Author's Note: So I know it has been a few years since I posted a new story or updated my now discontinued ones. I'd like to apologize, especially if you did enjoy my previous works. However with this story I'm going to try my best to stay motivated to see this one out to the end. I have a system to help me do so. So without further ado I hope you all enjoy The Ghost Rider's Return.
P.S. I do not own Danny Phantom or its characters. All right are reserved for Butch Hartman, Nickelodeon, and whoever else worked on the show. The only things I own are this stories OC's and the plot.
Chapter One
Amity Park - Casper High School
Amity Park, a city well known for the supernatural. A city where life ended but also where life came to be. The city was usually quiet, the only people who believed ghost existed at least to most anyone's knowledge was the towns local ghost hunters, inventors, and scientists, The Fentons. That was up until about a month ago when Casper High School started for the year, there was a ghost attack from what most people dubbed the The Lunch Lady, she attacked with nothing but meat in the middle of two protests, Meat Eaters vs. Vegetarians. Since then its became a regular thing ghosts popping up into the material plane, mostly in Amity but also somewhat the outskirts as well.
Side stepping back however few people were naturally attuned to the supernatural. It shrouded them, cloaked them, protected them. Even now it could be felt around him, cool with a fiery sensation, it didn't hurt him, it made him feel safe, Andrew Branwen, sixteen years old, Casper High Sophomore. He himself believed that not all spirits were evil, that some were just trying to reclaim what was left of their life in their afterlife. They most like their human counter part just wanted to live, some people seem to forget that they were once human as well, with family, friends, lovers, the works. It was mostly his mother Irene that taught him this ideology, she herself was also connected to the supernatural, in a way she was much like The Fenton's, just more spiritual about it. She almost seemed to welcome them most of the time, she tried to get to know them rather than try to dissect them molecule by molecule.
It was early morning in September, around seven o'clock on a Friday, the sky was that typical blueish-grey before the sun had fully risen, the night turning to day, most spirits going to rest until the next night fall. Andrew pulled up to Casper High on his blacked out 2007 Yamaha Vmax. After parking he got off and noticed the stares at him from other students, well at least the ones that labeled him as a freak anyway. Giving his appearance though he didn't blame them, besides physical appearance, 5'9" in height, his eyes being an unnatural dark fiery orange and his black facial hair trimmed to match his face in a full combo, his long black hair that was partially died to match his eyes color going down to his mid back, he also wore mostly black clothing, from his combat boots, to his black ripped jeans with a belt that had a silver raven buckle, his black t-shirt. Accessorizing he also wore a black leather jacket and fingerless gloves with a black cowboy hat on top of his head completing his look.
He placed his keys into his pocket and made sure his guitar case was snug on his back and started to walk to the entrance of the school, he got a few hellos from his classmates, he nodded or waved back but didn't really say much. He didn't really have any friends, well at least ones you would consider alive. It wasn't that he didn't want them, it's just he mostly chose to stay by himself, it was peaceful that way, calm, gave him time to work on his music or school work or help his mother out with whatever project she was working on.
Upon entering the school and walking its halls things definitely changed overnight. The school itself was fairly normal looking, however the atmosphere was definitely chaos, like somebody mind controlled the student body, a mind control he seemed immune to. The walls everywhere plastered was the latest trend, purple and blue streamers, the letters E and M, posters of her image, her one and only single Remember blaring from various students devices, even students wearing the rocker's merchandise, from hats or clips on that looked similar to her hair, band tees, varsity jackets made to resemble her motif, even the females trying to dress like her. Ember McLain the newest Rock Princess to hit the airwaves with her first studio album.
He heard the name prior from his friends, they talked about her in passing, mostly saying that she was another girl about their age who enjoyed the same type of music as him. To say he didn't want to meet the girl would have been a lie, whether it was just to hang and talk about music he wouldn't have minded. To unexpectantly put a face to the name though, she was definitely his type of woman, the bad girl rocker, and boy what he wouldn't give for her to be only nice for him.
When he finally reached his destination, the music room, it was surprisingly quiet, given the students talking about nothing but Ember, and most of the teachers were preparing for the Midwestern Nine Standardize Testing on Monday. He was glad he had a free period first thing in the morning and right at the end of the day, it helped him mentally prepare himself for the day ahead and unwind after.
