Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Hey, everyone. Before we get started today, I wanted to ask for your help. Fox is currently going through a bit of a rough patch right now and may have cancer. Two separate doctors, one a pathologist and the other a specialist, have told her it's one form of cancer or the other. I have put forward the possibility that it isn't cancer, but she still needs to see a doctor to nail down what she has. Fox sadly does not have insurance, meaning that treatment of any of these issues will be expensive. In order to help, I have started a Go Fund Me to help her with her medical costs. While she still might not have cancer, I am preparing for the worst case scenario to help her out best.
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DarkFoxKit: I apologize for all the drama. But this has been really hard for me, and my friends are trying their best to support me during this time. I greatly appreciate them for it, and for all of you for being patient. Ideally, all of this wouldn't be necessary in the end. But again, that's the ideal situation, and we don't have high hopes that will be the case right now. It's best to hope for the best, but also prepare for the worst.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': To any who donate through Go Fund Me, I thank you. You can also use Fox's Pat-gap so fanfic doesn't delete it-reon. If it still deletes it, it's one of the few 'support the creator sites' that starts with a P. She has the same name over there as she does here. Now, as this was in lieu of an AN, you guys can get to the chapter.
DarkFoxKit: Despite our real life situation, we do hope you'll still enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 95: A Dangerous Game
Juliette and I had to play our part. Since Juliette was a pure ghost, and her story was that she was one of Danny's… this dimension's Danny's higher ups, she had to keep her head high, and act like she was leading us. I was behind her, keeping my head down like a captive or a slave. The other me, Echo, was moving beside her since he had to tell her which way to go as quietly as possible while also keeping his head down.
As we were walking, I was more amazed than creeped out despite the ghostly atmosphere. It was like I was in some kind of dream. The sky was an unnatural red color, though nobody seems to care. There were ghosts flying around, incomplete halfas moving around like it was normal, though I didn't see a lot of normal humans. In fact, I noticed that I wasn't seeing any normal humans in the area at all. Echo probably had a point in saying that the micro ghost cores were heavy in the atmosphere, easily infecting any unlucky humans who breathed them in. Speaking of ghost cores, it felt like mine was getting stronger and recovering much faster than before.
"We're nearly there," Echo softly informed.
"Good good." Juliette smiled before speaking up a little. "It'll be fun to see you two as adorable ghosts~ Who knows, perhaps I can teach you how to fly or use your ghost powers."
I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw a group of ghosts floating over the sidewalk across the street from us. I figured Juliette was likely trying her best to keep up the act of having captured us.
"Excuse me," Someone spoke up.
"Yes?" Juliette asked.
I stiffened up a little, seeing it was Jazz. Uh-oh… she's going to know for sure Juliette isn't a part of Danny's higher up!
I blinked when I saw that Jazz looked absolutely normal. She was wearing her normal black long sleeve shirt and blue mom-pants. Her hair was also the same longer than her waist orange hairstyle that it was. Huh… I would've thought Jazz might want to try on something different considering she's pretty much the princess of the world, being the sister to the King and all. Then again… it's Jazz, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that she would likely turn that position down.
Juliette was looking at Jazz. "Oh, hello there, Jazz."
Jazz looked at Juliette for a moment, and I was worried that we might have blown our cover. Then Jazz gave the goat girl a smile. "I didn't expect to see you out here, Juliette. You usually prefer to stay indoors."
She knows Juliette!? I found myself blinking under the gas mask in surprise.
"I felt like going on a bit of a walk to stretch my legs," Juliette responded. "I don't remember if I've told you this, but when I was your age, I didn't actually have use of my legs for a time, I don't really want to relive those memories."
Jazz nodded. "Of course, you did tell me. I understand why you felt the need to walk, it must get stuffy in the castle after a while."
A castle? Wait… there's a Juliette in this reality, who lives in a castle… like here or in the Ghost Zone? Wait… here, cause the Ghost Zone merged with the Earth. I remembered.
"But… who are these two behind you? I can't see their faces, but… they feel familiar to me," Jazz noted, looking at me and Echo as he tried to keep our faces hidden as much as possible behind our hoodies.
"These are two humans I found while I was on my walk!" Juliette beamed. "I caught them and I'm currently bringing them in for them to get their gifts~"
Juliette was a better actress than I thought, she sounded genuinely excited at the prospect of turning us in.
"Oh? I'm surprised that you found a couple of humans here, usually any humans who come into Amity Park would breathe in one of the micro ghost cores," Jazz noted.
"Well, while that may be the case I wanted to make sure they were somewhere they could have someone looking after them during their metamorphosis," Juliette explained. "They seemed pretty shy and I didn't want them to be on their own when they went through the change, hence why they're wearing hoods. I've already convinced them that this is for the best as it means they'll have a much longer life and have awesome powers that can be used in all sorts of ways."
Jazz chuckled. "That's so like you, Juliette. While I've been busy with my ghost therapy sessions, I have been neglecting trying to convince the humans left in this world to embrace the change, or at most just let it happen. I'm glad we have someone like you here with us."
"I'm glad to be here." Juliette smiled before tilting her head a little. "So what are you doing out and about, Jazz?"
"I'm actually looking for my missing brother, Andy," Jazz admitted, which made me, and I was pretty sure Echo as well, stiffen. "Valerie told us something interesting during the meeting today, she said she saw Andy, and he sounded lost and confused. She believes something happened to his memory, likely a traumatic blow to the head. But she told us to not tell Danny about it yet, not until we can find Andy. We don't want to rile Danny up about his missing brother after all."
"Hmmm… what does he look like?" Juliette inquired, sounding slightly worried. "I want to know because if I see them, I want to make sure they're okay. While yes, Danny is in charge, I can't help but feel that a number of ghosts are scheming. Think about it, if Danny's potentially amnesiac brother was found by some mischievous ghosts, they could hold your and Danny's brother for ransom."
Jazz frowned at that. "If they do, they'll regret it shortly after. But I do appreciate your concern, Juliette. I think we told you and Scarlet about Andy before though. That he's Danny's twin brother, who disappeared a while back."
"Ah, right!" Juliette acknowledged. "A lot has happened since Scarlet and I arrived, so I… admittedly forgot. I was kinda caught up in exploring my new home…"
At the end of her response, Juliette was scratching the back of her head sheepishly. This made Jazz laugh a little.
"Yeah, that does make sense," Jazz acknowledged, still laughing a little. "Well, Andy is Danny's nearly identical twin brother. One big difference is that he has green eyes instead of blue. His clothes, from what Valerie told me he was still wearing, are similar to Danny's, but the colors are different. His t-shirt is black instead of white, he has a blue triangle on his chest instead of a red oval, he wears red baggy pants instead of blue, and he has blue striped shoes instead of red striped shoes."
Juliette gave a nod. "Understood. I'll keep an eye out for him. If I see him, should I take him to Amity Tower or Fenton Works?"
"It would be best to take him to Fenton Works, that way our mom can take a look at his potential injuries," Jazz replied.
"Got it." Juliette smiled.
Suddenly, Juliette looked surprised, and Jazz blinked a little, before she looked up. Echo and I looked at each other.
I gave a curious look to Echo, not sure if he could see it through my hoodie.
"They're likely receiving a telepathic message from Danny," Echo quietly explained to me.
Wait… since when could Danny, corrupted or not, use telepathy? I inwardly questioned.
Chad gave a feeling of curiosity and unsureness.
Jazz and Juliette looked like they came out of a 'trance' or whatever that was.
"I… still can't get used to that feeling…" Juliette muttered as she shook her head a little. "Hopefully in time I will adjust to it, but for now it's always going to throw me off a little."
"Seems Danny is calling for us to talk to us about a new project idea, he gets those quite often," Jazz chuckled. "So are you going to be going, Juliette?"
