman?" Tucker questioned.
I blinked at what Tucker just said. I couldn't tell if that was Tucker or the consciousness of whatever was in the scepter talking there.
"One option is that you have to consciously recognize that the scepter is doing things to you that aren't good," Juliette explained, ignoring the 'beautiful goat woman' comment. "Once you do that, you have to consciously will the scepter to leave you alone and not come back. Then you can try to drop it."
"Is that… really possible? I've been trying to put this scepter down, but…" Tucker looked at the Scarab Scepter in his hands. "No matter what I do, no matter how much I want it gone, it keeps coming back."
I gasped when I saw the invisible outline of Hotep Ra coming up from the stage behind Tucker. Hotep Ra was approaching Juliette, his tentacles starting to move towards her. Danny and I silently, but quickly, flew at Hotep Ra, grabbing two of his six tentacles and pulled him back.
"You have to truly let go of it in all ways, Tucker," Juliette stated as Hotep Ra spun around to look at us.
We couldn't make too much noise while Juliette was talking to Tucker, but Hotep Ra was not making it easy for us. Hotep Ra shot out his hands at us, and we both dodged. Danny would usually fire his ghost ray at Hotep Ra at this point, but because we were trying to make as little noise as possible, the best thing he could do was grab onto the gauze that were attached to one of the hands and pull back.
Hotep Ra hissed before he called back his other hand. He turned to Tucker and Juliette, and was about to fire his free hand at Juliette. I made a dive at Hotep Ra, tackling him away before he could do anything. Danny let go of the gauze as I flew up, letting Hotep Ra phase through the ground.
"I do want to let it go, but…" Tucker frowned. "I also can't… it's like I have to keep holding it, or something bad will happen to me."
"Something bad will happen if you continue to hold onto it," Juliette warned. "That scepter is attempting to replace your mind. If you continue to wield the scepter, you will cease to exist."
It looked like Juliette was getting to Tucker, however, Hotep Ra wasn't going to give up so easily. The mummy came out from under the stage, and gave an evil grin. Hotep Ra turned to Juliette. Danny and I quickly flew at Hotep Ra, grabbing his arms and pulled him away.
"Stop trying to fight it. You are only delaying the inevitable," Hotep Ra said to us. "My Pharaoh will be reborn, and there is nothing you can do about it. The scepter will take your friend."
"You hear him, Tuck? He wants you gone so he can have his Pharaoh back!" Danny called out. "Don't give him what he wants! Fight it!"
"What?" Tucker looked up, surprised.
Because Tucker knew we were here, the three of us let go of our invisibility. Danny and I were still trying to hold Hotep Ra back.
"Don't you see? Hotep Ra wanted his Pharaoh back, not you," I spoke up. "You need to get rid of that scepter before it completely takes you!"
"Tucker, please, listen to your friends, listen to me, fight the scepter with all your might," Juliette requested. "You don't wish to cease to exist, do you?"
"N-no, I…" Tucker frowned before the scepter in his hand started to glow.
"Tucker?" Danny called out.
I noticed Tucker's eyes glowed red for a second, before he glared. "Silence, whelp! I do not take orders from anyone!"
"No! Is it already too late?!" I shouted as we let go of Hotep Ra, who was grinning.
"Tucker, please," Juliette asked nicely.
"Tucker!" Sam called out in concern.
Tucker shut his eyes for a second before he opened them again and grinned. "Yes?~"
"Are you… still in there?" Sam hesitantly asked.
"Yes, I am." Tucker smirked. "But so is the spirit of Duul Aman."
"My Pharaoh," Hotep Ra said as he floated down in front of Tucker and bowed. "I have waited for a long time for your return."
"As you should, my loyal servant," Tucker said.
"Andy, I think we don't have a choice now. We have to take that scepter away from Tucker," Danny hissed to me.
Danny quickly flew at Tucker.
"Danny, wait!" I shouted.
Danny grabbed the Scarab Scepter and began to pull it from Tucker. Tucker pulled back.
"Scarlet!" Juliette called out. "We need your help!"