He walked over to an amplifier sitting in the corner of the room, a slight smile coming to his face as he ran his fingers over the dials turning it on and to his preferred settings. He sat his guitar case down as he opened it pulling out his electric guitar. It was black stylized to like a flame along with orange flamed marking painted on the body (similar to Ember's). He smiled upon seeing it as he placed the strap around his neck, plugging it in, and grabbing his pick he began to play, the chords coming to him naturally as his fingers moved up and down the neck of the guitar, the metal style solo reverberating through the amp and himself as if he was one with it. The music itself wasn't anything special but it was an idea he has been playing with for a while, it was incomplete it just needed something.
It wasn't until he was halfway through that he felt what he called his "ghost sense" go off causing him to stop playing. He felt that shroud around his body flare up, that fiery sensation around him grew. He looked around and no one else was in the music room, not even the teacher had showed up yet, it wasn't until a few seconds later that it calmed down, it felt more cool, but still active signifying friendly, he dug a bit deeper in to it. Only two ghosts he knew ever made it feel like this, but just to be sure he closed his eyes and took a deep breath he focused and smirked feeling who it was.
Slowly he went back to playing as he opened his eyes, mostly just plucking at the strings before speaking, "Morning, Kitty."
As he said this, said ghost became visible in front of him. Her red eyes staring back at him, she didn't appear angry, so that was a good sign her boyfriend Johnny 13 didn't fuck up. She also wore her usual outfit consisting of fishnet stockings, her red leather skirt, red leather jacket, purple scarf, and black tank top. With the green tinge to her skin and her green poufy like hair, not to mention her purple eye shadow and lipstick. She definitely appeared to be a biker chick from the eighties which if he calculated correctly it was close to going on forty years since them.
He remembered when he first met Kitty and Johnny. It was around a month ago when the Lunch Lady attacked, afterwards school ended up being canceled for the day and he was on his way home riding his motorcycle. Stopped at a red light the two biker ghosts pulled up next to him on Johnny's Motorcycle, which appeared to be an older model of his. The blonde ghost teen had revved his engine to taunt him, the universal language of let's race. His green eyes and smirk on his face showing his cocky attitude.
Andrew had chuckled to himself, the only motorcycle rider at Casper High and he was getting challenged, it wasn't the first time, nor the last. No words were said between them, all he did was rev his engine back. Kitty had kissed Johnny most likely to flaunt herself or to distract Andrew, most likely both but it worked none the less. As soon as the light had turned green the two biker ghosts were off like a bat out of hell, or in this case a ghost out of The Ghost Zone. He took off a second later, Johnny and Kitty were laughing thinking they had left him in the dust. They took a turn Andrew had managed to chase after them and match their speed almost drifting his bike around the corner to do so.
Johnny had looked at him impressed with his riding, they stayed like that for the rest of the race neck and neck through the streets of Amity, they neared the stopping point for most races that happed in Amity, which was the park. It wasn't until a car pulled out in the middle of the road, that Andrew had to slow down and swerve around the rear of the car to avoid being hit while Johnny continued at full speed using the power of his shadow to launch himself over the car and landed near the side walk next to the park. Andrew had pulled up next to them, they talked for a moment, introducing themselves, the three have been friends since. How they weren't on Phantom's Radar at the time he would never know.
"You're no fun, you know that. Can't a girl surprise a guy every once in a while?" Kitty said this semi whining, but also jokingly as she crossed her arms.
Andrew just chuckled and took his guitar off and gently sitting it down before hugging her to stop her from whining. Granted it was how they typically greeted each other when she was mad at Johnny and came by to rant whenever her friend Ember was busy. It was what usually calmed her down enough to speak rationally. Kitty just kind of giggled and hugged him back.
"Come on don't act like. You know I'm happy to see you anytime, even when the the Grease Monkey acts out.", he pulled away from the hug and pulled up two chairs for them, he sat down.
Kitty sat down across from him, "That's actually not why I'm here. My man has actually been well behaved... today."
"Figured as much, you're not as hysterical as you usually are when he isn't." Andrew just chuckled.
"I am not hysterical." Kitty almost shouted hitting him in the arm. Andrew just rubbed his arm, it wasn't meant to hurt and it didn't really but it was enough to sting. Damned ghost strength of hers, he for sure did not want to get on her bad side, "But yeah, I'm here because Ember wants to meet you."
