We Are Phantoms

by DarkFoxKit

The sequel to My Brother's a Ghost. "My name is Andrew Fenton, but call me Andy. I'm a 14 year old boy, twin brother of Danny Fenton. If I had known what kind of fate awaited me in the future... I probably would've freaked out. My brother and I, we're more than teenagers... we are heroes, we are defenders. We are Phantoms."

103. Chapter 102: To Find a Circus Man

DarkFoxKit: But maybe I don't want to take a break…

Andy: Why do you have to be as stubborn as a Fenton?

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Because writing is her addiction, one that she can't help but feed. She usually needs an outside push to take a break.

DarkFoxKit: What else is there to do?

Andy: You should probably not ask questions like that...

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Watching movies, watching anime, playing games, and more.

DarkFoxKit: Seems like a waste of time…

Andy: I think your parents brainwashed you into thinking those things are a waste of time. *Whispers to Onyx* She gets a bit anxious when she feels she's not really doing anything practical.

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Nods* Fox, this week you're to take at least one day off from writing. It might seem like a waste of time, but relaxing can help improve your mindset and make your writing quality go up. And… in all honesty, your writing quality has been dropping a little.

DarkFoxKit: *Gives it some thought* Is that so? Tell you what… I'll take a day off from writing this week, if you watch movies with me during that day. And I get to make the snacks~

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Andy will make the snacks, but we can watch movies on part of your day off. I want you to take some time to do activities like gaming.

DarkFoxKit: Oh, I'll be doing some activities alright. *Gives a mischievous look at Onyx*

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Gulps a little* Hey, look at the time! It's time for the readers to get to the chapter! *Rushes out of the room*

DarkFoxKit: You can run, Onyx, but you can't hide~

Andy: I wish you luck, Onyx! I'm gonna get back to practicing cooking and baking! There hasn't really been much to do during this quarantine you're going through.

---

Chapter 102: To Find a Circus Man

I was surprised to see such a huge domain as we were approaching it. It definitely looked like a creepy themed amusement park. There was also a tall looking mountain that had rollercoaster tracks going up to it. That was one rollercoaster I never want to ride on.

"Looks like we're here," The other Andy spoke up. "I think we made it here before Freakshow did."

"Are you sure?" I asked nervously, hoping that nothing would go wrong this time.

"I'm fairly sure, but I can't say with 100% certainty," Andy answered.

"We should try to track down where he was in your vision, Andy," Juliette said as she looked at me, sounding much more like her usual self. "If he's already here, we'll find the energy of where he's been. If he isn't here, we can set up a trap."

"That sounds like a good idea," I replied.

The three of us came down into the domain for a landing but stayed just above the ground. I noticed we were just outside of the amusement park.

"Let's go," Andy stated as he started flying towards the amusement park.

"I wouldn't do tha-" Juliette started to say before Andy flew face first into an invisible barrier. "-t if I were you…"

"What was that?" I asked. "Some kind of barrier?"

Andy started to peel himself off of the invisible forcefield.

"Exactly that," Juliette answered. "Places like these have invisible barriers around them to prevent invaders, hunters, and ghosts that think they can get in without purchasing a ticket. With public domains like these, that aren't officially sanctioned safezones, the owners of the domains must provide some form of safety and security in order to draw in business."

"Right…" Andy groaned. "Should've seen that one coming…"

"I guess even seers can't see everything," I chuckled.

"It's not like I look into the future 24/7… most of the time," Andy sighed. "There must be a ticket seller somewhere then."

"Let's land, maybe we'll find them easier on the ground," I suggested.

"We should find the ticket booth first," Juliette pointed out.

All three of us landed on the ground. Andy walked ahead of us, Juliette and I followed him. I noticed more ghosts were landing around here as well. I could see some of them were holding Ectos, or Ecto Dollars.

Wait… oh crap, that's right, in the Ghost Zone, they use a completely different currency here! I remembered. "Uh… other me, you do carry Ectos on you, right?"

"Nope." Andy replied.

I groaned. "Great, how are we going to pay for our tickets then?"

Juliette chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about it, guys, let's just go to the ticket booth and we can work it out. I already have a plan on how to pay for tickets."

"The ticket booth is over there," Andy pointed out. "And there… and there… looks like there's multiple actually. Probably to help keep the lines short."

"Probably," Juliette acknowledged. "Let's pick one and head there."

We headed to the closest ticket booth, and waited a bit. I was getting pretty nervous when we were getting closer to the ticket seller since none of us had any money. I wonder how Juliette plans on paying for the tickets. I doubt they would accept an 'I owe you'.

"Hello there!" The ticket vendor greeted us. The ticket vendor was a black and blue anthro ghost cobra. "Welcome to Fright and Delight Amusement Park! Three tickets? Oh wait… one adult ticket, and two child tickets?"

Andy sort of looked offended at that, but he didn't say anything.

Wait… two child tickets? Does he mean Juliette? I blinked, since I clearly looked like an adult while in this anthro fox form.

"One adult and two children, yes." Juliette confirmed.

"Is he your child?" The ticket vendor asked, looking at me. "Or is he your date? Not that I'm judging."

I blinked before looking down at our hands, realizing I was still holding Juliette's hand. I blushed and quickly let go. Wait… did he just say I was her child!? How could he tell I'm a child?

"He's my young friend," Juliette answered without missing a beat. "Now, how much will it be for those tickets?"

"That'll be 35 Ectos," The ticket vendor smiled.

"We don't carry any Ectos on us," Juliette explained. "Any chance you have a blank that me and my friends can charge up?"

"Oh? Of course," The ticket vendor answered before he rummaged around behind the desk.

After a few moments, the ticket vendor pulled out an Ecto Dollar that seemed to be completely dull and void of any energy. The ticket vendor then handed it over to Juliette.

"Thank you. Give us just a moment," Juliette gratefully responded before looking at us. "Alright, you two. Let's all three put our energy into it. Don't try to put in too much at once and when I say stop, stop putting in any energy. Understand?"

"Huh… never done this before," Andy remarked, intrigued.

I was intrigued too. So I'm going to see how Ectos are made? Or at least… how to charge one?

Andy and I put our hands onto the gray blank Ecto.

"Imagine that you're starting to build up a ghost ray in your hands but it hasn't gotten to the point where it's visibly forming," Juliette instructed. "And instead of materializing the ghost ray, you're instead going to channel the energy into the parts of your hands making contact with the Ecto blank. You don't need to do anything besides that. The Ecto will do the job of pulling in the energy on its own."

"Okay," Both me and the other me said at the same time, it was almost weird.

I began building up a ghost ray in my hands, but not enough for it to visibly form. I could feel the energy in my hand being sucked away. The gray blank Ecto was starting to fill with energy. The other me was putting in his own powers as well. The Ecto soon started to show signs of green, and it took a little bit for the color to actually solidify. After a half a minute, the green started to lighten up before shifting into yellow.

"That's it, you're doing fine," Juliette encouraged. "Keep it like this, don't put in any more energy than you already are."

The other Andy and I both nodded a tiny bit, mainly focusing on maintaining our concentration. Neither of us had experience with manipulating our energies like this, at least from what I could tell. To me, it felt pretty weird and I was constantly having to fight my body's natural instincts to form the energy into a ghost ray.

After about another minute, the yellow of the Ecto Dollar began to grow darker before turning into an orange.

"Almost there," Juliette informed with a smile. "You two are doing great."

The orange got even deeper in color before shifting to red, which I remembered was worth 20 Ecto Dollars. Juliette hadn't told us to stop yet, so we kept going. The red began to shift into a light purple, and Juliette smiled at that.

"We're almost there, you two. Once it's a solid color and not in an in-between state, we'll stop," Juliette stated.

Huh… this isn't so bad. Maybe if… when we get back home to our world, I could try getting some Ecto blanks and charge them myself. They could be useful to more than just currency… especially as they can be drained. They might be just what I need to power up my guns and recharge them when they start to get weak and empty without me having to use up more of my own ecto energy. By charging Ecto blanks ahead of time, it means I would be at full energy at the start of any battle. Unless I got into a fight right after charging some of the blanks… I pondered.

I decided to put the thought to the back of my head for later, I could see the Ecto was turning purple now. Juliette was still watching, so Andy and I kept going.

"Okay, you two can stop now," Juliette informed as the Ecto began to show signs of changing color again.

Andy and I stopped before we pulled our hands away from the now purple Ecto.

"How is it?" I asked.

"Perfect." Juliette smiled before she turned to the ticket vendor. "Here you go. You may keep the change."

"Thank you, ma'am." The ticket vendor smiled before he pulled out what looked like some kind of stamp. "Go ahead and stick out the hands you would like the stamp on."

Juliette extended out her right hand and looked back at myself and the other Andy with an assuring expression. "It's fine, you two. This is the only way to get past the barrier."

I extended my own right hand next, and shortly after, the other me did the same. The ticket vendor pressed the stamp onto each of our hands before pulling them away. I noticed that the ink of the stamp itself was blue, and the shape was a tent with a star over it.

"Enjoy your time at the Fright and Delight Amusement Park!" The ticket vendor smiled.

"Alright, boys, let's head in," Juliette stated as she started walking into the amusement park.

As Juliette walked through a doorway, I saw the blue stamp on her hand glow momentarily before a section of the barrier showed itself and opened up to perfectly match her size and shape, allowing her to pass through before closing back up.

