DarkFoxKit: Hee, hee, hee~

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Walks over* What are you giggling mischievously about?

DarkFoxKit: Oh… you'll see~

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Uh huh… well… *Starts walking to the kitchen* what do you want for lunch?

DarkFoxKit: Tacos!

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Tacos and soup it is then. I've been craving soup lately.

*There was a sudden boom sound from upstairs, and a shocked scream.*

DarkFoxKit: *Giggles* I think Andy found my surprise~

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Sighs* What did you do…?

*A black furred cat came running downstairs, glaring at Fox*

Cat: What did you do!?

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Huh… isn't that… Luna from Sailor Moon?

Cat: Wah- I'm not Luna! I'm not even female!

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Shrugs* You're a black furred cat with a golden crescent moon on your forehead, that's why I said you're Luna.

DarkFoxKit: I may have used Luna as an inspiration for the surprise.

Cat: Onyx, it's me, Andy! This little mischievous fox thought it was funny to put a package on my dresser, then as soon as I open it, it exploded into dust and I was suddenly this tiny cat!

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Oh, I figured you were Andy. And the reason she did it was most likely because you sent her that last package. And don't try to hide it, she had me do some investigating and everything.

Andy: *Glares at Fox* This isn't over, Fox.

DarkFoxKit: Oh, I'm aware of that, my cute little kitty~

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': How long is Andy going to look like Luna?

DarkFoxKit: Not sure, depends on how much of that magical moon dust he inhaled.

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Looks at Andy* Just how much did you inhale?

Andy: How should I know!? I was too busy being surprised!

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Sighs* After I make lunch, I'll go put on a hazmat suit and clean up the room and measure just how much moon dust is left.

*Onyx leaves the two small furry animals alone as they glared yet smirked at each other*

Chapter 75: Planning and Messaging

Danny's Continued Point of View

I slumped against the walls of my cell. I was back in my human form, there wasn't much of a reason to stay in my ghost form while I was in here. I was bored. I wondered if there was a way for me to escape. A part of me wondered what Andy would do in this situation.

He'd probably experiment with his powers or something… I looked at my hand and created an ecto ball. Well, it's not like there's anything else for me to do while I sit here and wait.

I was a little curious about how Andy was able to shape his ghost ray, I never really bothered to ask how he did it. I focused on the ecto ball that glowed on the palm of my hand, trying to see if I actually could change its shape.

"Danny, you awake in there?"

I gasped when I heard Valerie's voice, and quickly dissipated the ecto ball on my hand.

"The ghost kid isn't in there, is he?" Valerie inquired.

"No, he's not," I called back. "It's just me."

I saw Valerie come up to the bars of the cell.

"Good, I'd rather not be around him," Valerie remarked. "So, how are you holding up?"

"About as well as I could being stuck in a cell," I sighed. "What about you?"

"Pretty good," Valerie replied. "Well, as good as I can be. Anyways, I'm here with some info for you to pass on to the Ghost Kid."

"Oh?" I perked up at hearing this. "What is it?"

"Andy has come up with a plan that will hopefully set us all free of this nightmarish copy of Ancient Egypt," Valerie explained before she laid out the plan for me.

I figured Andy would've found a way to get a message to me once he thought of a plan. "You think that Dash really could sneak a key to unlock this cell?"

"The sneaking the key part is easy," Valerie stated. "The hard part is getting the Ghost Kid to the palace without getting spotted. Not to mention I'm not even sure how much he's really willing to help us."

"I'm sure Danny Phantom will help us, he doesn't want to be here anymore than the rest of us," I pointed out, really wishing Valerie didn't have such a grudge towards my ghost self.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," Valerie sighed. "Anyways… I need to get going to check in with my foreman before heading to the bunks."

"Okay. I'll just be here… waiting," I said with a small sigh of my own.

"I'll try to keep you up to date on the plan," Valerie promised.

"Thanks, I just hope nothing goes wrong," I replied.

"Same here, Danny," Valerie agreed before she walked away.

When I was left alone again, I couldn't help but wonder. If Scarlet lost her ghost powers, does that mean Andy lost his too?

If that was the case, it would explain why Andy's been taking so long to do anything. If Andy still had his ghost powers, he could've easily snuck over here and get me out by now, but if he was stuck as just a human, there wasn't much he could do. It was just my luck that I was the only one with ghost powers, yet I'm stuck here.

