DarkFoxKit: It feels good to be home. If I could choose to go somewhere for a vacation, it probably wouldn't be with family, but at the beach or a big carnival. But also… *Gives a big, proud smile at Andy, who had finally been reverted back to human* You big, lovable dork, you actually faced some of your fears and beat an ancient pharaoh at his own game! *Latches onto Andy in a hug*
Andy: Wah! H-hey! Hey! Come on, Fox, not in front of everyone!
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Comes over and picks up both Fox and Andy and hugs them* You did incredibly well despite all the risks that were at play. You managed to find a route to the best future~
Andy: Ugh, come on, guys, it wasn't like it was the first time I had to face my fears.
DarkFoxKit: But it's the first time in a while, and you came out looking like both a dork and a badass!
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Gives Fox a surprised look* Wow, you must've really liked how it turned out if you're willing to use a slightly vulgar word.
DarkFoxKit: Mama Fox is feeling too proud of her little Andy to care~
Andy: You're embarrassing me, Fox! What if Danny somehow sees this? He's already never going to let me live down the whole 'Bond of Brothers' card, I don't need this adding to the pile!
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Breaks off the hug and steps back, pulling out something* I'll make sure that Danny never finds out… but~ I'll make sure we can never forget!~ *Starts taking pictures of Fox snuggling with Andy*
Andy: Onyyyyyx! You're worse than a grandparent sometimes!
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Pouts* Did you just compare me to a grandparent?
Andy: I don't mean you're old, but I mean more like how grandparents always have to smother the grandchild when they come to visit, and take pictures of them.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': If that's the case, perhaps I should start knitting you really thick sweaters for winter~
DarkFoxKit: If you're going to do that, could you knit some for me as well? I'd like a reindeer design for the season~
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Giggles* Will do. For now~ *Glances at the readers* You all should get to the story. Unless you want me to make you uncomfortably thick sweaters~
Andy: *Is grumbling, still trapped by Fox's hug* What am I? Some kind of guy that's giving out free hugs?
DarkFoxKit: Yes. :3
Chapter 80: Back to Reality
"Ugh… my head…" I heard Danny's voice groan in the darkness.
I wasn't sure what happened after that bright light appeared, but now I found myself stuck in darkness, unable to move.
"Andy…?" Danny called out before I felt a small nudge. "Wake up, bro."
I blinked opened my eyes, wondering when they were even closed. I felt a slight headache, and found myself laying facedown on the floor. I slowly pushed myself up, still blinking the grogginess away, and looked up a little to see Danny kneeling beside me. I noticed Danny was human again, if his raven black hair, and his ordinary white t-shirt and blue pants were any indication. I vaguely noticed that I was back in the robe with the purple sashes that I've been wearing since I got here. I also noticed that we were back in the house of the civilian ghost.
"Did we… win?" Danny asked as I pushed myself up.
Danny had to help me to my feet as I felt a little dizzy. "Yeah… I… I think so…"
When the blurriness started to clear, I saw Tucker laying on the floor. Before I could suggest that we wake Tucker up and see if he was still fused with Duul Aman, Tucker began to stir. Danny and I watched cautiously as Tucker groaned and opened his eyes.
"... Man, I feel like Skulker blasted me with missiles…" Tucker moaned.
"Tucker…? Is that you?" Danny asked.
"Yeah…" Tucker groaned.
"Do you have any of Duul Aman's traits in you at all?" I cautiously questioned.
"What?" Tucker blinked before he slowly managed to stand up. "I don't…"
Tucker's eyes then widened in shock and horror. I frowned. He must've just remembered what happened after Duul Aman fused with him.
"Oh no… what have I done!?" Tucker yelled. "How… why… what am I going to do!?"
"First you're going to calm down," Danny answered.
"Calm down? Calm down!? I took us to a ghostly version of Ancient Egypt and turned everyone into slaves or handmaidens!" Tucker frantically replied. "How am I supposed to calm down!?"
"Tucker!" I slapped him in the face. "Get a hold of yourself!"
Tucker blinked, rubbing the cheek I slapped. "I-I'm sorry, Andy. y-you're right. I n-needed that."
"Look, you can still fix this," Danny spoke up. "Scarlet has the Scarab Scepter. Only you can use it to bring us out of this realm and bring us back home."