I looked at Andy for a moment, and he shrugged before he walked to the doorway himself, the blue stamp on his hand glowed just like it did with Juliette, before the section of the barrier showed itself, and opened to match his size and shape perfectly before he walked through, and then the barrier closed up. I took a deep breath and let it out, before I walked over to the doorway. I saw the stamp on my hand glowing before the barrier opened up again, matching my current size and form perfectly. I was amazed at what I saw the barrier do, but decided to head through it quickly in case it closed after a certain amount of time. As I passed through it, I heard the barrier closing up behind me.

"Wow…" I couldn't help but say in awe as I saw just how big the amusement park was from the inside.

"You can say that again… this beats any amusement park I've ever been to," Andy agreed with me.

"We can see if this exists in our world once we get back," Juliette commented. "For now, we need to try and zero in on the location you saw Freakshow at."

"If I remember right, it was near a big tent with a creepy monster-like face on it. It was also near a merry-go-round," I said, trying to remember what I saw in the vision.

"The tent shouldn't be hard to find," Andy remarked, having somehow gotten his hands on a map of the amusement park when neither of us were looking. "It's one of the main attractions here."

"Really?" Juliette blinked. "Then let's head there right away."

"Stay close, it'll be easy to get lost in a crowded place like this," Andy said before he started walking, since he had the map, Juliette and I decided to follow him.

"Um… Juliette, just curious about something… how did that ticket vendor know that I was a child? I mean I look like the oldest one here," I questioned my current sheep friend as we were walking.

"Most places like this have ghosts near the front that can sense one's age via their core," Juliette explained. "Due to the fact that ghosts can change their appearances, it is common practice to just rely on the age of one's core, which is something that can be sensed if one has the training or knowledge."

"Oh… wow… I didn't know they could do that," I remarked, fascinated. Kinda makes me wonder how old Ember or Youngblood really are then…

"Just be careful, sometimes adult ghosts may take advantage of you while you're still a child," Andy grumbled, sounding like he was speaking from experience. "Hopefully it's not that big of a problem with your world."

"As long as I'm around, I won't allow any adults to take advantage of you," Juliette promised before chuckling a little. "If Scarlet were here she'd likely recommend to 'completely annihilate' anyone like that. If need be, I'll try and scare them off with a bit of fire. If that doesn't work… well I'm not against setting someone one fire if they're truly a horrid being."

"Let's try to avoid setting anyone on fire right now," Andy chuckled.

As we were walking, I could see a lot of different fun, and some scary, looking rides. I could see a lot of ghosts moving around, as well as flying around, as if this was just a normal amusement park. There were also a lot of stands with games and prizes. And I could even smell some delicious food.

"Try to stay focused," Juliette remarked as she glanced back at me. "There are some attractions that might try to lure you in with the flashing lights or scents or even energy. And some of these attractions look… strange."

"What do you mean strange?" I asked. It was difficult for me to tell what was considered strange in the Ghost Zone.

Juliette shook her head. "Keep your eyes forward and focus on our task."

"Try not to pay them too much mi-" Andy began to say before he got distracted. "Is that a space theme store? Danny would love a lot of that merchandise!"

Juliette let out a sigh and grabbed onto both mine and the other Andy's hands before she pulled us forward. "Focus."

I was surprised that Juliette actually grabbed the other Andy's hand since she had been paranoid about him causing us a game over before. However, I could see why she might force herself past her worries as both myself and my counterpart were getting distracted.

"R-right… right… sorry," Andy apologized sheepishly.

"Ugh… I forgot that Ghost Zone amusement parks were designed to draw in child ghosts…" Juliette grumbled. "And some of these ones have a more sinister air to them…"

"Come on, we're not little kids, we can get past these… distractions," I said.

"I'm not actually sure you would be able to," Juliette bluntly replied. "Some of them are letting out ghostly energy that is meant to entice in children and mess with their ability to think of anything but the attraction."

"So… are you saying we're being subtly brainwashed?" Andy frowned.

"Only if you allow yourselves to be distracted and drawn in," Juliette answered. "By walking past them as we are, the 'brainwashing' doesn't have time to set in."

"Then we need to look down or at the map," Andy said to me. "Juliette, you'll have to be our eyes."

"Just let me know where to go," Juliette responded. "We're coming up on a stand that is selling different types of food."

"Okay, we need to head northwest from here," Andy instructed.

"So… right or left?" Juliette asked.

"... Go left," Andy replied.

As we continued walking, with the other Andy and me looking down or at the map, I heard someone speaking in a jolly voice.

"Step right up! If you think you can beat the ring toss challenge, you win a fabulous prize that would help you meet that special someone, or make you stronger to keep your loved ones safe!"

I began to look up.

"Ignore it," Juliette firmly stated. "There's nothing here that can guarantee anything like that and 'one of a kind' isn't a thing either. I'm sure there is an entire area of this place that solely serves as storage for all the duplicates of the 'rare and exotic prizes' that they give away."

The longer we walked, the harder it was to ignore everything around us. The ghosts around us were so excited that they were practically shaking me and Andy to look at something. There were smells that made my stomach growl. And I could hear so many ghosts having fun on rides that I was starting to envy them.

"You should let kids have fun," I heard another voice speak as someone stepped in front of Juliette. "You don't look like you're having fun. And that is a crime here at the Fright and Delight Amusement Park."

"We're on our way to one of the main attractions," Juliette explained with a tone of happiness and care. "It's all they've been talking about going to see ever since I told them we were coming here. I told them that after we got them to the ride, we could spend as much time as they wanted here and go play on all the attractions they wanted."

It was times like these I really didn't like being a child ghost. I could tell Andy looked just about done with everything.

"So while they might not look like they're having fun just yet, it's because they're working long and hard on trying to map out all the places they want to go see before we head home," Juliette finished as she began to move around the ghost that had stepped in front of her.

"Sometimes it's no fun when the adult gets too stern," The ghost remarked, though Andy and I kept our heads down. "Be sure to have fun once you find the main attraction you're looking for~"

Andy and I quickly walked past the ghost.

"Don't worry, we will!" Juliette called back to the ghost before she turned forward and mumbled underneath her breath. "What a sleazy man…"

Andy let out a sigh before looking at his map. "We should be there soon… and hopefully we'll find Freakshow and be able to leave this place."

"I wouldn't be surprised if all the ghosts suddenly started turning into donkeys… uh… the non-anthro kind, like in Pinocchio," I remarked. "Because I'm definitely getting that vibe here."

"If they do, then it's possible that Freakshow is already here," Juliette responded, not seeming to get my remark.

Right… it's very unlikely she's ever seen Pinnochio. I'll add it to the growing list of things to show her. I mentally noted.

"Ah, there it is," Andy spoke up, looking up from his map for the first time in a while. "This is it, this is the place in the vision we saw."

I chanced to look up as well, seeing the merry-go-round, the few stands I saw in my vision, and the creepy looking tent. The only thing missing was Freakshow himself.

"Do you sense anything off about the area?" Juliette asked as she glanced around. "To me it looks absolutely normal here. There are people all around, it isn't eerily quiet, and there's no real sign of anything being off…"

"Perhaps the perfect place for Freakshow to come into… but yeah, it is pretty creepy here," I noted.

We all looked around for a moment.

"So is Freakshow not here yet or is he already here?" Juliette asked both of us.

Andy frowned a little. "I don't see any near futures of him arriving, so he's likely already here."

"Oh great, if he's already here, then he could be anywhere in this domain by now." I grumbled.

"Let's think about what type of person he is and that could help us figure out where he has gone," Juliette suggested as she looked at the map Andy was holding. "We know he is the ringmaster of a circus, meaning he likes to be the center of attention. He is quite a vain man from what I understand, so we likely won't find him in a dimly lit spooky ride or any attraction like that."

"There are a few attractions that fit the type of person he is," Andy informed as he pointed to the map. "The Mystical Maze of Mirrors, as he can look at himself from all different angles… wow they really liked their alliteration with that name… Then there is the thrill of The Battleship of the Dead, which looks like a haunted attraction which is not too dimly lit and also has lots of hiding spaces. And the most obvious one, the big top circus tent… which is The… wow… really? The Flying Fantasy Circus… yeah, it's possible he'll be at that one. Considering he has the Gem of Fantasy and all. But we should go there last as we should narrow down our search area. He also knows that you two are after him, meaning he might not take the obvious choice."

"Then maybe we should try the Mystical Maze of Mirrors first," I suggested. "It's not too obvious he would go there, but he does have a pretty big ego."

"There's a 79% chance he will be there right now," Andy remarked. "So that is probably our best bet."

We turned around and started to move, but I felt a sudden chill in the air that made my spine shiver. I looked back for a moment, not seeing anything unusual, but I really didn't like that sudden chill.

"Something the matter?" Juliette asked in concern as she looked at me. "You tensed up all of a sudden."

"I felt a sudden chill in the air." I frowned. "Didn't you feel it?"

Juliette shook her head. "No, not really."

I frowned again.

"Did it come from a single direction or all around?" Andy questioned.

"It felt all around," I answered.

"Well that's not good…" Juliette muttered as she worriedly glanced around. "We should move out of the open. If the feeling is from all around, moving into a secluded space might go a bit better."

We quickly moved away from the area, I was feeling more uneasy as we moved through the carnival. Suddenly, it felt a lot creepier here, despite all the bright and colorful lights, the amazing looking rides, and the awesome looking prizes at the game stalls. I felt Juliette grab onto my hand and pulled me forward suddenly.