I looked over at the door of my prison cell, before looking down at my hands. I suppose it can't hurt to experiment for the time being.

Back with Andy

I had almost lost track of time, I've been so cautious and careful with planning that I stopped paying attention to how much time had passed. If I had to guess, however, I would say it had been about four days since I told Valerie the plan. I used those days to talk with Dash as well, I also tried to get a message to Sam and Jazz about it. Dash told me that he and the rest of the football team were more than willing to fight when the time came. Everyone wanted to do what they could to escape from this realm.

I also had to be careful that I wasn't being watched or suspected by Tucker or any of his foremen. I needed to keep Tucker's trust in me if I wanted my plan to succeed. While I was aware that this heist could go wrong in a lot of ways, I knew that the key to freeing Tucker and getting us out of here was getting my brother out of the colosseum, so that was my primary focus. I dug up whatever information I could on the colosseum. Jazz was able to give me a scroll that talked about the rules of the colosseum.

One rule in particular was what caught my interest; a champion would be presented before the pharaoh after their 20th battle. The champion would had to have won every single colosseum battle, including the battle against the previous champion. While it wasn't my first plan, if Dash and Valerie failed to release Danny from his prison, then him being the champion was the back-up plan. It wasn't the best plan, however, since there were no guarantees that Danny would win 20 battles. If Danny couldn't win 20 battles… well let's just say I'd rather have Danny out of the colosseum sooner instead of later. The only relief and reassurance I had that Danny would be okay, was that Danny somehow managed to retain his ghost powers.

I would occasionally have a ghost guard pick up Valerie so I could update her on the plan, and who would be helping us fight to create the chaos needed for Danny Phantom to get to Tucker. I would also ask Valerie about when she thought Dash would be able to smuggle a key for Danny's cell. Valerie assured me it would be soon, and that she'd tell me when they'll be ready.

With the plan almost set in motion, there was only one person left I needed to inform.

I stood in front of the queen's door. "Queen Juliette, it has been days since I last spoke to you. Have you cooled down enough for me to speak with you again?"

Katrina once again opened the door.

"Before I let you in, the Queen would like to know if you have learned your mistake from last time," Katrina stated.

"Yes, I have, and I also wanted to apologize to her about it," I informed. "That is, if she will allow me."

Katrina looked back for a few moments before she turned her attention towards me once more. "The Queen will see you."

"I thank her for the second chance," I remarked politely before I walked into the room.

As soon as Katrina closed the door behind me, I approached Juliette, who was sitting on a big chair. She appeared to have been reading a scroll, likely to pass the time.

"Welcome back, Andy," Juliette chuckled as I walked over. "Again, sorry for the sudden outburst last time, it just made the most sense for me at the time. It would allow you to leave and have a chance to return, but show that I'm not going to easily become Tucker's lapdog."

"I understand, it was just shocking when you suddenly did that," I sheepishly remarked.

Juliette nodded before she turned her attention to Katrina. "Katrina, would you please excuse us for now? Perhaps go bring me some dinner."

"Of course, Juliette," Katrina replied with a nod before she left the room.

After Katrina left, I continued to speak. "I came back to tell you what's been going on. I managed to gain Tucker's trust enough for him to allow me to speak with some of my friends. That allowed me to gather information on Danny, and also made it so I am able to send him messages. Valerie should be having Dash get the key soon. If all goes to plan, then many of us will start to fight against the guards and Hotep Ra, hoping to create enough chaos for Danny to get to Tucker. I do have a back-up plan if they're not able to get a key or release Danny, but I rather it didn't come down to that, since it involves risking Danny's life at the colosseum."

"The back-up plan might also not work if the primary plan fails," Juliette pointed out. "If plan A fails, then Tucker will most likely heighten his guard and either execute the troublemakers, or make examples of them."

"Plan A can't even start if Danny doesn't escape anyways. Nobody's going to start a fight until we know for sure that the calvary is coming," I clarified. "Right now, my main focus on the plan is getting Danny out, and get him here, at the palace. Everything else will start to fall into place once Danny Phantom is here. My only other plan is to try to get to the colosseum myself and see if I could get Danny out of there, but that really isn't likely. If Danny could somehow escape himself, that would make things both easier and harder..."

