DarkFoxKit: Wow… we're about a week late, aren't we? Sorry readers, our schedule has been pretty messed up since I had to go to the hospital. I've been a bit stressed lately, so it's been a little difficult focusing on writing and remembering when to update.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': I don't think anyone blames you for taking the time you need, Fox. And if anyone does, that's on them and not you. Now, just a bit of an update to everyone, Fox is working on getting her treatment started. When she is going through treatment, updates might be delayed as her treatment will likely sap a lot of her energy. I really hope that you all are understanding of this and help support Fox in whatever way you can.
DarkFoxKit: But at least we were able to get another chapter out to you guys today. We hope you enjoy it as usual.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': One last thing. For any of you who are also readers of Child of Mew, I would like to say that we are coming up with plans for it and it hasn't been forgotten. However, due to the current issues we are facing, we are holding off on working on the story until after Fox is done with her treatment and recovery. That way we can really put our all into writing the story. I thank you for your patience regarding CoM, as well as all of Fox's other stories.
Chapter 96: Overthrowing a Corrupt King
"This… definitely seems like the way to the throne room," Juliette softly said as she looked back at the rest of the group. "I am picking up Danny's energy and we are getting closer…" Juliette frowned. "His energy is… cold and harsh… definitely what I would expect from a dictator like leader."
"We can't get to the throne room easily though, the room is sealed off, you'd have to use ghost powers to get in there," Max informed.
"Considering Juliette is technically allowed, she may be able to use the doors," Echo remarked. "Hopefully there isn't any special key to using the doors… even then, thinking about it… maybe we should split off. According to my intel, there are side doors to the throne room that aren't anything special that servants use to enter the room. We could split the team into 3 groups, one at the main entrance to the throne room, two on either of the side doors."
"That sounds good to me. And splitting up means we're less likely to be seen as suspicious and risk getting caught," Another resistance member agreed.
"Once Juliette has gotten Danny's guard down, she'll clear her throat twice. Once we hear that, we all rush into the throne room," Echo explained, going over the plans once more. "Juliette, when you go in through the front entrance, can you leave the door ajar a little. I'd rather not risk getting locked out."
Juliette gave a nod. "I can manage that. Oh, and when you all rush in, please try to give me at least a second to get away from Danny. I'd rather not be caught in whatever trap you have for him."
"What's our group of 3 going to be then?" I asked.
"It would be best if I stick close to Juliette, since my informant managed to send me a map of the interior of the building before we got hacked, I can lead her straight to Danny," Echo replied. "But the rest of you will need to find the other entrances. It would be dangerous if more than one 'servant' goes with Juliette. Danny would get suspicious if Juliette had many servants with her, especially since she tends to only like keeping one servant with her at a time."
"You can join my team, bud," Max offered. "We'll take Twitchy, which is her code name just so you know. The other four of you can head to the other door."
I looked at the other 5, trying to see who was Twitchy. It was difficult to tell who was who exactly with their faces covered up, I guess I was the easiest to tell since I was the shortest one in this group, even Echo was slightly taller than me, which lead me to believe this might be several months to a year at the least in the future to when my reality's timeline is.
A thin hooded person walked to me and Max, and they spoke in a feminine voice. "Okay, let's get this thing over with you two. Hopefully once we're done, we can get information on a cure from the soon to be former king."
"We'll be sure to meet you all on the other side," Someone from the other group said, giving us a thumbs up.
"Good luck out there, and don't do anything stupid and rash," Max replied back.
I turned to look at Juliette and Echo. "Are you sure you two will be okay on your own? I mean… I know how dangerous Danny is in this form."
I felt Chad feeling worried, but also a bit annoyed.
"I give you my word that I will be as safe as I can, Andy." Juliette smiled.
"So once we've all gotten into position, I'll send you the signal," Max informed Echo. "And then we'll wait for Juliette to clear her throat twice to strike."
Juliette stepped a little closer to me. "If I notice Danny about to strike at all, I will turn invisible, intangible, and go into the floor. You don't need to worry about me. And if escape plan A doesn't work, I do have a backup power I've been working on over the past few weeks."
I still worried for Juliette, but I gave her a nod. "Let's hope we'll all get out of this in one peice."
With that, the other group of 4 went off in one direction, I followed Max and Twitchy in another. I couldn't help but get a chilling vibe as we began to travel through the large tower.
Juliette, as much as she seemed confident, was nervous for what was to come.
(Juliette: Just like that?)
(Andy: Did you have to write all that just to indicate it was you writing now?)
(Juliette: Andy, you wished for me to write what was going on from my point of view. I am a royal who has been taught that to properly inform the readers, one must show how the person feels.)
(Andy: *Sigh* Alright, alright, I'll let you get to writing out what happened.)
When Andy left with Max and Twitchy, I couldn't help but feel more nervous. I wanted to make Andy think I was feeling confident, but I was truthfully terrified at what could be coming my way in the near future. I would be not only going up against someone who I consider a friend in another reality, but I would be going up against a king, one that had a potentially large insight into my strategies and abilities. I could only hope that the version of me that existed within this world was more predictable than I and didn't tend to change things up.
"Shall we get going to the throne room now, Juliette? It would be wise to get there before the others so you'll already have Danny relaxed on you by the time they get there," Echo stated.
Juliette gave a small nod. "Let's get going. Hopefully Danny won't be able to see through my act."
"Don't worry, just be yourself." Echo smiled before he held out a hand. "It would be faster if you could fly us there. I'll tell you where to go to get to the throne room. You'll want to fly up, since it's on the top floor of the tower."
"Are you sure I should be using my powers on you? Couldn't it possibly speed up your infection?" I worriedly asked.
"Don't worry, the only way you could speed up the infection was if you went into my body and nurtured it yourself," Echo assured me. "Ghost powers being used on me by an outside force wouldn't do anything."
"I will take your word for it," I responded before I held out a hand towards Echo. "I will turn us both intangible and then fly us up to the floor the throne room is on. But when we get up there, we should walk the rest of the way to the throne room."
Echo nodded. "Of course."
Once I took Echo's hand, I turned both of us intangible and flew up. Echo told me where to go on each floor. I just hoped Echo memorized the layout when his informative was able to give it to him, or we might be going in the wrong direction. I wish I knew who this informative was though. Who would actually be bold enough to work against the king of this world?
"You can stop here," Echo spoke up. "We're close to the throne room."
I gave a nod and turned us back to tangibility before landing us on the floor. "I will say, there's a surprising lack of any servants… it's almost a little… worrying that we have only seen a couple on the way up here. Is it possible Danny is expecting us to attack? I mean, I know he gave us that deadline earlier but to attack him in his… well his castle is a bit unpredictable."
"Yes," Echo agreed. "Danny is a very smart person, he was that way even before he turned into this form that allows him to tap into his brain more than the average person. He also had strategists like you to help him create this castle. It's why it's so well fortified, and why not a lot of resistance teams were able to penetrate through it."
"Do you think he knows we're coming then? I mean if this place was built to be impenetrable, you would think he would feel as safe as can be," I replied, my nervousness growing.
"Believe it or not, there had been a rare few times that a resistance team was able to get to his throne room. Well… not his throne room exactly, but his bedroom, the room he uses to sleep or relax," Echo explained. "I did say not a lot were able to penetrate, not that none of them were able to. Unfortunately for the resistance team that were able to get that far, they were caught by one of Danny's closest family members before they could do anything to Danny."
"If he is expecting us, then does that change our plans?" I questioned, worried about the plan potentially being compromised.
Echo shook his head. "Don't worry. Danny still doesn't know about you, and while I can't quite control my future visions, I don't see him possibly figuring out our plans until the last minute, where it would already be too late for him."
I gave a slightly relieved sigh at that. "Okay, good. Because I'd rather not walk into the throne room and end up immediately captured."
Echo looked down the corridor. The corridor itself was long and creepy looking. I may be a ghost, but even I find this creepy. There was a long red carpet, all leading to a big set of doors.
"You go ahead and walk in front of me. I have to stay behind you since I'm the servant. Just head for the doors. When you get there, put your hand on one of the knobs, they will sense your ecto signature and open up for you," Echo instructed softly.