"Don't look around too much," Juliette whispered to me.

"R-right…" I frowned, remembering the weird affect this place had on a ghost child. Well this isn't good, how am I supposed to keep a lookout for anything dangerous if I can't even look around?

"The same goes to you," Juliette said to the Andy of this world. "If you two really feel the need to look around, do so with your senses and not your eyes. You have more than one source of senses. Trust your instincts and let the senses come naturally, don't force it."

Andy grumbled something under his breath, he didn't seem too keen on using Juliette's advice for some reason. I decided to try it myself though, since I wanted to make sure we were safe. Juliette still had my hand in her's, so I closed my eyes and let her lead me while I tried to focus on the area around me.

I hadn't noticed it before when my eyes were open, but my fox ears twitched as they were picking up a strange sort of music playing from somewhere… I couldn't pinpoint where, but it was playing all over the domain. It sounded creepy, the frequency was soft yet loud at the same time. I felt that cold chill again, but it was more of a small breeze rather than the cold air I felt earlier. That breeze I was feeling didn't seem to be natural though. I wasn't sure if it was some sort of stealth ghost following us around or something else.

The strange breeze started to turn colder and more rigid the more we walked. I opened my eyes for a moment, noticing a kooky looking building we were approaching. I could only guess this was some sort of funhouse.

"Now I'm starting to feel a little chill in the air," Juliette informed as she glanced up. "Looks like we've arrived at the mirror maze."

"It's easy to get lost in there," Andy warned before he frowned, then closed his eyes for a moment. "Hmmm…"

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Andy frowned as he opened his eyes and turned back to us. "It… might be better if you two go in without me. There's a chance Freakshow might be there, and if he is, his Gem of Fantasy might activate and take away your disguises. I can't be with you if that happens or it'll be game over for you two."

"It would be dangerous for you to be on your own, especially here," Juliette pointed out as she looked at the me of this world with worry on her face. "It would be wise to either wait for us near the end or leave. After all, if you go to a different attraction then you'll be at risk of being pulled in by the sights and sounds, and end up lost."

Andy sighed. "I wish I could stay and help, but this really is a battle you two must win yourselves."

"Do you think you'll be okay on your own while you leave this domain?" I asked in concern.

"I should be, I just have to keep looking up until I've managed to fly out of the domain," Andy chuckled. "The barrier seems to keep people out, but not in. You two just be careful. I'd rather the other me from another world didn't lose this game to Freakshow."

I gave a sheepish smile. "We'll find that ringmaster, and win."

"Good luck, Andy, we'll do our best," Juliette promised.

"Good luck to the both of you… you're going to need it," Andy replied before he turned around, looked up, and started to fly up.

"Come on, let's go," Juliette said to me.

I nodded and began to follow Juliette into the funhouse. However, my ears twitched when I heard the other Andy suddenly shouting out an angry curse about something. I turned my head back to see what was going on, and I only saw a blue and white blur all of a sudden, but no sign of the other Andy. What… was that?

Not seeing Andy, I figured he just flew out of the domain really quickly because he got a vision or something. It was likely not any of my concern though. So I turned around and hurried after Juliette into the funhouse.

"Okay… we need to be careful…" Juliette softly stated, her voice practically a whisper, as she slowly and carefully moved into the funhouse. "We have to watch our footing for any traps and try to discover if Freakshow is in here or not. But we should also try to act like we're just people enjoying the attraction. That way if Freakshow is here, we can try to maintain the element of surprise."

"Sounds easier said than done." I frowned, shivering a little. "Is it cold in here or is it just me? Is there a frost ghost in here or something?"

"My guess is a frost ghost," Juliette answered. "I can hear voices ahead, which likely belong to other ghosts. One of them could be a frost ghost or an ice core ghost with less than stellar control over their powers."

I was glad this form I had currently was covered in a layer of fur, though I really didn't like how the further we went into the funhouse, the colder it felt.

"Here," Juliette commented as she held out a hand to me. "You're shivering, so take my hand."

I was about to ask how Juliette didn't look like she was feeling cold, until I remembered she had fire magic. She was likely using that to keep herself warm. That, and her wool was definitely helping. I took Juliette's hand. As soon as I took Juliette's hand, a wave of warmth spread into it. That warmth quickly spread up from my hand, to my arm, to my shoulder, and then outwards to the rest of my body.

"Better?" Juliette smiled as she glanced at me.

I felt my body relaxing a little. "Yeah, that's much better. Maybe I should learn how to use fire magic to warm myself up after this all over."

"You mean properly learn~" Juliette teased.

I rolled my eyes a little, remembering that weird flare issue I had with my little fireball.

The funhouse itself looked… for the lack of a better word; normal. There was really no such thing as 'normal' when it came to funhouses though.

"Is that…?" Juliette tilted her head when we came around a corner and saw Freakshow standing there before us. "It… can't be that easy."

I frowned, knowing that something was off. Juliette was right; there was no way it was going to be that easy. This was likely a trap, but at the same time, if that really was Freakshow, we couldn't just leave him alone.

"I can try to get closer to him to see if there's a trap," I suggested.

"Considering he isn't moving… it likely is a trap, so please be careful," Juliette whispered back. "And maybe make some kind of comment about why there's a living being or non-ghost here."

I nodded before I, slowly, moved closer towards what could possibly be Freakshow. I didn't get too close, I stopped when I was a few feet away from him. "Huh… What's a living being doing way out here?"

"I-is that… r-really a l-living being…?" Juliette stuttered in expertly feigned fright.

Both of us waited for 'Freakshow' to answer. A minute passed, and there was no response from 'Freakshow'.

"Perhaps… poke it…?" Juliette suggested in a nervous tone, keeping up her act. "See if… if it's actually there… or if it's just a part of the attraction…"

"With my hands?" I frowned. "I think I'll use a stick to poke it."

I used a bit of my ghost ray to create an ecto stick in my hand. If this 'Freakshow' was a trap, at least I wouldn't be touching it with my hands. I used my ecto stick to poke the back of 'Freakshow'. Instead of poking the back, I heard a reverberating thud before the entirety of 'Freakshow' shimmered a bit before returning to normal.

"Oh my goodness, I was legitimately worried for a second." Juliette laughed. "I thought that a living being had somehow gotten in here, but it really was just a part of the attraction!"

I frowned a little, wondering why Freakshow was a part of the attraction. I moved closer to the 'Freakshow', and touched the force that my stick touched earlier. There was a surface that felt cool and smooth.

It's a mirror? I blinked.

"Perhaps we should go in deeper to see what else this… attraction has to offer," I suggested to Juliette.

"Let's just hope it isn't as terrifying as the idea of a living being in this place," Juliette chuckled as she walked over and held her hand out to me again.

I wondered why Juliette was pretending to be scared of a living being. Are there some ghosts who are actually scared of living beings? Usually it's the other way around.

Both of us started to move forward, and we saw ourselves, but they were distorted and weird looking. After seeing different versions of me, I was beginning to worry that there were more for a second, until I realized this was a funhouse, so of course there would be these mirrors that distorted one's reflection. There was one that made me look really tall, another that made me look really short, and another that… made me have three heads, and three tails. Some of these reflections were really disturbing.

Juliette giggled at the three headed one. "If only you were a dog, then I could call you cerberus~ That uh… three headed dog from those legends of uh… I think the human hero named Hercules?"

"Yeah. I know about Cerberus, it's a popular legend," I chuckled.

We kept going.

"Oh jeez, this is a maze of mirrors, I guess it was true to its name…" I frowned.

"I remember hearing a tip for mazes like this," Juliette remarked as she held out her left hand and put it up against the wall of mirrors. "Go through the maze and don't take your hand off the wall and eventually you'll find your way out."

"That's some good advice," I replied as I put my own free hand against the same wall of mirrors as Juliette.

As we were moving, I saw less and less of our reflection, and more of these random ghosts. Some of them looked like simple blobs with a face, laughing, or trying to jumpscare us by saying 'boo!'. Others looked like feral animalistic ghosts, like bears, moose, or rabbits. Then we started seeing more mutant-like ghosts, where the ghosts didn't appear to be any one creature we recognized.

There was one particular ghost in the mirror that caught my attention. The ghost in question was… what I could only describe as a floating, somewhat humanoid glacier. The ghost was white and blue, had long arms that ended in sharp looking ice fingers, broad shoulders, and about a third of a torso. From the sternum down, there wasn't a torso, but floating ice chunks that seemed to be connected to the spine. There seemed to be holes in the torso where there was darker ice on the inside. Their face wasn't diamond shaped in a way, where there was a sharp point on the chin and a cut off point on top. It had two piercing white eyes that seemed to reject all light.

"I guess we found the source of all the cold," Juliette observed with a light chuckle.

"Jeez… did this ghost come from some kind of glacier domain?" I questioned. I don't see any other icy looking ghosts here. I wonder if this is even a comfortable environment for a ghost like that?

There was something off about that glacier-like ghost, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was.

"We should be using our other senses," Juliette quietly said as she tapped her torso, where the Gem of Form resided. "There might be an easy to follow trail that can help us find the exit."

"True… that way we'll… find the exit for sure, if there is one… uh, nearby," I replied.

"There's likely only one exit, without giving up and flying out of the building," Juliette commented in a way that was likely to make our act, of just being some random ghosts, more believable. "Remember what I taught you, little one. Try to focus on your energy. Then once you have it, try to shift it up to your eyes to allow you to see with it. It might not work, as you don't have much practice with it, but this is a good way to test it."

