Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Walks in* Hey everyone, sorry for the late update. Fox and I got caught up in gaming. We realized our missed upload on Saturday night, hence why we're uploading today. *Frowns as a certain battle music emanates from a nearby room* FOX! TURN OFF POKEMON SHIELD AND GET IN HERE! YOU CAN GAME MORE AFTER WE GET THIS DONE!
DarkFoxKit: *Peeks out from the room* Oh… are we doing this now? But I'm in the middle of a Max Raid battle!
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': You were the one who said, and I quote, "Yeah, tomorrow we'll focus on updating stuff before we do anything. ^^'"
DarkFoxKit: Yeah, but I woke up early today, and you were still sleeping, so I decided to go ahead and game while I waited for you to wake up, get cleaned up, and eat breakfast.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': You could've done other things besides gaming. For now… *Sighs* just keep gaming…
DarkFoxKit: Why? We're already here. Also, where is Andy?
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Sulking up in his room about still being a cat. On the bright side, at least he found a fellow
cat to play with~
DarkFoxKit: Oh? You found him a cat friend?
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': I'll give you a hint, they have a long tail and they're pink. They're also a somewhat major part of the new Pokemon TV series.
DarkFoxKit: Oh… Oooooh… oh dear… Andy's going to be really… exhausted and angry by the time he gets back. ^^'
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': I told Mew to have fun with Andy, but at the end try her best to turn him back to normal.
DarkFoxKit: If Mew doesn't bring him back by next update, we'll have to go look for them.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': I told her no leaving this house, let alone this plane of reality. Oh, by the way, everyone, we opened up two Discords. One is for Child of Mew, the other is more general. We are thinking of making the general one into both Child of Mew and We Are Phantom, but we might just go with separate ones for each. Let us know what you think about those ideas. If you're interested in joining either Discord, PM me and I'll get you the link as best I can, as I've found a way to get around fanfiction's 'no links besides ours' rule~
DarkFoxKit: Considering how unsure I am of how many people are still reading this, we may post this notice on CoM as well.
Chapter 78: How to Overthrow a King
"So that's plan," I said. "We're staying here until the time to attack begins."
Everyone who Dash and Valerie were able to gather in this room were all looking at me. All our classmates and the school staff who were pulled into this realm were looking at me.
"Are you sure this will even work?" Mikey asked, looking terrified. "We're no match for those ghost guards."
"It's actually a fairly flawless strategy," Hank, my history teacher, commented. "It's been used many times in the past, just not this way. I'm sure if we all work together, we'll be able to pull it off."
"We do have a few weapons that could work against ghosts that Valerie managed to smuggle," Dash stated.
"Even so, a lot of us don't have fighting experience. We wouldn't last a minute out there," Nathan said nervously.
"I don't care if I don't last a minute. I'd rather go down fighting then having to scrub that so-called pharaoh's feet again," Star hissed angrily.
"While I rather not die, I have to agree with Star," Paulina grumbled. "While I do make for a beautiful handmaiden, I'd rather be a queen than a handmaiden."
"You'd probably don't want to be Tucker's queen," I sheepishly chuckled.
"No, I wouldn't," Paulina responded. "The current queen looks like she's the result of a science experiment gone wrong."
"If it helps, just know you'll be fighting alongside Phantom, the ghost boy you like so much," I remarked.
Paulina perked right up at that. "Really? Would his brother be there too?"
"Not sure, I haven't heard anything about his brother being here too," I shrugged.
"That still gives us a better advantage than if we just rebelled ourselves," Mikey admitted.
"This is too dangerous, I can't in good conscious just let all of you participate in n a rebellion against a Pharaoh," Mr. Lancer spoke up in concern.
"It's either that or we stay here for the rest of our lives, eternity if our spirits are trapped here as well," Valerie pointed out.
"Besides," Sam started up. "While you are our teacher in school and can tell us what to do then, we're not in school right now and you can't actually order us around."
"It doesn't matter if we're in school or not, as the only adults… non ghostly adults around here, you kids are our responsibility," Ishiyama spoke up. "I know that we can't stop you from rebelling, but at the very least, allow us to go first."
"No, we need to do this all together," Jazz pointed out. "Otherwise we'll all get picked off one by one."
"We need to be in the same area at the same time," I spoke up. "That way we can all react properly when Phantom gets here. That means all of us."