I nodded, hoping the information that Echo's informant had given them was completely correct. I walked ahead, following both the red carpet, and the feeling of this world's Danny's corrupt energy. A part of me felt a little sick the closer we were getting, but that was mainly due to the fact that the energy of someone I normally called a friend had been perverted and twisted in such a way in this world. I couldn't imagine how Andy must have felt to face such a thing in his world. And I couldn't even grasp at what struggled Echo went through here.
While the doors had seemed so far away, I almost couldn't believe how close we had gotten. There were no booby traps, nor were there any other servants questioning us, it was just a straight line. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of the doors. The knobs looked like crystal balls with something red inside them. It creeped me out. Echo hissed from behind me.
"Those look like replicas of the crystal ball Freakshow had, the same one that held the power that fused with Danny and turned him into what he is today," Echo informed. "I guess that's what they've been using to scan one's ecto signature. If a human without a core were to touch it, it would trigger the security system."
"You… sure that's all it does?" I hesitantly asked as I looked at the swirling red inside the orb.
Echo frowned a little. "I've never touched the knobs myself, so I wouldn't know if there was some secret feature to them. I think my informative mention you might feel a slight prick though. It wouldn't hurt, just irritate your finger for a moment."
"I take it that the prick I will feel is the door handle taking a sample of my ectoplasm?" I guessed, seeing how that could be a very smart safety feature in any other scenario.
"I would guess so," Echo answered. "Go ahead and try it. We shouldn't stand here too long."
I gave a nervous nod and gulped a little before I put my hand on top of one of the orbs. It felt very smooth and cool. Then I felt the prick Echo warned me about. It felt like the tip of a needle quickly jabbed my finger a little, though he was right in saying it didn't hurt. I saw the knob under my hand glowing for a second. Then the door opened a little. As soon as the door opened, I could immediately sense a powerful aura, it was so powerful that I nearly choked on it. It made Pariah Dark feel like a kitten.
I took a few deep breaths to center myself and calm down before I pushed the door open.
"Sorry to intrude, but I wanted to come visit!~" I announced excitedly as I walked into the room, closing the door but stopping when there was only a crack. "I hope you don't mind."
I could see an outline of Danny in this dark room. His eyes glowed a very creepy red in the darkness. Then the lights came on. This was the first time I was seeing Danny in this corrupted form that Andy was telling me about. His hair was dark red, his suit was red where the white was supposed to be, his nails under his gloves were sharp and long, looking like claws. Danny's eyes were glowing a crimson red, and when he gave a smirk, I could see his canines looked more like fangs with how sharp they were. Danny's feet turned into a ghostly tail, but it looked solid, gray, and incredibly sharp. I had no doubt in my mind that tail could penetrate even through the toughest rock easily. I had to hold my breath and count to ten to keep myself calm when I saw Danny.
Danny used his hands to crawl down from the throne and over to me, almost like an animal since his feet were currently a tail, and he didn't seem all that interested in floating.
"Juliette, it's always good to see you," Danny stated when he got close to me. "I was just thinking about calling you actually."
"Oh?" I tilted my head. "Is there something you wanted me to talk about, my precious Snowflake?"
"Well, I've been pretty stressed these past few days. And when Tucker finally managed to hack into the resistance's database, I got pretty excited with the conclusion of this little game. But I think it would do me some good to have some r and r before the big climax, don't you think?" Danny remarked.
"I know you have been working a lot quite recently," I chuckled, trying to act as much like I figured the Juliette of this world did. "In fact, I wanted to come check in and make sure my little Crimson Kitten was doing okay."
"That's always just like you. You always seem to know when I need you~" Danny smiled, his tail moving around me.
I steeled my nerves, understanding that the me of this world was a caretaker like figure for Danny. I also know what it meant when a ghost, child or not, wrapped their tail around another ghost.
"Would you like to sit down on the couch?" I suggested with a smile, pointing at the nearby couch.
"Oh yes, I could use your healing touch." Danny grinned before he moved towards the couch, still using his hands to walk.
"Danny, I know I've likely told you this numerous times before, but it's bad for your posture to crawl around like that. And while yes, we have servants cleaning the place frequently, you risk getting your hands dirty," I lightly scolded as I walked over to the couch.
"You only told me once," Danny replied.
"You saying that means you remember, yet you're still crawling around," I responded, hoping I was staying within how this world's Juliette would talk to her Danny.
Danny raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I know. And it was Scarlet who told me to practice running and walking like this so I could move faster on the ground. That's why you never told me not to again, until now."
"That's all well and good, but you are trying to relax right now," I logically argued. "If you try to combine training and relaxation, you will only end up causing more strain for yourself."
Danny rolled his eyes a little before he floated upright and sat down on the couch.
"I am sorry if I'm being a little more concerned than I normally am," I apologized as I sat down on the couch. "You've been working incredibly hard lately and I can't help but feel that way with the fact we're getting closer and closer to the end of the game, you are putting more and more pressure on yourself."
"Yeah…" Danny sighed as he put a hand on his neck before moving it around, which made me blink as I remember seeing Echo doing the exact same thing earlier back at the base. "It's way too easy to put too much pressure on myself, being the king of the world and all. Which is why I'm glad you volunteered to be my caretaker."
I smiled a little. "Danny, maybe once this game is over, or perhaps even before then, you can take a day or two away from the throne and just be a boy again. You could use illusions to disguise yourself and walk out amongst the populace. I'm sure you miss going to the movie theater to watch films, or go to Nasty Burger to enjoy some of the… less than healthy food."
"I certainly do," Danny admitted. "Heh, don't worry, I've already made plans with Tucker and Sam later. Jazz and Valerie are going to take care of the rest while I try to enjoy myself."
"Hopefully by that time we'll have Andy back," I commented as I patted the couch beside me.
Danny scooted closer to me before he laid himself on his stomach on my lap. His body felt cold, which nearly made me shiver.
I began to stroke his back with my right hand while stroking his head with the left.
"It has been quite some time since you last saw each other. It would be good to see you two reunited," I commented, phrasing things vaguely enough where I wouldn't make any sort of mistake.
I noticed Danny's tail was relaxing on the couch as I continued to stroke his head and back.
"Yeah, it has been a while. This game has gone on far longer than I thought it would," Danny sighed. "I'd like for this to be over soon so he could come over. I'm sure he could use a few of your massages himself."
"You know how he can be," I chuckled softly before I brought my left hand away from Danny's head and began to give him a light back massage. Instantly I could feel how stressed he was due to the tightness of his muscles. "Andy always finds a way to impress or make things last just that little bit longer."
"Oh definitely, he's always unpredictable," Danny agreed. "By the way… is that your servant over there by the door?"
"Yes, that's a new servant I picked up earlier," I answered, quickly coming up with a believable excuse. "I told them to wait outside and left the door slightly ajar so I could wave them over if I needed them to fetch anything. I am still training them, hence why they do not yet have access to the throne room doors."
"I see. How interesting. You usually don't pick up new servants yourself," Danny remarked.
"I did go for a walk earlier," I informed. "And I found that child without any parents or family. You can guess how that made me feel."
"Ah, an orphan, huh? I guess that makes sense now, you always did have such a motherly side~" Danny grinned before he relaxed more on my lap.
I noticed that Danny's tail looked a lot softer now, the sharp edges smoothed out, looking more like his normal ghost tail.
"Another reason I do not wish for them to be inside here is because they're a bit nervous about being in the presence of the mighty King of Ghosts." I giggled as I began to add more pressure to the back massage. "Though I believe I may have breathed in a bit too much pollen as my throat has been feeling a little itchy since my small excursion."
"It could also be all the microcores in the air… but if you need a drink, perhaps you can get your servant to fetch you one… I rather not have you move from this spot right now," Danny replied, stretching out like a lazy cat.
"The microcores don't normally make my throat feel itchy," I stated before I coughed once. "But maybe I should get a drink."
I then made a beckoning motion with one hand towards Echo before I coughed again. "Could you come here for a moment, child? I have a request."
Echo slowly opened the door, and hesitantly walked inside, looking every bit as nervous as I felt.
"It's alright, the king won't bite~" I assured with a small giggle before looking down at Danny. "Right, my little Snowflake?"
In response, Danny gave a yawn, which showed more of his teeth, which almost made me stiffen. "I have no reason to."