Besides, with the Gem of Life, I might be able to tell the difference between a ghost and their reflection. I mentally added before realizing what Juliette said. Wait… we've never done this before. I… am willing to give it a try, but I really hope it doesn't cause me to temporarily, or permanently, go blind.

I focused on my ghost energy and the gem's power inside me, and tried to slowly and carefully bring them up to my eyes. Since I couldn't see it, I couldn't tell if my eyes changed color, but at least I wasn't going blind. The color around me seemed to have faded into shades of gray, however, but I noticed a green aura around Juliette's body. Looking down at my hand, I saw I had a red and green aura around my body.

I was a bit confused as I was expecting to see the auras of the Gems of Form and Life, but instead saw only the Gem of Life with me. I then started to think about it a bit more and realized that the red around me wasn't the Gem of Life's energy, but my own life force in an aura. Because I was looking through my own eyes instead of the eyes of an origami bird, I was more able to see the auras. The green must've been the aura of a ghost, as they weren't alive and instead lived off ectoplasm, which was typically green. And the red for me must've been my living energy.

I glanced up and saw some moving reflections of ghosts, and saw that one of them had a green aura around them, one that wasn't as pronounced as Juliette's aura.

"Looks like you're doing well so far," Juliette commented as she glanced over at me. "Now let me see if I can help fine tune what you're doing. I'm going to send some of my energy to you, add it to your eyes."

I nodded to Juliette, seeing how our hands were still linked together.

I felt a tiny surge of energy come into my hand, which I quickly joined together with the Gem of Life's energy. My vision shifted a little, blurring out before clearing back up. This time when I looked at Juliette, I saw a yellow aura around her, and glancing back at my hand it was now surrounded by a solid red aura instead of a red and green aura.

"Is it working?" Juliette asked as she leaned into my vision. "It looks like it's working, as your eyes are now a glowing orange."

"They are?" I blinked for a moment.

"Yeah, they are, as they should be." Juliette smiled before she got in close and whispered to the point where I actually had to lean in closer to hear her. "The yellow of the Gem of Form and the red of the Gem of Life combine to make orange."

I nodded to her. "Well… yeah, I think it's working." So since I can see yellow aura around Juliette, and a pure red aura around me, that means I can see the Gems' aura. So I just have to find someone with a blue aura, or at least a blue trail to follow.

I looked around for a moment, and noticed a thin looking blue trail on the ground of the maze we were in.

"Alright, stay close to me, Juliette, I think I can find the exit," I instructed.

Juliette smiled and nodded before she squeezed my hand for a moment in comfort. "I'll do my best to stay close."

We started to move through the maze at a quicker pace. Thanks to my… um… aura vision, I was able to easily pick out what was a mirror and what was really there. The blue trail also didn't go into the mirror, which made it easier. The trail started to get thicker the further we followed it, and also the colder it got. However, Juliette offset the cold by increasing the warmth she was sending into me.

"I… think we're getting close," I whispered softly so only Juliette would hear me. "The trail has gotten very strong here."

"Alright." Juliette smiled.

Then I stopped, and frowned in confusion. "What the…?"

"What's wrong?" Juliette spoke up. "Did we lose our way?"

"No, but… I'm suddenly seeing a lot of overlapping trails of blue around here," I answered quietly. "I think Freakshow went through here multiple times, but… I don't know why he would."

"Could there be… traps?" Juliette softly asked. "Or did he get lost and end up going through the area multiple times? I don't think he would make that kind of mistake… but I don't know him all that well."

"Let's see if I can find one trail that goes off in one direction…" I remarked as I stepped forward, and something under my foot suddenly gave away a little. There was an accompanying click before the ground around us started to shake a bit.

"What's going on?!" Juliette yelped in alarm.

"I-I don't-" I began to reply when suddenly something came up between us so fast that Juliette and I let go of each other's hands before the thing could crush them.

I was staring at a mirror wall that had completely separated me from Juliette. There was a banging on the mirror wall from the other side that undoubtedly belonged to Juliette.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?!" Juliette shouted.

I was almost taken back by Juliette calling me 'sweetheart', until I remembered that she was likely acting. Wait, so we're a couple in the act? I thought we were supposed to be father and daughter? Or… am I the child here? Considering how she was talking earlier… I think I'm the child in this situation. … I'm a fox man for crying out loud! This is so awkward!

"Uh, y-yeah, I'm fine!" I answered back. "But uh…"

I tried to phase through the mirror, but I was met with a solid surface. I frowned as I realized that these mirrors were likely ghost proof. "I can't phase through the mirror!"

"Neither can I!" Juliette shouted back. "Okay, sweetheart, I know this might be a bit scary, but don't worry! If they have obstacles like this in the maze, then there must be ways to meet back up! Use what I taught you and let's try to find each other!"

"O-okay! I'll meet up with you soon, I hope!" I called back.

I turned around to look at my surroundings. Since Juliette was no longer linked to me, I've lost my Gem aura vision, however, I noticed I was still picking up green auras around me.Okay, so I can still see life energy… maybe I have to look for another red one to find Freakshow? But… if he's using the Gem of Fantasy to become something else, he might be able to hide his life signs. I mean… if it's the Gem of Fantasy, it could actually make him seem legitimate.

I then realized that I was rapidly starting to get cold without Juliette keeping me warm. BRRRR! IT'S FREEZING IN HERE!

I knew I had to find Juliette quick before I froze to death in here, it was like being locked in a freezer. I also needed Juliette's help to track down Freakshow. I quickly began to move, though when I tried to move, I ended up smashing into a mirror. Some of these mirrors didn't have a reflection at all, making them difficult to see. I groaned a bit, before remembering that Juliette had given me a tip earlier. I put my left hand against one mirror wall while putting out my other hand in front of me to prevent another accident.

---

I didn't know how long I had been here, but with how cold I was feeling, my brain was starting to slow down. It was getting harder to think. I knew I needed to get out of here soon, but I couldn't. I couldn't phase through the mirrors, I was trapped here. I was tempted to try to break down the mirrors, because I wanted to get out and get to someplace warm.

Then I noticed a green aura that had little bits of red mixed in. I blinked, unsure if I was seeing things right anymore due to how cold I was. I didn't even need to move, however, because the source of the aura was somehow phasing through the mirror and coming towards me. I raised a brow as they got closer, because I was starting to recognize features about them.

The figure was the same height as me in my regular form. They had a mostly black hazmat suit. For a second I thought it was this world's Andy, but remembered that he said he was leaving. As they got even closer, I saw that the other color of the hazmat suit wasn't white, but a dark red. My eyes were going wide at this point, because the figure standing in front of me was one I had faced and I thought I had gotten rid of.

Oh… how I was wrong. In fact, thinking back on it, I think I might've preferred if it had been them. No… instead, when they got closer, I saw a crimson red A on their chest instead of a D. There were sharp features on them, just like the ghost I thought I had left behind. Namely the teeth seemed sharper, more pointed and feral.

"Hey there, me~" The red and black suited, corrupt version of me grinned. "Nice fur~"

"N-no! You're not me! You're not even real! You're just some trick for the attraction!" I shouted at the fake.

"Oh, aren't I?" The corrupt 'me' grinned even more as they reached as finger forward and touched my cheek before dragging it forward towards my lips. "That feels real, doesn't it?~"

I jerked back away from him, suddenly having a hard time breathing properly. The cold didn't even register at this point. I was too busy trying to figure out what the heck was going on.

"Come now, me, what's the reaction for? I'm not trying to enslave you or attack you, I'm just here to have a little chat~" The corrupt 'me' chuckled as he put up his hands. "Look, I'm not here to hurt you."

"Who are you, actually? What do you want?" I growled, watching him and being ready to bolt if I had to.

"I'm the you that might've existed, would have existed, and very well might still be able to exist in the future~" Corrupt 'me' answered with a toothy smile.

"You can't exist! Freakshow's corrupted mist thingy is gone! And even if it wasn't, it's in Danny!" I snapped.

"Yeah? And?" Corrupt 'me' raised a brow. "Who says that it would've permanently stayed in Danny? Who's to say that the mist was actually destroyed? And may I remind you, there are other timelines~ Don't you remember the you of the last world? He was me~"

Echo… I bitterly remembered. "He played us for fools. I don't know how he ended up that way, but it won't ever happen with me!"

"Don't be so sure." Corrupt 'me' smiled. "There's infinite timelines, infinite possibilities. There is a chance that I will be your future. Though how you act is up to you. You wanna be an idiotic megalomaniac like Danny was when he became corrupt? That's your choice. You want to be more like Echo, who is actually trying to do something good for his world? Again, your choice. You want to try and lock me away inside you if I do become a part of you? Well, I wish you luck with that last one~ There's no way I'd be going down without a fight."

"If something happens that does make you exist, I'll be sure to see it coming with my future sight! I'll keep a lookout for it every day, every waking moment of my life to ensure you never exist!" I growled.

"So you're going to let your guard down? Leave yourself completely open by constantly staring into the future to stop me from happening? Fine by me, it just makes it easier for me to slip under your radar~" Corrupt 'me' snickered. "Besides, you have nowhere near enough control to see me coming. Right now you can barely look into the future on your own, and only see a few paths when you do. Do you know that for every second of every day, there exists more than one path? Do you know that each day, there are billions of possible timelines?~ Every single breath, every step, every thought, every choice, every second~ They all make new timelines."

