This one is pretty short, comparatively, but a lot of stuff happens in it, so... I think that makes up for it? I hope?

Most of the questions you guys asked are answered in the chapter, so read to find out!

Thank you for reading and reviewing!

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Chapter 142: Duel

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"For the- Wait, what?"

Aragon snarled, showing fangs. "Do not play the fool with me, boy. You know what you have attained, all undeserving. In this cursed place it is as clear to the eye as the dawn. I challenge you, and you must accept. Or else."

"I, uh." Danny's mind spun. He didn't know what Aragon thought he was challenging him for, Danny didn't have a crown, but the prince might have given Danny a way out, if he was sufficiently clever. "I accept. I pick ice."

Aragon, who had just opened his mouth, paused, and scowled down at Danny. "What?" he asked, rudely.

"I pick ice. Ice is the weapon. I get to pick the weapon, since you challenged me. That's how this works, right? Then, uh. Ellie, you want to be my first second, right?"

"Your first second right? Are you trying to give out directions, or..?"

"Basically, will you be my back up? I get three seconds. That's traditional," Danny said the last two sentences as firmly and confidently as it was possible to do with his face pressed into the ground.

"Daniel is correct," said Vlad, smoothly. "Each party must also provide a doctor."

"Yep. So then, I want, lets see here, I want Dora and-"

"Neither Dorathea nor that filthy brat you call a sister can be your seconds," spat Aragon. "They are women. Incapable."

"Wow. Uh. You realize you've gotten your butt handed to you by girls? More than once? Anyway, my third second is going to be-" who was both sufficiently intimidating and unavailable? "-Clockwork. And my doctor is Frostbite. I'll have to ask them first, of course. So that'll take some time. Where's the field of honor going to be?"

Aragon stared at him. Danny owed Ghostwriter an apology. He had no idea medieval and renaissance dueling customs would come in handy.

"We are going to fight here," hissed Aragon. "Now."

"No, no, no. That's not how this works. Now, you have to pick a field of honor, and I get to say yes or no, then you have to pick seconds, and they and my seconds will go and make arrangements, like time and stuff. Now, you've got to remember that my guys and I have a court date coming up, so we won't be able to-"

Aragon roared in frustration. "No! You will fight me NOW!"

"Dude, I thought you were a prince or something." Danny squirmed under the wolves' arms, curling his legs beneath him, getting into position. "Haven't you ever heard of the code duello?" He saw Ellie drifting slightly away from the archer. They were on the same page, then. Good. "I mean, seriously, this is pretty basic stuff. Did you have your tutor hanged or something, because wow. I don't think we can do this challenge thing if you don't even know this much."

Aragon loomed upward. "You dare-"

Aragon must have made for a very attractive target from behind, because not one, not two, but three ectoblasts hit his back. One of them, Danny thought it must be Ellie's, neatly severed the chain of Aragon's amulet. Danny, using as much strength as he could draw on in one burst, leaped halfway out of the wolves' grasp, headbutting Aragon in the stomach, and seized the amulet between his teeth.

Aragon shrieked, but was diverted by a particularly wroth Vlad. This fight was just as uneven as before, but in Vlad's favor, not Aragon's. One of the wolves released Danny, and flew off after that fight, to help Aragon. The other tried to get the amulet away from Danny. Danny, who had once put an entire orange in his mouth, to the delight of his friends and the disgust of his sister, had nearly gotten his lips closed around the amulet, and was using the chain as a makeshift whip as he thrashed back and forth.

Ellie was abruptly thrown across Danny's field of view. His heart skipped a beat. The wolf pushed him down, and his head hit the floor hard enough for stars to dance across his vision. He threw a punch blindly upwards. No! He needed to see what happened! He needed to make sure Ellie was safe, that Valerie was safe, that his teacher was safe, that his classmates were safe! Then he'd punch Aragon in his stupid smug snake face! His mind bubbled in fury.

Fury that he had, more or less, counted on.

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Even for a princess of a deposed royal family living in the most haunted town in North America, it wasn't every day that one saw their classmate turn into a dragon. Of course, said classmate had just revealed that he had been turning into a ghost just fine every day for the last couple of years, so it was somewhat less impressive than it would have been, especially when coupled with the fact that it actually wasn't the first time she had seen a classmate turn into a dragon. That honor went to her first homecoming dance in freshman year.

Valerie's life was unbelievable.

The wolf-headed ghost that had been holding on to Danny was promptly flattened. The resulting smear of ectoplasm fled for the nearest door.

Pressing question: Did Danny know what he was doing, or was he going to attack indiscriminately?

Valerie had been out of her depth in this fight from the moment it had started, and her strength was flagging. Those ectoblasts took more energy than ghosts' prolific use of them would suggest.

Maybe... it was time to go.

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Ellie decided that Danny had had too much fun for today, and that it was her turn. For certain values of 'fun,' 'today,' and 'too much.' She was worried that he was overreaching himself, working himself to a collapse. She also didn't know enough about the Amulets of Mattingly to say whether or not using them would result in side effects. So, once she had chucked the archer downstairs, and dropped a settee in front of the door, she flew over to Danny.

Aragon was now the one hiding (he wasn't doing it very well, he kept cursing at Danny). Vlad was fighting the executioner. The other wolf-headed ghost was nowhere to be seen. Mr Lancer was bleeding from a cut in his upper arm. Valerie was running across the floor to Mr Lancer. Cujo was watching the fight, growling and confused.

Ellie whistled, and he perked up. "Go help Valerie," ordered Ellie, pointing. Cujo barked, low, deep, and echoing, and ran to Valerie. Valerie had better take Cujo's help, and not go off on a revenge tangent. This wasn't the time or the place for that nonsense.

Great. Now. Plan for getting Danny to go with them to the next floor. She didn't have one. She didn't even have a plan for 'stop Danny from being a dragon' or 'stop Aragon from being a massive pain.'

But the absence of a plan turned out to be a non-issue, at least for the 'Danny is currently a dragon' problem. Without any real warning, Danny popped back to his usual shape and size, and fell to the ground. Ellie got to him just before Aragon made an attempt to stab him, and hit the other ghost so hard he left a dent in the wall.

"Are you okay?" she asked, because Danny did not look okay. At all. He was easily three shades paler than he normally was, and his eyes were wider than baseballs.

"... swallowed it," whispered Danny.

"What?"

"Swallowed it. I swallowed it."

Aragon decided to make himself known again. "What did you do to my amulet?"

At this point, Vlad threw the (large, bulky) executioner into the deposed prince.

"I suggest you leave, Daniel," he said. "We can take it from here, and who knows what troubles your classmates are getting into on the next floor?"

Danny went paler still. He turned to Ellie. She nodded. Danny bit his lip, but ran after Valerie and Mr Lancer.

Ellie scowled, and raised her fists to continue the fight. "How do you do that?"

Vlad laughed. "I'll teach you, someday, Danielle."