"Me? Hold the Scarab Scepter again?" Tucker raised a brow before shaking his head. "Nuh uh, no way, not happening!"
"Tucker, please, it's the only way to get us out of here," Danny begged.
"What happens if I pick up the scepter and Duul Aman takes me over again? Or I go insane or lose control of it?!" Tucker questioned as he started to hyperventilate a little. "I might take your powers, or take everyone's will away, or turn everyone into ghosts, or… or…"
Tucker trailed off as he mentally panicked.
It was Danny's turn to slap Tucker in the face. "Stop it, you're just going to make things worse if you think that way!"
Tucker pouted when he was now rubbing the other cheek.
"We'll make sure nothing happens besides you bringing us back home," Danny promised.
"I don't think Duul Aman will come back anyways, at least not any time soon. Despite what he did, he seems to be a man of his word. He promised he would release you and let you use the scepter to get us out of here," I explained. "And Danny's right, we'll stay beside you to make sure nothing bad happens. But you have to use it one last time, then we'll be done with it."
Tucker gave a look of hesitance and doubt. Danny and I waited to hear Tucker's answer. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Tucker gave a nod.
"Alright… I'll do it, one last time. You two promise you'd stop me if the scepter starts trying to take over again?" Tucker asked for reassurance.
"Of course," Danny answered.
"We definitely will," I agreed.
Tucker gave a small nod. "Okay… I'll do it then… take me to Scarlet."
"Okay," Danny said before he transformed into his ghost form and picked Tucker up. "Let's get going, buddy."
I transformed back into my own ghost form as well, feeling relieved that I could transform again. Danny flew out with Tucker and I followed. When we got back to the base of the palace, I've noticed the chaos had stopped. The ghost guards were either unconscious, or tied up with ecto ropes. I turned myself invisible and landed before we got too close, Danny continued flying with Tucker. I allowed myself to turn back to human, since Andy Phantom wasn't supposed to be here, even though I'm sure a few people saw me in my ghost form earlier.
I walked over to where my classmates were.
"There you are! You had me worried when I couldn't find you!" Valerie all but shouted as she ran up to me.
"Yeah, where were you? We thought you were taken by the ghost guards, so we've been interrogating them," Dash agreed.
"Ah, sorry guys, I had Phantom take me to where I hid Tucker. I needed Phantom's help to get rid of Duul Aman's spirit," I quickly explained.
"Duul Aman…? That king guy from the field trip?" Dash asked.
"Who did you think we've been 'working' for all this time?" Valerie grumbled.
"Tucker," Dash answered. "Just a really corrupted and twisted version of him."
"I mean you're not too far off the dot there…" I frowned. "But he was being possessed by Duul Aman, for the most part."
"So were you and Phantom able to help him then?" Dash inquired.
"Yeah, Phantom should be taking him to the Scarab Scepter now. Tucker should be able to use it to get us back home," I informed.
"What about your brother? I didn't see Danny at all during this," Valerie asked in concern.
"Don't worry!" I heard Jazz speaking up, and rushing over to us. "I got Danny, he's uh… with Sam right now."
"Great, I'll go see if he's okay," I said before walking away.
"Stay safe!" Valerie called out behind me. "There are still a few ghost guards running around that haven't been caught yet!"
I raised up an arm and gave a wave of acknowledgement to Valerie. I walked through the crowd, glad to see that nobody was really hurt. Though most of them were tired, and had a few minor scratches and scraps. Some of the nerds, and more medical educated students were trying to help bandage the injured. The gladiator ghosts did most of the hard fighting.
I smiled when I saw a familiar goat ghost girl not too far away. "Juliette!"
"Oh, hello there, Andy," Juliette greeted.
"Looks like you're doing okay," I commented when I saw she didn't seem to have any injuries on her. "Do you know where Scarlet is?"
"Last I saw, she was over near the colosseum," Juliette answered. "A bunch of ghost guards retreated that way, something about getting to their former general."
"Oh… oh dear…" I frowned. "Did Danny go that way…?"
"I did see him heading that way," Juliette admitted.
"He must've sensed Scarlet over there…" I noted. "We better get over to the colosseum then."
"How do you plan on getting there?" Juliette asked. "There are too many people around to safely transform."
"Um…" I looked around, before noticing the chariot was still there. "Maybe we can use the chariot."