"No, probably not. I want to get these two somewhere comfortable," Juliette explained. "I may ask for the cliffnotes later." Hopefully the other me decides not to go as well. But if she does… "Though, I may change my mind. If I do… I'd rather not let anyone know about these two boys I found, at least not yet. So I'd likely act like we didn't run into each other out here."
"Okay, well make sure you come back to the castle soon, we don't want to make Scarlet or Danny worried about you if you're out for too long," Jazz remarked.
Juliette nodded before Jazz just strolled away, she probably preferred walking rather than flying. Which was fine for me, it saved me another shocking moment of seeing my sister turning into a ghost.
When we were sure Jazz was far enough away, Echo looked over at Juliette. "Let's go."
"That feeling was really really weird," Juliette commented as she started walking again. "Hearing Danny's voice inside my head so suddenly like that sent a chill up my spine."
"Yeah… I probably should've warned you about that, but I didn't think his telepathy would reach you… I guess he didn't specify which Juliette he was trying to communicate with," Echo admitted.
"Well it's a good thing it did reach me," Juliette pointed out. "Had it not, I would've been completely out of the loop in regards to what Jazz was saying."
I gave a questioning look at Echo. "I didn't know Danny could use telepathy. He never used it in my world."
"He has the potential to use it," Echo answered. "He just needs someone to teach him. He's still in training last I checked, so he was likely using that psychic ghost to use telepathy on his chosen people."
Chad felt intrigued by this.
"He does have a few uniquely powered ghosts with him, like the psychic ghost," Echo continued before chuckling. "He has been looking for a seer, but Clockwork won't give him any hints and is being his usual coy self from what I heard."
"How have you gotten all this info?" Juliette raised a brow.
"There's a ghost that works for Danny that prefers the old world. So they've been helping my revolution by feeding me info from the inside," Echo informed. "They're not all the way in Danny's inner circle, but they are decently high up in the pecking order."
"You sure this ghost is trustworthy and not some kind of double agent?" I asked in concern.
"I'm sure they're more than trustworthy," Echo assured. "After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
Juliette kept going in the directions Echo gave her, until we were finally on the outskirts of Amity Park. With nobody around, at least as far as we could see, Echo took the lead, and pulled down his hood. "It's not much further now. The base has to be close to the city so we can keep a better eye on things, but we do make sure to keep it as hidden as possible."
"Can I take off this gas mask? Or are the micro-cores around this air too?" I asked as Juliette and I followed Echo into the bushes and trees.
"You can take it off when we get into the decontamination chamber," Echo answered. "Juliette, you'll be fine if you go in the decontamination chamber. It doesn't melt ghosts or anything, it just cleans the body of any micro-cores. Though, Andy, if you want, you can keep it on. I know how paranoid we can get about things and your mind is probably thinking 'oh, but if I take off the mask, is there a chance to get infected from just being near Echo?'. I honestly can't tell you the answer as we haven't really pinned down the exact answer. Most of the scientists believe that there's no chance of it spreading through breath, but some of the nutjobs are still worried there is a possibility."
I frowned a little. "... Um… what does happen if someone who's already a hafla breathes in the micro-cores? Does it turn them into a full ghost or mess them up or something?"
"Considering none of the half ghosts in Amity Park have become full halfas or have gotten messed up, I'm pretty sure it doesn't really do anything." Echo shrugged. "But if a halfa was exposed to a high enough concentration… they could feel boosted or super charged. After all, when a ghost eats another ghost's core, the first ghost gets stronger. Though… since it's shrunken down, if there was some kind of boost, it likely would only be temporary."
I couldn't help but shiver at the idea of being hyper and super charged from the cores, though that wasn't nearly as disturbing as the idea of accidentally eating the cores by just simply inhaling them. I still remembered how powerful Corrupted Danny was when he ate ghost cores, I'd rather not have to go through that again, and I also would rather not become the same way myself. But I did breathe in the air in Amity Park for a good while before meeting up with Echo and Juliette… it could be very possible I already breathed a few in. Maybe that's why my core suddenly feels stronger… and it still feels like it's getting stronger despite not breathing in the air…
In fact, my ghost core felt so strong that I was sure I could very easily transform into my ghost form without any strain whatsoever now. Is it possible the micro-cores could also get it via pores? Oh gosh I hope not.
"Let's just get to his base as soon as possible," I said, feeling anxious and a bit paranoid about somehow absorbing the micro-cores through my skin.
"Well…" Echo chuckled as he stopped. "We're here, but now we need to go down the ladder."
Echo moved some leaves and bushes around, revealing a trapdoor. He opened it up, showing us the ladders that lead into an underground tunnel.
"You two go in first, I have to be the last one in to cover up the hatch," Echo instructed. "Juliette, you can probably just float down there, but Andy, you'll need to climb down. No going ahead without me though, we don't want the resistance attacking you, thinking you're invading the base."
Juliette gave a nod and hopped into the ladder shaft and started to float before she got out of sight.
"Looks like she went first~" Echo chuckled.
"Of course, she doesn't have to worry about gravity after all." I rolled my eyes before I began to step down onto the ladder, carefully moving my feet down, and making sure my hands got a good grip on the ladder and started to climb down into the darkness below.
As I was climbing down, I saw Echo was closing the hatch, though I couldn't see if he already grabbed onto the ladder before he did. I was still climbing down, it made me wonder how far underground this base was. I also wondered if Echo would suggest that I got myself examined once we got to the base to see if I was 'infected' since I had breathed in Amity Park's air before. I hoped he wouldn't, because I already did have a ghost core.
I was relieved when I saw Juliette's white fur glowing nearby. There were some lights here, but I felt better when I saw I was finally near the ground, and near a friend. I jumped down from the ladder when I was close enough to the ground, and landed beside Juliette.
"Wow… I didn't know there was a place like this near Amity Park," Juliette commented as she looked around. "Then again, I still don't know all that much about Amity Park. When we get back to our world and have dealt with Freakshow and the Guys in White and all that, it might be a good idea to check this place out. It could be used as a secondary base or something."
"I just thought the resistance drilled down here themselves to make a secret base," I shrugged before looking at Juliette. "Hey… is it possible for a ghost to absorb micro sized ghost cores into their skin… or fur?"
"I would have absolutely no idea. This is the first time I've ever experienced the whole 'microscopic sized ghost cores' thing," Juliette pointed out. "Also, I very much doubt all this could've been done without the construction crew getting infected by the 'plague' or 'virus' or whatever they call it. Also, the structure looks… old. Not too old, but still decently old. I'd guess it's been here for a decade or two."
"Yeah, I suppose…" I frowned, though I wasn't paying too much attention. I was starting to feel a little bit restless.
"Alright, looks like we're all here," Echo spoke up when he reached the bottom. "Let's head down this tunnel, the base is just ahead."
Juliette and I followed Echo.
"Does the resistance know about your… condition?" I asked Echo.
"They don't, but it's not something they need to worry about just yet," Echo responded. "I have only barely reached the first stage and the progress is slow. If they knew about my condition, they would likely put me in quarantine and refuse to let me continue to lead."
"You said there are stages to this," Juliette spoke up. "Could you tell us what those stages are?"
Echo nodded as we kept walking down the quiet tunnel. "The first stage of the infection is when you feel a cold spot inside you starting to form, most likely in your torso area. But you don't have any ghostly abilities yet, this is just when the core starts trying to settle into your body and start developing itself. I guess you could say it's the incubator stage. The second stage is when you do start exhibiting ghostly attributes, like glowing eyes, or a glowing aura around you, it starts off small, not really that noticeable to the naked eye, but it will gradually start growing. A hand may suddenly go invisible, a foot may go intangible, making you trip all of a sudden, you might start floating randomly as well. The third stage is when it becomes obvious, you start to slowly transform, your DNA becoming mixed with ectoplasm that the core is producing in your body. Then it gets to the final stage, where you either transform fully into an incomplete halfa, or a perfect halfa. The time in between each stage depends on person to person, for me, I've barely gotten into stage one."
