"No, no, NO!" Miaho yelled. "My center line! Control my center line!"
Danny cursed mentally, but did as he was bidden as his draconic friend practically danced around him, quite obviously outmatching him in his combat strength.
Or…to be more specific, was just more knowledgeable…
Phantom threw another punch, this time lower towards his opponent's abdomen, and was rewarded with a grunt of pain from his counterpart. The dragon smiled his compliment, before spinning off on to the side in a small whirl of water.
"You're getting better, but you're still a tad slow…you still need focus…" he said matter-of-factly.
The ghost rose in the air, readying another blast as a growl escaped his lips. "Oh? How? You've already taught me how to concentrate my energy and release it like a bomb!" And, as a punctuating factor, he released a flurry of blasts with a single sweep of his hand, releasing a spectacular display of flashing green explosions.
Many were a direct hit to his opponent, who screeched in pain as they charred his skin before blasting him back into a wall with an earthquake-like crash.
Danny's face was one that was half smirking because of the new powerful attacks he was capable of, and half one of horror at the possible tragedy that he had killed him. His fears were quickly quelled as a heavy rock heaved aside stubbornly by several thick strands of water, and a battered Miaho roused himself out of the rubble, blood coming out of deep cuts in his forehead and all over his body.
"Puny attacks like that won't defeat Daron, you idiot…" Miaho muttered darkly, the cuts on his face already starting to heal. He winced as he stood, cringing as a new wave of pain racked his body. "Daron's far tougher than I could ever be…"
"'You're the only one who can defeat him,' yeah, I KNOW, Drake…" Danny rattled off. "You've told me that so many times before, you never show me how I'm supposed to do it!"
The half-dragon smirked, spitting out a small bit of blood to the side. "You're learning it on your own, whether you realize it or not…"
"Huh?"
The dragon stretched, taking no account of Danny's bamboozled expression now adorning his features. Testing his shoulder to make sure it wasn't dislocated, he held up his blood-caked, however healed, hand. "Much like you, I have a power that isn't very strong when it's just sitting there…" To demonstrate, Miaho made a small water ball in his hand, and threw it at a wall.
There, it splattered like a water balloon, leaving no discernable damage to the wall.
At the apparent lack of consideration, Danny raised a brow. "Okay…your point being…?"
Much to Danny's annoyance, he took no notice of his comment, and continued. "The next thing that I taught you was how to compress your energy into a small compact bomb, much like this…" Once again he demonstrated, another ball in his hand appearing, though this one shrinking slightly before he threw it. It collided with the wall, and this time a loud splash accompanied the hit. When the mist and water droplets cleared, there was a noticeable dent in the ancient wall.
"If you noticed from that explosion, most of the blast was lost into the air, not on the target. However…if you retain it, like so…"
He took a deep breath, and Danny reverted to his human form for a quick rest, eyes opened in interest. How many tricks did this scaly freak have?
Eyes closed in concentration, Miaho opened both hands above his head, half-cupped, and stood silently for a moment. His ghostly counterpart was about to say something about him making a show for nothing, until there was a small rushing noise.
…Running water, he suddenly realized.
In a sudden explosion of power, a miniature typhoon appeared over the dragon's head, swirling menacingly over his head like an angry elemental. With another deep breath of concentration, he slung his arms forward; with it, the gigantic spout of water following suit. As it flew, it changed shape into a human-sized sphere, hissing with the sheer speed of the white water, before colliding into the wall with a titanic crash.
It rubbed up against the wall for a moment, like a self-rolling boulder attempting to go up a hill. However the contest between the two large objects quickly became one-sided, and the sphere of water promptly (and almost indignantly) burrowed through the wall before exploding half-heartedly in the background behind the other ruins. The damage was done, however, and with a reluctant groan, the wall collapsed in a small shower of heavy boulders.
Danny could only blink at the damage, and stumbled, not realizing he had been off balance. The mist cleared, revealing a heavily panting Miaho leaning hard on one knee, tail out to steady himself.
"Heheh…you should see your face, Danny…" he half laughed, half coughed. "You look just like I did…when my master first showed me this…"
With a last sigh, he fell to the ground into unconsciousness.
Danny changed back into his ghost form, allowing the white light to travel from the tips of his fingers to his toes.
"Great…now I'm stuck with Godzilla in the ghost zone…"
That brought another thing to his attention…if Senka wasn't here… "Wait…how the heck am I supposed to get back?"