"If he hasn't been able to escape on his own now, it is unlikely that he will be able to do it all of a sudden now," Juliette pointed out.

"While it is unlikely, there's always a possibility Danny could escape on his own. That's why I'm also keeping that in mind," I replied. "Danny does have the power to escape, but the problem is, if he uses that power then he could hurt or kill a lot of innocent people. But if he were to learn how to control that much power, and only use it to break out, then he could escape. Hence why I'm keeping the possibility in mind, just in case."

"You are speaking of his Ghostly Wail, aren't you?" Juliette recognized.

"That's right," I confirmed.

While Juliette herself had never seen Danny use the Ghostly Wail before, we did tell her and Scarlet about it. Considering Scarlet was our battle mentor, she needed to know what we were capable of. We hadn't tried to work on Danny's Ghostly Wail yet, however, if Danny became desperate enough, he was bound to start experimenting with his powers.

"I still don't know if you can rely on that," Juliette responded. "For now, plan A is the only one we can really rely on."

"I know, that's why I've been sticking to it," I answered. "There are a lot of variables, but plan A is the most reliable one we have. There shouldn't be too much that could go wrong though, there are ways we can avoid any small mistakes."

"Have you had any visions showing the plan getting derailed?" Juliette inquired.

I blinked before shaking my head. "I've had a few visions, but they all mostly just showed Tucker's Sphinx getting complete and coming alive. I'm hoping that we could pull this off before that happens."

As soon as I said that, my head started to feel dizzy. I sighed as I rubbed my forehead a bit.

"You… are you about to have a vision?" Juliette asked in concern as she looked at me swaying a little. "You should probably sit down."

"Thanks…" I mumbled as Juliette got up from her chair and helped me sit down on it. "And yeah, dizziness is usually a warning sign before a vision comes."

"That or you haven't been eating and drinking properly," Juliette offered. "Have you been eating and drinking properly?"

"Yeah, I think so," I answered. Though I probably haven't been eating all that much.

I closed my eyes to let the vision take over.

I could see that Danny Phantom was with me. I could also see Dash leading the football team into battle in the palace. Valerie, Sam, and Jazz were all there too. I ran forward, holding a wooden staff to use as a weapon. We were all holding off the guards while Danny flew ahead of us, hurrying to the throne room.

I didn't see Hotep Ra anywhere, a part of me was worried as to where he was.

Then there was an explosion from the throne room. Everyone stopped fighting as Danny was pushed back. I looked up at the door to see Hotep Ra there, smirking.

"So sorry about that, but my Pharaoh isn't in his throne room right now," Hotep Ra stated. "Perhaps I should inform him of this attempted coup, and rid the ghost boy once and for all."

No… how could this have gone so wrong? Tucker should've been in his throne room today. He wasn't scheduled to do anything else today, why wasn't he there? Did someone tip him off? Did we have a traitor in our mix? Or did Tucker just decide to go somewhere else today? Whatever the reason was, our plan had failed.

"What is going on in here!?" Tucker's voice shouted over the chaos.

Looking back at the entrance, I could see Tucker there, looking furious. Juliette was beside Tucker, looking worried. Tucker looked up at Danny in shock at first, before he glared angrily and his scepter started to glow.

"I don't know how you kept your ghost powers, Danny, but I will ensure you will never have them again!" Tucker declared as he shoved his scepter into the ground, causing a shockwave of dark magic to cover us.

I gasped as I came out of the vision, feeling like I just woke up from a nightmare.

"What happened?" Juliette questioned, frowning at my expression.

"The plan went horrible…" I frowned. "Everything was going smoothly until Danny got to the throne room where Tucker was supposed to be, but he wasn't. Hotep Ra was there instead, and then Tucker saw Danny Phantom, and… well… I'm not sure what happened after that, but it couldn't have been anything good."

"I… see," Juliette acknowledged. "Did you have an idea of what day the plan is put into action?"

"Unfortunately no, there was no calendar or anything. But my future self seemed so sure Tucker would've been there," I explained. "I'm still waiting for Valerie to let me know when Dash has the key, so I could tell them when's the best time to use it. What I'm worried about is why Tucker wasn't there. It could've just been because Tucker decided not to be in his throne room for whatever reason, but I'm also concerned someone might've tipped him or Hotep Ra off. Hotep Ra sounded like he had been expecting us."