Echo moved closer to the couch, but stopped after a few feet. "Um… yes… my princess?"
"My throat is feeling a little parch-" I stopped and coughed loudly twice. "I am sorry. As I was saying, I'm feeling parched and could use a drink."
"Oh, umm… Princess… we seem to be short on staff at the moment. I will have to go out and get your drink myself," Echo said softly, sounding a bit strained.
"You know the way to go, correct?" I asked, noticing that there was nobody else in the room. Where in the world is everyone else? Surely it's been long enough for them to get into position!
"Of course. I will go as quickly as possible for your drink, Princess," Echo promised.
"Do not go so quick that you hurt yourself," I instructed before continuing my massage of Danny's back. Find them and get them here now. "Oh, make sure you don't close the door all the way when you leave, otherwise I'll have to come open it back up when you return."
"I will keep that in mind, Princess," Echo bowed before he walked quickly to the door, opening it, and walked out, leaving it a crack open.
Though I was feeling nervous, there was something therapeutic about stroking Danny like this.
Meanwhile, back with Andy and his group...
(Juliette: Ooooh… so that is how you were hoping I would do it. Okay. I'll make sure to do better next time.)
(Andy: Why do I get the feeling it's not going to be how I think?)
The castle was big, but thankfully there was an elevator that would take us to the top of the tower. There were a few other ghost servants flying by. They gave us curious looks, but they kept going without saying anything.
"Don't you think this is a bit too easy?" Max spoke up after a while. "I've heard that the castle was impenetrable, yet we're just waltzing towards the elevator like it's no big deal."
"I… have noticed that there haven't been a lot of servants around here," I agreed.
"I'd say don't look a gift horse in the mouth. If the king doesn't think we're bold enough to sneak in here, then good for us," Twitchy remarked.
"The problem is that if he didn't expect us, the halls would be filled with servants," Max pointed out. "To me it seems like we're walking into a trap."
"You think Danny- the, uh… king is waiting for us?" I frowned. That could mean Juliette is in danger if he knows we're coming! Of course he would know, he's Corrupted Danny! He's super smart! He knows everything! He-
Chad immediately began sending soothing emotions right into me, as if he was somehow pumping it all in my brain, and trying to relax me. My beating heart started to slow down as I calmed down. I sent a grateful emotion back to Chad since I wasn't sure if he would understand me if I spoke to him.
"It's only a possibility," Max replied. "For all we know, the servants are meeting or are joining the forces that are going to attack the headquarters."
"Whatever the case may be, we'll be ready for the trap. There's no way even the king would know about our secret weapon; our own Juliette," Twitchy stated. "Now let's hurry and get into the elevator."
I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, but it could just be because of this place in general.
"Hmmm… before we all load in, let me check something," Max commented as he pulled out a device and scanned the elevator, trying to see if it was trapped. "Hmm… doesn't seem like the elevator is rigged at all. And the systems are working as they would normally."
I was glad to know the elevator wasn't rigged. Twitchy pushed the up button that was on the wall beside the elevator. After we waited for a moment, the elevator doors opened. Max, Twitchy, and I walked into the elevator. I was surprised to see it was a glass elevator, so I could see outside as the elevator door closed. I saw that Max pushed the top floor button, and the elevator began its ascension. I had noticed that the top floor was on the 15th level.
As we were waiting for the elevator to reach the destined floor, I wondered to myself if I would be able to face Corrupted Danny again. If I saw him face to face right now, I questioned if I would be able to do what I needed to do or if my body would freeze up in fear.
"Hey, Andy, question," Max spoke up as we were waiting in the elevator. "You have your own Danny, right? What is he like? Is he anything like this world's Danny?"
"I haven't personally met this world's Danny to be able to tell how much he is like my Danny," I answered. "But assuming he's like how Danny was when he was corrupted… then I have to say both yes and no. Danny always had the idea of everyone living in peace, and in a perfect, harmonious utopia, but he wasn't… twisted about it. He certainly didn't have the kind of powers this Danny had. He was a hero, though some do see him as a villain simply because he's a ghost or due to the collateral damage that is caused during his ghost fights. But beyond his ghostly identity, he was just a normal kid who wanted to hang out with his friends, who went to school like everyone else, loved his family, and just wanted to get through the day. He is someone I both love and admire for his courage and pure heart. So to see him like this… it scares and worries me."
"You worried your Danny is capable of becoming like the Danny of our world?" Twitchy asked.
"Worse… that my Danny could become like the Danny of this world again," I replied. "He did become like this Danny before, due to a horrible wish gone wrong. I managed to stop it, but… this… I can only assume this was the reality of what would've happened if I wasn't able to stop him. But… there are a lot of differences too. In my reality, there weren't any halfas, at least not any stable ones. Everyone Danny turned ended up as full ghosts later on. I don't know why it's different here. I can only guess Danny somehow found a way to reverse the process somehow."
"How did you stop your Danny?" Max raised a brow.
"Time shenanigans… I managed to use an artifact that a powerful ghost had, the ghost has the ability to control time, so the artifact had time powers inside it. I used it to reverse time to before Danny became Corrupted Danny, and thus, preventing… well, this kind of world," I answered, though I kept the details vague.
"I would ask if you could tell us about that artifact, but this is our last chance," Max remarked with a small sigh. "If we fail here… then Danny will have won."
"Besides… I don't think it would help us anyways," Twitchy spoke up. "This has been going on for a few years now. It would take too much power to reverse time all the way back to before the king became… the king."
As much as I hated to admit it, Twitchy had a point there. It only worked for me because Danny had been like that for a week or so at the most, and even then it took a lot of energy and power to reverse time up to that point. Heck, I almost got wiped from existence doing that.
"Power isn't really an issue," Max replied. "If we had that artifact months ago, we could've hooked it up to the nuclear power plant that was serving as our base… before it got captured and taken over."
"So this is really the last chance we have left, huh?" I said with a frown. This might be selfish of me… but I'm really glad this isn't my reality. I don't know how I could live through something like this… but apparently I do if Echo was any indication.
"That it is," Twitchy confirmed before the elevator stopped. "Just like we thought, Max. They changed the elevators so one wouldn't go all the way up to the royal chambers floor. Looks like we're two floors down from there."
"Maybe we could just use the stairs to get up to the last floor?" I suggested.
Max shook his head. "The other team split up to take the stairs. We should keep going our own way in order to minimize chances of being captured."
The elevator doors opened, and the three of us walked out. The floor itself looked like one long hallway. There were several doors, but they were all shut. I did notice that there were large gaps between each doorway, which I assumed meant that the rooms behind the doors were large.
"This looks… creepy," I noted. "It kind of screams booby trapped."
"Booby trapped?" Max questioned as he glanced at Twitchy.
"Oh definitely." Twitchy nodded as she looked down the hallway. "The fact that there are large stretches of the hallway on both sides, between each set of doors, that are devoid of any decoration leads me to believe that in those sections there are traps. We might be able to trigger them without getting ourselves caught, but that might come at the price of us losing our element of surprise. We could try to hack the scanners or see how the traps are triggered to avoid them… but considering we're in the stronghold of the king, there are likely multiple different triggers for each trap… Meaning we have three options. One is that we can rush through and try not to get hit by the traps but very likely give up the element of surprise. Two is that we try to see what sets off the traps and disable or jam those mechanisms. Or three, find a way to get past them by tricking the sensors."
"Do we even know where the traps are or the sensors that trigger them?" Max asked.
Twitchy held up a device of some kind that had a screen on it.
"Looks like there are three sections of traps up ahead," Twitchy informed. "Between here and the first set of doors on either side has no traps, likely to lull us into a false sense of security. Then after that, there are the three sections between the doors and the elevator at the far end. Each have a different type of trap, but I can't see what the final two are. The first one is a basic 'floor opens up underneath you' pitfall trap. It doesn't look like a big drop, likely meant to contain instead of kill. Thinking about it, there's a high chance none of the traps are lethal. The king, as crazy and corrupt as he can be, doesn't want people dying in the traditional sense."
"Yeah, that sounds like Danny, even when corrupted," I remarked. "Could we get through this hallway without triggering any traps though?"
Twitchy frowned. "Not unless one of us has ghost powers who can fly us through or go intangible and invisible."