If Andrew had water in his mouth he would have done a spit take instead he almost choked on his own saliva. It took him a few seconds to stop coughing but when he did he actually did shout and he thanked the foam padding of the music room that it didn't echo, "WHAT?"
Kitty just giggled, she wasn't going to tell him all the details from last night since it was a girls night in Ember's realm so said rocker could prepare for today "I know Johnny or I haven't said much about her to you, or you to her for that matter, but she and I got to talking. I think it would be nice for her, especially since the breakup between her and her ex, she's been in a sort of slump."
A question then suddenly came to Andrew's mind, "So she's a ghost like you guys then?" It would make sense given she just seemingly sprung up out of no where.
Kitty just nodded starting to float as she stood up, "That's not deal breaker is it?"
Andrew just shook his head no, "It would be nice actually. You have my permission to give her my number."
"You could just give it to her yourself. I know for a fact she'll be around the school later and at that music store... Bucky's I think it's called giving away free concert tickets, she knows what you look like so don't be too surprised." Kitty looked at him dead serious before they both started to hear music blasting from the outside, "That's my cue to go... I told you nothing." Kitty just giggled as she turned invisible and intangible flying through the ceiling making her exit.
Andrew just shook his head with a smirk on his face, he quickly packed his guitar up into the case and slung it onto his back and turned off the amp. He looked outside one of the windows of the music room and saw a rush of students running outside toward the commotion, they were cheering something he couldn't really make out what it was. Thinking there was no time like the present, he opened the window and jumped out of it glad he was on the first floor.
Landing on his feet he closed the window behind of him and ran to the front of the school. The entire student body surrounding one thing, it was a truck with a flatbed attached filled with various music equipment and a sign reading the name Ember above it, it all acting as a makeshift stage. He couldn't see much else so as he broke the back of the crowd slowly making he way forward through the sea of cheering teenagers, throwing their hands up, chanting the rockers name, he was pretty sure some were even crowd surfing.
When he finally made it to the front and broke through the front of the crowd he heard one thing coming from the stage presumably from Ember, "Tell me who you love."
That was when he saw her for the first, in person at least, and if he could have died right then and there and turned into a ghost himself he would have. The very first thing he noticed about her were those ghostly green eyes, eyes he seemingly got lost in as he noticed she was staring right at him. He stopped breathing for a moment as he noticed something happening between them, maybe it was his supernatural affinity, but he felt it, the shroud that he constantly felt around his body was warmer and much more fiery than his, it twisted around his body almost engulfing his own, instead of leaving however it mingled with his own, almost like their two energies were imbedding themselves into each other. It wasn't until he managed to breath again and her eyes looked away from his that he felt his energy overtake hers, though hers was still there like it was permanently a part of his, that he wondered if his did the same to her.
He then noticed the rest about her, that black one shoulder sleeveless tank top she wore, the black leather pants with the grey belt at he hips, the grey skull platform boots, the one long black glove she wore on her right hand, the chocker around her neck, the makeup markings around her eyes that reminded him of something from the band kiss, that ghostly pale skin, but more importantly that fiery blue hair tied back into a pony tail that only seemed to grow with each passing moment. Only one sentence could describe her... "Drop Dead Gorgeous".
It wasn't until he heard one of the schools teachers, Mr. Lancer through a megaphone, that it broke him from his own personal trance, ""Attention freakishly dressed teen idol, I order you to cease and desist."
Ember herself winked over at Andrew, before turning a dial on her guitar and a blast of purple ecto energy came from it turning the students against Mr. Lancer, "Desist this Grandpa." With that the music stopped and herself as well as the stage and the band seemingly disappeared in puff of purple smoke.
He seemed to be the only one not affected by the ghost rocker's mind control powers, that was until he turned around to leave seeing the town hero, Phantom swoop down grabbing onto Mr. Lancer and turning them both intangible to avoid the crowd of angry teens. It wasn't a moment later that the students all seemed dazed and confused and Phantom flying off to who knows where that things seemed back to normal.
Andrew just smirked to himself, if what Kitty told him was true today was going to be an interesting day.
Later That Day... Around Lunch
Things indeed did not turn back to normal for Casper High. The buzz about Ember showing up caused an even bigger uproar, and some teachers were flat out giving detentions in their classrooms for any and all mentions of the ghost girl. Either that or they just straight up stopped caring even though the Midwestern Nine was literally a weekend away.