"And how are you so sure you will exist one day?" I questioned.

The Corrupt 'me' suddenly turned his legs into a sharp looking gray tail, which was very similar to Corrupted Danny's tail, and almost made me want to puke. "Because, now that the thought of me is fully implanted into your head, I have a greater chance of happening~ In fact, the more you try to fight it, the more likely I will come to be. So perhaps it'd be best to save yourself the effort of stopping it and put it to use deciding what kind of me you'll be~"

I wondered if this was how Danny felt when he realized he could still potentially become Corrupted Danny again. This feeling of worry, of near hopelessness, that something evil inside you was taking root, and was waiting for an opportunity to come out and take over. Despite being in my ghost form, when my heartbeat was slower than the average human's, I could feel my heart racing in my chest.

The Corrupt 'me' began to circle around me while walking on his hands, his tail leaving a bit of a mark on the ground as he dragged it a bit with him.

"No… you're not real, you will never be real, I won't let it happen," I muttered, trying to cover my ears and eyes, hoping this nightmare would go away.

"Whatever you say, me~" Corrupt 'me' giggled before I felt a pat on my head, despite having my ears covered, I could still hear him clearly. "But… I'm going to reveal a dark secret about you… part of you wants to be me~"

I let out a gasp at that. "No! Never! I would never even consider wanting to be anything like you!"

"Ask yourself how it is that I even exist right now," Corrupt 'me' instructed.

"You're a messed up hallucination created by my stressed out mind!" I snapped.

"No~" Corrupt 'me' chuckled. "Think of who you're after, and what power he currently has~"

I thought about Freakshow, since he was the one I was looking for right now. The power he had right now, in his possession. The Gem of Fantasy!

"There you go~" Corrupt 'me' giggled. "For that, I'm going to give you a reward~ I'm going to tell you what I am. I am… your dark fantasy~"

I stared at Corrupt 'me' when he said this.

"I was brought to life because you stepped in front of a mirror of dark fantasy," Corrupt 'me' went on. "I am, and have been since you first faced Corrupted Danny, your deepest, darkest fantasy~"

I didn't know what to say to that. But I tried anyway, opening my eyes and looking at the smiling face of Corrupt 'me'. "Ever since I faced Corrupted Danny… I've been nothing but a ball of fear about him turning corrupted again."

"Exactly, because you can't match up to that power~" Corrupt 'me' grinned. "That is why you want to be me. The only way to stop a corrupt being is to have powers equal to that strength. Besides, ever since Danny first became corrupted, you have felt a gap exists between you two. Your dark fantasy is to become me so you can potentially stop him if the need arises, yes, but it's also to make you two close again. You feel like the only way to be close to Danny again is if you truly understand him and what he went through~"

"That's not true! Danny and I have been getting closer without that! Besides, I had been afraid of becoming you since the second accident that got me ghost powers, so much so it took me a while to even accept my ghost powers at all," I pointed out. "How can you say this is my dark fantasy when I fear it the most?"

Corrupt 'me' rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Because you want to conquer your fear. You don't want to be scared anymore. The part of your mind that wants me hates how pathetic you can be sometimes. It wants to have the power to break free of the chains you have attached to yourself in order to hold yourself back, to keep you from achieving what you're capable of."

I hated the fact that I couldn't argue with this 'dark fantasy' of mine. I was so conflicted, but I did know one thing. "It doesn't matter what part of me wants. The point is that I, myself, refuse to become anything like you. I don't need you to stop Corrupted Danny if he ever does turn back."

"Oh?" Corrupt 'me' questioned while raising a brow. "So… if Corrupted Danny comes back, and is even stronger than before, what are you going to do to stop him? If he does come back, then it means that how you beat him last time won't work. It'll only lock that part of him away and potentially cost you your existence in the world. Or maybe, as a different question, what if there is a scenario where you need my power in order to protect or save those you love and care about? Are you going to choose to let them get seriously injured or die because you don't want to become me?"

"I'd find another wa-"

"What if there isn't another way?!" Corrupt 'me' interrupted. "What if you realize that the only way, the only possible way, is to become me? Are you going to choose your selfish desires? Or are you going to cast aside your weakness to protect those that you care about?!"

"Even if that situation were to pop up, what could I even do about it?" I argued back. "I don't even know how to become you even if I wanted to! As far as I know, Danny only became Corrupted Danny because of that mist thing that fused with him!"

"You could try to recreate it~" Corrupt 'me' smiled. "Or when Danny does next go corrupt, you can ask him to share a part of the mist with you~"

"Why would I do that?!" I demanded.

"Because if you become me, you'll be smarter, faster, and more powerful," Corrupt 'me' answered, still smiling like a cheshire cat. "Your true potential will be unlocked, you won't be held back. You won't be afraid, you won't be wimpy. You'll be confident, something you've always wanted to be. And that's the thing, if you did become me, there's nothing that says you couldn't be caring, kind, and loving. You'd still be you, just without those pesky restrictions you've set on yourself."

I couldn't lie to myself, what Corrupt 'me' said sounded extremely alluring. While I usually didn't care for more power for the sake of power, I couldn't deny that being stronger, faster, smarter, and more confident would benefit not just me, but those I want to protect. I had seen what Corrupted Danny was capable of, what he could do to the world, what he and… Echo could do to the world together.

"Danny lost himself to his corrupted power, that's why he went crazy like he did," Corrupt 'me' added. "He got carried away and let the power go to his head. With you, you wouldn't do that. You wouldn't lose control, and you could even help Danny to not become mindlessly corrupt like he pretty much was. He wasn't thinking, he was indulging, letting his fantasies take control of him instead of remaining in control. Essentially, he got behind the wheel of a car, put his foot down on the accelerator, and didn't put his hands on the steering wheel. Now I understand he tried to change the world with good intentions, but he screwed up pretty royally."

Whatever Corrupted Danny did wrong, Echo likely did right. That was likely why the last world had stable halfas instead of halfas that would eventually crumble and turn into full, mindless ghosts. And it might've been why when the Earth and Ghost Zone fused, they didn't collapse in on themselves… it was a flawless fusion.

"There's more to me than 'oooh, corrupt, evil, dangerous'," Corrupt 'me' went on. "You just have to have goals in mind. Like I said, instead of wasting your time trying to stop me from being real, use that energy to decide what kind of me you want to be. Train to make sure you won't lose yourself to the power. Heck, help Danny unlock and control the power that undoubtedly still exists deep within him."

I found myself imagining Danny and me able to control and use these corrupted forms to not only fight against the ghosts, but gain their respect and loyalty. Perhaps we could find a way to make peace between them and humans. It would also be nice to not always be afraid every time even a hint of Corrupted Danny would return. It would be nice to have Corrupted Danny as an ally instead of an enemy...

Corrupt 'me' smiled, no longer a cocky grin or cheshire smile, but a legitimately happy smile. I didn't notice it until he was halfway gone, but he had begun to fade.

"There you go~" Corrupt 'me' chuckle. "Juli is just up ahead… from what I can tell, she's not doing good… mentally."

I blinked as Corrupt 'me' soon faded out of existence. Without him talking to me, my fear came rushing back in full force. I gasped as I threw up a little. Oh gosh! What was I thinking just now!? Did I actually want to become like that!? Like Corrupted Danny? To create a 'utopia' world like Echo did!? To fuse the worlds together and turn everyone into halfas!? I can't believe I let myself fall for the temptation! This just shows… how easy it is to get corrupted…

Then, in my haze of fear and self loathing, I remembered what the Corrupt 'me' had said before he faded away. I would have to save my freakout for another time, it sounded like Juliette needed some help herself.

I tried to collect myself as I pushed myself up on my feet. I wasn't sure how I was going to find Juliette in this gosh forbidden maze, but I had to at least try. I moved to a mirror wall, before my foot felt something give away again. I blinked when the mirror wall in front of me suddenly went down into the ground. In front of me, I could see Juliette, curled up, looking rather frightened by something.

I hesitated a little bit, unsure if this was real or another trick by the Gem of Fantasy, but seeing how Juliette looked scared about something, I decided to take my chances. I hurried over to the curled up 'sheep' girl.

"Juliette?" I called out. "Are you alright? What happened to you?"

Juliette gasped a bit as she heard my voice. "S-stay away! I don't… don't want to hurt you… please…"

"What? Why would you hurt me?" I asked in confusion.

Juliette mumbled something that I couldn't make out and curled up even more.

I frowned as I looked at the mirror before her. I didn't see anything, not even a reflection from it. Could it be…? Did she… just witness her own dark fantasy? No wonder she seems so traumatized… I don't blame her. After witnessing a corrupted me, I feel like curling up and crying too. But… one of us has to stay strong… or we'll not only lose this game, we'll lose everything.

I slowly sat down next to Juliette, and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Juliette… it's okay. Whatever it is you saw… it wasn't real."

"N-no… it isn't okay…" Juliette softly said between sobs. "It… was a possible… future… one which I… have thought about… but not in that way…"

A possible future, huh? I frowned to myself, hating that I could see myself become a corrupted version of myself. With Danny, it was scary enough, I do not need another corrupted, megalomaniac running around, especially if he's me. "Well… even if it is a possibility, that's all it is; a possibility. We decide our own future, Juliette. I don't know what it is you saw, but it doesn't have to happen. I think… somehow, Freakshow is messing with us using the Gem of Fantasy in these mirrors."