I was very split on if I should tell them I had ghost powers or not.
"Can we disable the traps in any way?" Max questioned.
"I can disable the first one by destroying the motors that open and close the door," Twitchy answered. "If I force them to continually spin in the closed direction, they can't open and will likely burn themselves out and lock up."
"Then do that, we want as many advantages as we can get," Max said.
If one could easily get through the traps by using ghost powers… then maybe I should tell them, this could get dangerous… on the other hand, if I do tell them, then they won't trust me, and might end up fighting with me. That would not only waste our time, but it'll alert everyone we're here. Perhaps I should wait and see what happens first… I decided.
Twitchy gave a nod and walked over to one of the nearby walls, stopping where there was an obvious crease in the floor. Using the device she had, I assume that Twitchy began to hack the trap because after a few seconds there was a high pitched whirring noise.
"Alright, go!" Twitchy said before she ran across to the second set of doors.
Max and I quickly ran down the hallway, following Twitchy. Twitchy seemed to be able to disable the next trap up ahead relatively fine. It looked like we were going to get through without too many problems.
Then that was when something unexpected happened. It wasn't a trap that caught us off guard, but a sudden appearance of a ghost dog that came up from the floor.
"Oh no…" Twitchy paled. "Isn't that the ghost dog that is essentially Danny's royal pet?"
What? Danny doesn't have a pet dog. The only dog I ever saw him handle was… I paused as I looked at the neon green and black ghost puppy that was looking at us. Oh… fudge pop…
The ghost pup suddenly grew into a large, intimidating dog and began to bark loudly.
"Move! Move! Move!" Max shouted. "Try not to get hit by the traps and move!"
We quickly ran down the hallway, no longer having the time to disable the traps with a big ghost dog chasing after our heels. A green ecto blade came down towards us from the ceiling. The three of us stumbled away from each other, trying not to get cut by the ecto blade. The ecto blade went through the dog, which if I remembered right, Danny had called 'Cujo', but Cujo seemed perfectly fine. In fact, Cujo looked more energized after the blade cut through him. My eyes widened when I saw Cujo had gotten even bigger.
"I heard about these traps!" Twitchy yelled. "Don't touch them otherwise you'll be injected with a whole load of ghostly energy that'll speed up any infection!"
"Even if you're not infected!?" I called out as we were running.
"If the rumors are right then the energy will boost the next trap!" Twitchy replied. "Darts filled with concentrated amounts of micro-cores! If you get even grazed by a dart and have been hit by a swinging blade-" Twitchy stopped to dodge one of said swinging blades. "Then it's game over and you have about 2 minutes of humanity left before you're a halfa!"
Jeez these traps are designed specifically for pure humans! I gulped before I barely dodged an incoming blade.
Just as we were a few feet away from the next door of the hallway, the darts that Twitchy was talking about started to shoot at us from the wall. It was difficult to see most of them coming. My body was strangely very energized, so it was easy for me to move around and dodge them, but I was mostly worried for Max and Twitchy. The worst these darts could do was pinch my skin.
"There's a pattern!" Max shouted as his eyes were darting around before he jumped. "The foot level darts shoot first! Then the head, then the torso! So jump, dodge, then dive to the ground and repeat!"
"Glad I'm still in good shape despite the doctors' insistence on me resting," Twitchy chuckled a little as they followed the pattern.
If it weren't for the fact we were in danger, I would have found them to be fun, or at least a fun obstacle course training. A dog chasing me, as well as dodging darts and other traps, going with a pattern of dodging, it was definitely fun in a way, especially since the only danger I felt was from Cujo rather than the darts and blades. Even then, I was pretty sure I could take on Cujo if I really had to.
We finally made it to the elevator, but we still had Cujo on our tail. Twitchy pushed the up button on the elevator as we stopped running. Cujo was barking as he was coming right behind us.
"Don't any of you have a ball or something you can throw!?" I quickly asked.
Max dug out a small silver ball. "This was supposed to be a smokescreen for in case we needed to make a quick get away."
I grabbed onto the silver ball. "Well we need it now!"
I held up the silver ball, catching Cujo's attention. Cujo smiled as his purple tongue hung out of his mouth, and his floating, wispy dog tail was wagging.
"See the ball boy?" I said before I threw it as hard as I could, which surprised me when I saw how far the ball was going. "Go and fetch it!"
Cujo barked happily as he ran after the silver ball. As Cujo ran off, the elevator's doors opened, and the three of us quickly stumbled into it before the doors closed.
"You guys okay?" Twitchy asked as she checked herself over. "Dang glad I wore my bulletproof and ghost-proof cloak today, otherwise I would've been jabbed a few times."
"I got scratched on the back of the ankle…" Max hissed as he pulled out what looked like a high tech tourniquet and tied it around his leg just underneath his knee. "This should hold off the infection till we get the cure."
Twitchy then looked at me and let out a bit of a gasp. "Uh-oh…"
I frowned. "What's wrong?"
"You… have a dart in your side," Twitchy informed. "And… it's completely drained…"
I paled a little. Wah? How did I not notice it?
I quickly pulled out the dart. Did a blade cut through me too?
A few seconds later, my core suddenly felt hot. If there was a way to describe how I felt, it was that it was likely possible to get over energized, like I had way too much coffee. I felt Chad feeling a bit jittery himself.
"Hopefully he didn't get hit by a blade and we have enough time to give him a cure. If not…" Max frowned before looking at me. "If you turn, you might not be able to go back to your world."
I began to shiver a little, but not out of worry or fear, but because I felt jittery. "Oh, I'm sure that's really bad… but probably not as bad as we think, right? Right! We just gotta stop Danny and get a cure, there should be no problem in that! We can cure everyone! Yup yup!"
Somebody stop me from talking! I inwardly shouted, wanting my mouth to just stop.
Both Max and Twitchy stared at me quietly.
"Shock?" Twitchy asked looking at Max.
"Yeah, probably. A mind reacts to shock differently. For Andy here, it must flood his mind with thoughts to distract him from his worry," Max replied before the elevator stopped. "You're kidding, this should've taken us to the top floor! Why did it stop one level down from the top?!"
"Uhh… looks like it needs a special pass," Twitchy remarked after glancing around, seeing a slot for a key near the elevator button panel. Specifically the key hole was right next to the button that read 'Top Floor - Royal Chambers'.
It felt like everything was going much slower to me. I had to resist the urge from tapping my foot from how long I felt Twitchy and Max were taking to realize that we weren't going to go any higher from here apparently.
"That's okay! We can totally just take the stairs, right? Or maybe bag, gag, and use a servant ghost that has access to this special pass, right? Right? Oooh, if only we could just fly and turn intangible, yes? That would make this soooooo much more easier! Oh wait, that's bad, isn't it?" I said all of this in a quick pace, I wasn't sure if Max and Twitchy even understood what I said.
Before Max or Twitchy could even respond to me, however, the elevator doors finally opened, I rushed out of the small space, feeling like I needed to move.
"Andy! Stop!" Max shouted in a commanding tone.
"Who has time to stop? We have to move, move, move!" I said back, though I did stop, I was jogging in place.
"This floor could be trapped." Max hissed. "So calm down and use your head for a second! You've been injected with micro-cores. If you hit any more traps, I can almost guarantee that you'll end up a halfa before we find the key that's undoubtedly hidden on this floor."
"It almost feels like we're being toyed with," Twitchy commented with a frown. "The first trap floor, the ghost dog, the fact we have to find a key to get up to the top floor and that the elevator stopped us here… Do you think the king might be sitting up in his throne room, having captured Juliette, and is just watching us run around like rats in a maze?"
"No, no, no, that doesn't sound like Danny, he would rather be involved himself if he thought there were intruders in here. But then again I don't know if Danny is the same here like he is out there," I said, still not making much sense with my words, and still jogging in place. "If Juliette was captured, he would like to take her with him just so she could watch what he will do to the rest of us. It sounds like something that a bad him would do. Oh definitely!"
While Max and Twitchy were discussing the possible traps in the area, my hyped up brain took notice of something colorful on the ground. It was in the shape of a circle, and which color was divided into triangles, which reminded me of pizza slices. There was yellow, blue, green, red, and orange. I was having trouble thinking straight due to how super charged my core felt, and I couldn't stop staring at the colorful pizza slices circle that was on the ground.