"You heard him, we're all in this together, whether you like it or not!" Dash announced.
"Fine, but any students who would have trouble fighting should stay in the back and keep an eye out, act as our eyes and ears to make sure we don't get flanked," Hank stated firmly.
"That's a good idea, we'll be needing people to watch our backs as well," Jazz agreed.
"I guess that would mean us nerds who lack basic fighting skills," Ricky sheepishly chuckled.
"Anyone else have any complaints or concerns?" Sam questioned, but she didn't give even a second before she continued. "No? Good. Let's go!"
It felt like barely any time had passed since I last spoke to Hotep Ra, but it was already time for the newest champion to be presented to the Pharaoh. Everyone stood outside the palace, closer to the 'Tucker Sphinx' statue that was just finished. The 'slaves' tried to make it look like they were still working, but stayed close by. The 'maidens' look like they're getting things like water and carrying them over. Valerie and Dash had to put helmets on their faces to disguise themselves.
Tucker was walking out of the palace towards a throne that had been set up outside, he had Hotep Ra to his right, and that short egyptian ghost humanoid dog servant to his left. I was behind Tucker, since I decided to attend this wonderful occasion.
"Come along, my queen~" Tucker ordered.
Juliette was walking in front of me but behind Tucker. She no longer had a chain attached to the collar she was wearing, as she was still obeying Tucker as part of the plan.
If all goes well, this will all soon become nothing more than a bad memory. I just hope that things don't get too complicated for Tucker when we get back. I suppose that'll just have to be something I worry about when we get to it. I mused.
We stopped before long. A chariot was coming our way, being pulled by ghostly white horses with flaming green manes. Driving the chariot was Scarlet. The chariot itself looked big, much bigger than just for one person.
"My Pharaoh, your newest champion from the colosseum has arrived," Hotep Ra stated as the chariot stopped at the bottom of the grand stairs.
I felt my heart beating harshly against my chest. This is it, this is what we've been working to get to. There's no more room for doubt now.
"My Pharaoh and my queen," Scarlet spoke, bowing specifically toward Juliette. "May I introduce to you your new champion, the White Phantom."
It was at that point, everyone stopped what they were doing. They were all watching intently as Scarlet opened a gate that was on the back of the chariot.
Danny, as Phantom, walked out of the chariot. I was a bit surprised to see Danny was wearing some armor on him, it wasn't big, or used to disguise him, it looked like a perfect fit. The armor Danny was wearing was made of leather, though it had some metal plates, specifically on the vital parts of his body. I wondered if Danny had to wear armor in the colosseum or if Scarlet made this armor for him just for this riot. I could practically hear Paulina flushing with excitement, even though she was trying her best not to draw attention to herself.
"Come present yourself to your Pharaoh, Champion!" Hotep Ra ordered.
Danny calmly walked up the stairs. I couldn't stop a smile that was coming on my face. It wasn't a smile of triumphant, or a smile of smugness, it was a relieved, happy smile. I knew Danny was okay, but to actually see him here, alive and well, in front of me, made me want to collapse in relief and just run up and hug him. But, of course, I had to restrain myself, so just smiling was all I could do. I noticed Danny was tempted to look at me, his green eyes were constantly flicking in my direction, but he forced himself to focus on Tucker.
When Danny was in front of Tucker, he kneeled down to him like a proper knight. It was almost surreal to see.
"Well done, my new champion." Tucker smiled. "I am surprised you were able to beat my former champion and take her place. But then again, knowing who you are, I shouldn't be too surprised."
"I'm happy that I could please you, my Pharaoh," Danny said, still kneeling.
Tucker stood up and walked towards Danny before he began to walk around him. "Quite fitting armor for someone your type. I'm glad my armorers weren't inept at making you armor so quickly. The light style truly does match your preferred combat approach."
"You have great armorers, my Pharaoh," Danny responded.
Tucker stopped walking around Danny, ending up standing in front of him.
"Raise your head," Tucker instructed.
Danny raised up his head. I watched in anticipation, knowing that it was almost time.
Tucker extended the arm holding the scepter, holding it over Danny's head.
"As is my right as Pharaoh, I know officially recognize you as my new champion!" Tucker proclaimed as he lightly lowered the scepter to touch Danny on the head.