Echo took a breath before continuing. "I occasionally feel a cold spot in my chest, but I, and I know how weird this will sound, but I will it away. I do also use medicine, but willing it away helps. The medicine mainly slows down the progression, but it doesn't reverse it. Using my will however, the coldness will go away entirely for a time. I believe there is a mental component to the infection. If one absolutely forbids the core to take root in their chest, it'll be much harder for the core to set up shop."
"But it doesn't keep it away forever…" I noted.
"Sadly it doesn't. I know a few people who were very strong willed, they lasted the longest against the infection until they eventually transformed as well. The only reason why I'm lasting longer than them is due to the combination of my will and the medicine I've been using," Echo answered. "We've all been working hard to try to find a cure, but whenever we thought we were close, something always ended up going wrong and we would have to start from scratch."
"Wow… so it sounds like you are unfortunately fighting a losing battle…" Juliette frowned. "After all, more and more of your resistance likely falls each day due to the infection. I mean you have to go out and get supplies after all, and there's a chance the supply runners could get infected."
"You are unfortunately correct on that, Juliette," Andy sighed. "After all, we are humans, and humans still need to eat to live. We're lucky if even half of the team we sent to gather supplies comes back without being infected. I'm not sure how much longer we can last at this rate. Which is why I'm glad you two came along when you did, you may just be the key to saving all of us."
"But no pressure," I added in as a bit of a joke to try to relieve the tension.
"Well… considering 'I' am apparently a part of Danny's inner circle, that does pretty much give me access to everywhere," Juliette noted as the group approached a large metal door. "I take it that's the decontamination chamber?"
"That it is, my sharp goat friend," Echo chuckled. "Once we enter through these doors, be prepared for a shower."
"A shower might be nice," Juliette chuckled. "There is some dirt and twigs in my fur."
"We haven't had a shower in what felt like days," I admitted.
"Sorry, it's not quite that kind of shower, but it should help at the very least," Echo remarked before he started tapping on the door in a specific rhythm.
There was another tapping sound from the otherside of the door in another specific rhythm, before Echo answered back with his own rhythm once more. Then the door beeped before it slid open. Echo took the lead and walked in first. Juliette went in next, and I followed after her. The next thing I knew, I was being sprayed down by liquid. I was glad I still had the gas mask on as it kept my eyes from being sprayed.
"Okay, yeah!" Juliette shouted over the torrent of water. "I can see why you said this isn't a normal shower!"
"Yeah, it's meant to decontaminate you, not clean you!" I heard Echo's voice from the deluge.
After a little while, the spraying finally stopped. I was pretty much soaked, and so was Juliette. I felt bad for Juliette though, her fur was completely soaked, and so was her dress.
Juliette began to shake out a little before there was a loud whirring followed by a blast of hot air that quickly dried all of us off. However, when the flow of the hot air stopped, it left a very humorous scene. I couldn't help but snicker a little when I saw Juliette standing there, all of her fur puffed up heavily.
"Heh… well, I do apologize for the… fluffed up fur, Juliette," Echo was trying not to laugh. "But… we normally don't bring in furry ghosts into the base."
Juliette was grumbling and mumbling. "If either of you try to pet me, know that there will be consequences… Also, Echo, go ahead and let your base know about me so they don't try to capture me… please."
"Yeah, don't worry, I'll go do that now. I need to explain that Andy is another version of me and not Danny in disguise, and that you're from another dimension as well," Echo stated.
"Would they believe that?" I asked.
"Considering what we've dealt with, they're inclined to be very open minded," Echo assured. "I'll be right back with the person who's in command of this base. Meanwhile… you can try to help Juliette with her fluffed up fur."
Echo was snickering a bit before he left us alone. I looked over back at Juliette.
"I'll take care of my fur," Juliette stated when she noticed I was looking at her. "You just… think about if you want to take that mask off or not."
"Of course I'm taking it off, why would I need to keep it on? It's not like I can get infected," I grumbled as I reached up for my gas mask.
"Are you sure you want to though?" Juliette asked. "I mean yes, you can't get infected. But there could be some of the micro-cores sticking to your face underneath the mask. If you took off the mask now, you could potentially let those micro-cores out into the rest of the base."
"Oh come on, am I seriously going to have to keep this thing on?" I groaned.
"I mean, it's a good precaution," Juliette replied. "Though again, it's your choice. I just personally think it would be safer to be over-precautious than under-precautious."
I rubbed the back of my head. Juliette had a point, I didn't want to be the one responsible for accidentally infecting the entire base here, especially when they're already fighting a losing war. But it was still uncomfortable having to keep a gas mask on my face.
As Juliette was patting her fur, I heard footsteps approaching us. I turned around, seeing Echo coming over with a surprisingly buff man, he wore a black looking uniform that reminded me of those Men in Black movies I used to watch.
"So you're the two from another dimension, huh?" The man asked. "Well… that definitely adds in some variables we weren't accounting for, but those variables could be just what we need for the start of the final battle."
"Andy, Juliette, this is Max, well that's his codename anyways, he likes being the 'Maximum power' or whatever," Echo remarked.
"It sounds better when you put it into context, like 'I'm giving this battle my Maximum power'," Max retorted, huffing a little before he looked at me. "You can take off that gas mask now, there aren't any micro-cores here."
"Yeah… well, I had it on during our… lovely shower, and I kind of worry that if I take it off, any micro-core that might be on my face or the hairs of my eyebrows or something would get out and infect everyone," I explained.
Max looked at Echo. "Why didn't you tell him to take it off when they entered the decontamination chamber?"
"I was a bit busy," Echo shrugged. "Kinda had a billion other things on my mind? Like, you know, how Juliette here technically has full access to Fenton Works and Amity Tower."
At that, Max's eyes widened as if he just realized the super weapon we had in our midst. "That's right! This Juliette may have come from another dimension, but that doesn't mean they know that!"
"We do still need to be careful," Echo spoke up. "Because there is a Juliette in Amity Park as well, the one from this dimension. If the two of them meet, then we're as good as screwed, meaning we may only have one shot at this."
"I mean… I could always tell her that I'm just looking for a way back to my dimension," Juliette offered. "If this world's Juliette is anything like me, she'll be kind and understanding and will want to try and help me get out of here."
"But then they'll know there's a Juliette here who isn't in this world," Max pointed out. "And they could suspect you're working for the resistance, and keep you under watch. And maybe even get you back to your dimension before you can do anything to help us."
"Well, if this is our last battle, we might as well go all out on it," Echo murmured. "How many people do we have left in this base?"
"We have about 6 people left, including me, sir," Max answered.
It was so weird to see such a big, strong, tall man just calling this smaller, lean boy 'sir', especially since said boy is me, or well, another version of me.
"Wait… really?" Echo blinked. "This base can hold hundreds if not thousands of people! What happened to everyone?! Last I checked, there were around 200 people stationed here!"
"We're not sure what happened either, but over the last week, while you were away, someone somehow managed to get past our decontamination chamber while being infected. By the time we realized that someone infected came into our base, about 100 of us were already in the first and second stages of the infection. Those of us who were left managed to escape the infection, but… we had to wipe those who were infected of their memories of this place before sending them out. There are about 5 people still in the quarantine chambers though. The doctors have noticed they haven't even reached stage one. Hopefully one of them holds the key to a medicinal cure."
"So what do we do now? 6 is nowhere near enough of an army to distract Danny's forces." I frowned.
Echo sighed. "I may have to change tactics. We may not have an army, but we do have a key to getting into the throne room."
Echo looked over at Juliette.
"So… are you planning to go with a strike force?" Juliette inquired.
"That is our best bet, and right now, our only one. We do have resistances elsewhere, but they're far away, and the ghost resistances are in the Ghost Zone right now, we'd have to go through Fenton Works to access it," Echo replied. "Our main objective is to put Danny into a state of stasis."
"Why not just destroy him? Be rid of him once and for all?" Max asked.