"Uhhh… Max…" Twitchy glanced around in worry. "Max! The walls!"
Max looked around and saw the walls looked like they were beginning to melt, the entire hallway seeming to be shifting. Suddenly we were all falling into a black void, the floor having melted beneath us. Looking down I saw we were getting closer and closer to the colorful pizza wheel. As we got closer I blinked, noticing there were bars separating each of the colored sections. The colorful pizza I had been looking at turned out to be a large playground roundabout that we were approaching.
Instead of hitting the ground with deadly force, we were surprisingly slowed before we were deposited on a platform with what looked like a ladder going down to the ground. Looking over to the roundabout, which was definitely larger than what was in a playground, I saw that it was spinning around in the air. Down below I saw a cage and next to it…
"THAT'S A HUGE PUPPY!" I shouted in excitement when I saw a ginormous ghostly wolf with pure white fur laying down next to the cage, a black collar going around their neck. On the ground all around it seemed to be a cold mist that looked like it was flowing off of the wolf.
The wolf looked up at us and began to growl, showing its teeth. I felt something stirring within me at the sight of this wolf, though I couldn't tell if it was Chad or something else. In the hyperactive state I was in, I was lucky I noticed it at all.
"A 'huge puppy' indeed, that thing is a huge ghost wolf! It makes that other dog look like a puppy!" Max hissed. "We need to get off of this thing now!"
"There's only one way that's going to happen…" A deep rumbling voice stated as the huge ghost wolf sat up. "My name is… well it is not important. However, you are here for two reasons. One, you were caught trespassing in the castle of the Ghost King. Two, you are to play a game if you want your freedom. The large wheel in front of you will slow down. You are to EACH jump onto ONE color. The wheel shall then spin fast as the platform lowers. When it reaches the ground, it will slow to a stop. Whatever color is in front of me will be eliminated. If someone is standing on the platform, they shall be put into the cage. If there is no one, the color will be eliminated and the wheel shall be spun again. Do you understand all of what has been said?"
"Wait! That sounds like we'll all be put into the cage eventually! This isn't a game if there's no way to win!" Twitchy called out, though I was more surprised the big puppy wolf could talk.
I knew ghost animals could speak, but they were usually anthropomorphic, so it was odd to see a feral looking animal speaking like an intelligent sentient being.
"Ahh, my apologies," The wolf responded, bowing their head. I noticed that the wolf's mouth didn't so much move as the words simply came out of thin air. "If there is one final contestant, and they have not gone into the cage of their own accord, then they shall gain their freedom. They can choose to swap places with anyone in the cage, but those in the cage will be turned into personal servants of the Ghost King."
"I still call bull! How many times is this thing going to spin before you say the last one standing is the winner?" Twitchy hissed.
The wolf let out a deep growl as a blast of cold air shot off its body, making the three of us shiver a little. "Silence! If you wish to continue arguing, then you shall automatically forfeit your chance of freedom and will find yourself in the cage!"
"Please don't make the ice shooting giant puppy angry," I begged.
"The wheel will spin until it reaches the ground," The wolf stated. "If you wish to see an example, then I shall show you exactly what shall be done. But~"
"But…?" Max raised a brow.
"Showing you will cost you one of the colors of the wheel," The wolf replied. "So you can either believe that I will be fair, or you can waste one of your chances to not be put into the cage."
Twitchy, Max, and I looked at each other. Despite my weird state, I still knew that we were in danger if we lost this game.
"It sounds simple enough, just pick a color and hope it doesn't stop in front of this… giant ice ghost wolf," Max stated.
"But it's a gamble, we have no way of knowing which color will stop in front of that wolf," Twitchy pointed out.
"So just pick the one that's the luckiest, he can't get all of us, right?" I smiled, strangely trying to be optimistic instead of pessimistic like I usually am.
"That is correct. As there are only three of you, I can only get two of you in the cage," The wolf concurred. "Unless the last one enters the cage willingly without calling for substitution of one of the captives."
"Wait… if the two of us end up in the cage… would that mean the last one will have to go on alone?" Twitchy asked, not liking what that was implying.
"Yes." The wolf nodded. "But! If you all participate willingly and fairly, I will give the last one a chance to free everyone. However, if even one of you tries to cheat or use any of your gadgets or complain any more, then that chance will be null and void."
"This seems like the best way to go about it," Max decided. "If we do this fairly, then the last one remaining will be able to free the other two."
"I should mention, loud one," The wolf stated as they leaned towards us, specifically looking at Twitchy. "You will find no other ways out of this scenario. If you attack me, you shall all be trapped here until you are ready to serve the King."
Twitchy hissed under her breath.
"Don't worry, I'm sure we can do this," I said, hoping to bring some hope to Twitchy and Max, they were just so serious and worried, nobody should feel that way about playing a game. "It is a game, and the wolf is giving us a chance to win and still get to the king with our minds in tact, right?"
The wolf seemed to be smiling at my comment.
"You know, you remind me of someone I knew long ago… a sibling of mine. One who had a sharp wit but could also be just as playful as I," The wolf chuckled, sounding a bit reminiscent.
I blinked at that, wondering who the wolf was talking to before I noticed he was looking at me. "Oh? Uh… that's good, I guess? Right?"
"It is. Perhaps she'll grant you a bit of her ridiculous luck in this event." The wolf grinned.
I had no idea who the wolf was talking about, but I ended up smirking like an idiot for some reason, not that he could see it under my gas mask and hoodie.
"This would definitely be her strong suit, considering it is a game of probability, one in which calculations could be done to ensure specific outcomes," The wolf added.
I didn't have quite the concentration to do something like that unfortunately. I was just eyeing which color I was going to pick, and was going to go with my favorite color.
"So would you like the example or shall you put your trust in me and play the game right away?" The wolf questioned. "Also, if you don't feel you can jump onto the platform while it's moving slowly, you can shout 'stop' when it reaches a certain color so you can step on it."
"We'll play your game right away," Twitchy spoke up. "The sooner we get through this, the better."
"Very well, stand in line then, the person in the front can choose the first color," The wolf informed. "Oh in case I didn't make it clear the first time. Only one person can stand on a color at a time. You each get your own section of the wheel. If you need to, you can grab onto the railings for support when it spins."
"Who's going fir-" Max began to question when I spoke up.
"Me! I'll go first!" I smiled.
"Uh… you sure about that, kid?" Max asked in concern.
"I don't want anyone taking my color," I answered.
"I… guess that's as good a reason as any." Twitchy shrugged. "Since there are 5 colors, we can spread out more. Too bad there isn't 6 otherwise we could each have a gap between the next person."
I stood in front, Max went second, and Twitchy went last. The roundabout started to spin slowly in front of me. I waited for a moment before seeing the color I wanted come in front of me, which was the color blue. I hopped onto the blue 'pizza slice' and stood there, allowing myself to be taken with the spinning thing, it was kind of fun. I could see Max contemplating which color to pick.
Max ended up jumping onto yellow which was two over from me. And Twitchy chose red, which was right next to me.
As soon as everyone picked a color, the turnabout started to spin around much faster. I had to hold onto the metal bars beside me to keep from falling out. Despite how fast we were turning, my eyes were able to see clearly that we were getting lower and lower to the ground until we were spinning right next to the big cold wolf. The spinning began to slow down. Twitchy and Max looked very dizzy. I felt a little disorientated, but not as much as they did for some reason. I waited to see where the roundabout would stop. After a few anxious seconds, it finally stopped, on green. Nobody was on that color though.
"I shall spin again without any of you moving," The wolf announced before the wheel began to spin again.
"Wheeee!" I couldn't help myself, spinning like this was just a lot of fun.
Then the wheel started to slow down once more. Then after a few tense seconds, it stopped. I blinked, seeing Max, who was trying to recover from the dizziness, was right in front of the icy wolf.
"Looks like you're the first to be caught," The wolf said as they leaned down towards Max. The wolf then opened their mouth, picked Max up by the collar of his clothes with their large teeth, and deposited Max in the large cage, the door automatically swinging shut.
Max let out a frustrated groan as he stood up, having recovered from his dizziness.