"I should tell you that I'm sorry about this, buddy," Danny suddenly said before he grabbed the scepter and yanked it away from Tucker.
Everything happened almost instantaneously. Danny flew away quickly before Hotep Ra could react enough to grab him, Juliette and I pushed Hotep Ra down the stairs while he was still in shock. The other 'slaves' and 'maidens' suddenly started pushing at the ghost guards. The jocks and teachers were at the front line going on the offensive. Dash was leading the jocks. Valerie, Sam, and Jazz were their own group. The rest stayed near the back, keeping an eye on things, while also trying to defend themselves if needed.
All of this happened in a span of a second. Tucker himself looked dizzy, and wasn't able to comprehend as to what was going on. I grabbed Tucker's arm before Juliette and I rushed down the stairs, trying to get to the rest of our allies. Tucker was too much in a daze to do much, so I kept dragging him with me. Hotep Ra was going to recover soon, so we had to hurry.
"Juliette, get to Scarlet," I quickly said while still dragging Tucker with me. "I'll get Tucker into the chariot!"
Juliette nodded and ran towards Scarlet. "You be safe!"
"Pharaoh!" Hotep Ra shouted. "Guards! Get the Pharaoh and his scepter!"
The guards split into groups, some of the going after Danny in the air, while the other half were trying to get to me and Tucker. Since I couldn't fly or go intangible, and I was carrying practically a deadweight around, this was not looking too good for me.
"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!" I shouted as I tried to zig zag through the chaos while holding Tucker's arm.
"GLADIATORS!" Danny shouted. "TIME TO FIGHT!"
Suddenly the air was filled with armored ghosts, most of them looked identical in those armors. At first, I thought these were more ghost guards coming to rain down on us, but then I saw these armored ghosts fighting against the ghost guards. One of the ghost guards nearly caught me, but three armored ghosts tackled him away.
"Uh… thanks?" I said unsurely.
The other armored ghosts gave a saluted gesture to me before they went back to fighting more of the ghost guards.
"Get to safety!" Danny yelled as he flew above me before looking at the Scarab Scepter. "I'm trying to figure this thing out!"
"On it!" I shouted back before dragging the still dazed Tucker through the crowd.
"Almost there…" I panted, seeing the chariot up ahead.
Suddenly something grabbed my waist. I let out a yelp as I was being pulled away from the chariot and lifted into the air. My hand tightened on Tucker's arm, but then I gasped when I felt whatever grabbed me shocking me a little, causing me to let go of Tucker. Tucker was being pulled away be black tentacles. I looked down to see I was being held by the same black tentacles. A certain, very angry mummy ghost was leering at me.
"You foolish child!" Hotep Ra growled. "You could've had it all! But you sacrificed everything for nothing!"
"Tucker!" I called in desperation. "Wake up, Tucker! You've got to stop this!"
I gasped when another tentacle wrapped itself around my throat and began squeezing. I reached up to try and pull the tentacle away, but Hotep Ra had a strong grip. I couldn't talk, I couldn't breathe, all I could do was feebly struggle for my life.
"I shall not kill you," Hotep Ra informed. "Your punishment will be decided by the Pharaoh once your pathetic rebellion is put to an end. On the bright side, there will be less pathetic mortals around after this, more mindless ghost slaves."
I was starting to see black spots covering my vision. Hotep Ra was trying to knock me out from the lack of air. I managed to look up a little, seeing Danny frantically trying to figure out how to use the scepter. Danny looked down at me and gasped, he started to fly towards me. Hotep Ra noticed Danny coming, and he summoned ghost locusts to slow Danny down.
"Your brother can't save you, and when I get that scepter back, nothing will save him," Hotep Ra hissed.
I felt myself getting close to passing out. Then I noticed that the scepter in Danny's hand was starting to glow brightly.
"Are you sure about that, you Egyptian plague?" Danny shouted before I saw a beam shooting out of the scepter toward me.
I would've gasped if I could've at that moment. I felt something both hot and cold hit me and seemed to all rush to my chest and torso. It felt familiar, and something I had missed more than I realized. Suddenly a ring of light burst on my torso and split horizontally across my body. Suddenly not being able to breathe wasn't so bad anymore, and I wasn't blacking out. I managed to open my eyes wider to see I was back in my dark blue and white hazmat suit. It felt like it had been years since I felt this power running through me again, and it felt good. I turned myself intangible, easily slipping out of Hotep Ra's tentacles, then flew at Tucker, turning him intangible before I carried him away. Once we were out of the tentacles, I dropped the intangibility.