"I told you, Max, I will not kill my brother, no matter what," Echo hissed.
"Couldn't you just capture him in the Fenton Thermos?" Juliette tilted her head.
"The Fenton Thermos isn't going to do squat. We already tried that before, and not only did Danny break out, he infected more than half of our squad when we tried to escape," Echo pointed out.
I couldn't help but agree with a nod. "Valerie, Dash, and I tried that too in our world… the Fenton Thermos couldn't hold Danny for long."
"Oh geez…" Juliette frowned. "So how do we put him into a state of stasis? I mean do you have something that can freeze him?"
"Freezing him? Doubtful, he's a ghost with an ice core element, freezing him would not be easy to do," Max spoke up. "He can control ice, bend it to his will at ease, even around his body. It would take an immense amount of cold in order to freeze him."
Chad felt really surprised.
Juliette sighed and shook her head. "I didn't mean literally freeze him. What kind of stasis strategy do you have? Are you going to hope he is in his ghost form and destroy his physical body and capture his core? Do you have some kind of way to trap him and render him powerless?"
"We've been working on a way to paralyze him," Echo spoke up. "Our best scientists, both ghosts and humans, did manage to create something we think might work."
"You think?" I asked.
Echo sighed. "Unfortunately we couldn't test it on a perfect halfa, only incomplete ones we managed to capture. It works on them, but we don't know if it would work on perfect halfas."
"We couldn't afford to capture a perfect halfa, since almost all of them are very close to the King, he would sense and see where they are with telepathy, he would find out where the base was and we'd be wiped out," Max explained.
"Hmmm… well if that ghost with telepathy is always scanning for plots, it would be best to create mental barriers," Juliette commented. "Otherwise we'll be captured the moment we step inside."
"None of us were trained to deal with mental attacks," Max sighed. "None of us knew how to counter telepathy ghosts."
"All of our allies don't have any experience with psychic core ghosts," Echo informed. "So we had nobody to teach us. But that doesn't mean we're completely vulnerable. I did manage to snag something useful."
"What is it?" I asked.
Echo gave a smirk. "Max, do you remember that helmet I brought in last week? Were the scientists able to replicate it?"
"Yeah, they were, but if you all wear that… it would kinda stick out if you're planning to wear that to block the telepath," Max responded. "Even if we wore the loosest hoodies, the helmets would still stick out like a sore thumb."
"I did tell them to make the helmets smaller, and to disguise them as beanies," Echo stated.
"Well, they did make those adjustments, however it halved the capabilities of the original helmet," Max explained. "With so little room, they only were able to do so much. They were able to get in the full main tactical program that you wanted, but they were only able to get in a portion of the telepathy blocker. Meaning we can't get too near the telepathic ghost."
Echo sighed. "Well, that just makes it harder."
"Is there no other way to get past a telepathic ghost?" I asked.
"Well, I know how to put up mental barriers," Juliette informed. "Perhaps I could lure Danny away from the telepathic ghost?"
"You could try," Echo said. "If you catch Danny's interest. You might be able to, you might not… you don't know what the you in this dimension does enough to be able to act like her though… so you might make him suspicious."
"Could you tell us what the Juliette of this dimension does then?" I suggested.
"None of us have seen the Juliette of this dimension much, she rarely ever leaves the castle, and even when she does, she has Scarlet with her. Scarlet is one of Danny's most elite and strongest soldiers, we would easily get wiped out if we stepped a foot into town while she's around on patrol," Max warned.
"What about your inside informant, Echo?" Juliette raised a brow. "Do they know how the Juliette of this world acts?"
"It's possible. I haven't been able to ask them about Juliette. Juliette is one of those ghosts who usually stays out of trouble, so there hadn't been much reason to spy on her and risk getting caught by her loyal bodyguard," Echo answered.
"Well maybe you could try," Juliette suggested. "After all, if this world's Juliette is happy and trying her best to enjoy herself, she'd probably be using servants of some kind. From what you said it seemed like your informant worked within Amity Tower in some kind of servant role."
"Yeah, they do, they're one of the few who managed to get past the telepathic ghost's mind scanning ability," Echo confirmed.
"They have been a big help with information gathering, but none of us have seen them. We've always just kept in touch via radio," Max explained. "They can't exactly leave the Amity Tower, it would be suspicious, unless they were told otherwise."
I raised an eyebrow at that. I didn't say anything, but that just seemed fishy. Relying on insider information from someone you never met before just seemed… off. But then again, I didn't know much about guerrilla war tactics, so I couldn't say much without showing my own ignorance. Desperate times did call for desperate measures after all, and this was definitely a desperate situation.
"Max, have the other 5 survivors been tested yet? Do any of them have any cores forming inside them?" Echo inquired.
"That's the thing, the doctors tested every one of them and have kept them under constant watch for days," Max said. "None of them have reached stage 1."
"Then why are they still in quarantine?" Echo questioned. "We're going to need every help that we can get."
"Because the doctors want to try and isolate whatever it is that is preventing them from going to stage 1. Like I said, the doctors believe they may hold the key to a medicinal cure," Max explained.
"What about you?" I asked Max. "Weren't you there when the infection spread in the base? How were you able to escape it?"
"I'm like the other 5, but someone had to watch over the base," Max explained.
Echo gave an interested look at Max, before he sighed. "Well, if you 6 are somehow immune to these micro-cores, then you probably don't need gas masks. On the other hand, we don't know how far the immunity goes. Breathing in heavy amounts of micro-cores may still infect you."
"We have spare gas masks on hand," Max informed. "So if I went with you guys, I'd definitely be wearing a mask."
"But there is still something I don't get," I spoke up, which caused everyone to turn their attention on me. "How does someone turning into a halfa turn them against the human resistances? In my world, simply turning someone into a halfa didn't automatically make them turn against their friends, Danny had to use some kind of mind controlling power he called the Mind Meld."
"That is an excellent question," Echo stated. "And you'd normally be right. However, the micro-cores that infect people have some of Danny's powers added to them as well. After all, he used his powers to miniaturize the ghost cores and make them spread around the world. The micro-cores, once they reach the final stage, will use the last bit of Danny's power inside them to, essentially, do the Mind Meld process on them. So every turned halfa has a bit of a hive mind I guess you could say. Though it isn't a regular sense of a hive mind, there is no one mind to rule all. Everyone pretty much remains themselves but are loyal to Danny."
I shivered at the idea of having a hive mind with other halfas, that seemed really disturbing.
Chad agreed, but also had guilt for some reason.
Echo turned to Max. "I understand that our last remaining members may be the key to a cure, but we don't have much time, and we need a small strike group if we're to finally end this war in our favor. A cure can be found after we manage to subdue Danny. If someone was able to walk in here infected, then that means it's possible that Danny already knows where we are, and it's only a matter of time before he decides to strike or send soldiers to clean us all out."
Max sighed. "You know the doctors are going to raise hell about this and say that if you go through with this, they'll be leaving immediately, right?"
"Would it be possible if it's just the 4 of us then?" I asked. "Juliette and I may not have been trained for guerrilla war, but we can still help out, and this way you won't lose your doctors. I mean you need them to find the cure, right?"
"Are the doctors seriously going to leave?" Echo questioned.
"Yes, they blatantly told me how they were sick and tired of us always sending out their test subjects or messing with their progress that if we do it again, they're out," Max answered. "And by that I mean out of the resistance. They told me they plan on going to one of the hidden human havens and they won't tell us where it is."
I was surprised to hear that Echo had been sending out test subjects who could've been useful for finding a cure. I knew he was desperate, but was it really necessary at the cost of what could have been a cure for the micro-core that was growing inside him?
Echo grumbled. "How long would it take for us to get backup from the nearby bases? Because if we're doing this, I want to go in with at least a minimal strike team."
Max sighed a little. "It would take them at least 24 hours to get here."
Juliette frowned and walked over to Echo before whispering. "How long will your supply of medicine last, Echo?"