True, he was the "ghost kid" and had been around the ghost zone many times, though Senka had just teleported there, and now..
Now she was nowhere to be found…
Before a curse could come to his lips, however, his answer came with a whoosh of a portal, clock hands swirling about in a circle to reveal the aged face of an ancient ghost. He bore the aura of both time and wisdom, and his voice came with gentle strength that hinted at a power far more than what he chose to show.
"Clockwork?"
"Come, it's time you learned something…"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Dan was literally stunned with what was going on in front of him. Could this really have been happening…
Meep scratched again.
He shook his head. If it wasn't for those stupid bunnies being beside him, he would have sworn this was a dream…the sheer powers at work here…
He had to quickly turn intangible again to avoid another huge piece of debris falling from the ceiling, joining their many brothers strewn about the floor of the Ghost King's palace.
As he was on the defense, the two titanic forces clashed…and, to say the very least, their surroundings were hardly able to restrain their efforts at attacking one another. Walls cracked, windows shattered, and each confrontation left another dent in the floor.
Pariah scowled. How did a human have this much power…enough to challenge HIM? Magic was something that he himself had trained in during his lifetime, a trait that continued on into his afterlife…however that still didn't explain how this mortal was able to keep pace with him.
A body of flesh and blood should have hindered his powers…that was his whole reasoning for his willing pass-over in the first place…
Was there some trick that he had missed? Or was he just a ghost in disguise? That was a possibility…
He clapped his hands together, sending another wave at the trespasser to his home. If this… "Daron"…was truly a ghost, he was trying really hard to hide that fact. Never once did he go intangible to avoid an attack…although it was true that the more powerful a ghost became, the harder it was for them to go intangible for extended periods, he never had gone intangible in their entire fight. So if he WAS a ghost, he was either stupid, arrogant…
Or, more likely, both.
Daron was flying about the room like there was no tomorrow. Figuratively speaking, of course. The fact that he was not truly flying did not seem to slow him down at all in his relentless attacks. Fire, earth, lightning, and even blasts of pure light were thrown over at his target, which would have spelled ruin for any other being except for this one thing that had always eluded him…
The power of death…
A pure spirited body had no boundaries of flesh and muscle, magical or otherwise…this ghost king could be a god, if he had been properly trained, his spiritual power was enormous. A power that was, he decided, a possible addition to his already formidable artillery.
"Fordeus Lelucros!" he bellowed, letting out a wall of lightning from his outstretched fingertips. The attack slammed into his foe with a titanic crash, and sending him careening heavily into the wall. Pariah quickly recuperated out of the settling dust, however, and he let loose another beam of energy via crashing his mace into the ground.
The shockwave rattled the actual foundation of the castle, exploding upwards directly into Daron's face. Screaming in pain, he flipped like a tossed rag doll and fell with a sickening crunch into the floor.
Panting, Pariah stood up to his full height, towering over his downed antagonist. "To have the confidence to wake me up and challenge me with no second thought to your own safety…It's hard to say whether that is foolishness or bravery…perhaps a bit of both…"
The ghost king casually strode over to where Daron lay, unmoving. There he picked him up with a single hand, high above the floor so that his feet dangled pathetically.
Was this truly Daron's true extent of power? Pathetic…
"I wonder how death with be for you, little pest. Perhaps you wished it, so boldly rushing into battle with no inclination as to what sort of fight you were going to get…"
"No…" a sudden whisper came from the dangling corpse. "I didn't expect you to be so weak…"
"Why you little--!" Pulling his mace back, he lunged it forward, straight for Daron's heart. With a mighty slam, it collided, and a small spurt of blood dribbled on the ground.
"A magical mace…" Daron coughed. "I should have known…you're so reliant on objects…You need to go back to magical school…you know as well as I do that putting all of your energy into one thing…especially one that can be easily separated from you…is a trivial mistake. I took you for some great warrior…but you're just an amateur…"
With that, he inhaled a great breath, and focused it into a sharp stream that ignited into a raging fireball. Pariah flinched, his single eye charred with the magical flames. Daron took the opportunity, muttering another spell quickly, though accurately, under his breath.
With a single sadistic smile, he raised his hands up to the sky, an unholy purple aura snaking about his fingertips and a bright red amulet that rested in his conjoined hands…
The end…the final end…was at hand.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"You seem troubled, Danny."