As I was carrying Tucker away, I saw Danny fired two more beams out of the scepter towards Scarlet and Juliette.
Tucker looked a little more aware as I carried him through the air.
"What… what has transpired?" Tucker questioned.
I frowned, realizing that Tucker wasn't all Tucker despite not holding the Scarab Scepter anymore.
"Advisor Andy, tell me, what has happened? How is it that your powers have been returned? Where is the Scarab Scepter?" Tucker questioned. "Has someone attacked my kingdom? Are we at war?!"
"Oh, we're at war alright," I muttered. "I'm trying to get you to safety."
With Tucker awake, I couldn't put him in the chariot and have someone use the horses to get away. I'd probably have to hide him in one of the buildings until we can get this chaos under control. With Scarlet having her powers back, I was feeling pretty good about our chances. Looking around, I started flying towards one of the homes of the ghostly citizens that were inhabiting the area and attending the colosseum fights.
"Smart choice of safe places," Tucker complimented. "No enemy would believe I was temporarily staying in the home of one of my subjects. This will be a good place to stay until Hotep Ra takes control of the situation."
"Yeah, just whatever you do, don't come out until one of us come get you," I advised.
"Where are you going to be going, Advisor?" Tucker inquired.
I turned both of us intangible and landed inside the house. The ghost citizen looked surprised.
"Sorry, I need to hide the Pharaoh here for a while. Keep the Pharaoh safe and well cared for in my absence," I explained to the citizen before turning to Tucker. "I need to go back out there and fight. I promise to keep you safe any way I can, Tucker."
"Of course, Advisor." The citizen bowed. "I shall ensure the Pharaoh feels like he is still in the palace."
I gave a nod before I flew out of the house and hurried to the battlefield. With the other armored ghosts helping us, we were starting to push them back. Our classmates were staying close to each other so they wouldn't get caught off guard. I noticed a few of the ghost guards were surrounding Valerie. I fired ghost rays to knock them away from her. Valerie looked up at me, her eyes surprised, but neither of us said anything to the other before we went back to fighting the other ghost guards.
Hotep Ra, the biggest threat here, was roaring with fury. He began to send out ghost bugs at everyone. The bugs began to sting and bite the other humans, while the armored ghosts were being pushed back by the swarm. I noticed Scarlet was flying towards the sphinx statue. What is she doing?
I could barely see Scarlet smirk before she went intangible and flew into the sphinx. The body of the sphinx flashed white for a second before the eyes opened. After the eyes opened, the sphinx started to stand up and stretch itself out.
Hotep Ra, who noticed the sphinx was now standing, shot out an ecto blast at it.
The sphinx growled at Hotep Ra's attack before it began to slowly walk towards him, slowly picking up more and more speed until it was running at full speed. When it got close to Hotep Ra, the sphinx jumped, opening its mouth to bite down in the ghost mummy.
Hotep Ra's body dissolved into insects before the sphinx could bite down. The insects formed together before recreating Hotep Ra.
"Where is the Pharaoh!?" Hotep Ra demanded.
A ghost guard flew in front of me and tried to punch me. I quickly flew back, but the ghost guard chased after me. I grabbed onto the guard's fist, pushing it back.
"You set this up, didn't you?" The ghost guard hissed.
It was then I realized this ghost guard was the one who had brought Valerie and Dash to me.
"So what if I did?" I asked.
"Why would you sabotage the Pharaoh after he gave you so much!?" The ghost guard shouted as his fists glowed and he fired an ecto blast at me.
I hissed in pain as I flipped back in the air, but quickly managed to stabilize myself. I was a little rusty with fighting since I had spent weeks as a normal human.
"Because that 'Pharaoh' had taken over my friend, and trapped us all here in this realm!" I snapped back. "Did you really think we wouldn't attempt an escape plan eventually? None of us wanted to be here!"
"You should be honored that you were able to serve the Pharaoh!" The ghost guard angrily remarked. "Now, when this terrible rebellion of yours is ended, you will be forced to watch all you hold dear die before you are turned into a mindless peon!"