Echo hesitated for a moment. "Not long… it might be able to last long enough for the backup to get there, but I fear I might start getting into stage 2 at that point."
"So we have three options," Juliette noted. "Go in with just the four of us, which will make it extremely hard. Take the people out of quarantine so we have 9 but permanently lose the doctors of this base. Or wait 24 hours for backup… which, are we sure they'll even come? And it's 24 hours minimum from the sounds of it, so that means it could be longer." We don't have that kind of time…
"Our best option is to wait for backup," Max stated.
"We don't know how long we'll be in this dimension for," Juliette explained, wanting to come up with a reasonable excuse to cover Echo's infection. "It could be less than 24 hours for all we know."
"Hold on," Echo spoke up. "I'm going to check on something."
Echo quickly moved towards the wall of monitors.
"Well… maybe I take off the gas mask for now and just breathe in… underground air for a bit," I said when Echo went to the monitors. "Since you're apparently 'immune', I don't think a few stray micro-cores are going to bother you."
"If you want to take off the mask then I'll have to insist we stick to procedures," Max responded. "Meaning you'll have to get another shower. Just without the mask this time."
I stopped for a moment. "Let's see what we decide to do before I do that. I rather not take another hard shower and then have to put the gas mask back on anyways if we decide to leave right away."
"That's probably for the best," Max agreed.
"But I am pretty eager for action," I said. "I've been feeling pretty restless since we got here." Ugh, I'm just itching to move, to fly, to fire ghost rays, to do anything other than stand here and wait!
"Just remember Andy, we're going to hopefully be going in as a stealth mission," Juliette pointed out. "If you're feeling restless… how about you ask Max to show you around the base? Perhaps find out how old this base is and why it was originally built."
"I can do that. Echo might be checking something out for a while," Max agreed.
"Alright, I suppose it couldn't hurt to find out more about this place while we wait," I remarked. "I feel like moving around anyways."
Max began taking me around the base, showing me some pretty high tech stuff, there were what looked like old brick computers, yet they were high tech for their time. I was sure Mom and Dad would love to take it apart to analyze the data, then again if it had nothing to do with ghosts, maybe they wouldn't. Max showed me around the medical bay, which really fascinated me. I could see, through a set of glass windows, 5 unfamiliar people each inside an individual room. There were some doctors running tests on them, wearing full hazmat suits to likely not get infected.
After the medical bay Max showed me to the commissary, which was the cafeteria of the base. It looked like it had enough seating room to fit hundreds of people all at one, making me wonder just how big this base was. As we were walking to the next section I glanced down some hallways and saw that many of them were collapsed in. After the 5th collapsed tunnel, I asked Max about why those ways were like they were.
He explained to me that because the base was actually an old cold war base that was never really used, it was rarely maintained. Those ways that were caved in or blocked off were apparently places that had either never been finished, or had been so badly maintained that the structure collapsed. However, he assured me, noticing that I was suddenly glancing around everywhere looking for cracks, that the rest of the base was structurally sound and had been checked over before they started using it.
I still didn't like the idea that the base could collapse at any moment. While I could always go intangible if that happened, I rather these people didn't get crushed. Then I found myself starting to jog around a bit. I couldn't explain it, but I really wanted to be on the move.
"Heh, if you've got some extra energy, I could take you to the gymnasium for you to work that energy out," Max offered. "You wouldn't get as buff as me, but it'd definitely be a start."
I didn't really want to be buff, I rather liked my lean figure, it also helped me maneuver around easier as a ghost. But considering all this extra energy I felt, I took Max up on his offer. It would feel really good to get my body moving.
So Max led me to a large room with all sorts of equipment that looked like a cool obstacle course.
"You don't need to buff up if you don't want to," Max chuckled. "If you want to work on your stamina you could run on a treadmill or elliptical. If you want to work on maneuverability, you can run through the obstacle course. If you hit any of the obstacles in the course, a buzzer will go off and the obstacle will light up to show you hit it. If you want to work on your strength at all, there are plenty of different things you could work on."
I nodded. I decided to take the obstacle course first, then maybe the treadmill after if I didn't feel too tired. To say I went through it rather quickly would be an understatement. I didn't think I was using any of my ghost powers, but it felt like I did. I felt as light as I would have as a ghost, and moved my body around as if I was in my ghost form. I felt really flexible, much more flexible than I should be as a human. I was able to jump higher than normal, and move quicker than normal as well. Whatever caused my extra energy definitely made me feel like a human superhero.
"Well dang, that's a new record," Max remarked before laughing. "What kind of world did you come from? Is it one where people are just naturally athletic or something? Or do you come from a world filled with superheroes?"
"Well… there is a superhero, but not filled with superheroes," I chuckled sheepishly. "I… usually wasn't that athletic, so this surprised me."
"Oh? Is it an actual superhero or just someone who claims to be a superhero?" Max inquired.
"Well… you know how I come from a different dimension, right? I also have a Danny there, but he's not the King like he is here, he's just… a half ghost superhero, trying to help or save people from hostile and evil ghosts," I informed.
Chad felt like he was blushing a little.
"Huh… yeah… I can see that as a logical possibility if he wasn't all corrupt, but I can't really imagine it all that well," Max commented. "After all, the Danny of this world is all I know and he's a piece of work to say the least in an age appropriate fashion."
Before I could reply to that, we heard Echo's voice calling us through the speakers.
"Max, Andy, I need you two in the control room immediately!"
"Uh-oh, sounds like Echo found something that he didn't like." Max frowned.
That sounded ominous. Max and I hurried to the control room. Juliette was already there, frowning at the monitors.
"What's wrong, Echo?" Max asked.
"It looks like somebody hacked into this system," Echo answered as he was frantically typing on the keyboard.
"What do you mean?!" Max shouted as he got on another keyboard and began typing. "There were no intrusions when I was on here earlier checking security!"
"It wasn't a direct hack," Echo informed. "It looks like someone somehow managed to hack it via remote. But how? Who? When? It was subtle enough that none of us noticed it."
"Can you tell what they accessed?" Juliette inquired worriedly.
"That's the worst part." Echo frowned grimly. "They hacked into our mapping systems, so now they know where every resistance base on the planet is."
"Why ever would you keep the locations of all your bases in one centralized location?!" Juliette scolded. "That is just asking for a spy to gather the data!"
"There's an incoming message, Echo," Max stated, ignoring Juliette's colding.
"Play it on screen," Echo ordered. "But make sure our cameras aren't active in case it tries to activate a call."
I couldn't help but feel nervous and helpless as Max brought something up on screen.
I was both surprised yet not when I saw Corrupted Danny show up on the screen. I never liked seeing this form of Danny, it made me want to hide under a rock and never come out. I had to remind myself that he couldn't see me right now, and to keep myself from turning invisible. I felt Chad trying to reassure me.
"Well, well, well, looks like Tucker finally managed to hack into your base's computer system. I have to say, it was pretty well advanced, it took Tucker a year in order to break through the firewalls and encryptions. Also, congrats on avoiding us this long, bro, but I know you're there, and I know you're getting desperate. I told you that you'd just be fighting on the losing side, brother. But I want to make this a little more fun rather than ending it here and now. I'll give you one hour to gather up whatever troops and confidence you have left, and try to make your way to my throne room. If you can't do that, I'll be sending all my soldiers to take away all your petty resistances in those other bases. One way or another, this game will end, and I will be the winner."
"I'm sending a message to the other bases right now that their locations are compromised and they should be readying themselves for an all out confrontation," Max informed as he rapidly typed at the keyboard.
"Meanwhile I'm telling the doctors that we need those 5 from quarantine to do our strike now," Echo responded. "We have an hour to attack."
"Will our stealth strategy work if he knows we'll likely try to raid his base?" Juliette frowned.