"Of COURSE I'm troubled…" he grumbled, readjusting Miaho's weight across his shoulders. "It seems like every time I want to take a break, the world is in danger of some killer gerbil again or something…"
"That didn't happen in your timeline…" Clockwork muttered in confusion, mostly to himself.
Danny blinked. "What?"
The ancient ghost shuddered involuntarily. "You don't want to know…" He continued to float onwards, the ominous hallway on either side of them gliding past soundlessly. Of course, that was when Danny realized that it was their surroundings that were moving, and not them themselves.
"Neat trick."
"It's to keep the pests out," Clockwork explained. "If someone wants something from me, they usually try to take it by force. If you just try and fly down this hallway, it will never end, and you won't get to your destination. However if you ask, it will come right to you."
BONG! THUD!
Danny picked himself up from the ground, trying to clear his head of the stars that swam through his vision. "With some kicks in it for you, I suppose…"
The blue-skinned figure grinned childishly, opening the door that had appeared in front of them. "When you have an eternity to think to yourself, it's nice to have a change of pace to balance things out."
The ghost child grunted, before following the ancient ghost out through the door, unceremoniously dragging the dragon by the tail behind him.
"I don't think that Miaho will appreciate you dragging him along like that," Clockwork said after a moment in a semi-serious tone.
"He can regenerate…besides, it makes me feel better on the inside."
"Vengeance is not something you want to dabble yourself in constantly, Daniel. It only leads to emptiness…"
Opening his mouth to retort, Danny quickly closed his mouth and pushed the witty comment to the back of his mind. Arguing with a timeless being would only be a broken record of a conversation.
Especially if this ghost started using time loops as arguments…
"I've called you here because, unfortunetly, the situation that you're in has just gotten a lot worse…"
Danny groaned. "How?"
"Normally, in a situation such as this, I would simply freeze time, go in, and fix the problems as they arose."
"Because you the ghost of time…"
"Well…yes…but you see…"
"…you can't this time…"
"…Yes…and the reason for that is…"
"Your time amulets, the little 'get out of time free cards' that we found last time we were here…"
"Would you stop interrupting?"
"Sorry."
"As I was saying…" He paused, making sure that Danny was, indeed, not going to interrupt him this time. "Daron is now immune to my powers, which is pretty bad news…"
"So all we have to do is take back the amulet from him, and then you can zap him?"
"NO! QUIT INTERRUPTING ME!
"…"
Clockwork took a deep breath, calming himself. "Daron has found a rare item that, in his hands, is quite a nuisance."
"So what does—"
"UP!" the ancient ghost snapped. "Stop talking so I can tell you what you need to know."
Silence.
"What this amulet does, is it can acquire a basic trait of the target. So if he happened to use it on you, the amulet could absorb your intangibility, your ability to shoot blasts, something along those lines…"
"Acquire? As in steal?" Danny wondered aloud.
Clockwork's eyebrows fell at Danny's blatant disregard for his previous statements. "More like copy, but yes. That's part of the reason why he snuck in here, I suppose."
"Huh?"
"I'm not really sure how, but he must have found out about me, and so devised a plan to become immune to my powers using the Amulet of Reseia. And, once again I'm not sure how he found out, but he figured out that your future self, who was apart from time, was immune to my powers to an extent."
"So…?"
He sighed again. For a child who had saved the world countless times, he sure was dense… "So, he snuck in here and abducted Dan from me, and copied his resistance to time, and now I can't help you stop him.
"…Oh…"
Danny pondered a minute. "So if we stole this amulet from him, then you could still zap him?"
"Sadly, no. He's integrated that aspect of Dan into his being already. I can't affect him, or even watch him, for that matter..."
"Well…I guess it can't get any worst then, right?" the ghost kid laughed nervously.
"I just hope he doesn't absorb something truly powerful…If he did, it's very possible he'd become invincible…"
After an awkward, though brief silence, Clockwork shook his head to clear his thoughts, and a portal opened up before them. "That portal will take you home. Get some rest, I get the feeling you're going to need it."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
And now, since we haven't seen anything of Sam, Tucker, or Sarah in a while…
When Boredom Calls…The Sidekicks' Special
"So…"
….
Tucker's eyebrows lowered, obviously a bit peeved that no had responded. "So…"
"We heard you the first time, Tucker," Sarah muttered.
He pouted, slumping back into the sofa, wincing when a drip of water hit him in the arm. "Any reason why we had to work here? I mean…couldn't we just do it over at Danny's house? It's a lot…cleaner…there."