"Heh, that's cute, you think you're going to win," I provoked.
This got the ghost guard to charge at me angrily. I circled around the ghost guard before putting my hands on his back, then blasted him with ghost ray. I had intentionally made my blasts more piercing, like when I used them with the pistol, destroying the armor the ghost guard was wearing. The ghost guard let out a gasp before I used my foot to shove him down into the ground, causing him to crash down.
I flew up a little more, trying to see if anyone needed any help, flying a little backwards to keep an eye on the battlefield. I ended up bumping someone cold behind me, causing both me and the person to turn around, about to blast each other. Both of us stopped and blinked at one another, realizing who the other one was.
"Jeez bro, don't sneak up on me like that, I'm a little on edge right now," Danny chuckled.
"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention," I apologized.
"Looks like our combined efforts are working well." Danny smirked as he looked around. "The gladiators I recruited are helping everyone from school who are fighting."
"The gladiators? So those are the armored ghosts helping us fight?" I blinked.
"Yep, convinced them to follow me to freedom," Danny explained with a proud smile. "I successfully used my brains for once~"
I didn't care that Danny was wearing armor, I suddenly grabbed him into a hug. "I'm glad you're okay, Danny. I was so worried about you…"
"I'm glad you're okay too, bro, but now probably isn't the best time to be hugging," Danny pointed out as he quickly gave me a hug back.
"Don't care, too emotional," I pouted, but I did let him go. "You're holding the Scarab Scepter. Can't you bring us back home and end this war?"
"I've been trying, but other than giving you, Scarlet, and Juliette back your ghost powers, I haven't been able to get this thing to do anything," Danny grumbled, looking at the scepter with an annoyed glare.
"Hmmm… Perhaps try out something else?" I suggested. "Try and see if you can stop Hotep Ra from using his powers or at least stop transforming. Right now he's our biggest threat."
"Good idea." Danny nodded.
Both of us flew down, trying to get closer to Hotep Ra, who was still battling it out with Scarlet the Sphinx. Danny stopped and raised up the scepter, it gave a little glow before it shot out a beam at Hotep Ra. Hotep Ra let out a yelp at the sudden hit, and most likely, the drain on his ghostly powers. To my surprise, instead of just leaving Hotep Ra powerless, he dissolved into dust, with nothing but bandages left of him.
"Whoa! What just happened?" Danny asked, shocked. "Did I just kill Hotep Ra?!"
I gave a frown as I looked at what happened. "No, I don't think you did… It couldn't have been that easy to defeat Hotep Ra."
The sphinx came to a stand still before Scarlet phased out of it.
"Yes, it can. Don't you remember what Hotep Ra said? He couldn't exist without the dark magic keeping him as he was, without his ghost abilities, his dark magic was gone as well," Scarlet explained. "Don't worry though, he isn't technically dead. Most likely his consciousness remains stored inside the Scarab Scepter."
"Scarlet, do you know why Danny hasn't been able to use the Scarab Scepter to bring us back to our realm?" I asked.
"Only the Pharaoh has the ability to use the full power of the scepter I believe," Scarlet informed. "It could also be because this realm is tied to the Pharaoh, so only the Pharaoh can bring us out of it."
"Figures," Danny groaned. "Andy, where is Tucker now?"
"I left him at one of the ghost civilian's houses, but the bad news is that Tucker is apparently still fused with Duul Aman's spirit." I frowned. "I doubt he'd be in any hurry to bring us back to our realm."
"There is an option you two could try," Scarlet commented. "You two could knock Tucker out and go into his mind to defeat Duul Aman."
"We can do that?" Danny raised a brow.
"Yes, though it will be dangerous, and I recommend not bringing the Scarab Scepter with you if that is what you plan to do," Scarlet warned. "If you bring the Scarab Scepter, there's a high chance Tucker will take it from you, and we'd be in a worse position than before."
"Oh, right. So do I just leave it with you then?" Danny asked as he held out the Scarab Scepter.
"Hold on, go into Tucker's mind to defeat Duul Aman? We can do that?" I questioned, shocked by this possibility.
"Yes, to both of your questions," Scarlet answered as she took the scepter from Danny. "I'll make sure nobody touches this scepter until you two get back with the real Tucker."
I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that we could actually go into Tucker's mind.