"Hmm, well whenever everything is ready, let me know, and I shall try to keep Tucker in his throne room for as long as possible the following day," Juliette requested.

I gave Juliette a small smile. "Thanks. We were planning on attacking during the day, but… considering how things went, we may have to try attacking at night."

"Why?" Juliette asked.

"If someone did tip off Hotep Ra about our plans, then it would be dangerous to go through with it on that time of day. The next best thing to do is to inform everyone at the last minute to attack at night, and keep an eye on everyone so nobody could inform Hotep Ra of the change of plans," I explained.

"You definitely do have a point," Juliette agreed with my explanation.

"Unfortunately, that means instead of getting Tucker in the throne room, we'd have to get him while he's in his chambers," I pointed out. "And since there's no guarantees he'll be in his room on his own…"

I looked at Juliette without finishing the sentence.

"You… aren't serious… are you?" Juliette frowned.

I stood up from the chair and looked at Juliette. "I'm not asking you to do anything you're not comfortable with. I just want you to keep Tucker in his room on the night of the attack. Tucker shouldn't push you to do anything with him yet, he would likely just be pleased you decided to spend the night in his room with him."

Juliette took a deep breath, closing her eyes, before she let out a sigh. "I will keep him in his room, but I shall not get anywhere near his bed."

"That's all I ask," I assured. "It shouldn't take us too long to get to him anyways. We just have to make sure all the pieces are in place before we proceed with the plan. We can't afford any screw ups like the one in my vision."

Juliette gave a nod right before Katrina came back into the room with a tray of food.

"We should continue our conversation later," Juliette stated.

"Yeah, I'll tell you about when you should… prepare yourself for the 'pharaoh' next time," I replied before walking over to the door.

Juliette gave another sigh before waving her hand dismissively. "You are dismissed for now."

I opened the door before I replied back. "Thank you, Queen Juliette."

I closed the door, looking over at the ghost guard for a second, before I began walking down the corridor. Everything should be in order. Now all we have to do is wait.

Meanwhile, Danny was...

I couldn't help but give a small smile at the tiny green crystal in my hand. I almost couldn't believe that I was able to change the shape of my ghost ray. I had seen Andy do it dozens of times, but to actually do it myself was something special. The only problem was the ghost ray would dissolve as soon as I stopped using it. It was rather sad to see the crystal I've been trying to create to just disappear like that.

A part of me wondered if I could create a key to unlock myself out of here, but then decided that would be too risky. The key would have to be a perfect fit, which would be incredibly difficult to do, especially since I've only seen the key briefly when gladiator fetcher would come to take me to the arena.

I wish I could work on my Ghostly Wail, so I could have enough control over it to just destroy this stupid cell door, but there's no way to practice it without going all out. If we get out of here, I should ask Scarlet to help me with that in the future. Or maybe I could just find a nice open field or something to practice my Ghostly Wail.

While my thoughts were distracting me, I didn't notice someone walked up to my cell door until I heard their voice.

"Time to get off your butt," The gladiator fetcher stated as he walked to the bars of the cell. "There's a change in plans for you."

I nearly jumped, and turned around to face the gladiator fetcher. "What? What do you mean there's a change in plans? … Does that mean I'm getting out of here now?"

"Yep," The gladiator fetcher answered. "You're getting out of your cell alright. But only to go do some training with the other gladiators."

I blinked at that, surprised to hear that I was getting out to train. "What? But why?" It's not like I was struggling against the other gladiators.

"Pharaoh's orders," The gladiator fetcher replied.

I suppose I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. At least I'm getting out of here to do something other than fight against another bland gladiator ghost… I walked over to the cell door and held out my hands, figuring that I would need to do this as per protocol.

"Glad you remember this time~" The gladiator fetcher smirked.

"Oh, so you do have a personality underneath all that armor," I responded sarcastically. "Good to know."

"If you can call contempt of the gladiators a personality, then I guess I do," The gladiator fetcher responded.

I only rolled my eyes as the gladiator fetcher put the cuffs on me, before unlocking my cell door. Once again, I had to follow the gladiator fetcher through the dungeon. However, instead of going to the arena, we went into a different direction. I remained quiet as we continued walking.

I didn't know how long we were walking, but it felt like we've been walking for quite a while.

"How much longer?" I asked.

Gladiator fetcher didn't answer back, and just kept going.