"Oh yeah, Tucker, THAT would work," the older woman scoffed sarcastically. "Because his parents of COURSE wouldn't notice that Danny's friends and a complete stranger who's easily a decade older than him is working on something that they've probably never seen the likes of before in their lives…SO practical…"
Sarah snorted at the two kids sitting on the couch, before turning back to her little "project," the miscellaneous sounds of tool clinks and screws turning once again filling up the otherwise soundless apartment.
"You don't need to snap, Sarah," Sam said softly. "Tucker's just trying to liven things up a bit. It actually is kinda boring right now…"
"I KNOW…I know…" Sarah said, her voice softening. "Sorry. I'm just a bit annoyed at Senka and Miaho at the moment…"
"Why's that?" Tucker asked. "Did they ask you to make something?"
Her brow furrowed, her eyes in their normal annoyed look. "Standard question…" Tucker shrugged.
"Yes, they asked me to make something…but your stone age technology is hard to work with…it's like Tech 101 all over again…"
"Hey!" Tucker immediately piped up. "We have some GREAT technology here!"
"Same difference," she muttered. "It's still 2 decades later than the usual stuff I'm used to working with…and difference with power sources…and other stuff…" she sighed. "This is gonna take a while."
"Well…what are you trying to make? Maybe I can help!"
Sarah looked over at the young teenager who was currently puffing out his chest, obviously trying to suppress a scoff. "Do you know anything about making synthetic magic?"
His eyes widened to the size of oranges, and Sam's quickly followed suit. "W-wha?"
"I'll take that as a no…" she half sighed to herself, then turned back to her work.
"'Synthetic magic'?" Sam asked half to herself. "Why are you trying to make something like that?"
"We need every advantage that we can get…especially since our team isn't even at full strength." She paused a moment, tapping her chin as she pondered over something. She resumed both her tinkering and her conversation simultaneously. "Daron's a being of magic. Only magical energies can hurt him. That's one reason why he's trying to get rid of us right now…our team was the most powerful magical force on our world."
More clinks and scratches continued on into the silence, before Sam shifted her weight on the couch, creating a loud creak from the ancient springs. "So…how long has this 'team' of yours been going?"
The older oriental woman made no move to stop her tinkering as she continued on the conversation. "Hm…I'd say about seven years or so now…at least at first. Senka and Miaho came a little later."
"Later? I thought the portal opened up and all the powers came out at one time…how complicated are your back-stories, anyways?!"
Sam blinked at Tucker's outburst. "A part of me is amazed that you remember the details like that…and another is just plain creeped out…"
"Not everyone who was hit by the powers came to us right away, Tucker." She grunted in exertion with a stubborn bolt, and cursed lightly as it refused to move. "The blast might have been at one time, but people found us at different times."
"Us?" Sam inquired. "How many of you are there?"
"Um…a lot…" she paused for a moment, another small grunt coming out of her mouth. "Miaho and Senka, plus…let's see…nine…I think?"
"You 'think'?"
"Some people come and go, so there's no set number on it—OW!"
"You ok?"
"Ugh…you have any gloves?" She growled her question, cursing under her breath as one of her fingers sprouted a few drops of blood. "This metal's a bit sharp…"
"Not on me…" Sam said, slightly surprised at the random question. "Tucker's the gadget guy," she snickered.
"Do gloves sound like a cool high-tech gadget to you?" he muttered indignantly.
The gothic girl merely smiled, and slumped a little deeper into the couch, only to feel something slimy on the small of her back. Eyes wide, she leapt from the couch, a small yelp coming out of her lips.
"Grrrraaaatch!" something squeaked, before a dark green form jetted around the room and under the couch again.
"KOBBY! BAD KOBOLD! GET BACK IN YOUR CAGE!" Immediately stopping what she was doing, Sarah pulled out a long red…rod…thing…and began jabbing under the couch. There was a "BRAACCKKK" as she apparently hit something, and the black green form jetted out from the couch again, zipping randomly around the floor until it hit a pipe running up the wall with a loud clang.
There, lying on the floor, was quite possibly the weirdest creature that Sam or Tucker had ever had the misfortune of laying their eyes upon.