"Tucker does have to be unconscious though," Scarlet added. "If you try to go in while he is awake, you will simply overshadow him."
"Got it." Danny nodded before looking at me. "Come on, bro, we need to save Tucker from his jerky past incarnation self."
I looked at Danny and sighed. "Fine, but this is going to suck, a lot."
I had to lead Danny where I left Tucker. I never liked the idea of going into someone's mind, because of the disturbing implications that came with it. If one were to change one little thing in a person's mind, they could change that entire person. Mess with the person's memories, and they suddenly had a different life from their perspective. I knew I had the ability to overshadow people, but it was an ability I had only used once since I got ghost powers, and that was to protect Danny. Even then, I never knew we could use that ability to go into someone's mind, so that just put the overshadowing ability higher up on my 'never use unless absolutely necessary' list.
It didn't take long before Danny and I landed into the civilian's house.
"I see you have returned with my new Champion." Tucker smirked. "Good. But… where may I ask is my Royal Advisor? Is Hotep Ra still in battle?"
"Hotep Ra is gone, Tucker," Danny bluntly said.
I held up a hand, wanting Danny to be quiet for a moment since he didn't know that Tucker thought we were on his side during this war.
"Gone…?" Tucker raised a brow. "Gone to fight the enemy at their base? Or… was he somehow defeated…? If he was defeated… just what kind of enemy are we dealing with?"
I gestured Danny to go behind Tucker as subtly as I could. Danny gave a small nod before he slowly, casually, started to walk. I kept Tucker's attention on me.
"A very dangerous enemy it would seem. Hotep Ra was blindsided, the dark magic keeping him together was taken away," I explained, which was all true. "All the ghost guards were ambushed."
Tucker gave a frown at that. "I must retrieve the Scarab Scepter then. If I get it back, I can summon my vast armies and resummon Hotep Ra."
"It's too dangerous for you out there, Tucker, you're likely to get destroyed before you could get to your Scarab Scepter," I warned.
Tucker let out a growl at that. "I knew I shouldn't have put off summoning my army! But Hotep Ra advised it would be a waste of energy… When we get the scepter back, I will make sure to punish him for such a terrible piece of advice."
"Sure, you can punish him all you want…" I began as I saw Danny behind Tucker. "After we free you from the spirit."
"Pharaoh, I'm-" The ghost citizen who owned the home started as they walked into the room before they quickly looked at Danny. "Look out behind you!"
Danny reacted faster than Tucker could, and shot out his ghost ray. The ghost ray was gentle, only meant to knock a person out, not seriously harm them. Tucker let out a gasp before he fell to the floor, unconscious.
The ghost civilian gasped in shock and fear as Danny and I looked at them.
"I apologize, but your work is done," I stated calmly. "Go back upstairs and pretend none of this ever happened."
"B-but… the Pharaoh…" The citizen protested.
"I promise we will take good care of him," I said.
"The 'Pharaoh' is in good hands," Danny added.
The citizen gave a fearful nod before they flew out of the room.
"I hope we didn't scare them too badly…" Danny frowned.
"Heh, if the ghost had a heart, you'd give them a heart attack with how you knocked their great king out," I remarked in a teasing tone. "But that doesn't matter right now. We need to save Tucker from Duul Aman."
"Yeah, you're right," Danny agreed as both of us looked down at the unconscious Tucker. "Are you ready, bro?"
"I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be for whatever we're about to see in Tucker's head," I answered.
Danny nodded before he turned himself intangible and flew into Tucker's body. I turned myself intangible, and followed, phasing into Tucker's body myself.
When I opened my eyes again, I found myself standing in the palace, but something was different. The palace had a lot of high tech gadgets floating around. I could hear the sounds of a video game noise. I looked around curiously.
"I wonder if this is because Tucker and Duul Aman are fused…" I asked out loud before realizing something else. "Danny…? Danny! Danny, where are you?"
I came in seconds after Danny did, where the heck is he? Did he accidentally get transported to another part of Tucker's mind? I frowned to myself.
"Welcome~"
I jumped at the sudden voice, and turned around. I saw Tucker standing there, wearing his casual white long sleeve shirt, and green-brown pants, but he also wore the purple cape, as well as the Pharaoh's headdress.
"Tucker?" I cautiously questioned.