Now it was his final class before lunch, he sat there bored out of his mind just waiting for the bell to ring. He was currently writing on a piece of paper leaving off from where he left off in the music room early that morning trying to write lyrics to the song he was working on. His heart wasn't in it through since all his mind kept going back to was Ember. At some point he had zoned out completely remembering those eyes almost as if they were staring straight into his soul. He also noticed that her energy that mixed with his, he could feel it off and on throughout the morning, at some points he could feel it stronger than others and right now was one of those times.
The bell finally rang and he picked up his things, most students heading straight to the cafeteria while others were heading to their lockers. He stopped in front of his and opened it. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed one of the freshmen class, some Latina girl part of the A-Listers, he believed her name was Paulina Sanchez, it didn't matter honestly but he noticed her outfit she was dressed almost exactly like Ember McLain, minus the fiery blue hair, after seeing the real Ember up close the Latina girl could not pull the look off at all.
As he closed his locker she ran past him only to stop in front of The Fenton Trio another group of freshmen that consisted of a Goth girl named Sam Manson, an African American techno geek boy named Tucker Foley, and of course the son of Amity Parks ghost hunters, Danny Fenton. Paulina had shouted making an announcement, something about Ember giving away free concert tickets for tonight at Bucky's Music Megastore. The school went into another uproar similar but less than what this morning had caused, his back was to his locker and he stayed there as waves of students made a direct line for any and all exits the school grounds had. He let out a slight sigh, noticing only The Fenton Trio and him were left, that was until he felt something grab him around his waist from behind making his body feel all tingling as he was turned intangible and pulled through wall into the corresponding empty classroom.
Once his body turned back to normal it quickly readjusted as he felt the same arms that grabbed him fully wrap around his waist and pulled him closer to whoever it was holding him. He felt their breath of his neck, it was warm but also felt cool against his skin.
"Guess who Rockstar?" The person holding him said, it was feminine but also seductive. Andrew recognized the voice granted he just heard it earlier that morning singing but if it didn't damn near turn him on.
He smirked slightly, two could play at this game. He grabbed the arms around his waist only to break them away from him, he then spun them around so he had her pinned against the wall and he was staring at her eye level. It was slightly difficult to do since she was floating just ever so slightly since she was shorter than him by an inch or two. He had also gently connected his forehead to hers.
"Ember McLain, Amity Park and The Ghost Zones newest Rock Princess. For what do I owe the pleasure?" Andrew had said this looking straight into those ghostly green eyes of hers, he noticed two things however that her eyes shown that she wanted this but she was also scared or at least some hint of fear. He knew ghosts had emotions just like humans but it seemed odd given she initiated this... unless she thought he was about to kiss her. After all she was still a teenage girl and he wouldn't put it past her. Andrew had gently let her go as he backed up a bit to give her space, "Sorry, I guess I was being too straight forward."
Ember floated off the wall, the fear in her eyes was gone, a smile came to her face, "You really know how to make a first impression on a girl."
"Ha, I wish. Other than Kitty you're the first one to approach me in ages." Andrew just laughed at that, "Speaking of she probably already told you but it's Andrew, Andrew Branwen by the way."
The ghost girl just floated behind of him, he turned around to follow her, "And I assume she warned you I was coming."
"Something like that yeah." As he said this Ember grabbed his hand and she lifted him off the ground turning them both intangible they flown outside the school and landed next to his motorcycle.
"You're driving. I got to be at Bucky's soon, you can be my personal bodyguard for the day." Ember got onto the back of his motorcycle smiling at him.
Only one word came out of Andrew's mouth that echoed outside the empty school, "WHAT!"
Ember just giggled and nodded forcing him on his motorcycle, it wasn't long before they made their way to the music store, with the ghost girl holding on to him as they went.
Ghost Zone - Clockwork's Tower
Unbeknownst to Andrew or Ember, back in the Ghost Zone there were four ghosts watching them through a portal, which acted more like a time window. It showed the two riding off together to Bucky's until it fast forward to Ember fighting by Andrew's side with him showing signs of powers.
The blue skin ghost known as Clockwork, Watcher and Master of Time, stood there in his elder form stroking his long white beard while holding his time scepter in his other hand, his red eyes staring into the time window. The Observants have already been on his case about the Halfa, Danny Phantom, but now they seemed to be on his case over this all of a sudden, if he could get headaches they would have given him one ages ago.