"Do you know how to drive a chariot?" Juliette raised a brow.
"Well…" I hesitated.
Back with Danny, who was still carrying Tucker
"Are you sure Scarlet is at the colosseum?" Tucker questioned as I carried him through the sky.
"Yeah, I can sense her aura over there," I answered.
I noticed that there were quite a few ghost guards flying into the colosseum. I wasn't sure why, but maybe they were looking somewhere to hide since the rest of their comrades were defeated. I wasn't sure why Scarlet was at the colosseum herself either. I hadn't told Scarlet about that black knight, I don't think she heard some of the stuff the black knight was saying to me during our battle. We were too busy getting ready for the plan to talk much.
I also thought back to that card battle Andy had with Duul Aman. I was frightened when I suddenly seemingly transformed into my corrupted form, but I quickly realized that it wasn't real. If it was, I definitely would've known if I had changed. But Andy almost lost it, I was more scared that Andy would've passed out on me or gone insane again. I was just glad Andy managed to see through the hologram when I managed to get him to hear me. It was also impressive how Andy managed to win without needing to destroy me.
I shook my head, deciding it wasn't the best time to be thinking about this right now. I was just over the colosseum. I flew down, still holding onto Tucker. I landed into the arena and looked around.
"Scarlet?" I called out.
It was rather strange to see the arena so empty, there weren't any crowds watching and cheering on for the battle, and there wasn't any opponents trying to attack me. It was just me and Tucker.
"Scarlet has to be here somewhere…" I frowned. "Maybe she's in the training area…?"
"Wow, this place is huge! I should've come to watch a match or two!" Tucker spoke up, looking around in awe.
"Yeah…" I muttered, not wanting Tucker to know about the ghosts that lost their lives during the battles. "It was something."
When I didn't see Scarlet anywhere, I picked Tucker up and flew into the entrance, leading into the prisoner cells. The prisoner cells were also empty, which unnerved me a little at how empty this place was. I flew up the stairs that lead to the training area. I only got upstairs where the doors were when I heard voices, that made me stop.
"Wha-"
"Shh!" I shushed Tucker before he could say anything.
"General Bek! Please, lead us!"
"I'm not your general anymore," I heard Bek respond.
"Please, General Bek! We are losing too many of our men. The Pharaoh's been kidnapped, and the kingdom will soon fall if nothing is done!"
"The Pharaoh assigned me to work here at the colosseum, I would be disobeying his word if I reassumed the role of general," Bek pointed out.
"If you don't disobey his word, the Pharaoh may be lost! You don't want that, do you?!"
"It's not my place to fight," Bek's voice stated.
I couldn't help but smile a little at the fact Bek seemed to be refusing to fight.
"If you don't help the Pharaoh, then you are a traitor!"
"If you believe I am a traitor, then strike me down where I stand," Bek instructed. "I shall follow the Pharaoh's orders until my last breath, and no panicking child shall convince me to do otherwise."
"If that is what you want, then we will."
I frowned before I put Tucker down, I held up my hand to tell him to 'wait here', before I flew towards the voices. I saw three ghost guards about to strike Bek down with their spears. I quickly shot three ghost rays at the three guards, causing them to hit the wall. Bek blinked as I landed in front of him.
"Hey, uh, you've seen Scarlet?" I asked sheepishly.
"You mean the not-so-weak gladiator trainer?" Bek smirked.
"Yeah, her," I answered. "I'm guessing you did since you uh… know."
"She's outside," Bek replied. "Taking care of some unfinished business. So, I'm guessing that you caused quite a bit of trouble at the palace."
"Uh… maybe?" I sheepishly grinned.
"You didn't harm the Pharaoh, did you?" Bek questioned.
"Oh, no of course not," I reassured. "In fact, I'm bringing him to Scarlet now."
"You are?" Bek raised a brow. "Then perhaps I should assist you."
"Are you sure?" I blinked.
"It is my duty to serve the Pharaoh," Bek responded.
"Okay, uh… wait a second," I said before I flew back to Tucker. "Looks like we got a personal bodyguard."
"What?" Tucker questioned before I picked him up.
I flew back over to Bek, holding onto Tucker.
"Oh, hi," Tucker greeted Bek. "Nice armor you got there."