"Great conversation," I grumbled sarcastically.

I was about to say something else, when gladiator fetcher stopped in front of some stairs. I blinked as I looked at the stairs that seem to be leading up. I couldn't help but give a smile, we were leaving this dungeon to go somewhere on the surface that wasn't the arena. Gladiator fetcher began to float, going up the stairs a little quickly. I had to hurry after them, stumbling a bit since I couldn't fly with these cuffs on me.

"Hurry up!" The gladiator fetcher shouted impatiently. "Or else I'll start dragging you up the stairs."

"Hey! Just because you can float over the stairs doesn't mean it's easy for someone who has to walk up the stairs to follow you!" I snapped back. Honestly, these ghosts just don't know how hard it is for humans sometimes…

When we finally reached the top of the stairs, I let out a sigh of relief.

"Go on in," The gladiator fetcher instructed, gesturing to a door ahead of us. "The guards in there will take off your cuffs."

"Aww, and I was getting so attached to you," I replied sarcastically.

"I'll be here to pick you up when you are done," The gladiator fetcher commented.

"Oh, I'm sure you will," I grumbled before I walked to the door. "Um… can you open this for me?"

"Just push on it," The gladiator fetcher replied.

I sighed before I pushed against the door with my body, almost falling down with how quick it opened. I stumbled a little, before managing to regain my balance. I saw a couple of buff ghost guards floating in front of me.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the White Phantom," One of the buff guards stated. "Looks like the rumors of the Pharaoh giving you training time is true. Come over here, I'll remove your cuffs, but don't try and fly away."

"There is still a barrier above this arena that you will be unable to pass, and if you try, the archers will paralyze you before you can even regret your decision," The other buff guard added.

"Great, thanks for the warning fellas, I never would have guessed that trying to leave would result in my painful paralysis," I remarked sarcastically.

"I recommend you don't use that tone again unless you want to end up being punished," The first buff guard warned.

"No, really, the warning is appreciated," I stated, keeping the sarcastic tone out. "Now could one of you please remove my cuffs?"

The second guard gave a small growl before he walked over and reached down before removing the cuffs from my wrists. "There, now go inside and talk to the trainer."

I decided it would be in my best interest to walk away from these guards before I said something I would regret. I walked forward to another door, before opening it. I could see the outside, it looked like a huge courtyard of whatever building I was in. There were several gladiators sparing with each other, most of them using swords, arrows, spears, and other such weapons against each other. I walked into the courtyard myself, careful not to get too close to the other gladiators that were sparing. I looked around, wondering where the 'trainer' was.

"You call yourself a gladiator?!" Someone shouted from behind me, making me jump. "That posture of yours is absolutely awful and would most likely get you killed! I'm surprised you've survived this long!"

I spun around, seeing Scarlet leering down at me. I always felt nervous under Scarlet's gaze, especially when it looked like she was disappointed in me.

"Lesson one, keeping a gladiator's posture at all time!" Scarlet yelled. "Straighten your back and square your shoulders!"

I quickly straighten my back, and square my shoulders. Whether or not I was playing as Scarlet's squire, I always felt like she was a real battle mentor of mine.

"Good, looks like you may not be a hopeless wreck after all," Scarlet commented with an approving nod before she lowered her voice. "I apologize for the yelling, Danny, but I must keep up my appearance as a trainer in front of the guards."

"Oh, I get it," I whispered back. "So are we going to train for real while I'm here?"

"Yes, yes we are," Scarlet answered. "I have orders from 'the Pharaoh' to make sure to train you in front of all the gladiators. It looks like my suggestions were heard and implemented."

I blinked before a grin snaked its way to my lips. "Clever. You were the one who brought me here by order of 'the Pharaoh'?"

The other gladiators stopped what they were doing and looked at us curiously.

"Is that the White Phantom?"

"It doesn't look like him, he has black hair."

"But couldn't the White Phantom transform to look more like an ordinary human?"

"But isn't that just a rumor?"

"Yes," Scarlet answered to me. "I suggested that if you trained here, the gladiators would have a chance to spot any weaknesses you may have that they could use to beat you. Of course, it would be best if you don't let them find any weaknesses."

I gave a small nod in agreement to that.

Scarlet then cleared her throat before speaking up. "I still have a lot of work to do with you, White Phantom!"