The three Observants stood behind him with their silver and red robes, and black capes, their giant green head and one eye staring at the time window and then turned their attention toward Clockwork as he closed it and changed to his present form
"As we said he has a power from the ancients that must never be unleashed. This one event meeting Ms. McLain jump starts it, something has to be done Clockwork.", One of the Observants said.
Clockwork just sighed, "There's nothing I can do. This power is meant to resurface. I've search every conceivable timeline and there's not one where they don't end up meeting."
Another observant started to shout, "That's impossible, to think a human would be gifted this kind of power and all because of some rocker ghost."
Clockwork himself knew that this power wasn't because of Ms. McLain, this power always resurfaced, once Andrew had passed permanently, it would just go the the next. And if these powers made two people happy, ghost or human who was he to judge. It also helped that he was willing to lie to get what was needed.
"This is not my domain in which to speak, this belongs to Fate. My sisters doing. If she wishes it to happen it will happen, now go you're testing my patience." Now that part was the truth as Clockwork spoke.
The Observants were about to say something, however in that moment they knew better than to test Clockwork. They left without saying a word and Clockwork switched between his forms before finally landing on his child form. He went back to viewing the time window, between Andrew, Ember, Phantom and his friends. At one point he saw them all together, not being enemies but allies against an even greater threat.
A smirk appeared on Clockwork's face, "Everything's the way it's supposed to be."
Amity Park - Bucky's Music Megastore
Andrew and Ember had made it to Bucky's in record time. Partially due to Andrew's driving, but also Ember's ghost powers. If Johnny and him ever had a rematch there would be no doubt if Ember was with him the biker ghosts would get smoked. Weaving in and out through traffic, missing stop signs and red lights, phasing through objects when needing to.
The two laughed together like maniacs, especially when the two actually made it to Bucky's, the crowd outside heard the bike engine coming from behind and parted like the red sea as the two made their way through the sea made up of mostly students as they hopped onto the sidewalk and skidded his motorcycle to a stop parallel to the entrance of the music shop.
As they got off the motorcycle instantly pictures were starting to be taken of them together, no doubt to be posted on social media. He also noticed some of the students staring at him, the guys mostly likely out of jealousy that he had rode in with the Ember McLain, the girls on the other hand that practically had their mouth dropped open, he was pretty sure one of his sophomore classmates fainted at the sight of the two.
Ember was currently in the middle of signing an autograph, "How does it feel to be famous Rockstar?"
Andrew placed an arm around her shoulder mostly because he noticed a guy try to get handsy and gave him a glare as if telling him to back off, "Who needs the fame when I got you."
At that Ember blushed a bit, she tried to hide it but on her skin it was noticeable, it wasn't until he noticed a camera in their faces recording that he could see the headlines now. Something along the lines of Ember McLain having a boyfriend. He knew two people would hound him about that for sure Kitty and his mother. His mother wouldn't be so bad, granted she would probably hound him for skipping school, but Kitty... the double dates she would want to go on it sent a shiver down his spine and not the good kind, he did not need to see her and Johnny suck face.
The two eventually entered Bucky's he kept his arm around her, her song Remember was playing and any guy that attempted to get near her couldn't. It was sort of funny in a way they weren't even dating and here he was practically walking her down the red carpet. He tried his best to not seemed fazed at all the attention on him. Ember though she seemed to revel in it, like this was her thing, being in the spot light, she appeared happy, confident like she was made to do this.
At the end of the walk they broke off from each other, no words were said, just a simple nod between the two Andrew decided to stay below incase there was trouble, knowing Phantom would probably make an appearance. Ember had went around a corner behind the uselessly giant stage and used her teleportation ability to get to the top without having to climb.
The ghost girl threw out tickets by the handful, commanding the crowd chanting her name. He snagged one of the tickets as they slowly fell to the ground, of course he didn't need one but it would nice to keep as a memory of the day they met.
"Hey everyone look, it's Ember McLame." And there was the trouble, he looked up and saw the Goth part of the Fenton Trio hanging from one of the gigantic cardboard cutouts of Ember. She had somehow managed to deface it by drawing giant glasses as well as some sort of goatee in red marker.
It was only then that Phantom appeared. He was sporting his typical black and white jumpsuit with the white DP logo on the front, as well as his unmistakable snow white hair and glowing green eyes, "Hey do you take requests? How about beat it?"
