Chapter 4: The Ink Creatures

Now, standing before them, was Misery Vex. The tall woman only glared at them as she took a step forward.

She was sneering as Danny stood in front of his friends, aiming a fist.

"Okay, I have no idea how you're even here and I don't really care. But, Misery Vex? Your name is about to be very meaningful!" Danny said as he fired a ghost ray at full blast.

Misery only had a moment to brace herself as the blast hit her, sending her back before suddenly she exploded. Black liquid went flying out and staining the floorboards as well as the ceiling.

Danny, Sam and Star just stared slack jawed as Tucker grinned widely.

"Ha! See! You can totally have a story without any supposed conflict or danger! So much for your criticism!" He said, being defensive at the wrong time.

"But… it blew her up… that's not supposed to happen." Danny pointed out.

Seeing the black substance on the floor, Star knelt down and examined it. Touching it with a finger before rubbing the substance with her thumb, she couldn't help but think that it was something she was familiar with. She now knew why.

"Ink? Why did the beam turn her into ink?" She asked.

Tucker, not caring, shrugged.

"Can't argue with the results." He said with a smile.

Suddenly, the ink began moving, even leaving Star's finger as it began to glow. Soon, it formed a humanoid shape before Misery Vex stood before them once more, looking as if nothing happened, much to their shock.

"Apparently, she can." Sam said.

"You cannot destroy me…" Misery Vex said with eyes narrowing in anger before snapping her fingers. "Shade, Swarm… appear."

The two she called for arrived, one flying in and the other emerging from a shadow to her sides.

"Yes, Mistress?" Shade asked.

"Mistress?!" Swarm screeched in a semi-coherent voice.

"Be dears for me and deal with these intruders while I get these man-things to take the ink with us." Misery said.

"Of course…" Shade said before waving at Danny. "Yoo-hoo! Danny!"

Danny cringed as Star glared at her.

"I heard what you did and you're toast!" She shouted.

"Who are you?" Shade asked dismissively, causing Star's face to turn red with rage.

Sam cleared her throat, reminding Star of another's presence.

"Uh, Star? Who's the bug?" Sam asked.

"Swarm, a creature made of hundreds and thousands of bugs." She explained.

"Eww…" Tucker went.

"Okay, not it for the bug!" Sam went.

"Oh, come on!" Tucker went.

"Sorry... you know I don't do hurting animals." Sam defended herself.

"Compromise once in a while!" Tucker whined.

A scoff from Shade caught their attention.

"Two against four? Not entirely fair, Mistress. I mean, for them at least. Though I suppose we should play fair and make it one on one for each." Shade said.

"Perhaps…" Misery said softly before shouting in a tone far less friendly. "You two! Make yourselves useful!"

"Yes, Mistress!" Two male voices said as two more beings appeared out of the shadows.

One was a green hovering entity that laughed before morphing into a deranged version of Danny from the comic. The other was a point hatted clown doll with a crazed expression, a mouth not unlike a nutcracker and a comically large axe.

"Uh… who are they?" Tucker asked, nervous at the clown doll's presence.

"More bad guys from the comic! The green one's Funhouse!" Star explained as she readied her weapon.

Suddenly, the clown doll came charging at them, laughing maniacally as he carried the axe over his head.

"GAAAHHHHH!" Tucker went before running away, the clown chasing him.

"And uh… your new friend is Plaything." Star continued.

Swarm turned into her namesake and came flying after Sam.

Sam covered her face and ran away.

"Oh come on! I said I didn't want to hurt you!" She went.

That left Shade and Funhouse.

"So, why is he called Funhouse?" Danny asks.

"He's supposedly a ghost from a funhouse mirror, that's why he looks like a misshaped you." Star explained.

The two villains readied for battle.

"Pick a target!" Danny says as they scatter.

"Shade's all mine!" Star said as she came charging in.

Danny's chosen foe, Funhouse, laughed maniacally.

"It's gonna be a party!" Funhouse said.

''Then let's party! " Danny quipped.

Danny fired a ghost ray at Funhouse, who ducked out of the way.

"Payback!" He shouted.

"Wrong Danny, moron." Shade scolded as she avoided Star's weapon.

The blonde girl glared hard at her.

"This'll teach you to kiss someone else's boyfriend!" Star said as she stabbed.

She was momentarily horrified at what she did before noticing Shade barely registered the hit.

"Pfft… you're his girlfriend here? How quaint…" She said before pulling back, showing a hole where the attack pierced slowly closing with black before changing to match her blue suit.

"Huh?" Star went.