Then Scarlet turned to the other gladiators.

"All of you better get back to training unless you wish to have a sparring session with me!" Scarlet threatened.

Despite the gladiators thinking Scarlet was weak, they still quickly moved away from us. One of the gladiators was brave, or foolish, enough to stick around and speak up.

"If the White Phantom is here to train, then why don't we spar with him?" The gladiator suggested.

"Because I was assigned to train the White Phantom by the Pharaoh himself," Scarlet answered. "And I do not believe the White Phantom is anywhere near sparring just yet."

The gladiator looked like they wanted to argue, but one glance at Scarlet's intimidating eyes made the gladiator back off.

"Now, White Phantom, let's get started on your training!" Scarlet loudly said before she lowered her tone. "The main reason I wanted to bring you here is because many of the gladiators could be potential allies to you."

I blinked at that suggestion. "That makes no sense. Weren't they just created by that Scarab Scepter? Why would they even think to turn on 'the Pharaoh'?"

"They weren't made by the Scepter, they were summoned or dragged by the Scepter from the Ghost Zone," Scarlet informed. "I can sense it, they don't belong here, just as we don't belong here."

"Really? All of them? They're from the Ghost Zone?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes. They were gladiators in their own lives during ancient times," Scarlet explained. "Like me, they too were affected by the Scarab Scepter. While they can use their ghost powers, their ghost powers are more limited. They all also must wear armor."

"Heh, I guess that explains why they all look so similar and why they've been pretty easy," I noted.

"But make no mistake, the champion will be a much harder battle if you ever were to go up against them," Scarlet warned. "I've seen them. They have full access to their powers, likely a privilege from 'the Pharaoh'. Do not underestimate them, Danny, or you will get taken down."

I nodded. "I understand, Scarlet. So we try to make these gladiators our allies, then when we escape, we head to the palace."

"Exactly," Scarlet confirmed. "But for now, I have to actually train you a little bit before I can let you spar with the others. The gladiators won't follow us if they think we're weak."

"Valerie and Dash aren't here, are they?" I asked, looking around cautiously.

"No, they're still in the dungeon," Scarlet assured.

I reached into my core and transformed into my ghost form, chuckling a little when I heard the gladiators gasping in shock. "Then bring it on."

Training with Scarlet and the other gladiators was probably the highlight of my time since I got here. Scarlet couldn't train me as well as she could have if she had her full powers, but she tried her best to teach me how to better use a sword, or how to take a weapon away from an enemy. I eventually got to spar with some of the other gladiators, though I was careful not to go all out on them. I decided to fight them at their level, limiting myself to only intangibility and flight like the rest of them. It was a lot more fun fighting on an even ground with the gladiators, without worrying that I would die if I slip up and lose the fight.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed, but considering I seem to get taken to the training area twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, I would say roughly 5 days had passed already. I was sitting in my cell, in my human form in case Valerie came with more of Andy's messages, just waiting for meal time, or to be taken to either the arena or the training area. That was when I heard footsteps approaching me. I turned and looked out of my cell door to see who was coming.

To my surprise, I saw Dash coming towards me.

"Hey, Fenton…" Dash said in a hushed tone glancing around. "So, the plan got delayed a bit, but I'm here to try out the key I nabbed."

I smiled. "Great, the sooner you open it, the sooner we can get Phantom out."

"Is Phantom in there with you right now? As much as I want to help you escape too, Fenton, I rather not leave this door open for the guards to see," Dash asked cautiously.

"Uh… yeah," I quickly said. "Phantom's just hiding in the shadows, he doesn't like to be seen while he's in here. Just open the cell door, I'm sure Phantom will fly out quickly once you do."

Dash gave a nod as he inserted the large metal key he had into the lock before he turned it. Though, instead of a satisfying clunk like I was hoping for, all there was was a small metallic clink.

"Uhh… why isn't it turning…?" Dash asked before he tried to turn the key again, only for another metallic clink to come from the lock.

I frowned when I realized what was going on. "Dash… you did make sure to grab the right, key, didn't you?"

"There were multiple key hooks with multiple keys on each," Dash informed. "They all had these weird scratches in the stone above them, but the keys all looked the same so I just grabbed one and booked it before I could get caught."

I groaned. Of course it couldn't have been that easy. "You can't grab all the keys at once?"