Eyes both wide X's as it lay on the floor, "Kobby" was like something out of a bad fantasy novel. Something like a cross between a poorly-groomed dog and a monitor lizard, it was an obviously humanoid being, as one of its "hands" were clutching what looked like a pair of boxers. A dog-like muzzle, reptilian haunches, and a short, thick tail that ended in a tuft of fur accommodated the little creature of destruction's features. Scaly patches of dark green scales glinted from below a calico mix of dirty brown (and currently hilariously static) fur, cute little ears twitching from the electricity that he had just been subjected to.
"Kobby…you KNOW that you're not supposed to be here…" Sarah fumed. "And you stole Miaho's boxers again!"
Tucker blinked. "'Again'?"
Sarah blanked, apparently having shared something that, for obvious reasons, should have stayed secret. "Eh-Heh…the reason why Miaho hates Kobby here…" she said, gesturing to the unconscious creature.
Sam and Tucker made a communal blink. Then a second.
The older woman picked up the little…thing…still suffering from small shocks that caused his patches of fur to stand out comically at random moments. "This, here, is a side-product of the portal that opened up…as you can see, magic isn't perfect…"
"Um…yeah…" Tucker said, unconsciously edging to the side on the couch.
"So…can he do anything?" Sam asked. "I mean, from what I can gather all of you on your…'team'…has super powers, right?"
"He can blow up."
"Huh?"
Sarah sighed, and pulled out a red-handled object from her pocket, and pointed it directly at Kobby.
A gun.
He screeched as she pulled the trigger, a small blast shaking the floor and the whole side of the building.
Both Tucker and Sam blanched, both quivering slightly. "Th-that's animal cruelty!" Tucker managed to blurt out. Sam just fell of the floor, barely registering what was going on.
"But…wha…?"
Sarah smirked slightly. It wasn't a sadistic one, however: more one of just mild amusement; before either of them could say any more, small black blobs gathered themselves in a pool, and a very distressed Kobby staggered on his feet, small swirled circling his head.
The older woman outright laughed now. "I'm sorry…I've gotten so used to having him blow up all the time I forgot it's horrific the first time that you see it…Sorry about that…"
Finding her voice, Sam finally spoke. "You mean…he'll be alright?"
"Hahaha, of course. In fact it gets rather amusing after a while…" She pulled the trigger again, and Kobby let out another shriek, accompanied by the admittedly amusing ground-shaking bang. The gun itself didn't fire anything…it was just a remote control to blow the poor little creature up.
Sarah smiled smugly, before picking up the newly-reformed, and currently unconscious, kobold by the tail. Quickly putting him into a small cage off in the corner, (where he promptly fell asleep,) she proceeded to continue tinkering on her little machine.
She sighed irritably, wiping her brow. "This is impossible…at least with the current equipment…"
Tucker scoffed again, folding his arms and pouting.
Sam sighed as well. "How important IS this machine, anyways? Why is this so important?"
Sarah flicked off a piece of metal that had been sitting on her fingers, and proceeded to grab an extra pair of pliers to view what she had already. "As I already said, Daron's a being of magic. Miaho, Senka, and Danny may all have magical attacks, and their combined strength could probably beat him…"
"But…?" Tucker interrupted.
"But," she continued, "that would only work while he's vulnerable. If they just shoot it straight at him, he'd probably find a way to deflect it or get around it. And a blast like that would drain all of their strength."
"So you're making a distraction!" Tucker thought aloud.
"Exactly. But in order for it to work, I need to find a different power source…a portable thing that generates electricity on a large scale…" she pondered a moment. "I think I know where we can buy one…but I'm going to need some money…lots and LOTS of money…"
"Like how much?" Sam asked, briefly wondering if they could somehow modify on of Danny's parents' gadgets into something.
"In the low millions, at least…I'd have to special order it from a company in Japan."
Off in the corner, Kobby let out a small hiccup in his sleep, but they took no notice.
Tucker stretched out his palms with fingers interlocked, letting out a nice set of cracking noises, as if he was about to undertake a huge new job, and Sam pulled out her cell phone, dialing Danny.
Both were smiling evilly, both thinking of the same person to go to, to ask for a "donation"…
This was going to be a fun day…
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
I really apologize for this story being so late, however I recently through some incredibly annoyingly trying times, (which I'm not going to drone about right now, but to say the least it was a sucky last couple of months) so the updates for this story are going to be few and far between.
However, the story is in its final stretch, and as such the final battle is coming up soon as well, so stay tuned, and reviews (as always) are greatly appreciated!
Dakyu