Andrew had just sighed. Before he could even do anything, not like he could, even if he was meant to help her. Ember was blasted back by a green ecto ray from Phantom. He knew Ember was capable of taking care of herself, so all that left him to do was take care of the Goth.
Running forward he caught her as she fell, though not bothering to gently place her on her feet, "MANSON!" Andrew screamed, "Why is it when there's trouble around you're somehow Involved?" Mostly he was referring to the Lunch Lady incident.
"Trouble? I'm the one trying to prevent it from happening." Sam had started to yell back at him, "You're the one here helping it, she's got you mind controlled. Ember's evil."
Andrew just glared at her. "Evil? Look I'm not lying I just met the girl today, but like hell is she evil."
The two stood there arguing back and forth for another solid minute until they noticed both Ember and Phantom had phased through the ceiling and took their battle to the roof. Sam started to run off having to push him and everybody else of the way in order to get to the roof access stairs. Andrew ran after her to stop her from doing whatever she had planned. The students were still chanting Ember's name, but a few who knew who he was even started to chant his, he started to feel the more fiery part of his and Ember's mixed energies flare up it felt almost as if she was feeding off of the crowd chanting both of their names. Or perhaps she was giving some to him. Either way he didn't care he practically welcomed it because if they were going to kick Phantom's ass after he dealt with Sam, they both would need it.
When he made it up the stairs he ducked under to one side of the Goth blocking the door so she couldn't get through. He noticed she was holding a device that looked like a thermos, probably some kind of Fenton technology, it wouldn't surprise him given she was friends with Danny.
He was about ready to give her a final warning until she managed to get past him. She kicked the door down holding the now opened thermos like object toward Ember. Andrew had come up behind of her and stolen it from her hands as soon as the ghost girl threw Phantom into the giant cutout of her that was on the roof.
Andrew watched as Phantom had slid down and hit the roof as two white lights surrounded his body as he watched Phantom transform into Danny Fenton. It all made sense why Sam was even there trying to help Phantom. She tried to distract him by trying to take the thermos back from him only for him to push her past Ember and in front of where Fenton was laying. Where she tried to shield him as Ember strummed her guitar and blast of pink ecto energy with hearts coming from it.
After the attack Ember flew down and grabbed onto Andrew only for them both to be teleported in purple smoke down from the roof and directly in front of Andrew's motorcycle where it was thankfully still in one piece.
Andrew had clipped the thermos onto his waist as he hopped on immediately staring the engine as he heard police sirens off in the distance and getting closer. Ember had also hopped on and did her thing of intangibility and invisibility to cover them as they sped off through the crowd and onto the city streets.
When they were far enough away Ember dropped the invisibility and intangibility as Andrew started to drive normally, "You really are the bad boy Kitty told me about. Heavy metal, motorcycles, running from the cops, helping me not get stuffed in Phantom's stupid thermos. You've earned some major points in my book."
Andrew chuckled, "What can I say, you've been a good influence on me."
"Play you're cards right and who knows maybe more of that good influence will rub off on you." Ember had said this without even realizing what she was insinuating.
"If that's the case then tell me. My place? Or yours?" Andrew couldn't see it but he left Ember blushing like a school girl.
Amity Park - Andrew's Home
Once Andrew had pulled up to his place the two rockers had parted ways. Nothing romantic about it happened, they exchanged numbers. The ghost girl had to go finish getting ready for the night telling him that Johnny would be around later to pick him up. Andrew on the other hand had to face his mother, seeing that her car was in the driveway and it wasn't even the end of the school day yet. If he was lucky he could play it off like another ghost attack had happened which wasn't technically lying, but if she saw the news or any pictures floating about he was screwed.
His home itself wasn't big but it was comfortable enough to fit him and his mother, granted it was just a two bedroom and one bathroom, nothing special but it was home. Walking in the front door he smelled the incense burning, the almost haunting spiritual sound of the old timey western era music coming from the living room. He saw her dancing around in the living room as she was cleaning. He managed to sneak past making his way to his room placing the stupid thermos on his desk and his guitar still within its case on its stand. It was less than a minute later that he heard the black raven his mom kept as a pet crow.