"If I grabbed a bunch of keys at once, I'd no doubt fumble one or two and get caught," Dash pointed out. "I've noticed the guards occasionally count the keys. One or two usually aren't there when they check because a guard or guarded servant has it with them at the time."

"Okay, clearly smuggling a key isn't going to get us anywhere without a lot, and I do mean a lot, of luck," I sighed. After all, it took him this long just to be able to grab one key. It could take months, or even years for Dash to get the right key to this dingy little cell. "You should tell this to Valerie so she can tell Andy. We may need to come up with a different plan of escape."

"I'll let Valerie know," Dash agreed. "It shouldn't take too long to get the next key now that I know when the guard room is clear."

"Don't take any unnecessary risks, if you get caught…" I hesitated. "... Just try not to get caught."

"A-agreed," Dash gulped, likely knowing what would happen to him if he did get caught. "I better go, I'm not allowed to be down here."

I nodded in agreement, before I watched Dash hurrying away, sneaking around a bit, making sure there weren't any ghost guards around.

I sighed to myself. I had been looking forward to finally being free. The only bright side I can see to not being free right now is that I have more time to try and convince the gladiators to join my side. I've won a couple of them over, but not as many as I would like. Andy would definitely want me to have a good size backup to take on Hotep Ra and Tucker. Especially if what the scrolls Andy smuggled to me is true and Tucker is half fused with that 'dull man' from the museum or whatever his name was.

Bored out of my mind, I decided now was as good time as any to just nap. I could experiment more on my powers, but I wanted to save my strength for the arena and sparring. I closed my eyes, and started to drift off into dreamland, when suddenly a familiar cold sensation came up from my throat. I opened my eyes and saw a familiar light blue mist left my mouth. I frowned, realizing that my ghost sense only came out due to a new ghost being nearby. I stood up and looked out of my cell window in curiosity.

Did they bring in a new ghost? This ghost feels a lot more powerful than these other gladiators… I frowned to myself.

"So you're the 'White Phantom'...?" A sinister sounding female voice remarked in a mocking tone. "That's a cute name for a pathetic pipsqueak. Tell me, is the 'phantom' part of your name from the fact that you hide as much as possible when you see an enemy?"

A dark shadowy figure approached my cell door, staying far enough away where I couldn't get any good detail on them.

"I don't hide," I replied, getting a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Oh? Does that mean you have a bit of a spine after all?" The sinister voice asked. "From the way you're slouched, I assumed you had no spine at all."

I glared, feeling my anger boiling up from the voice's words. "What do you want? Did you come here just to taunt me?"

"Maybe I am," The sinister voice chuckled. "Or maybe I'm just here to see my upcoming prey."

I heard a small slurping noise, and I felt a shiver go down my spine.

"You're going to make for a delicious meal~" The sinister voice added.

My face scrunched up in disgust. "Are you… actually going to eat me?"

"Well, not you but your core," The sinister voice clarified. "Nothing tastes better than a freshly harvested ghost core after all."

I paled as a memory I had buried long ago started to resurface. I remembered thinking the same thing when I… I shut my eyes, quickly trying to wipe the memory away.

Calm down, Fenton, it didn't happen. It never happened. Andy made sure of that. I quickly reassured myself before facing back up to the shadowy figure.

"That's disgusting. Why would you eat a ghost's core? Isn't that cannibalism?" I questioned.

"No, cannibalism is eating the flesh of one's own species," The sinister voice replied. "I am simply eating the soul, the energy of the being I kill. As for why I would do it, well that is quite simple. If a ghost eats the core of another ghost, they gain that ghost's strength. If the core eaten is remarkably powerful, then the ghost consuming it may even gain some of the powers that the ghost, whose core was being eaten, had when they were still formed."

I felt both sick and afraid. I didn't think about it much before, but ghosts could eat the souls of other ghosts and people. It only crossed my mind when Skulker- Don't start thinking about it! Keep your mind off it.

I had to stay in the present. This ghost was clearly trying to psyche me out. "Well, don't think I'll be an easy meal for you then. Unlike you, I use my own powers and training to win a battle, not by consuming other ghost cores."

"Oh, you poor, sad child," The sinister voice tsked. "You think I came this far just by eating the core of ghosts? That's a laugh. No, even without the power of the cores I've consumed, I could easily crush that sad excuse of a ruler, his bodyguard, and his entire army without too much of a sweat. In fact, I'm stronger than that 'gladiator trainer' who isn't even showing a tenth of her strength and training."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "If that's the case, then why are you here?"