Scarlet started flying towards us, already summoning arrows. Hotep Ra, however, decided to fight back. Hotep Ra summoned a swarm of locus to counter Scarlet's arrows.
"You will not interfere with the rise of my king, knight," Hotep Ra growled darkly.
While Danny and Tucker were still pulling the Scarab Scepter away from each other, it started to glow brightly. I could sense the dark magic building up.
"Brace yourselves!" Juliette warned.
"Danny! Let go of the scepter!" I shouted in alarm.
The Scarab Scepter released a powerful energy that began to cover the auditorium. I gasped and shut my eyes. I could still feel the energy spreading out, though I couldn't tell just how far it was going.
When I managed to open my eyes again, I saw that I wasn't in the auditorium anymore. Heck, I wasn't even in school anymore!
I was standing in a desert along with several other people from school, and even people I didn't recognize. They were all shocked and surprised to see they were standing in a desert as well, and it appears that everyone was wearing some kind of ancient Egyptian clothing. Most of the males didn't even have shirts, but were wearing linens wrapped around their waists that ranged in color from white to tan to brown. They also had armbands and wristbands that were green or purple. The females wore skirts that were extended from the shoulder to ankles. I noticed Sam was standing beside me, her skirt was different from the rest. She had gold on her skirt, she also had a gold neck collar, and she had a golden headband on her head. There was some black eye liner on her eyes for some reason.
Out of curiosity, I looked down at myself. I didn't seem to be in my ghost form anymore judging from the lack of the hazmat suit, and the ghostly aura. I was surprised to see I wasn't shirtless and only wearing linens, instead, I seem to be wearing a white robe with a couple of purple sashes around my shoulder and chest. I also noticed that all of us weren't wearing shoes or socks anymore, we were all wearing sandals.
"What just happened?" I asked finally.
"You have been made a member of Pharaoh Duul Aman's court." Hotep Ra answered from nearby. "You are to be one of his advisors. Though do not think this gives you an opportunity to try and sway the future, as you are the lowest of advisors."
Sam and I looked around before seeing a huge golden palace in front of us. Standing at the top of the stairs was Tucker, who was dressed up in the Pharaoh's garb, headdress, scepter, cape and all, just like in my vision. On the left side of Tucker was Hotep Ra, who was giving a prideful smirk, and on the right side of Tucker, was Juliette.
"This is not acceptable, Tucker," Juliette stated in an angry tone. "Free me immediately."
From what I saw, Juliette was wearing clothes fancier than Sam's clothes, but she was also wearing what appeared to be chains and a collar.
"Oh, Juliette, you may be my queen, but you cannot order me around," Tucker replied, before he faced the rest of us. "And as for the rest of you, from now on, my word is law. This will be the creation of my new dynasty!"
I vaguely noticed that the sky was purple instead of blue, and there was ghostly energy all around us. Looking back, there were other slaves here besides us, ghost slaves. They all got down on their knees and bowed.
"All hail the Pharaoh," They all said in a monotone voice.
"Where is Danny?" Sam asked after she finished looking around.
"For trying to take my Scarab Scepter, the foolish warrior is being dealt with," Tucker answered with a smirk. "If he is lucky, his death will come quickly."
"What!?" Both Sam and I shouted.
"No! Wherever he is, you bring him back now!" I demanded.
"Silence!" Hotep Ra roared, making me flinch back. "You do not speak back to the Pharaoh. You two are in very lucky but precarious positions. If you displease the Pharaoh, there will be no hesitation to make you slaves like the others."
"Calm yourself, my loyal servant," Tucker calmly spoke up. "It is only natural for my advisor to be concerned for his twin brother after all. I will grant him a pardon this time. But you are on thin ice, advisor, I would suggest you watch yourself. I'm sure you've noticed by now, but you are powerless here."
I frowned in confusion, before realizing that I couldn't find that cold feeling that was my ghost core inside me anymore. I tried to use any of my ghost powers as a test, but nothing was happening. I looked at my arms, feeling odd when they didn't turn invisible or wasn't powering up a ghost ray in my hands.