"Thank you, my Pharaoh." Bek bowed.
Tucker frowned. "Um… dude, I'm not-"
"You may not be Duul Aman, but you are still the one in charge of this realm," Bek interrupted. "You are still the one who brought me back to life and gave me a task. That alone makes you my ruler, my leader, my Pharaoh."
"You can tell he's not Duul Aman?" I asked, intrigued.
"Considering he was allowing you to carry him, he isn't being escorted by Hotep Ra, and he didn't order me to kneel, I had a suspicion," Bek chuckled.
I chuckled as well, while Tucker raised an eyebrow.
"So… could you lead us to Scarlet?" Tucker asked.
"Yes, my Pharaoh, I can," Bek answered before he started to float. "Follow me."
I smiled before I flew after Bek. He really is awesome.
Bek got to the door that leads outside, and when he opened it, he stopped.
"Wait," Bek quickly ordered. "Scarlet is talking to… the former champion by the looks of things."
"Wait, what?" I frowned, looking over Bek.
I did see Scarlet in the middle of the training area, and… there she was, the black knight herself. Her face was still covered by her helmet.
"-y did you come here? We both know that you're too powerful to get captured by the Pharaoh's spell so easily," Scarlet hissed.
"I wanted some fun~" The black knight answered with a chuckle.
"Well, you've had your fun, so why are you still here?" Scarlet demanded. "And while I appreciate it, why did you spare the kid?"
"Oh, I have some interest in that child~" The black knight responded. "He has quite the potential. As for why I'm still here, I wanted to watch a kingdom fall."
"You have some interest in the child?" Scarlet growled. "No, you will leave the child alone and never show up to him ever again. He has no interest in anything you are, his heart is too pure for that."
I couldn't help but start to think. Are they talking about me?
"That's no way to talk to your mother, Scarlet," The black knight scolded.
"You are not my mother!" Scarlet shouted. "You were once a motherly figure to my, but you lost that when you became a black knight! When you decided to turn away from the righteous code of knighthood!"
I heard Bek gasping a little at that.
"You know I had my reasons for becoming a black knight, Scarlet," The black knight stated. "Just as you had your reasons for becoming a holy knight upon death."
"What sort of reason could anyone have to become an abomination?!" Scarlet yelled.
"I was given a simple choice," The black knight remarked. "During one of my excursions, while you were training to be the first official female royal knight of the Rose family, I ran into a black knight that swiftly defeated me. Instead of killing me right away, they explained that they were sent to end the Rose family and conquer the kingdom. I was given a choice at that moment. I could either submit my fealty to that black knight and become their apprentice, or I could do nothing but watch as they went on to slaughter the kingdom. So, I chose the best choice, sacrifice my honor to save the kingdom."
"That doesn't explain why you're still a black knight!" Scarlet pointed out.
"Scarlet, it is impossible for a black knight to return to the path of light," The black knight informed. "The training I endured, the trials I was put through, that has corrupted me to my very core. If I wanted to return to the path of light, I would be destroyed. So, I don't see a reason to try and go back. I've learned to accept my fate as a black knight."
"Is that why you disappeared 1400 years ago?" Scarlet questioned. "Because you were too ashamed to come back after you became a black knight? We could've helped you, we could've stopped you before you had crossed the line of no return!"
"You couldn't have helped me, child," The black knight replied. "It wasn't too long after I disappeared that I crossed the line, my former master made sure of it. And no, I wasn't too ashamed to return, I simply knew that if I did return, I would be executed for being a 'spawn of evil'."
I watched as Scarlet became silent from that. Scarlet usually always knew what to say, so the fact that this made her go quiet was unnerving.
"... So, have you ever taken on an apprentice to take your place one day?" Scarlet finally asked. "Every knight, whether they're ghost or human, always have that instinct to take in an apprentice that would one day defeat them and take their place."
"No, I have not," The black knight answered. "I have seen a few potentials, but they've all disappointed in one way or another. I should mention, with black knights, it is a little different. Yes, the apprentice one day defeats the master, but instead of the master retiring right away, the apprentice has two choices. One, make the former master into a slave. Or two, kill the former master and consume their heart or core to gain their strength."
"That is sick," Scarlet scowled. "I don't care what culture black knights have, that is sick."