"I… at one time… wanted something like it… at least a part of it…" Juliette admitted, her body shaking a bit more. "The control… the power… the safety… I wanted it all and more…"

"What was it that you saw, exactly?" I questioned.

Juliette gave me a hesitant look.

"I won't judge you… I promise. I… have my own dark fantasies as well…" I admitted softly.

"I saw… me… but…" Juliette started before frowning. "Without care… without fear… with the desire to do what I wanted… I had dark powers… and I used them to change those that I felt were worthy enough. I… forced others to become like me… but also unique. However… it would always affect their personalities… make them different, not themselves. But… I didn't care… in fact, I was happy…"

I nearly shivered at that. While it wasn't the same as what the last world of Corrupted Danny and Echo did, it sounded similar. Dark powers, becoming more powerful, not having any sympathy for those around them, and changing them for what they feel is for the better.

"I… had gone to find Vesper, and forced her to teach me her ways…" Juliette went on. "Made her my servant, told her that if she didn't, she would lose her afterlife… and then I made others my servants… and more, until I had a dark kingdom ruled by me. Some compared me to… Pariah Dark… and others said I was worse… but I didn't care. Those who said that ended up disappearing, and I got more servants or soldiers. Sometimes, if one was unruly, I would… use the dark powers to strip away their personality and make them a mindless drone… a husk that simply served and knew nothing else… and I did all this with… a smile."

It sounds like living through a nightmare version of yourself. I wonder if ghosts are just naturally prone to dark desires like that… maybe that's why so many of them are so much more aggressive than humans are. Maybe that's why ghosts that gain a lot of power like Pariah Dark become so dark, twisted, and corrupted… I frowned to myself. I guess that's why a lot of ghost hunters automatically labelled ghosts as evil, because of their aggressive nature, and how twisted they can become if they gain too much power… if it could happen to Danny, it could happen to anyone.

"What about you?" Juliette asked me, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Hmm?" I blinked, looking at her.

"What… what did you see?" Juliette asked, making it obvious she wanted to get her mind off what happened with her.

"I… I saw… me… turned corrupt, like Echo was." I frowned. "It was… a desire I had since I first confronted Corrupted Danny in my world, but it was also my greatest fear. When Danny was like that, he was scary, nightmarish, he haunted my nightmares for a long time. He hunted me down while the rest of the world began to change. And… I guess… a part of me wanted that too, even though I had tried my hardest to avoid becoming like that. When I first became half ghost, I was in constant, and I do mean constant fear that I would suddenly turn into Corrupted Danny, just for being half ghost. I had trouble sleeping, and coming to terms with my powers. But after a while, I got over that fear, for the most part. Until I saw… it was still a possibility…"

I shook my head. "What if I turn out to be like Echo? Or worse than Echo? That corrupted form seems to take away sympathy, compassion, and self restraint… I don't know what I would be like if I ever do become corrupted…"

"I mean…" Juliette started as she began to sit up, the cotton near her face being damp with tears. "If… if those possibilities… are possible… then… maybe instead of trying to stop it from happening, which is pretty hard, we can um… maybe change the possibility by deciding what we'll become…?"

"Heh… he said the same thing…" I muttered.

"Have… you ever tried to stay perfectly still? Ever tried to stop from moving even a little?" Juliette questioned.

"Once, when Danny and I had to pose for this artist Mom paid for to make a portrait of us… It… was… really hard… I decided then I wasn't fit to be a model," I sheepishly chuckled.

Juliette nodded a little. "That's… from how I understand, how it feels to stop the future, or at least a certain event in the future… but harder. It's easier to focus on wiggling a single part and by doing that, you aren't really moving the rest of you. By making a choice to move in a single unnoticed way, you can keep the rest of your body still… I think the same can apply to those possibilities… we just need to not follow the darkest path possible. For instance… a different version of my fantasy is going to Vesper and willingly working with her. But instead of just learning her powers and all that, I will also be trying to push her away from the darkness. I hope to one day bring her back as a white knight."

"That… sounds like a plan, I think…" I frowned. "A very… very risky plan. I'm not going to lie; Vesper really scares me. Heck, Scarlet scares me but in a different way."

"It might be scary, and risky, but… I think there is the saying of 'nothing ventured, nothing gained'... or maybe 'no risk, no reward'?" Juliette replied in an unsure tone before shaking a little again. "I… don't know if I would be able to do it on my own…"

"Hey… you don't have to do it alone, Juliette," I said as I put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Vesper is interested in Danny as well… so he'll likely be with you to help you out. Maybe Scarlet and I can find a way to help out as well, if we can. The way I see it, if it's possible to have Vesper as an ally instead of an enemy… well that would be beneficial to us, right?"

"I just… worry about Danny…" Juliette sighed. "If we tell him about this idea… then he might stand a better chance. But… the fact Vesper took an interest in him means that there is a… strong chance Danny could fall off the path of light and become a black knight."

I shivered at that. Corrupted Danny as a black knight sounded worse than a nightmare.

"And… if he fell and became one… Vesper would likely seize the opportunity and force him to be her apprentice…" Juliette added with a frown.

I sighed. "Even so… it's as you said; we may not be able to prevent that future, but we can work it into our favor as much as possible. Besides, if I start thinking it was hopeless, then I'll start freaking out. And in the middle of a shadow game, that's the last thing I want to do right now."

I looked around. "How about we worry about all that stuff later? We still need to beat Freakshow's game if we even hope to get Danny and the others back from the Guys in White."

Juliette nodded a little as she moved around to her knees before standing up. "R-right… we need to win this first… otherwise my future will be even darker than that… nightmare."

I took Juliette's hand to help stabilize her up. It was also nice to feel some of that warm fire magic again since I had been getting cold again.

"Freakshow shouldn't be too far, I just need to activate the aura vision again," I stated. "But I need your help in activating it to its fullest."

"Of course." Juliette smiled a little. "Go ahead and get it started and then I'll do my job."

With Juliette's help, I was able to detect the gems' aura, including the Gem of Fantasy's trail. The trail itself was big, meaning I was right; Freakshow wasn't far from here. I also knew we had to be cautious, lest we fall into another one of Freakshow's traps that would not only slow us down, but break our spirits and morality.

I moved forward, still having Juliette's hand with mine. It was also nice to feel comfort from Juliette.

This time I was more careful with stepping on pressure plates and booby traps. The last thing we needed was for the funhouse to try to screw with us while the madman with the Gem of Fantasy was on the loose somewhere.

And then… we were suddenly in front of that glacier ghost. He was just freezing to be around. I was thankful I had Juliette's fire helping me keep warm right now, because I was sure if I didn't, my body would've been frosting up.

"There's… something off about them…" Juliette muttered quietly to me. "A ghost like this… would not be allowed to leave their domain until they had gotten their powers under control. They are… extremely dangerous and could injure ghosts just by going near them."

I glared at the icy ghost. "So that blue aura I see around him isn't just his ice aura… I can see the trail of the Gem of Fantasy ending on him."

The glacier ghost turned around, seeing us for the first time. "What's this? More tourists getting lost in the funhouse?"

"Y-yeah… you could say that," I answered.

"I think we're nearing the exit," Juliette remarked. "Which I'm glad for, as there was a terrifying image of a living human being on one of the earlier mirrors. It nearly gave me a fright! Though I guess that is the point of this amusement park."

"Oh? Why would you be frightened by a human being?" The glacier ghost questioned.

"Because they shouldn't be here in the Ghost Zone," Juliette explained. "If one was here, they could either be here to cause trouble or they could be in trouble themselves. It's extremely rare for them to be here, so I was worried and frightened that one might be here to hunt ghosts, or something along those lines. After all, there are many of those pesky living beings who like to hunt ghosts for a living, or even a hobby."

"Hmm… yes, I suppose that would be quite troublesome," The glacier ghost remarked before floating away a little. "Well, why don't the two of you go ahead to the exit?"

"You know where the exit is?" Juliette asked with a tilt of her head. "If you do, why is it that you remain here? Are you waiting on others to come through?"

"You could say that," The glacier ghost chuckled.

Juliette and I stepped forward to the glacier ghost, not wanting to lose him if he was Freakshow and decided to run for it. Though I noticed Juliette was moving a bit hesitantly, likely worried that we were walking into another trap. However, I didn't see any pressure plates, or any booby traps. Still, I didn't walk too close to Freakshow.

Juliette leaned in towards me. "What are we going to do…?"

"If we're going to catch him now, we should take our chances while he's close," I whispered back. "The problem is getting close enough to pounce him. I feel like even with your fire magic, we'll freeze as soon as we touch him."

"I think that's the point of that form of his," Juliette acknowledged. "Perhaps I can alter it with the Gem of Form…?"

"He might take off as soon as he senses what you're trying to do," I whispered back. "Maybe I can try to hold him with my telekinesis?"

"Yeah… he's likely going to take off as soon as we get close to the exit," Juliette replied, still speaking in a whispered tone.

"Heh…" The glacier ghost chuckled, looking at the mirror we were standing in front of. "So… trying to fool me, eh?"

I frowned. Did we do something that gave ourselves away? Maybe Freakshow had much more sensitive hearing now?

Then I noticed he was still looking at the mirror we were standing in front of rather than at us. I slowly turned my eyes to the mirror, and was shocked to see myself, as in my Andy Phantom self, without the fox form I had on currently. As for Juliette, she was currently a sheep, yet in the mirror, she was in her goat ghost form.

