Chapter 6: The Rescue
The Specter Speeder made its way, Tucker being at the helm while Star gave directions.
"Okay… now go straight." She said.
"Wait… we should take the streets to go around." Tucker said.
"Uh… it's just straight that way." Star said.
"Yeah… but it's late. I don't wanna catch the rush hour traffic." Tucker tells her.
Both girls shared incredulous looks.
"Rush hour? Tucker, we're in a hovering ship." Sam reminds him.
"Excuse me for being a careful driver!" Tucker snapped.
Both girls shook their heads in disapproval.
"He's still very anti-criticism right now… isn't he?" Star said.
"My comic is perfect! Watch! Soon as we're done, I'm gonna check my email to see if any of the publishers will pick it up!" He insisted.
"Why not self-publish?" Sam asks.
"Because any more spending is gonna be noticed by my parents…" Tucker said with a pout before an idea made him smile. "Hey, you guys have money. So maybe you two cou-" A glare from the two silenced him. "Never mind… back to driving…"
With that, Sam decided it was time to get to business.
"Star, you're the only one of us who read that comic series. Can't you tell us anything that can give us an edge over these guys?" Sam asked.
Star thought about it and tried to recall everything she knew about these villains from the comic.
"Well...I remember that Misery is a bit too powerful, though her webs have a weakness, but the rest can be taken care of. Shade apparently can't use her power if she's not touched by any light, since you can't cast a shadow if there's no light. Funhouse seems to be very dense. Swarm's a literal swarm of bugs, so anything that affects bugs can be used against her. Plaything is super light and has no long range attacks..." Star said, recalling what she knew.
Hearing all this, Sam scratched her chin.
"That's a start…" Sam said before she looked at Tucker. "Tucker? Looks like we'll need to make a stop or two."
"Oh sure… when I wanna take a different route, I'm the bad guy. But when you-"
A smack to the head from Star shut him up.
"Just go." She said, glaring at him.
Tucker grumbled as he did as ordered.
Meanwhile
As Danny tried to break free, the villains were in what used to be the dining area of the truck stop, standing around as if waiting for something.
"How much longer? It's taken like 10 issues…" Shade whined.
Misery glared over her shoulder.
"Do not complain… it has taken each of us time, has it not? Once they have arrived, you may keep your prize." She said, referring to Danny.
Shade straightened up.
"Apologies, Mistress." She said with a bow.
Misery nodded as her attention was directed to Plaything and Funhouse.
"How much ink do we have from our theft of this area?"
"30 cases full. More than enough!" Plaything said.
"About time you did something right…" Misery said.
Funhouse sighed happily.
"I live to serve." He said.
"As you should…" Misery said in a dismissive tone. "Lest you wish to be my spiders' new toys."
As this went on, they saw a puddle of ink appear in front of them.
"Look!" Swarm screeched.
"It's happening!" Shade went.
"Finally… a man-thing who is actually useful…" Misery said.
At the same time
They arrived at the truck stop.
"This is the place…" Star said.
"And look, the trucks." Sam said, pointing ahead.
There they saw the same trucks the hypnotized men were using.
"Well I'll be darned… she was right." Tucker said.
The members of Team Phantom were now trying to figure out what to do next.
"This is nuts... we should go find Danny and then get that pen…" Sam suggested.
Star was going to say something but Tucker interjected.
"Wouldn't it be smarter to find the pen first? You know...before those bad guys cause any more trouble with it." Tucker pointed out.
Star wanted to say something but Sam spoke up next.
"We don't have time to look for it on foot. We need to find Danny and bust him out, not look around for a pen that's probably not here for all we know." Sam said harshly.
"Hey, I was just pointing out that it's an option. Besides, the longer those bad guys have it, the more fake ghosts could show up!" Tucker said, not liking her tone.
The two began arguing until a certain blonde girl got their attention by screaming.
"KNOCK IT OFF!" Star shouted, snapping the two out of their argument due to how loud she was.
"What?" Tucker and Sam both asked in sync.
Star rolled her eyes and merely pointed to the place
"In case you both forget, we gotta hurry." She reminded them, making the two teens drop their glares.
"Alright... so... who should go find Danny and who should find the pen?" Tucker asked out loud.
"I can go look for Danny and let you guys know where he is once I find him..." Sam said, wanting to be sure he's okay.
Star saw what was going on inside and realized the villains were all in the front.
"Uh… guys?" Star went.
"You guys can look for the pen." Sam said.
"Guys?" Star repeated.