"You holy knights judge far too harshly. Ghosts naturally have an instinct to consume the weaker's core, oh right, I almost forgot, you holy knights treat other 'unholy' ghosts as monsters as well," The black knight retorted. "How many have you destroyed, Scarlet? Hundreds? Thousands? Too many to count? Just because you're a holy knight, Scarlet, doesn't mean your hands are completely clean either."
I got that uncomfortable memory of consuming a ghost's core before, even though it technically never happened. I tried not to cringe, and force the memory out of my head.
"In fact, your hands are dirtier than my own," The black knight continued. "You completely murder ghosts, not a care going into who they were or how they lived their afterlife. To you, it probably didn't even matter if they were all that evil. You might've killed someone because they borrowed something and forgot to give it back. Meanwhile, with me, instead of murdering a ghost, I consume them, let them serve an actual purpose in death instead of just ending their existence. I only go after ghosts that I know need to end, ghosts that are truly evil, ghosts that, if they were on Earth, they would easily conquer the entire planet. I go after ghosts who were genocidal maniacs in life and should not be allowed any freedom in death."
"I've done many things I've regretted," Scarlet admitted. "But I can't take those things back now. All I can do is try to be better going forward."
"If you want to do better going forward…" The black knight took a step towards Scarlet. "Then come join me."
I was shocked that the black knight offered Scarlet to join her. I didn't know much about anything on different types of knights, but black knights sounded like they were a polar opposite of holy knights.
"No," Scarlet quickly replied. "I will not be going with you. I have dedicated my afterlife to Princess Juliette Rose, the same being you should have pledged your allegiance to."
Juliette… Rose? Didn't Juliette say her last name was Quartz? I frowned in confusion.
"Juliette Rose? I would've thought she'd pass on beyond the Ghost Zone, her spirit seemed far too light and delicate to have reformed as a ghost," The black knight remarked, intrigued.
"It's no surprise you don't know what happened to her as you were gone," Scarlet scoffed. "After you left, she lost mobility in her legs. To try and help her, Princess Juliette's parents searched the lands for a doctor to help her. A doctor did help her, but their solution only worked for a time. Princess Juliette temporarily was able to move her legs again, but soon after, her entire body was paralyzed… and then the accident happened. The castle exploded, killing everyone inside. I… as well thought Princess Juliette would've moved passed such a cursed realm like the Ghost Zone, but… whatever the doctor did to her cursed her and changed her."
The black knight gave a curious 'hm' in response to that. "So the Princess still exists?"
Scarlet gave a hiss. "You would do best to stay away from her, or else you will have to answer to me. I don't care how strong you've gotten, I would not fall to you so easily."
"You truly think so highly of yourself?" The black knight questioned before chuckling. "Or do you think that lowly of me? Because I should inform you, as I am now, I could crush the pathetic excuse for a 'ghost king', Pariah Dark. Only two of us in this little world can make a claim like that. Myself, and that boy that believes he is eavesdropping on us. The boy who believed he defeated me. The boy who I have an interest in~"
"I think she knows we're here," Tucker stated in a nervous tone.
I really didn't like where this conversation was going.
"What exactly is your interest in him?" Scarlet demanded.
"Simple," The black knight began before she snapped her fingers.
I suddenly felt myself being pulled by a strong unseen force. I gasped as I tried to struggle out of it, but I was helpless as I was pulled towards the black knight and Scarlet. Scarlet gave a surprised look at me when I was suddenly beside the black knight.
The black knight put a gauntlet on my shoulder, making me hiss and cringe. "He has the potential to be my apprentice. He has defeated Pariah Dark before, something none of the potentials I had spotted before could even come close to doing. He managed to not get crushed by me in the first minute of our fight. And he has a force inside of him that… mmm, is absolutely delicious~"
I shivered when the black knight's helmet got close to my face. "Let me go! And just so you know, I had help with defeating Pariah Dark."
"Danny would never become your apprentice!" Scarlet snapped.
"That is your hope, not a fact," The black knight pointed out. "You know, I think I'll give you an offer, Scarlet. As your Mother, I will offer you a simple choice. Join me yourself~ Or watch me come after this boy and perhaps Princess Juliette as well~"
"You will never be able to get to Princess Juliette or Danny!" Scarlet declared before she lunged towards the black knight, a spear spawning in her hand.