"I'd say you'd have to do better than that, but I know that that's not likely." Shade said as she snapped her fingers and a pair of arms came out of the shadows and came after Star.

Star somersaulted out of the way.

"I actually read the comic, so I know how you fight!" Star said.

"Then this might be kind of fun." Shade said.

Meanwhile, Sam was facing Swarm, who was now living up to her name as a swarm of insects.

The swarm flew around Sam, and she can vaguely hear sounds coming from them.

"Eat her! Eat her!" They said.

Still unwilling to hurt an animal, Sam saw Tucker still running for his life from the clown doll that was Plaything.

"I really don't wanna fight a bugs… tag?" Sam asked.

"TAG!" Tucker shouted as he ran from Plaything.

Sam didn't argue as she faced the demented clown doll monster.

"Never liked dolls…" She said before firing.

The blast went right through Plaything's head, leaving a hole through it. Sam gasped in horror before it closed, also black before matching the color of where the hole closed.

"That tickles!" Plaything said before raising his axe and attempting to chop Sam.

''Now I really don't like dolls..." The goth muttered.

"Play!" Plaything went as he tried again to attack.

Sam ran around in circles as Plaything followed her.

Danny saw his friends and girlfriend not doing so well.

"Weird... no matter how strong, they should at least be doing some harm." Danny said as he started grappling with Funhouse. "What are you?"

"Gonna win!" Funhouse said.

"Yeah, forgot to mention, he's not bright!" Star called out.

Meanwhile, Sam saw a crate upcoming and jumped over it. Plaything's axe was caught upon swinging on it, lodging it in and getting stuck.

Seeing an opportunity, Sam kicked the doll away and attempted to reach for his axe.

"Let's see how you-" Before she could touch the axe, it melted into ink. "What?!"

Suddenly, Plaything held his hand out and a new axe appeared from the ink that came out of his palm.

"My toys! Mine!" He said while laughing madly.

Sam gritted her teeth in growing fear.

"I should have stuck with the bugs." She muttered.

Meanwhile, Tucker fired aimlessly at Swarm's insects.

One of them landed on his shoulder, causing him to try and squish it but it flew away. Then, more than too many landed all over him.

"Oh… this is so much worse than the doll…" He muttered.

"Dinner!" One insect was heard screeching before the rest screeched as well.

"AHH!" He yelled as he tried to shake them off, to no avail.

Danny punched Funhouse in the face, causing the head to snap back and contort in a painful looking manner before returning to its original place.

''Creepy..." Danny said as Funhouse kept attacking with attempted punches. "Does this guy have a weakness?!"

Star jumped out of reach from Shade's shadow arms.

"Aside from not being bright, there's-"

She tackled into the ground by Shade.

"Uh-uh! No sharing!" Shade said.

Star kicked her off and then got back on her feet, swinging her ecto-saber at Shade's head.

The hit caused the head to splatter into black ink. Star gasped in shock before the head reformed.

"Okay... was this ever a thing before I joined or-"

"No, this is new!" Danny said as he tackled Funhouse into the wall. He frowned harder at the sight of a more deranged version of himself with a mouth full of misshapen fangs. "It's like the ugliest mirror..." He grunted.

With his eyes closed, Tucker kept firing at the insects.

"Get away!" He went.

"Snack time! Snake time!" The insects went.

Tucker continued shooing the insects away by blasting at them when another scream caught his attention.

"DO SOMETHING!" Sam called out as she ran from Plaything.

"Fun! Fun! I'm gonna chop you up!" Plaything went.

"TUCKER! HELP!" Sam cried out.

Tucker took a moment to stop firing and see this, only to frown in response.

"And she wonders why I wrote "crying like a little girl"..." He muttered.

"I HEARD THAT!" Sam snapped, making the tech geek flinch. "ANYONE?!"

Danny pushed Funhouse aside and formed a ball of energy in his hand.

"Hey, Plaything! Wanna play?! Catch!" He threw his attack.

Plaything stopped to see the blast heading in his direction. He didn't react in time as it destroyed his head. Relief was short as he pulled down the hole on his neck and pulled a new head out, good as new.

"Oh… that's gross…" Star said, getting tripped by Shade in the process.

Danny was distracted by seeing her attacked, allowing Funhouse to tackle him onto the floor.

Danny sees Misery Vex's back turned, seeing the hypnotized men getting into trucks.

"Where are you taking them?!" He asked.

"Mistress says to take them to a factory, make more of the comics!" Funhouse says.

Danny kicked the shapeshifter off and flew towards the spider woman, taking the Thermos out.