"Hahahahahaha, no. I am not your pathetic, weak, mortal of a friend. I am a living god! But, you may address me as Pharaoh Duul Aman," The Tucker, who was apparently Duul Aman, responded.
"Oh, I see. So you're the spirit who fused with Tucker," I noted. "Why are you in my friend anyways? You've been dead for thousands of years, what's the point of coming back to an era that no longer have any Pharaohs? Shouldn't you have let your spirit moved on to the great beyond where Pharaohs were believed to ascend into once they've died? Why keep your spirit locked away until you can take over a teenager's body?"
"It's quite simple, I figured out that going into the afterlife was not going to be what it was described as," Duul Aman remarked. "When a Pharaoh ascends, they do not become a new god. Deciding I didn't want that fate, I had my Royal Mages make the Scarab Scepter which would house my consciousness once I died so I would be able to rise and take over the world once more. What has been happening so far is mainly your delusional friend's idea of my goals. In fact, what I wish is to go to that Washington DC place and take control of your country. After gaining complete control of your country, I would move onto others until I ruled the entire globe. I wouldn't waste my energy bringing my kingdom back from the past, I would rather conquer the future."
"I see… so Tucker has been holding you back from doing that…" I noted. At least Tucker is still fighting.
"Yes, and you have not been making it any easier, my little traitorous advisor~" Duul Aman smirked. "Your plan was decent, for a commoner. But you made quite a few obvious mistakes that tipped me off to your plan. However the dullard that is your friend chose to ignore those obvious hints and felt he would be safe."
"So you already figured I would betray you," I replied. "And you know I set up the rebellion. So what are you going to do now? I'm not leaving until you get out of my friend. I'm sure Danny won't either." Wherever Danny is...
"Well it's simple." Duul Aman smirked. "You and I shall fight in a way that best suits us, with our minds. However, it shall not be a simple fight, there shall be steep wagers. If you win the game, I will leave your friend and return to the Scarab Scepter."
I frowned. "And what happens if I lose?"
"If I win~" Duul Aman smiled. "You become my new host. I get to transfer into your body and take complete control. Your mind will still be there as I can tell you do have quite a lot of potential, but you won't be in charge."
I didn't like the sound of that.
"In Ancient Egypt, games were often used to settle a dispute. The loser would often get an awful punishment, set by the Pharaoh or by the gods themselves," Duul Aman explained. "It's only fitting that we settle this with a game, don't you think so, Andrew? Besides, you know that fighting me inside this boy's mind is dangerous. I have a lot more control in here than you realize. And there's a high chance you could damage your friend's mind."
As much as I hated to admit it, Duul Aman was right. This was why I was hesitant on going into Tucker's mind to confront Duul Aman. I was at a steep disadvantage while I was in here.
"What's the game we're playing?" I finally asked.
"It's a card game," Duul Aman stated. "One where we get to summon creatures to attack one another. I believe there is a current day equivalent titled Battle Creatures."
"I see… I know about Battle Creatures, and its… basic rules," I admitted. "I take it we'll be using the modern rules?"
"In a sense, though you are allowed to make up some rules as you go along, otherwise the game would get tediously boring," Duul Aman answered. "But I am allowed to do the same."
Duul Aman snapped his fingers, and suddenly, the entire palace changed into a colosseum. I was standing on one side, and Duul Aman was standing on the other.
"Whoa…" I looked around, seeing a fake crowd watching us.
"It's time to build your deck," Duul Aman stated.
"Wait, how? I don't have any cards, I never even collected Battle Creature cards!" I quickly said.
"Then create your cards," Duul Aman smirked, holding up a card in his hand. "I have made one of my own, after all~"
Duul Aman spun the card around. I could barely see the picture on the front, but what I could see shocked me. The picture on the card was Danny in his ghost form.
"Danny Phantom, quite a unique card, wouldn't you say~" Duul Aman said as his smirk became more sinister.
"Is that… is that actually Danny? Did you trap him in that card!?" I demanded.
"Yes and yes," Duul Aman answered. "If you win, I'll release him before I leave your friend's body. However, when I win, your brother will become my new Royal Guard and serve me beside Hotep Ra."
"If you managed to trap Danny, why not trap me too?" I questioned.