The black knight let go of me and jumped back. "Your choice has been made, my child~ I shall see you in the future~"
Ghost guards flew into the area, looking confused as to what was going on. I was still trying to recover from that creepy black knight's touch.
"What's-"
"How do you stop these flying horses!?" I heard someone screaming from a distance.
"Pull the reins back!"
"The reins snapped off!"
"What do you mean the reins snapped off!?"
"It means we're not connected to the horses anymore!"
"Then what's keeping us in the air!?"
"Uh… nothing?"
Then I blinked when I heard screaming getting closer and closer, until several of the ghost knights were suddenly crushed by something, and smashed into the ground.
"What the heck?" I questioned, bewildered by the sudden crash.
"Well, well, well." The black knight chuckled. "Who are those two?~"
"Princess Juliette!" Scarlet called out as she ran over to the crash area where Andy and Juliette were slowly sitting up, seemingly unharmed.
"Oh? That adorable little goat creature is Princess Juliette?" The black knight asked with a hint of a giggle. "Interesting~"
"Okay, ow, I think I'm going to be feeling that in the morning. And how the heck did we survive that with so little injuries?" Andy questioned, rubbing his head a little as Scarlet lifted Juliette up from the now broken chariot.
"Magic…?" Juliette guessed.
"Are you okay, Princess Juliette?" Scarlet questioned as Scarlet looked at Juliette for any injuries.
"Yes, Scarlet, I am fine," Juliette assured. "You can put me down."
"Now who's that with Princess Juliette?" The black knight questioned with interest. "Is that… a duplicate…?"
The black knight turned to me for a moment before looking back at Andy, who was still oblivious to the black knight's presence.
"No… I sense a core from him," The black knight continued. "Duplicates don't have a core of their own."
I frowned a little, this black knight was dangerous. I wasn't sure what she would do to my brother, but I was ready to race to him if she thought about killing and eating his core.
Andy climbed out of the chariot, and looked over at me. Andy stopped when he noticed the black knight.
"Who're…?" Andy began to ask, before he paused.
I looked at Andy in concern, his face looked blank and his eyes glazed over for a moment. Then Andy blinked and gave me a very worried look.
"Interesting…" The black knight chuckled. "Very, very interesting~"
Before anyone could say anything, the black knight suddenly turned into mist and disappeared into the air.
Back with Andy, who was still worried about his vision…
"What'd you see, bro?" Danny asked softly as he flew over.
"That black knight…" I frowned a little. "She's going to try to capture you."
Danny raised a brow at that. "She's going to try to capture me?"
"Yeah, she's going to…" I wasn't sure how I wanted to describe the vision. "She's going to try to get you in Fenton Works. I don't know when exactly, but I doubt it's that far in the future."
Scarlet was holding Juliette like she was a precious baby after she got her out of the chariot.
"Scarlet… I'm fine…" Juliette pouted.
"You fell from several feet in the sky. I'm surprised you didn't just float or go intangible, my princess." Scarlet frowned.
"I uh… kinda forgot," Juliette admitted. "I've been going without powers for a while, after all."
"What do you suggest we do then?" Danny asked me, bringing my attention back to him.
"The way I see it, we have a few options we can try. One option is to run and hide, maybe go somewhere we think that black knight can find us. But seeing how she seems like a hunter sort of type, she may track you down no matter where you go. The second option is to try to barricade ourselves from her, which… again, may not work out so well with how powerful she is, I doubt even the Ghost Shield would hold her back for long. The third option is to try to fight back… which may not work out in our favor with how powerful her aura felt. Either way, we don't seem to have the advantage here," I sighed.
"Your first two options aren't viable," Scarlet stated knowingly. "The only option you have is to push her back until she loses interest."
"She also seemed interested in Juliette…" Danny noted worriedly.
Tucker and Bek approached us.
"What was that about?" Tucker asked.
"Something to worry about in the future," I spoke up. "For now, how about you take the Scarab Scepter and get us out of here? I've had enough of this realm."
Tucker gave a timid nod.
Scarlet put Juliette down after she made sure she was okay, and walked over to Tucker, handing him the Scarab Scepter.
"You know what you need to do, right?" Scarlet questioned.
Tucker gave a small nod. "I just need to want us to return home… and maybe for nobody to remember…"
"You'll make us forget too?" Danny asked.