"We're going to still need to be stealthy to sneak into the base. He's likely expecting some kind of counter attack, and maybe he is expecting us to sneak in, but we can't just go fighting all willy nilly once we get inside the base, there will be far too many soldiers for that," Echo sighed. "I knew we should've done something about Tucker, his hacking skills exceeded our expectations."
Max hit send and backed away. "I'm going to go get those beanies as they're vital if we're still hoping to pull off a stealth mission. Also, I know this isn't the time, but I told you so."
Echo glared at Max before Max hurried off to get the beanies.
"Can you try and get in contact with your informant within the hour? Or do we not have enough time?" Juliette questioned. "Because we could still try the original plan we had before. While yes, we're on a time table and Danny is on edge, he might not have accounted for the variables of Andy and I being here."
I was still shaking a bit from seeing Corrupted Danny again.
"I did get in contact with my informant before I saw that we were hacked," Echo admitted. "She sent me all the information she had on the Juliette of this dimension."
"What…" I cleared my throat when I heard it squeak a little. "What information do you have on the Juliette of this world?"
"She is a caretaker for Danny," Echo explained. "She has somewhat of a motherly role in which she cares for Danny and helps him to relax. She'll stroke his hair, sing him lullabies, or simply go in and check on him. Whenever she is near him, his features soften quite a bit. The sharpness in his form dulls and rounds out and he turns into a form much like he used to have but with the colorations he currently has. She sounds like someone I could use right now, that's for sure…"
"So he lets his guard down around her," Juliette noted. "And I would need to act caring and somewhat motherly… I believe I could do that. Is there any nickname that she uses for him? Or does she just call him Danny?"
I was trying to reel in the fact that Danny, Corrupted Danny, would turn into a harmless kitten under Juliette's furry hands. I could feel Chad blushing hotly at the idea as well.
Echo's eyes suddenly looked distant, like he was recalling this from a nostalgic memory rather than from information he just got a few minutes ago.
"She sometimes likes to call him her little Crimson Kitten, because he acts like a kitten when she gets him to relax, he even starts to purr like one… it uh… sounds unbelievable, but I'll bet it's pretty adorable," Echo chuckled.
Juliette gave a nod. "Anything else besides 'Crimson Kitten'? Or anything else I need to know?"
"He does also call him her precious Snowflake," Echo answered. "She does still call him Danny from time to time though, so don't be too afraid to use his name. She's also one of the few who doesn't call him 'the King' unless it was a term of endearment."
"Is there anything she does besides stroking his hair that she does?" Juliette inquired. "Anything that could make him let his guard down so much that he won't realize he's been captured until after there's no chance of escape?"
"I do know she likes to stroke his tail when he dulls it down so he wouldn't accidentally cut her, and after a big meal, he would sometimes request she would rub his tummy. When he feels sleepy, she would stroke his hair, and his back," Echo listed.
"Wow, your inside informant saw all of this happening? That seems like a private personal thing that Danny wouldn't want other servants to see," I spoke up, feeling like the informant was too informative.
"They are a higher up maid," Echo explained.
"Still… Danny is pretty… shy, even if he was corrupted, I just can't imagine him wanting anyone else to see him like that unless they were really close to him," I pointed out.
"Juliette always keeps a maid near her in case she needs something right away," Echo informed.
"That does sound like me," Juliette noted. "If I was in a position like this world's me, I would want a servant nearby at all times so I wouldn't have to wait for someone to arrive."
"Well… I mean… I guess, you were a princess in a past life after all," I relented after hearing their points.
"I did ask them to see if they could arrange it where Juliette, the Juliette of this world, is preoccupied with something while we slip in," Echo stated. "They told me they would try their best but they can't make any promises."
I still had to wonder why and how the Juliette of this world became Danny's… goat mommy. I thought back on our Mom, while she does love us, she didn't tend to be all that motherly to us. She was very motherly with us when we were younger, but once we could fend for ourselves she became more focused on her work.
"So that brings us back to the whole 'how are we capturing Danny' topic," Juliette firmly said.
"I have a prototype device," Echo stated. "It's a multilayer ghost and human shield. It's about the size of a hockey puck. When Juliette has gotten Danny to let his guard down and focus on her, we will enter the room. I will then slide the device towards Danny. When I do so, Juliette you need to back off. When the device activates, it will surround Danny in an orb of ghost and human shields that are designed to absorb his powers and prevent him from escaping in either form.."
"And is that when you'll be able to paralyze or sedate him?" I asked.
"That is the best time when he's weak enough." Echo nodded. "I can take you two to where the page is after Danny is out of commission."
"Sounds like a plan then," I remarked.
Echo put a hand on his neck and moved his head around a bit.
"What's wrong?" Juliette asked.
"Nothing, the lack of sleep is just starting to get to me," Echo answered tiredly.
"What about your medicine? When did you last take it?" Juliette inquired in a worried tone.
"Yesterday morning," Echo replied. "I usually try to avoid taking it in the base, or I'll raise suspicions of being infected."
"Max is getting everything prepared, so maybe you should take a dosage," Juliette recommended. "After all, if this is the final confrontation, we should have as many advantages as possible."
"You're right… there's not many left here to notice it anyways," Echo agreed before he took something out from his coat pocket.
I saw it was a vial with some kind of white glowing liquid inside.
"What is that?" I asked.
"This is my medicine," Echo answered. "I know it looks like glowing milk, but it is medicine. It stops the advancement of the transformation and hampers the worsening of the symptoms. It doesn't exactly have a name, considering not many vials of it were made. It was a failed attempt at a cure after all."
I noticed there was only a little bit of the white liquid stuff left in the vial. Echo might've been taking small doses every day to try to slow down the infection. Echo opened the cork of the vial before he drank a little bit of the white glowing stuff, then he put the cork back on.
"I hate to use it, I don't like seeing the vial getting emptier and emptier each day I take it…" Echo sighed.
"Hopefully soon, you won't have to worry about it," I said. "By that I mean hopefully you'll be able to get a cure soon."
"Wouldn't it be best to take the rest of it?" Juliette inquired. "This is the final strike, is it not? Why hold some of the medicine in reserve?"
"Call me paranoid, but I would rather not drink up the rest of my medicine, even on this final strike. If nothing else, it'll buy me more time in case this fails," Echo answered.
"You wouldn't be Andy if you weren't a little paranoid~" Juliette snickered.
I looked at Juliette. "Hey, I'm not paranoid! I'm just a little cautious is all."
"You can lie to yourself all you want, but you can't lie to me," Juliette chuckled.
"She's right, you know, can't lie to a goat mom, even if she isn't your or Danny's goat mom in your world," Echo chuckled.
Juliette raised a brow at that. "You sound like you speak from experience."
"I'm more speaking of how I would have trouble lying to my own mother, you know, before all of this happened," Echo sighed.
"I just… hope we'll be able to do this…" I hesitated. "Juliette? Can I talk to you in private for a moment?"
"Hm? Yeah, sure," Juliette responded.
"I'll let you two know when we're ready," Echo said before Juliette and I walked off somewhere.
Once I felt we were out of earshot, I turned over to Juliette. "Do you think I should tell them I'm half ghost?"
"No," Juliette shook her head. "At least not right now. They don't need to know you're a halfa. If they found out, they would instantly be less trusting of you. I looked around and they have weapons in their armory that you could equip yourself with. That way you don't need to rely on your ghostly powers."
Heh, so I'll be going back to basics. I couldn't help but muse. "We aren't trained with using most of those weapons. The most I've had with those is the Fenton Rod, and a few guns. Besides, this is Corrupted Danny we're talking about here! He's powerful, intelligent, and fast, I just don't think relying on these weapons is going to be enough."
"Andy, listen, hopefully we won't have to fight at all," Juliette assured. "I just want you to have something in case you do need to fight as a human. Though, if we do get in the throne room and have to fight, Danny will likely call you out for being half ghost, considering you'll likely activate his ghost sense."