"Why do we have to look for the pen by ourselves?." Tucker asked.
"Oh for Pete's sake…" Star then flicked both of them in the heads. This angered them, but she pointed to the truck stop. "All the bad guys are there, in the front. Maybe we sneak in the back?"
Seeing what she's talking about, the two nodded and followed her.
As they went ahead, the trio slowly came closer to a broken window of the truck stop, peeking in to see what's going on.
Misery held the comic book in her hand and showed the images of more ghosts from them, including a ghost that looked to be in a diver costumer and what seemed like beings without faces in robes.
"Soon, we will be free... including Rebreather and even those alien warriors the Faceless...together, we will take the real world for ourselves!" Misery said before laughing fiendishly.
Team Phantom was keeping quiet but Sam couldn't help but comment on the last part.
"Aliens? Since when does Danny fight aliens?" She asked in a dismissive tone.
"That does sound pretty cool..." Tucker said, stroking his chin in thought. "This is giving me ideas for my own comic book."
"You can thank her for your lack of creativity later, now come on!" Star whispered harshly.
As the three left, the puddle had something slowly rising from it.
"Finally…" Misery said with an evil grin.
The figure rising was what looked like a grey diving suit, with the green coming from the helmet blinking like an eye.
Once the figure was finally out, the ink seemed to be soaked into him via his feet.
"W-What? W-where am I?" He asked, looking around.
"Welcome, Rebreather." Misery said with her arms crossed.
Rebreather shook his head and, upon seeing Misery, took a knee.
"Mistress Misery Vex…" He said. "I live to serve…"
"As you do, most useful of man-things…" She said in a less hostile tone she's had with most males.
"What is your command, Mistress?" Rebreather asked.
"For now, wait until the alien creatures are formed. We will use them as an army to take over this city." Vex ordered.
"Of course…" He said.
"As my lead general, you will take the charge." Misery said.
As Plaything and Funhouse frowned in disappointment, Shade couldn't help but comment.
"What? But… Mistress? I have served you willingly, without the fear of your power!" She went. Misery shot a glare and Shade flinched. "I mean… not as much fear as the men." She attempted to clarify.
Misery only smiled and patted Shade like a child on the head.
"Frey not, my dear. It's simply that Rebreather is the most combat capable among us, even if he is a man-thing." Misery said in a soothing tone.
"I understand…" Shade said.
"Now…" Misery said as another puddle formed near them. "My army is arriving…"
The evil fake ghost smirked as she began the next phase of her evil plot.
With Danny
The half-ghost hero tried his best to break free.
"No good… maybe I can freeze this?" He said to himself as he struggled.
"Or maybe you need someone else to get you free?" Star was heard asking.
Danny turned his head and gasped in joy when he saw his girlfriend.
"Star?" He asked with a smile.
"Hang on. I know how to deal with this." She said as she took out a bottle of water. "I knew this would come in handy when we stopped for it."
She poured the water on the web, weakening it. Feeling them loosen, Danny tore free and hugged his beloved.
"Star! I don't know how you did that, but it worked!" He said happily.
"I read the comic…" Star pointed out before she and Danny kissed happily.
Sam and Tucker walked in and made gagging sounds.
"Really? Now?" Sam asked.
The couple pulled away, since they knew that they had urgent matters at hand.
"Guys, you gotta know, there's this pen-"
"We know. We heard of it, any idea where it is?" Sam asked.
Danny pointed to the table nearby, they also saw a guy sitting there in a golf cap, drawing with the pen.
"Isn't that… Ben Silver? The comic's artist?" Star asked.
"Yeah, I guess he was Misery's first victim outside the pages." Danny said.
The teenagers wasted no time in running there and trying to pull the pen out of his near iron grip. After several attempts, they managed to get it out.
At this time, the puddle of ink in the dining room froze, much to the villains' surprise.
"I got the pen!" Tucker said as he held the ghostly object in the air.
"Hand it over… " Danny said, eager to get rid of it.
The tech geek however, had other ideas as he looked at this object.
"If this thing can bring those ghosts here... I wonder..." Tucker thought as he began to take some paper and began drawing.
"Tucker, what are you doing?!" Sam hissed.
"Leveling the playing field! I'm gonna make Techno Foley a real thing." Tucker said as he quickly drew a suit of armor on the page about 10 times.
"Tucker! Ghost Writer said it took numerous drawings to make it real!" Sam reminded him.
"The Ghost Writer? Wait… that's his pen?" Danny asked.
"Long story… one we can recount after Tucker stops that!" Star said calmly before shouting.