I'm just... human again. This is... an unusual feeling for me. If this had happened to me a few months ago, I'd be ecstatic, but now... I don't know how to feel about being just human again after all this time, after I had accepted my ghost half, and worked to develop my ghost powers along with Danny. Now they were all just… gone.
"Tucker… my king… will you tell me what you have done with Scarlet?" Juliette asked through gritted teeth, breaking my train of thought. I could tell there was venom behind the word 'king'.
"Don't you worry about that holy knight," Tucker answered as he looked at Juliette. "She is in the arena, she will be the one who trains my military. And before you get your hopes up, my sweet, she is as powerless as you and Andy are, so she will not be coming to rescue you."
"What is going on?" I heard Valerie demanded from the crowd.
"I don't like being in a desert!" Someone yelled.
"See those pyramids? I think this is Egypt," Mikey pointed out.
"Who cares!? Why is the sky purple?"
"Why are there ghosts here?"
"Have we been transported somewhere ghostly?" Dash frowned.
"Pride and Prejudice, I can't believe this is even happening!" Mr. Lancer freaked out.
"Silence, slaves! Your Pharaoh is about to speak!" Hotep Ra yelled as Tucker stood up.
Tucker gave a small nod before he glanced out at the crowd. "Welcome, peons, to my new kingdom! All of you below shall start off as slaves, building pyramids and structures in my honor. As you work, you will have a chance to move up in standing. If you do particularly well, you may even be added to my court. However, anyone that refuses to work, talks back, or acts out in any way, shall be punished! This is your one and only warning, do well, or face the wrath of your foreman."
Everything was happening so fast, I barely had time to process it. Everyone was confused and scared, but they knew they couldn't fight back with how things were at the moment, even Valerie knew it was better not to fight back. The ghost guards around us began to gather everyone, having them line up.
How did this happen? Everything was going so well lately too. Now my brother's missing, and he could be dying for all we know! Tucker's been taken over by an ancient spirit of a pharaoh, and now everyone's a slave! This is just like… just like when... I began to pale as this situation reminded me of another very similar situation, a situation I never thought I'd have to experience again.
I quickly shook my head. No, no, no, don't think about it. This is different, nobody's turning into ghosts this time. There's an external force I can take away to bring Tucker back. I just have to bide my time. Don't freak out, Andy, whatever you do, don't. freak. out.
"Now! The foremen you are assigned to will give you your tasks and you are to get to work immediately. So long as you work, you will be taken care of, fed, and given proper amounts of rest," Tucker continued. "If you have any ideas on how to improve my new kingdom, feel free to share them with the foremen. If they think the idea is good enough, they will share it with my advisors, who will go over it before sharing it with me."
I looked down to see Jazz was in the crowd, she looked at me worriedly. I wanted to say something to her, but the guards were already taking her away along with everyone else. It looked like that the males were being put directly to work.
Tucker then looked over at Sam and I. "I know you hate the name Samantha, even though it is traditional, so I shall still call you Sam. Sam, you are the head maid, you are to keep my palace tidy and keep track of all the other servants. Andy, you are an advisor, it is your responsibility to come up with ideas that will make my kingdom a better place. When you two are not doing your tasks, you may relax. However you should be ready to answer my call at any time if I have need of you."
Sam and I looked at each other. Without needing to exchange words, we both knew that we needed to play along for now and bide our time. We lowered our heads to Tucker.
"Yes, my Pharaoh," I responded, remembering my role as a servant back at Aragon's castle.
"We understand… my Pharaoh," Sam said, though I heard her straining calling Tucker 'Pharaoh'.
"As for you, my queen~" Tucker started before turning towards Juliette with a smile. "You are simply to stay by my side and be adorable~"
Juliette frowned. "If you want that, then you should just get one of those cardboard cutouts of me, as I have no plans to be your queen or your pet! You may have my physical body in chains, but you will never have my mind or my soul, no matter how powerful that scepter of yours is."