"Yeah… I may have to use my ghost half for this fight anyways," I sighed. "I rather my teammates didn't attack me because they thought I was trying to trick them the whole time or something. Though that would be ingenius…"
"I understand you're worried, Andy, but we got this." Juliette smiled as she put a hand on my shoulder.
I felt Chad trying to reassure me as well, though he kept having this lingering feeling of guilt, and I didn't know why Chad would feel guilty. But I appreciated the support nonetheless. I had been on my own before, with little to no help left. I just hope it won't come to that again.
"Okay, Juliette, I suppose there's no point in worrying about the 'what ifs' until we cross that bridge," I relented.
Juliette nodded. "While it's okay to think about the future, one should try to remember that the present still exists. I know you have your future visions, but you can't always rely on them to set a path for yourself. Especially because you unfortunately can't activate them at will, at least not yet."
"Heh… not sure if future visions would help in a completely different world outside of our timeline," I chuckled.
"We don't have a lot of time, so I will make this quick," Echo said as I found myself standing beside the other 5 people who were in quarantine earlier. "This is going to be a stealth mission, not a battle mission. You are not, under any circumstances, to be caught out there. If you're caught, then that's it for you. We can't spare anyone to try to rescue your sorry butt."
"You will all be following me," Juliette informed. "As Echo has caught you up to speed, you know that I'm not the Juliette from your world. I'll be taking you all in as prisoners to face Danny. Once we get just outside the throne room, I will send away any guards. I shall then proceed in alone at first but leave the door open a tiny bit so you can observe my progress. I will attempt to get Danny to let his guard down completely. If I am successful, then you are to sneak into the room and activate that trap that Echo said was specifically designed for Danny. However, if I am not successful and it looks like I've been caught, you will rush in. I shall do my best to get away from Danny so he won't have the chance to use me as a hostage. Are there any questions?"
"Is this really the final strike?" One of them asked.
"Yes, we either defeat Danny now, or we lose everything," Echo answered. "Danny knows the location of the other resistance bases now, he only gave us an hour to try to take him down, and we already spent a good chunk of it trying to get all of you ready. Whether you like it or not… this will be our final strike."
"We can do it, guys," Max stated confidently. "While our group is a bit small, I want to believe we have more than what it takes to capture Danny and get him to undo everything he has done."
"We'll follow behind you all the way to the end, Echo," One of the group said loyally.
I couldn't help but smile a little at everyone's determination to see this to the end.
"I'm glad to have been with you all throughout this experience," Echo stated. "Now everyone, put on your gas masks and your beanies, keep your weapons hidden as much as possible. Try not to get anyone's attention on you, and head for Amity Tower. I wish you all the best of luck."
Everyone grabbed their gas masks and put them on. I already had mine on. I was feeling anxious, excited, restless, and jumpy. I felt like I could do anything, but I had to suppress that feeling, because I also had to remind myself that Corrupted Danny was in charge of this world, and I didn't need to go flying around like an idiot with a neon sign on my back.
"Echo, just to make sure, you're okay with me saying I captured you if it comes to it, right?" Juliette questioned as Echo was pulling his gas mask on. "I'm pretty sure the way for me would instantly be cleared if I said I had captured you. But I want to save that for a trump card."
"If you must," Echo answered. "But if either me and Andy are in the same room together, people are going to get suspicious. I would suggest Andy and I would try to stay as separate as possible once we get into Amity Tower."
"You will be up at the front of the group with me while my Andy will be in the middle surrounded by everyone else," Juliette replied. "That way you can lead me where I need to go. After all, you said your informant told you how to get to Danny's throne room."
"Yes, assuming they were accurate," Echo answered. "Remember, Andy, you can't stick with me when we get to Amity Tower. Try to stay with the other group until Juliette distracts Danny."
"Okay," I replied. "I'll try my best to not stay too close to you."
"Of course, once we get to the throne room, it's fair game from there," Echo added.
"We're ready when you are, Echo," A tall, lanky person spoke up.
"I'll go up first to make sure the area is clear," Juliette informed as she began to float off the ground. "One tap on the ladder means all is clear. Four taps means there is trouble. Danny did give us an hour, but he also said he knew the location of all the bases. If he truly is as corrupt as everyone says, the whole 'one hour' could've been a bluff to get us to leave the base."
"Sure is nice having a ghost helping us," Max chuckled as Juliette turned invisible and flew up the ladder.
Everyone waited anxiously for Juliette's signal. I felt particularly angsty. I found myself tapping on my arm, not sure why I was feeling this way, I doubted Juliette was going to just get caught the second she peeked out of the base, yet I felt like bolting up towards her.
After a few minutes, there was a single loud tap that reverberated down the metal ladder.
We didn't hear anymore tapping after that.
"It's the all clear signal, let's go," Echo stated.
Echo was the first to start climbing the ladder, followed by Max, then another person, then I started climbing while the rest came up behind me. Once everyone came out of the base, the last person shut the hatch.
"Cover it up a little to make it seem like we're still in the base," Echo ordered.
Three people quickly covered up the base.
"Now… stay close, but not too close, we don't want anyone to be suspicious. Try to act normal, as if we're just tourists coming to see the Amity Tower," Echo instructed.
"If we are intercepted by any patrols outside the tower, I will try to convince them that I'm showing you around town. If they look like they won't accept that excuse then I shall tell them that I captured you and are escorting you to Amity Tower," Juliette explained. "However, once we get to the tower, the only excuse I may use is the latter one."
"We understand, do what you must do," A lady resistant member said.
Everyone began walking into town. Amity Park was just as lively as ever, despite all the ghosts and halfas flying around. I was glad that not all halfas seemed to be interested in flying, a few looked content with just walking, it made our group less suspicious that way. Our hoodies covered our faces and gas masks, everyone had their beanie on in hopes that it would keep us safe from the telepathic ghost once we got close to Amity Tower.
Speaking of the Amity Tower, I couldn't believe that I hadn't noticed it earlier, but it was a very tall tower, it almost looked like it reached the clouds, if the red sky had clouds. It looked more like a castle than a tower though, there were other smaller towers around it, and a lot of ghosts and halfas were flying to and from the windows of the other towers. As we got closer to Amity Tower, I could see more people were flocking around the area, it would seem tourism for Amity Tower was a common thing here.
"MAKE WAY FOR ONE OF THE KING'S MOST TRUSTED!" A guard shouted before the path in front of Juliette opened.
"Heh… should've warned you that we'd likely get this welcome," Echo softly said to Juliette as she got closer to the tower.
Juliette was smiling and waving at the ghosts and halfas that were taking pictures. There were a few ghost children and halfa children that were standing on the side of the cleared path, but when Juliette smiled at them they blushed and disappeared into the crowd. At least most of them did, as one or two children approached Juliette and asked for an autograph, which she happily gave them.
"I hope you are all having a wondrous time in Amity Park, everyone!" Juliette beamed as she continued walking. "Everyone who lives here is more than happy to welcome visitors and tourists who wish to see our grand city. We are always looking for new residents, so please feel free to come live here in Amity Park with us!"
I wanted to laugh, Juliette almost sounded like a commercial and a welcoming hostess at the same time. Then I remembered that she used to be a princess and this was likely something she had learned to do to appease the peasants.
"Ma'am, it is a welcome surprise to see you out and about," One of the halfa guards at the door to Amity Tower said with a small smile. "Have you found some new potential servants for yourself or our lord?"
"I have, yes." Juliette smiled. "I am planning on taking them inside immediately to have them properly dressed. After all, servants can't wear simple street clothes, can they?~"
"Of course not," The halfa guard chuckled. "Just be sure to let Captain Scarlet know about this, we wouldn't want her to worry about you."
"Mommy?" I heard a halfa child speaking up curiously. "Why are those people all wearing hoods over their heads? They look kinda creepy."
"Of course." Juliette giggled before she turned to the child, walked over to them, and kneeled down in front of them. "The reason they're wearing hoods is because when I show them off to everyone, I want them to be in their proper uniforms, sweetie. So hiding their faces shouldn't be seen as creepy, but mysterious and interesting."