He knew that usually only happened when she wanted his attention when he wasn't paying attention. He just sighed and turned around, his mother was standing in his doorway, her arms crossed duster in hand, her raven on her shoulder, she didn't look mad but growing up with Irene Nazar-Branwen as his mother he knew better. The best way anyone could describe how she looked was western era gypsy from her white and black long sleeved corset, with her long black skirt, as well as scarfs she wore around her waist and the red one she had tied into her shoulder length brown hair, and the various forms of jewelry she wore.
"You're all the the news with some new rockstar. Mind telling me what happened to school?" She glared at him.
Andrew just looked at her almost wishing he hadn't came home right now, "I'm grounded aren't I?"
"Perhaps. Unless you can give me a damn good reason not to." She seemingly calmed down but not by much.
His mom was like that, given the situation she could be lenient, if it involved spirits however he usually got away scott free, knowing he couldn't pass it off as a ghost attack now he knew it would be better to tell the truth. He walked over to his mother gently nudging her out from his doorway as he closed his door behind him and lead her downstairs. He brewed them both a cup of tea before sitting down at the kitchen table together, her raven flying to his cage as he told her of the events of school today, how he met Ember, how he had helped her with Phantom and Manson, the fact that they ran from the police. It wasn't a long story but it was enough to satisfy her. He neglected to tell her the fact that he had felt and could feel their energies mingled together, that was something she didn't need to know, at least not currently.
His mother's mood seemed to change in the almost half hour between confronting him in his room up till now. She wasn't mad anymore, she seemed more concerned, "Strange and mysterious beings the spirits are. You know you shouldn't trust every one of them."
Andrew sighed again, "I know. You know about Kitty and Johnny, she's a friend of theirs. I trust her."
His mother noticed a look in his eyes. One that was similar to his father when she had first met him, "Still. All I ask of you is to be careful."
Andrew got up and took both their cups to the sink to clean them, "I try to be you know that. Even if my knowledge of the spirits isn't as diverse as yours."
Irene sat there for a moment as Andrew washed the cups before she finally used that mom voice that they used when they wanted something, "You are free to go to Ember's concert tonight." Andrew turned to look at her, "On the caveat you introduce her to me at some point."
Only one word ran through Andrew's head in that moment...FUCK. He knew it was never a good thing when his mother insisted on meeting people he was involved with.
Amity Park - Stadium
After his talk with his mother Andrew had decided that since she was more than likely going to be busy the rest of the day cleaning the house. And to add in the fact that she didn't punish him, he decided to make her dinner and clean his mess up afterward. It wasn't that he had to, but he did not want to leave her good side after his stunts today with Ember.
It wasn't until around nine that night that Johnny had came and got him. He knew the concert wasn't until midnight and it wouldn't have taken that long to get to the stadium under none ghostly power circumstances, but apparently Kitty was "helping" Ember get ready which he assumed was code for girl talk. Which pretty much ended up roping Johnny and himself into moving some of the more heavy equipment so the stage would be ready. It took them maybe an hour to move what was needed however with Johnny's supernatural strength to help alleviate most of the heavy lifting it really wasn't that hard of work, thus it gave Ember enough time for a quick sound check with her ghostly band before the crowd started to make their way in. Security was also being tightened, and boy let Andrew be the first to tell you that Dash and Kwan, two of the freshmen A-Listers made terrible security, constantly shouting about loving Ember every time they saw her, which was even getting on the ghost rocker's nerves. At one point Andrew had to physically step in just to give her a moment of reprieve, earning her thanks.
Sometime by eleven, everything was in order ready for rockers world wide debut. The four were currently sitting in Ember's dressing room, spending most of that last hour hanging out. Kitty was on one couch sitting on Johnny's lap trying to sneak in a make out session. Andrew and Ember were on the other with Andrew sitting back and Ember leaned against one of the arms stretched out with her feet on his lap.
They gave each other a look before Ember spoke, "Can you two keep your hands off each other for five minutes?"
"Please. Both of you are just jealous?" Kitty broke away from Johnny still in his lap.
Andrew just chuckled, "Yeah, no. The Grease Monkey isn't exactly my type." Ember laughed at that, Kitty sat there with her mouth hung open, and Johnny well let's just say he shot back.
"And you Flamebrain ain't my type either." Johnny said this mostly in reference to the orange in his hair. He grabbed onto Kitty's waist just a bit tighter, getting a little squeak from her.
The four of them laughed together until Ember spoke a playful smirk on her face as Andrew looked at her, "And what about Kitty? Is she your type?