"Because the rebellion that is going on outside is your creation," Duul Aman pointed out. "Essentially you waged war on me, and this is the best way for us to settle that war. Now, create your deck."
"One quick thing," I spoke up. "If I win, I would also like for you to give Tucker complete control of the Scarab Scepter until we return it to the museum."
"It's a deal, that is, if you can win." Duul Aman smirked.
I frowned before looking down at my hand. I decided to try creating the cards with my own power, and with ghosts and people I know since I wasn't that well versed in Battle Creatures. I shaped my ghost ray into shapes of cards with the ghost or person's picture I was thinking of. To my surprise, the card turned into an actual card. It had Dora's picture on it, but the text box was blank. Right, I need to write my own rules for these cards.
"No making overpowered god cards," Duul Aman quickly spoke up. "If you try anything you know you shouldn't, you will forfeit the match and automatically lose. I want this to be a fair match after all."
"I figured as much anyways," I said before going back to making my deck. Don't worry Danny, Tucker, I'll save both of you.
When I finally finished creating my deck, I stacked up my 40 cards, since in Battle Creatures, you're only supposed to have 40 cards in a deck. "Okay, my deck is complete."
"Good, now let's prepare the battlefield," Duul Aman remarked.
Suddenly a huge stone platform appeared between Duul Aman and myself. There was some kind of strange paint on the platform that was split into a grid. The grid consisted of two rows and 5 columns, making 10 places in total on each side with a line in the center. I recognized it as a scaled up version of a Battle Mat that came with most started boxes of Battle Creatures cards. There was a small shadow over me for a second before something landed with a thud in front of me, one also landed in front of Duul Aman. It mimicked the design of the play field of my side but was scaled down to where I could place my cards.
"Now first, shuffle your cards, then go ahead and place your deck on the labelled area and then draw 5 cards," Duul Aman instructed. "Make sure to shuffle it well."
I decided to do as instructed. I started to shuffle my cards, then when I was done with that, I placed my deck onto the labelled area. Then I drew out five cards and held them in front of me. Duul Aman was doing the same. I could see him smirking. Looks like he already drew some good cards.
"As I am the expert, I shall give the newbie the honor of going first~" Duul Aman grinned.
Okay, from what I know of the game, there are two positions I can set my creatures on; attack or defense. Attack would allow them to attack the other player's creatures, and if they have more attack points, they'll defeat the creature, and if the creature of the opponent's was set in attack mode, then the difference between my creature's attack points and their creature's attack points will be deducted from their Life Points. Defense will put the creature in a face down position, if the creature is attacked and destroyed, then the player will not lose any Life Points unless the creature has a special ability that cancels out the defense. Unfortunately, it's strictly prohibited to attack on the first turn.
As I was analyzing the situation, I looked to see how many Life Points both of us had. Our Life Points were set to 4000. So I have a little room for error, but I still better watch it. Perhaps it might be best to start out on the defense.
I set a card down in a face down position. A giant version of that card appeared onto the grid.
"Now that the first card has been played, the game has officially begun~" Duul Aman smirked.
Reviews
Jewel moonstone: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': I… have a long list of candies that I like. My favorite though would have to be Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, preferably when frozen.
Luna Lillyth: DarkFoxKit: Most plans don't usually go off perfectly. XP And you're right, something bad is going to happen.
haloguardian452: DarkFoxKit: You like that? I wasn't sure if anyone liked it since nobody ever commented on it, or if they do they seem rather bored with it. But don't worry, Andy pretty much has his ghost powers back.
Mana: DarkFoxKit: Yeah, the Black Knight will definitely be back.
I've read Pearl84's story, and yeah, they do a good job with it. But I still feel like the story of Danny Phantom overall would have benefited more if he didn't reveal himself to the world. I mean nobody asked for Danny to reveal himself to the world, just his parents and Valerie. I feel pretty bad for Vlad, in season 3, he was grossly misused as a typical villain rather than the sympathetic, complex, rival to Danny guy that we came to know him as. I just can't see Vlad wanting to rule the world and screw himself in the end like he did in Phantom Planet, heck, I can't see him willingly revealing himself to the world like that period. Pearl84 did a great job explaining the reasoning behind it, but because it's headcanon, I can't take it too seriously in the show itself. Vlad once said he never cared for power, so what happened that changed his mind? It was never explained in the show itself.