Oh… oh no… Did Freakshow make these mirrors… mirrors of truth? Showing what we really look like under these disguises!? I yelled in my head.

Juliette likely felt my hand tensing up and looked where I was looking before spinning around towards Freakshow, holding out a glowing yellow hand. "You aren't keeping that form, Freakshow! And we aren't losing to someone as sleazy as you!"

"Oh, you're not?" Freakshow chuckled.

I held up my own hand, having it glow green. I intended to use my telekinesis to hold him down, but Freakshow reacted faster and summoned a large ice crystal wall, which my telekinesis ended up catching instead of Freakshow. I growled as I moved both of my hands slowly apart, ripping the ice wall in two. Sadly, that was too slow on my end, because this gave Freakshow enough time to create a blue portal with his Gem of Fantasy.

"Try to catch me if you can~" Freakshow grinned before going through the portal.

"Hurry! Move!" I yelled frantically as I dragged Juliette with me to go into the portal ourselves before it closed.

Juliette flew as fast as she could as well, not wanting to cause us to lose Freakshow.

Both of us managed to dive into the portal just before it closed. I blinked, finding ourselves in a creepy looking metal corridor. There were dim red lights on the wall that seemed to glow brighter and dimmer. There were sounds of creaking metal, screams, and what sounded like cannons firing.

"This… must be the Battleship of the Dead," Juliette guessed, having somewhat memorized the map. "It's one of those jumpscare attractions… which I'm not entirely sure what a jumpscare attraction is. That's just what it was marked as on the map."

I groaned. I did not do well with jumpscares. "Great, I don't see any signs of Freakshow anywhere, and we're onboard a jumpscare attraction. This is just getting better, isn't it?"

"Don't jinx it," Juliette softly warned. "It is best not to tempt fate."

I looked around for a moment. "Where the heck did Freakshow go? We came through the same portal, didn't we?"

"Possibly," Juliette replied with a frown. "Because it was a portal he created, he could've made us end up anywhere or could've trapped us in the portal for long enough for him to get away. Regardless, we should start moving and try to get to the deck of the ship. I don't see him trapping himself within the ship."

I nodded in agreement. Both of us began to move through the Battleship of the Dead, however, it soon became apparent as to why this was a jumpscare attraction. Almost immediately, there were several 'scary looking' skeleton zombies popping out right in front of us. I reacted by either punching them in the face, or searing them with a ghost ray out of pure reflex. Like I said; I did not do well with jumpscares.

"They better not make me pay for the damages…" I grumbled.

"Uhh… I don't know if they will… though maybe we should ask the next ghost to help guide us to the route to the top instead of knocking them out," Juliette stated in a sheepish tone, having nearly set one of the jumpscares on fire.

"We… both need a better way to deal with jumpscares first…" I frowned.

Then a giant skeleton fish monster popped up from behind Juliette, which made me scream and fired a ghost ray at it. The skeleton fish monster let out a scream of its own.

"Holy! Watch it!" The fish monster yelled as he wiped himself off.

"S-sorry… we uh…" Juliette started as she put a hand on her chest before taking a deep breath. "Could you please help guide us out of here? We did not want to be here and are trying to find someone who has something that is very important to us."

"We… uh… don't do well with jumpscares…" I sheepishly admitted.

"I can tell…" The fish monster grumbled, and he must've been way tougher than he looked since he didn't get knocked out from my ghost ray like the others did. "Well, I'd rather you two didn't cause too much damage here. Who are you looking for?"

"The who isn't all that important, it's more the item they are withholding from us. It is a valuable object that means the world to the two of us," Juliette vaguely answered, specifically making it seem like the Gem of Fantasy had been stolen from us. "It has the power to hide the user's appearance, hence why the who doesn't exactly matter. We can track down the energy, but in order to do that we need to get up to the deck of this ship… and so far I've felt we've only been going deeper into the ship."

"That's because you are, sweetheart," The skeleton fish stated. "If you want to get to the deck, you need to go in the opposite direction. The deeper you go here, the more jumpscares you'll have."

"O-oh…" Juliette stated in embarrassment as she looked down. She was blushing quite a bit, though her cheek fur was turning surprisingly pink instead of blue or green.

I looked at the skeleton fish. "Um… could you help get us to the deck as quickly as possible with as little jumpscare as possible?"

"Is there any… direct routes or something you can give us that'll let the ghosts here know that we're trying to leave?" Juliette questioned.

"Sure thing. Sometimes young ghosts end up here without meaning to, so we always have these passes prepared for them to leave," The skeleton fish laughed. "It happens more often than you'd think too!"

The skeleton fish snapped his boney finger… fins…? And two passes appeared, they were glowing blue with some kind of language written on them that I couldn't read.

"It let's the actors know that they shouldn't jump out and scare you," The skeleton fish explained. "And it will also show you the most direct route to the exit while you are holding them. When you're out, just hand them to the pumpkin ghost at the exit."

"Thank you, these will help us out a lot," I said gratefully as Juliette and I took the passes.

The passes had strings attached to them, so we could wear them around our necks, which made it easier than having to carry them everywhere.

"Now I wish both of you luck with finding your precious treasure from the one who stole it from you," The skeletal fish remarked. "Now if that is all, I must go back into hiding for our next scare victim~"

"It sounds like someone loves his job," I whispered to Juliette.

"I mean… wouldn't that be a necessary part of getting a job here?" Juliette asked as she started walking away, following a glowing path on the ground. "The point of this amusement park is to give all ghosts the best time possible, and you can't exactly do that if you don't find the job enjoyable. The actors here, as the ghost called them, have to put everything into making the experience fun and them not enjoying it would impact both their morale and their ability to do their job."

"Yeah, but that usually doesn't work out that way, people take jobs because they need them, not because they want them. It might be different with ghosts though, so I can't say for sure if it's the same here," I shrugged.

"From what I have learned of our Ghost Zone, when not running or hiding from Skulker, is that there are almost an infinite number of job opportunities if you know what you want to do and where to look," Juliette informed. "As for needing to take a job, there are ways to get what you need without taking a job. For instance, getting Ecto blanks and charging them."

"Well, at least ghosts have it easier than humans when it comes to money," I chuckled sheepishly.

The other ghosts around us never popped out, which was good, they likely saw the passes we had on and left us alone. I only knew they were there because I could sense them. When we got closer to the deck of the ship, I noticed that there was better lighting in the area.

"I still can't believe we were going the wrong way…" Juliette sighed as we started to walk up a well lit staircase. "Once we get up to the deck, perhaps I should try to alter our forms again and then we can combine the powers of the Gems to track down Freakshow."

"What's wrong with the forms we have now? Is it because Freakshow knows about it?" I asked.

"There is still a chance that the Danny and Andy of this world are nearby," Juliette explained her reasoning.

"I mean we already proved that it doesn't matter if they know it's us as long as they don't see the real us," I pointed out.

Juliette frowned. "I understand that, but I am worried about our current forms being compromised after we went past that mirror. Yes, we're still disguised, but we don't know the extent of what that mirror did."

I thought back on that mirror of truth Freakshow showed us. While I wasn't sure if that would actually do anything, it might be wise to take Juliette's advice in case Freakshow did something that would affect our disguises around Danny or Andy.

"Alright… what did you have in mind?" I asked.

"Maybe… a human girl for myself and a uh… hmmm… maybe a mouse or goat or deer for yourself?" Juliette offered. "I didn't really have any specific forms in mind."

I blinked as I never thought of myself as a goat or a deer, but the more I thought of it, the more curious I was. I remembered I used to love watching Bambi when I was a kid. "Yeah, I think I'll try out the deer this time. It might be interesting to see what I could be like as an anthro deer."

"I should likely warn you, as I'll be keeping you male, you'll have antlers that you'll need to stay aware of," Juliette said as we reached the top of the stairs.

"Perhaps you should keep me as a child this time since everyone here can tell I'm a child anyways," I suggested. "And that way if I do have antlers, they won't be very big."

"Any specific variety of deer?" Juliette inquired.

"Uh… you ever watched Bambi?" I asked.

"No." Juliette shook her head, making me add yet another thing to the list of what I should show to Juliette.

"Just a normal deer, like ones you would see in a forest," I sighed. "If you want to add any features, you can, but if you go adding a red glowing nose or something, I'd say don't."

Juliette gave a thoughtful expression and nodded. "What about myself? Do you think I should do human girl or something else?"

"You usually disguise yourself as a human girl in our world, so it might be best to go for something else," I pointed out. "Maybe you could be a rabbit?" So it'd be like with Bambi and Thumper.

"Alright, so you'll be a male deer child and I'll be a female rabbit, both of them 'anthros' as this world calls it," Juliette summarized before she closed her eyes, her body beginning to glow yellow before mine did as well.

I glanced around and made sure there were no ghosts nearby with my ghost sense. Thankfully we were in the clear.

When Juliette was done, both of our bodies stopped glowing. I felt different, I had gotten used to my adult fox form that it felt weird to be a kid again. I looked down at myself, seeing how I had white fur despite not being a snow deer or a reindeer, likely due to my ghost form having white hair. I had hands instead of hooves thankfully, it would have been weird to have hooves for hands. I felt my ears twitching a bit, and I reached up over my head to feel my antlers. I did have antlers, but thankfully since I was a teen, my antlers weren't that big.

I looked over at Juliette when I got over myself.