The child and her mother both smiled at Juliette, though shyly.
"That's so cool, Princess!" The little girl smiled.
Juliette then reached forwards and lightly booped the nose of the child. "I'm glad you think so, sweetheart."
The child nearly fainted from happiness when Juliette booped her, I had to hold my breath to keep from laughing.
Juliette stood up and smiled at everyone.
"I hope you all enjoy your time here!" Juliette smiled. "As much as I would love to spend the rest of the day out here talking to each and every one of you, I must get my new servants inside."
Juliette gave one final wave before she turned and headed towards the front door of Amity Tower, which slid open as she approached.
"Come on, everyone, time to get you all dressed up!~" Juliette giggled excitedly before we followed her inside.
haloguardian452: DarkFoxKit: A world where Corrupted Danny won, yeah, sort of. There are some differences though, which you will likely see later on.
Andrealimon2380: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Maaaaaaaaaaaaaybe Nobody knows?
Jewel moonstone: DarkFoxKit: I appreciate your comments, but if you usually don't have anything to say about the chapter or story itself, then just PM us about your personal comments. Reviews are meant for people to talk about their thoughts on the chapter or story itself.
DP-Marvel94: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Yeah, it definitely is adorable. I remember having a close relationship with my grandfather and how loving and caring he was. As for the meeting between that Danny and our Andy, it was definitely an interesting one to write out. After all, there are supposedly infinite timelines where one or two things are different. In that last timeline, Andy never existed.
DarkFoxKit: Yeah, I've always wanted to do a 'what if' scenario where Corrupted Danny actually won. I figured it would be interesting to do it here, where they're in a different reality altogether. As for Echo reacting to Andy being a halfa… heh… hehehehe… Also, it's always nice to hear from you.
Luna Lillyth: DarkFoxKit: It's always fun to emotionally torture Andy. Maybe I'm being a bit too sadistic with him though. ^^'
wangyanrong2003: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': You weren't the only one who missed out hinting and implications. Chad is a source of feelings that Andy picked up after he started going through Freakshow's 'game'. I won't say more, but if you look back you may be able to see the implications. I'd rather not outright say as there are some people who have yet to figure it out.
DarkFoxKit: What? I thought we made it glaringly obvious who Chad was.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Some people aren't as keen eyed… and others are blind to implications. If they haven't figured it out, I'd rather not spell it out for them. After all, there are times where you do something over and over, like play a game, and only notice after the 5th time that there was a HUGE detail that you didn't see the first time, despite the developers putting it right in your face.
Mana: DarkFoxKit: Yeah, being a long time Danny Phantom fan, I've read a lot of DP fanfiction, and many people called Clockwork an Ancient, so I went with it myself.
The whole intimate relationship Danny was showing Clockwork is actually something I see a lot in some DP fanfic, and I thought it would be cute to add it into my own story. Especially since they're ghosts, they're more instinctually driven than humans are. And I like the idea of exploring Danny's ghost half more as well. Which is something our Danny and Andy will have to deal with at some point too.
There is still a possibility the Ghost Zone and the Earth would destabilize after a while. But it's vague and unknown right now. I haven't seen College Years, so… any references to that would just go over my head. Sorry. ^^'
Kim Possible was kind of unique in terms of the hero trope. She's a normal girl, and someone who saves people constantly, yet she doesn't bother hiding it like in most shows of the same or similar tropes. Personally I like it when the protagonists have to keep their identities a secret, because I always get a kick of how they're going to keep themselves hidden, and the irony it comes with when people praise their alter egos, but look down on them in their normal, civilized forms. But that's just me. I still enjoyed Kim Possible, and Ron is probably my favorite character, right next to his way too intelligent and acrobatic naked mole rat buddy, Rufus. I still say Rufus is actually one of Jumba's Experiments, there's no way an ordinary naked mole rat could do half the things Rufus could.
Getting back on topic, the Wisps are actually inspired from the ones from Brave. They are also inspired from another DP fanfic I've been reading. I thought the lore and idea behind them with ghosts was fun and clever, so I added them in.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': While the idea of adding more 'life' to the Ghost Zone makes sense, some species might be territorial. For instance, Frostbite and his kind might not take too kindly to sharing the Far Frozen with ice horses or frost fairies. They don't necessarily need to eat, so putting wildlife there for the sake of them hunting might mess with their lore a bit. As for your comment about the Wisps from Brave, we are using a somewhat similar design except they're not just one color and they make more of a warm hum than the noise that is in the movie.
DarkFoxKit: I would've liked to know what Steve Marmel would've done in season 3. But I guess we'll never know. Urban Jungle was definitely pretty dark, what with the whole plants taking over the world, turning human into their slaves, and Danny having to run away from Amity Park. I felt that it should've been a two parter episode, the pacing felt way too fast. I do like the introduction to Danny's new ice powers though. Too bad he didn't get to use it much before the show was cancelled. As for the Eye for an Eye, honestly that… that premise right there, Vlad wanting to make Danny's life a living nightmare for revenge for killing his clone son would've been just perfect. It shows how far gone Vlad had become after what happened with his clone son, rather than they started pranking each other… because… Danny started it apparently? I wouldn't think someone like Vlad would care about some pranks that a 14 year old boy did, even if he did get the Guys in White to destroy his house… which they really shouldn't have been allowed to do in the first place.
There was a lot they could've done with season 3. I find season 3 to be the most lore heavy of the DP series. There was a lot of potential there, but most of it was wasted in the end. There were a few good episodes, like Frightmare, and Boxed up Fury at least showed the Box Ghost to be a menace, even if it was for one episode… and they teased us with Danny's telekinesis there… picking up a rake. But yeah, lots of wasted potential, but that's why I'm excited to get into season 3. There's so much to fix, yet so much for us to work with that I'm excited about it.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': With the ice trees and stuff, that doesn't necessarily work on the surface of the Far Frozen. More likely, they built down into the ice and have trees and things there. We actually explored this a bit in The Infinite Realms story, the other DP fanfiction we're working on, at some point. We will eventually be posting that chapter, we just want to get this story past the point of spoilers.
Getting back on topic, the reason trees on the surface might not work is because the cold of the environment would likely create their own winds, and winds on a tundra can get quite strong. Strong enough to topple over any tree that doesn't have the root system of an Aspen or Redwood. With them potentially being able to alter their environment, they would more likely build up the ice layers and then build down underneath it in a massive ice-cave system.
sskgmtbooks: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': We heavily implied who Chad is. If you need to, I suggest re-reading when Chad first came in. As I said before, with the other reviewer, I'm not going to outright say who Chad is.
DarkFoxKit: I'm… still shocked that you don't know who Chad is. Really, go back and re-read some of the chapters if you really can't figure out who Chad is and try to put two and two together.
The Moonfox Collective: DarkFoxKit: Yes… well as you know, in the movie for My Brother's a Ghost, Andy is terrified of the idea of becoming a halfa, especially since they were pretty much the zombie apocalypse to him. Andy and Juliette do believe it's best Echo didn't know. As for Echo finding out… heh… hehehehe…
Well, Andy is a bit of a special case. The 'time touch' mostly just triggered it. If you've read Digital Phantom, another DP fanfiction I've been writing with ZAFT Prime, it's on their account, not mine, there is actually an explanation to it. It was just something I hadn't fleshed out until recently, which is why it's in Digital Phantom and not so much here.
The main rule is to not be captured. If they're captured, it's game over for them. They would not be able to chase down Freakshow anymore. Dying is… well, I guess not dying is also a great thing to do. But Juliette is a ghost, so she's technically already dead, and Andy is half dead, sooooo… a bit of a weird rule for that one.
Hmm… heh, well thank you for your words of encouragement. But it would be nice to get some peace of mind soon. Thanks for reading and reviewing!