I heard Twitchy hissing, not liking that Max was the first to be eliminated.
"Now, would you like to switch your colors?" The wolf asked as they looked at Twitchy and myself. "You can stay where you are if you would like, but this is your one and only chance to switch colors."
"I'm staying where I am," Twitchy answered.
"Me too, I like this color." I smiled.
"Understood," The wolf acknowledged. "Then it is time for the potential last spin!"
The roundabout began to spin quickly again. I chuckled as I held onto the metal bars until the spinning started to slow down. Twitchy was trying to recover from her dizziness as we were slowing down. I was slowly passing by the front of the wolf as the spinning was almost at a stop. I could feel the wolf's cold fur nearly brushing up against my back, it did make me a little uncomfortable with how cold the wolf was. I knew most ghosts were naturally cold, but this wolf felt colder than ice.
Finally the wheel stopped right as Twitchy came in front of the icy furred wolf.
"Looks like you have lost as well," The wolf stated as they picked Twitchy up and deposited them in the cage. "Tell me, child. Would you like to either switch out for one of the others? Or would you like to play my game to try and free them? I should mention, if you switch places with one of them, they will not be able to play my game to free you and the other."
"Sure, I'd like to take you up on another game," I answered.
Normally I would've been a lot more worried about that, but with how my mind was now, I just wanted to play another game with this big fluffy dog, even if they were colder than ice.
"Are you sure you wish to agree?" The wolf tilted their head a little. "You do not even know what game I have in mind."
"I like games, games are fun," I answered.
"The kid is high right now!" Twitchy yelled from within the cage. "He's not in his right mind!"
"Does that mean you wish for me to take away the one chance to free all of you?" The wolf inquired as they lazily turned their head to look at Twitchy.
Twitchy didn't say anything to that, but she certainly didn't look happy. I couldn't help but wonder why she didn't think I could win.
"If there aren't going to be any more interruptions, I shall get started explaining the game," The wolf said before looking back at me. "Now most cliche tests like what I am about to do would consist of going into your mind. However, my game will bring your mind out here. And with your current state of being, it will be much easier to draw out that which you protect and that which you hide."
I just looked at the wolf, blinking. "Mind games? Is that what we're doing?"
"Yes. I shall be drawing out different versions of those you cherish, and you will need to properly identify the one who doesn't fit and challenge them in a game of their own," The wolf explained.
I was trying to make sense of what the wolf was saying. Different versions of those I cherish? But the wolf doesn't even know me. Well… he did say it was supposed to be a mind game. "So I win by picking the odd one out and playing a game with them?"
"Each one but the last will have a game," The wolf informed. "Some of the games shall be easy, others shall challenge you in ways you never wished to be challenged again. At the end of this I believe you will be more sober, but not completely there. And I do see in your eyes that you stand a chance of beating me in this. In fact…"
The wolf glanced over at Twitchy and Max. "This is the best chance you have. If either of you were in this child's place, neither of you would get past the second test. You have lost too much and would beg to remain with those that I summon just a little longer. You'd end up pleading with me that you would do anything for just a second more. Unlike you two, this child has more light in his life than darkness. His ember of hope burns much brighter than yours does. In fact, his is much more of an actual flame than a mere ember. Now then, child-" The wolf shook his head a little. "No, I shall address you by your name. Andy, Now then, Andy, are you ready to begin my game? Oh, and if you win, besides the freedom of your friends, I shall tell you my name."
I blinked, a little surprised, since I was sure I never met with this wolf before, and I know I didn't ever say my name to them. "How did you know my name?"
"I am a ghost with a plethora of knowledge," The wolf chuckled. "You also have a similar scent and the same eyes to the runaway brother of the Ghost King."
I should be far more alarmed about this, the wolf knew me, and apparently he knew I was the brother of Danny, or at least a version of him. But I was just more curious about the wolf himself.
"You're a super smart big puppy," I said instead of saying any of the other concerning things on my mind.
"You aren't the Ghost King's brother however. You carry the scent of another world, and two other Dannys," The wolf stated before very slowly and carefully reaching a single claw towards my head. "Stand still and I shall begin the game."
Somewhere in the back of my head was a voice screaming at me to move away, but I found myself rooted at the spot. The wolf's claw touched the top of my hooded head. I felt a surge of energy go into me before the wolf pulled their claw away. I noticed as the surge of energy went around a little bit before it started to leave my body, specifically through the point the wolf touched me.
In front of me appeared 3 of my sister, Jazz. Each wore the same exact clothes, each had the same hair and every other feature of hers. However, I did notice one was a little off.
"You may ask them each one question to help you discern which of them is the fake," The wolf stated. "Once you are sure, call out the one you believe is a fake and challenge them."
I looked at each of the Jazzs, although my mind was a little high, I could tell the one that was slouching a little didn't seem to be like Jazz at all, she was always so adamant about her posture that I never saw her slouching unless she was dead tired.
I walked over to the slouching Jazz before looking at the wolf. "I think this Jazz is the fake. The Jazz I know doesn't slouch."
"Are you sure about your choice?" The wolf asked.
"Yup!" I answered.
"Then issue your challenge," The wolf instructed.
I looked at the Jazz before pointing at them, which they just blinked at instead of scolding me about how pointing was rude. "Hey, fake Jazz, I challenge you to a game!"
"Oh? Do you now?" 'Jazz' raised a brow. "Well… I guess…"
'Jazz' thought for a moment before she nodded. "Do you like sleeping?"
"... Uh… I guess? Sleep is good," I answered, a little surprised at the question.
"Good answer, you win," 'Jazz' replied. "Can I go now?"
"Yes, and when you go, send out the next group," The wolf answered.
"Fine, fine," 'Jazz' sighed before she poofed away in a puff of smoke, the other Jazzs doing the same.
Then a second later, 3 Tuckers appeared before me. All the Tuckers looked exactly alike, each one held their own smartphone, and appeared to be glued to their screen. This was a little harder as I couldn't immediately tell which Tucker was different.
I walked to one of the Tuckers and started my questions with them. "What do you think of Danny?"
Two of the Tuckers told me something similar. "I think he's awesome!" and "He's really cool!"
The last Tucker, however, said something very different. "Because of his wish he gets to be king of a fused utopian world. But when I make a wish, I lose my mind and nearly become a full ghost… Why does Danny get all of the luck? Seriously? Have you seen how many times he should have fully lost his life?! I mean how does he get out of half of the situations he winds up in!?"
I frowned at those words. This Tucker definitely had a lot to say about Danny, and he was obviously jealous. It reminded me of the Tucker back in my world, he did admit to being jealous of Danny, and maybe of me as well, but he is working on it. And he wouldn't openly admit he was jealous like this, even if he did admit it, he wouldn't be harsh about it.
"I believe you're the fake Tucker," I said, pointing at the jealous Tucker. "And I challenge you to a game."
"What? You want to play a game with me instead of your oh-so-fantastic brother?" 'Tucker' asked with a sneer.
"... Yes, I do. Danny doesn't always have time to play anymore, and you are the techno guy, you know a lot of cheat codes, and where a lot of cool hidden stuff are," I answered.
"Fine then." 'Tucker' rolled his eyes, trying to keep up his jealous and hurt act. "Then tell me… in a dungeon explorer video game, what is the one thing you can't ever forget to do besides save and keep an eye on your health?"
It took me a moment to remember what Tucker always told me and Danny about what to never forget to do in dungeon explorer games, then my brain managed to remember. "To look at everything and explore everywhere."
'Tucker' nodded. "There are always hidden things in those types of games. They might be hidden rooms that you needed to find a lever or button to activate. Or they might be hidden loot or traps, cloaked by magic. That's something that can even be applied to real life. As there are always hidden bits in everything, like my wish with Desiree. Now, keep that in mind as you live your life. I'm going to get your next miniboss challenge."
I nodded before all the Tuckers disappeared in a puff of smoke. A second later, three of my Dad suddenly appeared before me. All big bodied and wearing the same eyesore orange jumpsuits. It made me wonder for a moment if anyone mistook Dad for a big orange at one point, that would have been funny.