"Uh… wouldn't it be better if we all forgot?" Tucker questioned.
"No…" Juliette frowned. "As much as I wish to forget this, it would be unwise for everyone to be unaware of the events. After all, if we forget about what has happened here, then you might keep the scepter or we might not be able to make proper preparations to warn the future of the power of the scepter. We would also forget about the former holy knight…"
"She's right, Tucker. If you want to make everyone else forget, that's fine, that might be for the better anyways. But for the rest of us… me, you, Danny, Sam, Scarlet, Juliette, and maybe even Jazz, it's best that we remember what happened here," I agreed.
Tucker sighed. "Right… okay… I get it."
Tucker hesitantly took the Scarab Scepter from Scarlet. The Scarab Scepter started to glow as Tucker began to use its powers.
Tucker gave a thoughtful look. "I want everyone here to return to their proper world. Everyone who isn't Scarlet, Juliette, Sam, Danny, Jazz, or myself will forget about what happened. I mean completely forget, by the way. There will be no repressed memories or anything of the sort. We will return to the exact moment we left. If that is not possible, then when we return, the world will be unaware that we were gone and everyone will think that life had simply progressed as normal for the time we have been here."
The scepter glowed brightly as a bright light engulfed all of us. It felt similar to when we were first taken to this realm. I can only assume that the bright light was engulfing everyone else in this realm, hopefully returning the ghosts that were here back to their homes.
When I was able to open my eyes again, I found us back on Casper High's auditorium stage. I looked around, seeing that I was back in my regular black shirt, blue hoodie, and red pants. Danny was still in his phantom form. Scarlet and Juliette were beside us. Tucker was standing in front of us, wearing his normal clothes, something I hadn't seen on him for weeks, and Sam was also in her normal outfit, sitting in one of the chairs. It was as if no time had passed at all since we left.
"I should probably take that," Danny said as he floated over towards Tucker. "Return it to the museum."
"Are you sure we shouldn't destroy it for good?" Tucker asked.
"If we destroy it, there is a chance you could release Duul Aman and all those trapped inside onto the world," Scarlet r
"Duul Aman is back inside the scepter!?" Tucker yelped as he quickly handed the scepter to Danny, not wanting to get possessed again.
"He is, but he actually gave his word that he wouldn't try to come out again for a little bit," Danny informed.
"Let's hope he keeps his word," I sighed. "I'd rather not have the fate of the world hang on the result of a card game again."
"I… would ask what you mean…" Juliette started. "But I would like to head back home to the opera house for now."
Sam got up on the stage. "Is everyone alright? It looks like everything is… I guess, back to normal-ish?"
"Yeah… we're back… virtually no time has passed here," Tucker assured softly. "If the scepter's done its job right, then nobody but us and Jazz remembers anything of what happened in the… other realm."
I gave a small frown of concern to Tucker. Poor Tucker, this event must've been hard on him. His confidence must be shaken after all that. I wonder if he'll still run for student body president...
"I think I'll take the rest of the school day off and go home… I need to get some rest," Tucker stated.
"Right… I better get this thing back to the museum," Danny added, looking at Tucker in concern, probably thinking the same thing I was. "You… going to be okay, Tuck?"
"I'll live…" Tucker answered, not saying much more than that.
"I can walk you home," Sam offered. "I know I could use a break from school right now as well."
"You should definitely do that," Scarlet recommended. "It would be good for him to not be left alone."
"I guess we'll see you later…" I said as Sam began to walk Tucker off the stage.
"My princess and I shall return to the opera house to recover as well," Scarlet declared.
Juliette gave a small nod to that. "If you need either of us, you know where to find us."
With that said, Juliette moved to fly, but Scarlet picked her up and flew up through the ceiling. I almost chuckled when I heard Juliette complaining that she could fly on her own.
"Well, bro, I guess I better get to the museum," Danny said to me, still holding the Scarab Scepter. "You should probably make sure everyone is safe here, and actually forgot what happened."
"I'll do that," I responded. "But you should probably leave a note with the scepter that it needs to be under higher security."
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Danny agreed. "I'll come back as soon as I'm done with this. I… get the feeling that we'll be needing a lot of planning for… future events."
I nodded to that before Danny turned intangible and flew up through the ceiling.