"Just a good 40 more. This is how I drew my comic, after all." Tucker said.
"Uh… does he have any experience in drawing? Like, at all?" Star asked.
"Next to nill…" Sam answers.
"Huh… that would explain the wonky perspective and lack of concern for color theory. Who puts bright green and bright orange on an outfit? And the exact same tone? He'll make someone go color blind, or just blind!" Star said.
"Ugh… I know, right? Just the cover made my eyes wanna bleed just so I don't have to look at it." Sam admits.
"And there's so much clutter that it makes it impossible to know where our eyes are supposed to go. It's like someone doesn't understand that racecars have stickers because of advertisements, not because they look great." Star said.
As both girls nod, Danny couldn't help but smile.
"It does my heart good to know my best friend and girlfriend can come together… even if it's to dunk on Tucker's art skills, or lack of."
"And… done!" Tucker went. "100 drawings in and…"
The ink on the paper began to rise and soon formed an armor that was 10 feet tall.
Star saw that it was the same kind of armor he wore in his comic she decreed as lame, but noticed that it looked like it was drawn fast and it looked stiff and hastily constructed to say the least. Everyone else cringed at the sight of it as Tucker grinned proudly at his creation.
"Wow… it's even uglier in the flesh." The blonde said.
"I should apologize to Funhouse…" Danny said.
"But… where's the guy inside?" Tucker asked.
"He said it can't recreate what already exists." Sam says.
Hearing that, Tucker grinned.
"Then I'll be the superhero!"
"Oh no…" Star groaned as the tech geek jumped in and entered the suit. "You can't be serious?!".
"Behold, I am Techno Foley and will be the one to save the day!' Tucker said as he tried to move. To his dismay, nothing happened. "Hey, I can't move!" Tucker said as he tried to use his suit but nothing happened.
Star rolled her eyes.
"You made a janky piece of junk because you rushed through your drawing so fast that you got proportions and perspective wrong and didn't stop to notice all the mistakes you made. Why is the only place our eyes are being drawn to your stomach since it's the only part with no clutter? There's no kneecaps or joints in the leg! Those arms clearly are too long! Both feet are not in symmetry! And I'm betting those shoulder pads can't fit through the door! And what's the point of the cape and why is the orange the same saturation as the yellow? The suit is as ugly and poorly thought out as your comic is." She said with her arms crossed.
"Stop criticizing my work! It's gonna make me millions!" Tucker whined.
"You seriously did this because you want money, not because you like what you're doing? That's messed up." Sam said.
"Uh… guys?" Danny said.
"Pfft… you're not a creator! You wouldn't know." Tucker said, closing his eyes and pouting.
Star raised an eyebrow.
"Are you trying to look away but can't because you can't move the neck?"
"N-No…" Tucker said, clearly lying.
"Oh… well… I should remind you I draw… a lot. I am far more qualified to tell you this than Sam, but she hit the nail on the head. No one is above critique, not even the masters. She may not be a "professional", but one doesn't have to be Gordon Ramsey to tell you a steak you cooked looks like and tastes like-"
"Guys!" Danny shouted, getting their attention. "The pen?"
It was a moment, but the three recalled what they were going to do.
"No problem! I'll just…" Tucker tried to move again, but nothing happened. "Ugh… I got thi-" His suit started falling backward. "Oh no…"
"I told you that thing wasn't right!" Star went.
Tucker's armor fell down, breaking a wall down.
Danny's eyes widened in horror as the smoke made from the dust of the impact cleared and showed who was there.
"Uh oh…"
Misery and her minions saw Team Phantom. As Danny helped Tucker out of his armor, they saw the pen as Star took it.
"Intruders… the pen! The pen must not be taken! GET THEM!" She ordered.
New chapter with thanks to Flower princess11 for help.
Tucker's refusal to accept criticism strikes again!
Also, Misery is a tall woman of ambiguous orientation with a hate for men, whom she calls "man-things". I based her slightly off Lady Dimitrescu of Resident Evil Village. Just in case someone is wondering.
pokemon fan 1991: Hopefully it turns out better. That show sadly did not age well.
Invader Johnny: She definitely has what it takes.
RonaldM40196867: She sure does. His name is based on the two lead artists from the show, Ben Balistreri and Stephen Silver. Not sure on that team up to be honest. Yes and no... Maybe?
Leonardo: I did not know... Also, I might try something... like finish the stories with her I still have.
61394: Please enjoy the story :)
hmilles02: Yup, sure did need some comedy. Glad you liked it.