Once again, I couldn't tell which Dad was the real one, so I had to ask each of them a question. I thought about asking them about what they would do with ghosts, but I decided to try a different question since I was sure Mom was going to come in eventually, and that would be an easier question for her. I thought about what meant most to Dad besides ghost hunting and his family, and that's when my mind happened upon a question that I knew would get me the answer I was looking for.
"What is your favorite food?" I asked as I looked at my three Dads.
"You can never go wrong with good old fashioned fudge!" One of them answered with a big goofy grin on his face.
"I usually like fudge, but sometimes I like to add ice cream on top of it to give it that extra flavor." Another one of my Dads smiled.
The last Dad shrugged. "I don't really care, food is food, right?"
It was easy to tell that Dad was fake, fudge was Dad's absolutely favorite food, he always made sure to announce it. "You're the fake Dad… so I challenge you to a game."
'Dad' smiled a little. "Glad my boy is smart enough to know a fake when he sees it. My game for you is a question, like the last three. And that question is this, what would you do if you caught a ghost but couldn't return it to the Ghost Zone or hide it from us for long?"
I was a bit taken aback by 'Dad's' question. I knew he wasn't actually Dad, but it was so odd to hear that kind of question being asked from his voice and his body. I had to really think about that question since it wasn't something I ever thought about before. The closest to a ghost we came across to like that was Hotep Ra.
"I guess we would try to find a different home for the ghost until we could find a way to bring it back to the Ghost Zone. We would try to keep them safe if they're not hostile, or… I guess try to keep them contained or negotiate with them if they are," I answered.
"Heh, like you did with that ghost girl you won't admit to even yourself that you have a bit of a crush on?~" 'Dad' smirked. "Be glad I'm not actually your Dad, otherwise I'd be trying my best to capture her."
I sputtered at what 'Dad' just said. "Excuse me? I'm not the one with the crush on her!"
"Oh?" 'Dad' raised a brow while his smirk became a grin. "You shouldn't torture yourself, Andy. Just because Tucker has a crush on the goat girl doesn't mean that you can't have a crush on her as well."
Before I could even argue, all of the Dads disappeared in a puff of smoke. I grumbled at that. I don't have a crush on Juliette.
"You sure about that?" Sam's voice asked as three of her appeared in front of me.
I sighed. "That is not going to be my 'question' for you three."
I looked at each of the Sams, once again, I couldn't tell any of them apart. I thought about what to ask them. I could ask them their preferences, but I worry that they all share the same preferences, considering they all wore the same color, and didn't look put off by the dark colors. I couldn't be sure if all of them were vegans as well. I had to think, I could ask them about their parents, or maybe…
"How far does your support go with Danny?" I asked.
"I try to help Danny out as much as I can, but there are some times where I feel like I can only do so much," The first 'Sam' answered. "There are times when he needs a different type of support though, however. Like if he starts getting full of himself he needs someone to give him a reality check."
"Pretty much the same for me," The second 'Sam' agreed. "I know that if Danny ever went down a dark path, I'd try to pull him back to his path. For two reasons, one is that I care about him. And two being that the dark path is kinda my thing as a goth."
"I would support Danny no matter what," The third 'Sam' answered. "He has it hard enough as it is, he needs someone to support and encourage him more than reprimand him."
At first I wasn't sure, all three of them sounded like something Sam would say, until I realized what the last 'Sam' meant. The real Sam did wholeheartedly support Danny, but she also tended to reprimand him if he did something wrong, or if she thought he did something wrong. This 'Sam' sounded like she would go with whatever he decided to do, even if it was wrong or evil.
I pointed at the third 'Sam'. "You're the fake. And I challenge you to a game."
"Oh? You think I'm the fake?" The third 'Sam' questioned as she crossed her arms. "You sure about that, Andy?"
"If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't have picked you in the first place," I replied.
"Alright, then I guess it's game time." 'Sam' smirked. "I will be the last one to ask you a question. The others shall actually have games for you. My question is, in a way, simple; what would you do if you had Danny's power as king?"
I felt a chill go down my spine at that question. What would I do if I had Corrupted Danny's powers?
That was a question that had always haunted me ever since I stopped Corrupted Danny, what I was always so afraid of when I became a halfa. I didn't want to answer the question, but I had a feeling if I didn't answer truthfully, then I would lose the game. Which meant I had to be honest with myself, even if I didn't like the answer. Unfortunately, the answer came much easier than I had hoped when I allowed myself to really think about it, and peel away the fear of having such powers in the first place. If I wasn't afraid of the power, it was easy to tell what I would do with it.
"I… would probably… do something similar to what Danny is doing to this world now… I would want to unite the worlds and everyone in it… find different ways to make it happen… maybe even find a fun way to do it if I got bored with a certain method," I answered hesitantly, but the answer also gave me a small, nagging thought in the back of my head.
'Sam' gave a nod. "Understood. Then I hope you have fun with your mom. She'll be a tougher one."
Before I could ask, the three Sams disappeared in a puff of smoke, then three of my Moms appeared before me. Once again, there didn't appear to be any physical differences between them. I wanted to ask what they would do if they ever found out who the Ghost Boy actually was, but since they were from my memory, they likely wouldn't have a definitive answer. So, instead I asked a different question that I sometimes wanted to ask my real mother even though I had asked her multiple times before already.
"Why do you always hunt down Danny Phantom?" I asked.
"Isn't it obvious? Because he's an ectoplasmic manifestation of ghost scum! He's a liar, just trying to gain your trust!" The first 'Mom' hissed.
"It's because I want to know what makes him so different from the other ghosts, why is he capable of looking so… human," The second 'Mom' answered with fascination.
"At first it was to hunt him down and dissect him," The third 'Mom' explained. "But now… well I want to find out more about him as a being. I can tell that he isn't just an ordinary ghost with a one track mind. He has different emotions and reactions to all sorts of things. I still want to capture him, but more to try and gain his trust. Hopefully with that trust, he'll be willing to reveal all the information that I want without having to run experiments on him. And who knows, perhaps with the Ghost Boy's help, we could make the world a better place."
I couldn't help but give a sad smile, a part of me wanted to cry a little. The answers were all different, yet they did sound like ways that Mom would answer, except for the last one. The last one was… what I wished Mom would do. And it pained me to have to look at this sweet version of my Mom, with the same understanding and love in her eyes that my real Mom has for me with Danny, and call her a fake. Perhaps the challenge, I realized, wasn't the mental challenge, but rather the challenge of the heart. I didn't want to call this version of my Mom a fake… even though I knew I had to.
"You…" I pointed at the 'Mom' who gave the understanding answer, the answer I wished was real. "You're… the fake… and I have to challenge you to a game."
"I may be the fake for now, but who knows~" 'Mom' smiled as she looked at me. "My challenge for you is harder than the challenge the others laid out before you, Andy. Let's see how well you remember all of the training you and the rest of the family have done over the years."
A table with different ghost weapons appeared in front of me while a targeting range materialized. "You have to shoot the targets with the weapons like you were taught over the years. But be careful not to shoot those that you shouldn't. If you miss three times or hit 3 incorrect targets, you lose."
I frowned as I remembered that the 'Fenton Training' usually meant shooting all ghosts.
"If you hit an incorrect target, you will hear a buzzer and a red X will appear in the air," 'Mom' continued to explain.
I nodded.
"Let's begin." 'Mom' smiled.
Cardboard cutouts of ghosts started to appear. It had been a while since I had to use this type of gun to shoot, but I had plenty of practice when it came to aiming, so I was able to shoot these cardboard cutouts of ghosts pretty easily. I managed to stop shooting if a cardboard cutout of a human appeared, mostly Jazz, Tucker, Sam, Dad, even Danny Fenton.
However, a target of Danny Phantom popped up suddenly, making me lock up and question what I should do. Since I only had a split second to decide, I ended up pulling the trigger due to my 'Mom' being beside me.
There was a loud buzzer and a big red X appeared above the shooting range.
'Mom' shook her head. "While I did say this was mainly a test of your training, it's also a test of you, Andy. Think of my answer to your question, and ask yourself, would I really want you to shoot the Ghost Boy if I wanted to gain his trust?"
I frowned, I felt bad for shooting at the Danny Phantom target, even if he was just a cardboard cutout, it felt like I actually shot at my brother. "Oh… I… right, sorry. I'm glad I know that now."