I began walking out of the auditorium. When I was in the hallway, I was relieved to see the other students here were just walking on, minding their own business. Nobody seemed to have recalled what happened in the other realm. They just chatted, and went on about their day. Jazz did approach me about the subject, but I told her to wait until we get home to discuss it with Danny.
I was more concerned about what future events had been set in place because of what happened. If I had seen how Tucker would've became Duul Aman, and that Hotep Ra was trying to manipulate him, would I have been able to stop it? Would we have avoided that black knight from ever meeting Danny and Juliette? Why couldn't my visions have warned me about that? It only showed me a glimpse of Tucker wearing the pharaoh's outfit, it was too vague for me to realize the danger until it was too late. If only I knew how to control these visions, and how to prevent the bad ones… I should've asked Clockwork… but the fact he didn't say anything about it leads me to believe he wanted me to find out for myself, or he didn't want me to know…
I gave a sigh to myself. One thing's for sure… we're not going to have a very fun or easy future coming ahead. There's a lot to be cleaned up from this mess.
Reviews
Titanic X: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': That is something that will have to wait until the future. Perhaps in the future after we start our original season. Here's a question to you, Titanic, which series do you think would fit the world best? Wing? Seed? Iron Blooded Orphans? Unicorn? 00? One of the others?
haloguardian452: DarkFoxKit: Really glad you enjoyed the duel.
KaseyKay17: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Glad you enjoyed the chapter and hope you liked our remake of the episode.
RedHood001: DarkFoxKit: Heh, I figured it would be entertaining to use Danny Phantom characters as Yu-Gi-Oh cards. There was a lot of characters I could've used, but we didn't want to drag out the duel too much. Sadly though, this was a one time only thing, I doubt we'd bring back the card game since it was only meant as a tribute to Yu-Gi-Oh for the Egyptian episode, but I don't know, we may bring it back for whatever reason in the future if we feel like we can write another duel.
Raidentensho: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Oh good lord… I'm not sure Johnny would be listening to any of those, as they're from animes. But at the same time, I could still see the possibility. As for if the ghosts that participated will remember, no. Those weren't the actual ghosts themselves but Andy's mental version of them, essentially how he saw them. So Desiree and the other ghosts weren't actually there, but copies of them if you will. The only exception to that being Clockwork who is a mysterious, mischievous old man who loves having fun.
The Moonfox Collective: DarkFoxKit: Whoa, it's interesting to read your analysis on the duel between Andy and Duul Aman. We mostly just picked out what cards they would use if this was an episode of Yu-Gi-Oh. Though you are right about Danny being Andy's true ace in a game like that. If Andy himself had been a monster card, he and Danny would power each other up on the field. As for the duel itself, perhaps it could've gone on longer, but we didn't want to drag it out, we did what we felt would work and go with it. I suppose if you want a true duel, it might be better off in the Yu-Gi-Oh fandom. Heh, hopefully if we did ever make one, people would like it, even if we don't solely focus on the duels, because those things are tedious to write for.
Jewel moonstone: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': To be honest? We pulled an Abridged Kaiba and said 'Screw the rules'. We took the basis of Yu-Gi-Oh and incorporated our own rules. Hope you are enjoying/enjoyed your vacation.
Mana: DarkFoxKit: Heh, well originally it was going to be something involving friendship, but Onyx was like 'no, too cheesy and cliche', so we went with brothers instead. As for Masters of All Time… that… also kind of got changed, though I don't know if it's better necessarily, just… more logical I guess. It'll make sense when I post the chapters. Well, you'll see about the Scarab Scepter with this chapter if you haven't already. You can ask us more about it though if you want.
I've watched Fairly Odd Parents a lot when I was a kid, it also what got me into Danny Phantom, because I remembered a video tape of the first Jimmy and Timmy Power Hour I had, had a commercial of Danny Phantom on it. Though I wasn't sure about it at the time, I'm glad I gave the first episode I saw (which was One of a Kind) a chance, and became a fan of it ever since.
There was a lot of things Butch could've done with Vlad to make him more more competent, intelligent, and show he was more of a dangerous villain rather than because he was freaking power hungry all of a sudden. But I suppose there's no point in getting hung up on the 'could have beens' now. So instead, we're going to focus on 'how to make it better' on this story, because that's what fanfiction is about~