"Such a fiesty queen," Tucker responded in amusement. "You'll be a lot of fun for me to break."
While Tucker and Juliette were talking, Sam and I moved away a little bit.
"Andy, aren't you worried? Danny could be killed wherever he is!" Sam hissed worriedly to me.
"You think I don't know that? Of course I'm worried! But we have to believe that Danny is stronger than that. If he was in danger of dying, I would feel it. He's fine, I'm sure he is. But worrying about what's going on with Danny isn't going to help us right now. Instead, we should focus on what we can do here, and bide our time until we can get that scepter away from Tucker," I quietly explained.
"Will that help?" Sam frowned.
"Yes. Tucker's still in there, somewhere, he still cared enough about us to not just turn us into slaves. Since I don't have ghost powers anymore, we're going to have to rely on our wits for now," I answered softly. "And just pray that we all make it out of this alive." Danny, wherever you are, please be safe.
Reviews
haloguardian452: DarkFoxKit: Tucker will definitely be more involved in a way here, though we're debating on his role in future chapters. We mostly like to focus on Andy and Danny.
Raidentensho: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': I will admit, the idea of having Andy's ecto-rays changing color after holding onto a powerful artifact is interesting. But it is something that we didn't do.
DarkFoxKit: It might be possible for Andy's ecto-rays to change color at some point, but it won't be from the scepter.
Mana: DarkFoxKit: It would've been a good idea for Danny Phantom to be supporting Tucker in his election campaign, but it's also risky since that could make people wonder why Danny Phantom is supporting Tucker, who happens to be close friends with Danny Fenton. Of course, with the episode being how it was in the actual show, I'm not surprised they didn't do that since they just wanted to hammer it home that nobody listens to Tucker apparently, which honestly came out of nowhere.
I also thought it was weird that Danny and Tucker left Sam under that coffin after the fight with Hotep Ra. I think Butch was trying to be funny, but it didn't fit with the show.
As for Hotep Ra speaking modern English, yeah we thought that was weird too, hence why Andy acknowledged the weirdness of it. We can only assume that Hotep Ra's dark magic does indeed allow him to speak the language of whoever he's speaking to.
We were in the middle of a Yu-Gi-Oh craze when we were writing this, so it definitely helped spice up the episode.
See, I have my own opinion on Butch's explanation to what ghosts are in the show. It didn't make any sense. If ghosts were just monsters from another dimension, then why were there mentions of spirits of people who had passed on in the show? Take Sydney Poindexter in the first season, Tucker clearly states that Poindexter was alive and went to their school several years ago, and his spirit inhabited his locker due to being stuffed in there so many times. That's not a monster from another dimension, that's an actual ghost from a once living human being. Ember was also a living person, in her song she even sings about what happened that caused her death. She was stood up by someone she loved, and died in a house fire, that's why she's a pyro ghost. So even though Butch, who created Danny Phantom, says ghosts are just monsters from another dimension, I'm going to have to disagree on that as I just debunked his explanation. Besides, I like seeing the ghosts as ghosts, not as just another monster that you would see anywhere in a cartoon.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': If anyone disagrees and says that Fox should be writing her story the way Butch meant for it to be, then I shall politely remind said person that this is Fox's story, not Butch's. We are allowed to take creative liberties due to the fact that this is fanfiction. There were a lot of things Butch said in his time of making the series that directly contradicted with what he said or what previous episodes had, so I would also point out that Butch probably doesn't even fully know what he wants for the Danny Phantom universe.
DarkFoxKit: Now there are some ghosts that had always existed as ghosts, like Vortex or Pandora, and I do like your explanation to how they came to be by manifesting from people's fears and beliefs. Though I prefer to keep their origins vague as it allows the readers to theorize on where they came from and how they came to be. It was also why I didn't like it when Butch explained that ghosts weren't actually ghosts. As far as I'm concerned, they are ghosts, not anything else. Being denied to believe they are ghosts just makes it annoying and questionable to what these 'ghosts' actually are. Don't even get me started on the if Danny is actually half dead or not debate. Actually that would be fun to talk about. :3