Chad sent out a feeling or reassurance, like he was trying to pat my back and tell me it was 'okay'. I kind of wished I could hug Chad for the reassurance.
"Before we continue, I wish to give one piece of information. The targets are decided by your preference," 'Mom' advised.
I blinked before realizing that meant the innocent targets and the targets I needed to shoot were dependent on if I saw them as an enemy or not. "Thanks… kind of wish I knew about that sooner though."
"Are you ready to resume?" 'Mom' asked.
"Yeah," I answered, feeling more confident now.
We resumed our target shooting. I was glad that I didn't have to shoot the Danny Phantom cutouts anymore. I was starting to see more familiar cutouts, like Vlad, I shot both his human and ghost forms. There were also other ghosts like Skulker, Technus, Ember, Box Ghost which I shot. Then there were friendly ghosts like Clockwork, Dora, Juliette, and Scarlet, but I didn't shoot those, since 'Mom' told me the targets depended on my preference, it was much easier to tell who I should or shouldn't shoot.
However, the next target that came out made me feel sick. It was Danny in his ghost form, however he looked different. He had red all over his body, his ghostly tail was more like a sharp lightning bolt than the soft waves it normally resembled. Even in my impaired mind, I instantly recognized that I was staring at the corrupted Danny that I had stopped, my corrupted Danny. I nearly dropped the gun I was holding.
I felt Chad trying to calm me down, which kept me from absolutely losing it, but it didn't stop me from locking up until the cardboard cutout of Corrupted Danny was gone. There was another loud buzzer, and a big red X appeared above the targeting range, showing I had 2 strikes now.
"That's your second mistake," 'Mom' announced. "One more and you fail. But don't worry, Andy, you're nearly there and I give you my word that was the only one of those that you would see. I want to test you, not traumatize you."
I sighed, even though there was a Corrupted Danny in this world, he didn't send the same type of fear down my spine like my Corrupted Danny did. I wasn't sure why exactly, but it could be due to the fact he wasn't my Danny, so it was easier to disassociate him from my Corrupted Danny.
I nodded to 'Mom', before giving a more determined smile. "I'll make sure to finish the next wave flawlessly then."
"Good." 'Mom' nodded. "Then begin!"
The rest of the wave was harder, and it was quite the challenge, wave after wave were different types of ghosts and pictures. There was even a cardboard cutout of Freakshow. While he wasn't technically a ghost, he was still an enemy, and I shot at him. I couldn't hesitate or I would lose this game. I had to be careful not to shoot at any friendlies, they were popping up in the mix of the enemies as well, but somehow I managed to not shoot them while shooting down the enemy cardboard cutouts. Until finally, we reached the end. There were no more cardboard cutouts.
"You've finished without any more mistakes," 'Mom' informed. "You have passed my test despite being slightly impaired. Though it looks like the wolf's game has been helping you to sober up a little, sweetheart. I wish you luck with the next two, they will be even harder than me. In fact, you may want to take a moment to brace yourself for the next one."
I gave 'Mom' a regretful look. "Is it… bad that I wished you were my real Mom…? I love my real Mom, but… she's nowhere this understanding or open minded about ghosts or my brother's and my ghost selves…"
"No, it's not bad," 'Mom' answered as the two others disappeared, along with the weapons and the targeting range. "Though considering your mind was able to conjure me up, it's not impossible for me to exist. Perhaps if you give your real mom the right nudges, you can help get her onto this road."
Before I could ask anymore, 'Mom' disappeared into a puff of smoke, leaving me to sigh a little. I wish my brother could've seen how understanding Mom could be if she was more open minded about the fact not all ghosts are evil...
Chad sent out waves of assurance and agreement, I was guessing.
haloguardian452: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Both Fox and I greatly appreciate the support. As for your actual review, a belly rub doesn't need to be kinky. There are some people who find it legitimately relaxing.
DarkFoxKit: We had a lot going on in this chapter, the belly rub was just something to show even Corrupted Danny likes being pampered. It was hard to tell if you actually liked this chapter or if you were just uncomfortable with it due to that one scene.
ChloeTheKitsune: DarkFoxKit: Yeah, we were trying to figure out what Juliette would've done if she was there if Corrupted Danny succeeded. She's been pretty motherly, so we figured she would like to spoil and pamper Danny while he's trying to rule over the merged worlds. As for Chad… yeah, we don't really know why some people didn't know who he was, and we didn't want to outright tell them since we really rather they look back if they really didn't know or skimmed over that detail. If they don't know, then they need to figure it out. We didn't make it hard to figure out who Chad is.
DP-Marvel94: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Glad you enjoyed the chapter and enjoyed us showing the resistance. They do indeed have the odds against them. And the plan was enjoyable for us to write out.
Luna Lillyth: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Oh, yeah. Andy's only been doing okay up until now. Thankfully Andy isn't alone this time.
DarkFoxKit: I will say, the only thing keeping Andy from losing it with seeing Corrupted Danny again is the fact that it's not his Danny.
Mana: DarkFoxKit: It's never fun if the plan just works as expected. XP As for My Hero Academia… I… don't think so, but I feel like I've seen something similar to that before.
I'm pretty sure Rufus is one of Jumba's Experiments, especially since we never see the 'real' Experiment anywhere in the show itself. Stitch said that Rufus is just a naked mole rat, but it's possible Rufus was smart enough to hide his real scent as an Experiment so the others wouldn't find him, especially since he likely knew Jumba was going to send him off into space. So that's my headcanon.
We try to have things make sense, though explaining everything can get monotonous, especially since there are some things better left unexplained to let the readers speculate for themselves. Though writers have to choose the best time to do that, otherwise, if the readers are unsatisfied with the little to no explanation on certain things, it would be considered 'lazy writing'. Over explaining everything would make things take far longer than they need to be, and are sometimes unnecessary anyways, and we tend to have trouble with the latter there.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': There are areas in the Ghost Zone which have ghostly wildlife, but not all of them do. Domains like the Far Frozen are designed around a single species and wouldn't support wildlife. And ghosts don't fully need to hunt wildlife, but there are times where hunting is paramount for ghosts. Most of the time though, it's more to get the taste of the food than the enjoyment of simply chewing and eating.
DarkFoxKit: The whole ghosts acting more on instincts is more inspired from other DP fanfictions I read about Danny's ghost powers and how they affect him. I liked some of their ideas and want to incorporate it into this story too. And yeah, I always thought it was weird that Danny does have telekinesis, but it was only used once in the show, and it was for a joke. I actually forgot about that scene, and thought Danny just never learned how to use telekinesis, until another reviewer pointed it out to me.
I think, at least in the show's lore, that when humans die, their spirits either move on to whatever afterlife they believe in, or, if they have regrets, their spirits would become whatever ghost fits into what type of person, culture, and regret that's keeping them in the world. Like Desiree lived in a culture where she was a successful harem to a prince, but was banished by a jealous wife. Desiree likely was used to giving people whatever they desire, and when she died, her spirit became that of a genie or djinn, with the power to grant wishes, but it also shackles her, because she must always grant every wish she hears. Some ghosts could be more powerful than others, depending on how they were made, why they were made, and how long they've been a ghost. As for a ghost's age, we believe ghosts can control what age they want to appear as. Clockwork kinda shows that, but he's the Ghost of Time, so we're not sure if he counts exactly.
Yeah, Urban Jungle had a lot of potential, and it would've done the show better if it was a two parter. Though I do like what we had despite how rushed the episode was due to time constraint. Season 3 is probably the most lore heavy season of the DP series, while the first two seasons focused more on the characters themselves. Which is why we haven't done much regarding the Ghost Zone's lore itself yet, other than a few things here or there, like with the holiday festival. We're waiting to get to season 3 before we start doing lore heavy stuff with WAP. Season 1 dealt with Danny getting used to his ghost powers, and Andy drifting further away from him, and struggling to understand what was going on with Danny. Season 2 is about how Andy comes to accept his ghost powers, and learns how to use them with Danny, as well as a few lore and new characters here and there helping them. Season 3… yeah, we're gonna have some fun with that one.
It's very unlikely we'll ever hear what Steve Marmel had plans for season 3, or what happened between him and Butch, but if they ever do make a video discussing that, I'd like to see it.