"Let's put a stop to that!" He said as landed right behind her and fired.

However, the suction of the Thermos did nothing as Misery only now noticed, looking more irritated than anything.

Once Danny saw it had no effect, he stopped. He tried once more but nothing happened.

"What exactly was that supposed to do?" Misery questioned.

Thinking fast, Danny turned and aimed the Thermos at the others.

He hit Funhouse, he hit Shade, he hit Plaything and finally aimed as Swarm. They were unaffected.

"Danny! Quit messing around!" Tucker called out as he tried to shoo the bugs away.

"It's not me! The Thermos isn't working!" He called out.

Misery then backhanded him with enough force to send him flying into the wall.

"Wretched man-thing!" She shouted.

As Danny slid down the wall, the rest came to his aid.

"What's going on? Is it malfunctioning?" Tucker asked.

"Maybe they're just too powerful?" Sam asked.

"Or maybe… these things aren't actual ghosts?" Star suggested.

"You can't be serious…" Sam said with an eye roll.

"No, she's right… these things. They don't trigger my ghost sense, the Fenton tech barely does anything to them… they're not ghosts. The Thermos is useless against them." Danny said as he got up.

All five of the villains stood before them.

"With the magic of the pen…" Misery started.

"We cannot be defeated!" The rest finished for her.

The four of them only blinked in confusion at that.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Sam asked before she, Danny and Tucker stared at Star.

"Uh… how am I supposed to know?" She asked.

"You're the one who's read that stupid comic!" Sam reminds her.

"That part's not in the comics!" Star responded.

''Maybe it's new?" Tucker suggested.

As they all glared at him for his not so helpful idea, the villains continued.

"It's time to go. Before we leave… Shade, do your thing!" Misery commanded.

"With pleasure, Mistress." Shade said with a finger snap.

Suddenly, a dark hand came out of the shadows and grabbed Danny like a toy before pulling him in.

"DANNY!" They all shouted for him.

"We have what we came for… Time to go." Misery ordered.

With that, Shade snapped her fingers and the five sank into the shadows.

They were gone.


10 Minutes Later

The remaining members of Team Phantom were panicking as the three stood outside on the docks, recalling what just happened.

"Okay, closet comic geek! You've read that thing, so how are these fictional ghosts suddenly turning real?!" Sam asked.

"Maybe they're not fictional." Star suggested. "Maybe they've always been real and the comic just decided to use them?"

"But that doesn't explain anything. Why they didn't trigger Danny's ghost sense, why the Thermos didn't work, and why whenever they're hit they turn to ink." Sam points out before standing straight. "We gotta get to finding Danny!"

"Okay, good call." Star said.

Sam looked to the tech genius of the group.

"Tucker! Use your PDA to find any factories or the like that manufacturing anything even close to comics around Amity Park."

Tucker frowned at her.

"Hold it. What makes you suddenly give the orders here?" Tucker asked.

"Uh… I'm the one who's been training as hard in ghost fighting since we started!"

"Yeah, but I'm the brains behind the tech we use! If anything, I should totally be in charge! And my first order is we go looking through every comic store in town, see if anyone's left that could lead us to Misery and company."

"Are you nuts? They're probably gone. Obviously, we should look through every factory in town, see which ones they're using." Sam argued.

"Oh, is this because you want to be second-in-command?" Tucker asks.

"Tucker, now's not the time. Besides, my idea is better." Sam said.

"Are you still mad about the "crying like a little girl" part?" Tucker asked.

"Yes, but that's not it!" Sam snapped.

Suddenly, the two started arguing, leaving Star to watch.

"Uh… guys?" Both of them turned their attention to her. "I just remembered. If these things aren't ghosts, maybe a ghost still had a hand in making them real?"

"Like who?" Sam asked.

"Well… they mentioned a pen. Maybe Ghost Writer?" Star suggested.

Both of them shared a look before being dismissive.

"Why would he make those things? That makes no sense." Tucker said.

"You didn't even think he was real until Valentine's Day." Star pointed out.

The two of them continued to ignore her as they continued arguing over who should be in charge.

Star groaned before taking her phone out.

I better call Jazz… let her know we need help.


Special thanks to Flower princess11.

So, if they're not ghosts, what are they? Tune in next time to find out!

RonaldM40196867: Sam means she knows what the real Danny Phantom is like, and has dealt with actual ghostly villains. I have, yes. Hmm... maybe?

Luiz4200: It might have been...

Invader Johnny: As we see, he still obsesses over proving everyone's complaints wrong.

Leonardo: Thanks. I apologize. I'm sure someone in this world has done stories of the like...