Juliette was a surprisingly tall anthro rabbit with grey and white fur. She was taller than me and seemed to be going for a more adult appearance with this form. She had two tall ears that had dark grey fur on the tips. The inside of her ears were a light blue, likely to make her look more like a ghost. And her eyes were a vivid ice blue, somewhat similar to the inner color of her ears. She was wearing some regular looking clothes; a green t-shirt with a tree on it, a pair of shorts, and that was it. She didn't have any socks or shoes on.

"Well, I think we're ready to go, don't you?" I said, a little surprised at how higher pitch my voice was as I had gotten used to the deeper voice I had before.

"Yeah." Juliette nodded, her ears flopping forward a little before bouncing back up. "We just need to head to the top deck, hand in these passes, and track down Freakshow. He's likely changed his appearance like we did. I noticed there was no ice or super cold air on the ship, so he definitely didn't keep that glacier ghost form."

"Yeah, I guess even he realized it would be dumb to stay in that glacier ghost form with how easy it is to find due to how cold it is," I chuckled.

Juliette and I began to move, needing to get a bit used to these new forms. I stumbled a little, needing to get used to shorter legs again.

Juliette seemed to be able to cope a little better than myself, but she did stumble a tiny bit. It made sense, as she had never been as tall as she currently was.

Thankfully, it didn't take us too long to get used to moving around in these forms. The trip to the deck was a bit long, so it gave us plenty of time to get used to these forms. By the time we got to the stairs that lead to the upper deck, we were able to move around easily in our new forms.

"Thank the Ghost Zone…" Juliette muttered as we walked out and started heading towards the pumpkin ghost that the skeleton fish had told us to give the passes to.

I was actually surprised to see a pumpkin ghost, I didn't usually see a non-organic ghost, but I suppose they do exist. The pumpkin ghost gave a jack-o-lantern-like smile at us as we came over towards it.

"Hello and welcome, are you here to turn in your passes?" The pumpkin ghost asked.

Juliette nodded and began to take off her pass. "Yes, we are. We unfortunately had wound up in the deep sections of the ship without meaning to be there and needed to get these to find the quickest way out. Also… you may want to check in on some of the ghosts as… we panicked a little- no we panicked quite a bit and knocked some of them out."

"Happens all the time, comes with hazard pay and all," The pumpkin ghost chuckled before stretching out its vines to take both my and Juliette's passes, phasing the string off of our necks. "While there may not be jumpscares up here, it does have its own kind of scares. It is a horror attraction after all. I wish you a good, scary night~"

"Thank you." Juliette bowed her head in appreciation.

"Yes, thank you," I said, bowing my head as well.

"No need for formal thank yous, just go on and enjoy yourselves," The pumpkin ghost remarked.

"Let's get going sweetums, we need to track down that person who has our precious item." Juliette smiled while looking down at me.

Now that I was actually a child again, this felt far less awkward. "Yes, of course… uh… big sis."

Juliette blinked a little before nodding and extending a hand towards me. I took Juliette's hand, allowing her to pour some of the Gem of Form's power into me to help me get the aura vision I needed to track down the Gem of Fantasy. At the same time Juliette started to fly us into the air, making me realize that we were on top of some kind of hodge podge of an aircraft carrier and a battleship that was higher up than some of the rides in the amusement park.

"Do you see any sign of him?" Juliette asked as we were flying over some of the attractions.

I was looking around, seeing trails of blue from the Gem of Fantasy. We knew for sure Freakshow wasn't on The Battleship of the Dead, his portal likely just dumped us there so he could escape as Juliette had suggested earlier. It was rather annoying, but at least we now knew not to go jumping into portals after Freakshow. I was trying to follow the freshest trail of blue. There were quite a few thin, old trails, making it difficult to see where Freakshow actually went.

"I… have spotted one place that he very much might go to," Juliette informed. "But you'll have to double check."

"What place is that?" I questioned.

Juliette held up her free hand and pointed in a direction. Following that direction, I saw a ginormous big top circus tent with lots of smaller big-top tents surrounding it. As I looked that way, I saw a blue glowing figure going into the biggest tent.

"The Flying Fantasy Circus, if I remember right," Juliette stated. "That seems like the place he would go."

"He is there," I confirmed. "I saw someone coated in blue energy walking into the biggest tent in the center. We should hurry over before he has a chance to get away."

Juliette gave a small nod before frowning. "Let's just hope he doesn't make it hard for us with the Gem of Fantasy."

Still holding onto Juliette's hand, I began to fly us towards the circus tent. As I was flying, however, I noticed… or rather, sensed two very familiar presences in the area that immediately caught my attention. I frowned as I looked down, using the aura vision I still had on to see the two presences I was sensing. It was very easy to spot them due to their unique green and red aura.

"Juliette… It would seem… Danny and Andy are here… and going into the Flying Fantasy Circus themselves," I warned quietly.

Juliette let out a small groan. "Oh great… like we didn't have a big enough challenge ahead of us."

"Why are they here? I thought Andy would've taken Danny home with him by now." I frowned.

"Maybe Danny saw Freakshow?" Juliette theorized. "Or sensed a strong ghostly power being used and wanted to investigate it as it isn't the power of any ghosts he knows?"

"It's also possible they both got caught up in the subtle brainwashing of this place…" I muttered, remembering that was a feature of this domain. "Danny is a bit more easily distracted than I am, and this place works a bit too well on both me and the Andy of this world."

"With the big lights shining from the tent, that might've lured them in a manner akin of a moth being drawn in by a flame," Juliette theorized.

I sighed. Or a bug to a bug zapper… "You think I'll be okay?"

"I'll be with you," Juliette assured. "If we get separated, just keep your mind full of thoughts so you'll be harder to influence."

"Right… shouldn't be too hard to do that," I chuckled nervously as we got closer to the big tent.

The Flying Fantasy Circus certainly did have a lot of big, bright lights. I could see how it could easily attract a crowd, especially children. There were tons of ghosts of different shapes and sizes lined up just outside the tent, all wanting to get in and see the circus. I could see Danny and Andy were among the crowd, both looking more like excited children than two ghosts on a mission. I avoided eye contact with them, and tried to stay focused. As long as we were in disguise, we should be fine.

"How are we going to get inside? The crowd would throw a fit if they see us just cutting in line like this," I asked Juliette as we floated outside the entrance.

Juliette frowned. "There are three options; try to sneak in, wait in line… or go through the performer entrance. The last one is the riskiest."

"Why's that?" I questioned.

"There are multiple ways in which it could go wrong; we could be mistaken for performers and be forced to do something, we could be discovered for not being performers and get kicked out of the entire domain, and likely some other options that my mind is refusing to think of," Juliette explained.

"Sneaking in might not be our best option. Even if we used our stealthiest invisibility, they have high security here that would sniff us out quickly. Waiting in line doesn't seem very… practical, Freakshow could easily go somewhere else by the time we get inside," I listed.

"We don't exactly have the time to try many other plans," Juliette pointed out. "I mean… we could cause a distraction… Though it's super risky as it risks drawing disastrous attention onto us."

I closed my eyes for a moment. "Let me try something…"

I shut my mind out to the sounds and sensations that were coming from all around us, and began to focus on my power to see into the future. I was hoping to trigger some kind of vision that would show me the best way to get into the tent with Juliette.

---

ukairoenyiannay: DarkFoxKit: Hehe, good, good, we enjoy it when readers like to ship our characters. Who's to say Andy and Juliette won't end up together?

Titanic X: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': As entertaining as that would be, no… There will be no Gundams in We Are Phantoms.

DarkFoxKit: Sorry, I don't know Gundams. ^^' Also, hi, nice to see you reading this story too.

Dp-Marvel94: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': It was a really fun idea to think of ideas we could make reality with the Gem of Life and the Gem of Form. Those paper birds were just one of the ideas, though we at first were thinking of creating a whole army of living objects. If you have seen Toy Story, we were thinking of Andy actually bringing to life some of the green plastic army soldiers.

As for the other Andy helping our Andy with his visions, it was something that our Andy would've discovered in time. But the other Andy decided to give a helping hand to our Andy.

Luna Lillyth: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Oh, well I'm glad we built up the tension and made it feel like there wasn't much hope for them~

Mana16: DarkFoxKit: The amusement park in the Ghost Zone is kind of like Pleasure Island in Pinocchio, it looks fun at first, but it hides a dark and sinister secret. So I don't think they would want to go to the amusement park in the Ghost Zone for their vacation. ^^' As for the road trip in canon, it is too bad they decided not to go in the end. I always thought Danny was too hasty with destroying the Reality Gauntlet, yes in the wrong hands it would be terrible, but it's also a good thing to have in case they need it, like another Pariah Dark invasion or something worse. But I guess Butch decided he didn't really want to keep the Reality Gauntlet around.

Danny likely would've still become half ghost, yeah, I just think it might've happened later, or Danny would have to be sneakier when going into the lab. It was destiny, so it was going to happen no matter what, as Andy had to learn the hard way.

There are a lot of things that could've been different or changed if Flynn had existed in canon. They're all very interesting. Personally I do agree that Flynn's first appearance likely would've been during Reign Storm, he was trained by Misery Vex to be a warrior, and there was no way she was going to miss the chance to use him to fight Pariah Dark when he was released again. Flynn doesn't exist in my story though, Andy had taken his place instead as the third child of the Fentons. But there could be dimension shifting where they might see Flynn where Andy doesn't exist. As you can see, there are a lot of different dimensions of the DP universe, so who's to say Flynn isn't in one of them?