"Because I chose to come here," The sinister voice answered. "I was bored of my regular stomping grounds and saw this place and decided 'Why not? Fresh prey.'."

Another shiver went down my spine. There was something not right with this ghost, and yet it also felt familiar in a way. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew if I were to face this ghost in the arena, there was a good chance I would lose and end up as their dinner. Even though I couldn't quite see the ghost's face, I could make out a sinister smirk, a smirk of a predator who knew exactly what they were going to do to the unfortunate prey they were looking at. A feeling of fear, helplessness, and foreboding struck me, but while the ghost intimidated me, I couldn't help but think.

Was this how Andy felt when I was giving him the same look? I frowned more to myself than at the shadowy ghost.

"We'll face each other in the arena soon, child," The sinister voice remarked. "So pray to whatever gods you believe in and ask them for all the help they can give, as you will need it to even last a minute."

I wanted to reply back, telling them that I wasn't afraid of them, that I could kick their butt any day. But I remained silent, feeling shaken up as the shadowy figure began leaving. Whoever that shadowy figure was, it didn't matter to me at the moment, because what I saw was my own inner demon taunting me. And perhaps a taste of what Andy had to face...

Reviews

Jewel moonstone: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Glad you enjoyed the chapter and that's quite the interesting piece of information.

Mana: DarkFoxKit: Yeah, the canon episode implied that time was passing during the construction on the sphinx, though with how it was paced, it was difficult to tell exactly. We did reference the ridiculous laws Tucker did in canon, but we figured it'd make more sense for this Tucker to be wiser about the laws, and also because he fused with Duul Aman's spirit.

If they do a continuation, I can't help but hope they would continue from D-Stabilize rather than Phantom Planet. There could be some potential for a story after Phantom Planet, but I don't know how well the writers would execute that as it could go wrong very easily. I prefer Danny keeping his ghost half a secret from the world, and I would've liked a more proper revelation to his parents and eventually Valerie, and their actual reaction to the implication that they hunted and tried to kill their own son/friend. I could still be kid friendly, so they don't need to go overboard, but it would've been nice to see.

I always felt there were a lot of interesting ideas, opportunities, and potential with season 3, but most of them were wasted or didn't reach their climax properly. I liked the idea that Danny absorbed Vortex's weather powers, and it would've been neat to see how Danny struggles to control his emotions, and maybe find ways to use the weather powers against Vortex, and if it's possible to seal away the powers until he needs them again… but no, sadly they just made Danny take advantage of Vlad, use Tucker's mood helmet to fight back against Vortex, and then Danny just loses the power for some reason. I liked that Danny got ice powers during the Undergrowth episode, and I feel that the episode would've benefited more had it been an hour special like The Ultimate Enemy was, instead of just a 20 minute episode. There were a lot of horror themes going on that was still kid friendly, and I would've liked to see more of it, and how Danny slowly got better with his ice powers during training over time instead of being bad at it, accidentally hurting the audience over and over, then suddenly he can use it no problem against Undergrowth. Then there's Nocturne, I really liked Nocturne but he was so underutilized that it was painful. His dream powers really had so much potential that I wished he had another episode. *Sigh* Oh well.

Phantom Planet was an ending nobody asked for, really. I think the writers just thought it was the best way to end the series. But it was a typical cartoon ending, where the main character is hailed as the world hero, the 'bad guy' lives in isolation, and everything is all fine and dandy. That wasn't what Danny Phantom was about though, that's why the ending felt so off to a lot of fans, myself included. It wouldn't bother me so much if they focused more on the characters themselves rather than another world ending cataclysm. Something that would lead to Danny revealing he was Phantom to his parents, and only his parents. Maybe Valerie too. That would've been a more satisfying and open ended ending, so the series could pick up from there if they ever decide to revive it.

haloguardian452: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Glad you enjoyed and hope you continue to enjoy. It's definitely an interesting way to have Tucker act and it's enjoyable to write.

DarkFoxKit: You can thank Onyx for this authoritative Tucker, she's good at writing authoritative characters. It was also nice to have Tucker be more of an actual ruler than just a kid who had way too much power going to his head.