"Well I..." Andrew had turned his head to look over at Kitty. He would have to admit she in a way was his type and given if she was single when they met... he paused his train of thought seeing all three ghosts in the room staring at him, especially Johnny, "Oh no, no matter what I answer I'm going to get in trouble." He then looked at Ember straight in her eyes, "Besides I found my type and she's sitting here next to me."
Johnny's stare had become less direct, Kitty had giggled a bit, and Ember had started to blush stood up quickly from the couch to try to hide it as she walked over to the nearby guitar stand and picked up her guitar. As she walked though Andrew got a nice view of her ass.
Andrew didn't even bother covering up the fact he was even looking as he stood up. He was about to say something only to be interrupted by the sound of the sound system going off prematurely with some ones voice coming out of it. Ember's flamed hair spiked up into the air as she growled, her eyes turning blood red.
"Need me to come with you?" Andrew asked this placing his hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down. He could practically feel her anger through himself, guessing it was probably Phantom and his friends.
Ember had calmed down a bit. Her hair going back to her normal state and her eyes turning back to their normal green color, "It's fine, you've done enough for me today. I'll just go grab the two jocks."
Without saying another word she turned intangible and flew off through the door of the dressing room. Andrew took a deep breath to try and calm himself down, if he had to deal with any of the Fenton Trio or well he guessed more so the Phantom Trio, giving that the voice over the sound system was more than likely Danny's friend Tucker, he was going to blow his own gasket.
"Dude. You're like the only one brave enough to touch her when she gets like that." Johnny had said this like it was the stupidest thing he had done but also the ballsiest
Andrew just looked at Kitty knowing she would probably elaborate. Which she did, "He's not lying. her ex had tried one time, he was missing an arm afterwards."
He just cringed upon hearing that. Andrew would hate to know what she would do if she was angry with him, and honestly he hoped he wouldn't have to find out. He had made Kitty mad once and she had threatened to use her banishing powers on him, and how Johnny sometimes avoided that was beyond him.
"Guess I'm just one lucky guy then." Andrew said this walking to door, "Now are we going to stay in her all night? Or are we ready to rock?"
Kitty and Johnny had given a chorus of "Hell Yeah" as they made their way out of the dressing room and to the sidelines of the stage. They could have easily had front row seats in the crowd, but instead they chose to have the better view in Andrew's opinion. He's been to concerts before and while the energy of being in the crowd was always a blast given music was much more enjoyable played live. Being backstage and being able to cheer Ember on from the sidelines with his friends felt much more enjoyable being able to give her his full support.
Within less than a minute of them making it to the sidelines Ember's band had started playing her opening number as the ghost girl teleported onto the stage guitar in hand, the song sounding like something similar to the eighties style of hair or glam metal. The energy from the crowd chanting her name and their standard superficial praises. Ember with all the grace the rockstar had got the crowd going even more as she played and sang, if was a live show at it's top tier performance.
At somepoint Kitty had joined in jumping onto Johnny's back as she shrieked, "Bring the house down girlfriend."
Andrew just smirked. Kitty's enjoyment infectious as Johnny had also joined in at some point almost trying to dance with his girlfriend while she was on his back. Andrew himself had started to slowly bang his head to the music, as he threw up the devil horns with one of his hands. It was definitely shaping up to be a fun night, mind control or not Ember was up there with some of the greats to him. That almost surprised him to think granted how many there were from back in the day.
Unfortunately the fun had to die down as Ember broke into her second song of the night which was her single "Remember". It started off normal until Andrew felt his ghost sense go off around his body almost as if it was alerting him to someone new, it didn't feel friendly but it also wasn't unfriendly. He had stopped jamming out a bit so he could look around, Kitty and Johnny was right next to him, Ember was on stage performing. To his knowledge no other ghost should have been around.
That was until Ember sang the lyrics "You Will Remember My Name". All the music stopped as Ember was sent flying to one of the giant stadium screens that overlooked the crowd as a means for some of the farther people back could see. The impact causing it to break and the ghost girl to literally be sent into it.
"Hey, No Hit Wonder. Mind if I jam with the band." Phantom said as he floated in place where Ember had stood. However that was only after his fist had connected with the side of her face.
As he saw Phantom it came on hard and it came on fast. He could feel it, both his and Ember's at this point shared energies flared up with nothing but anger between the both almost as if they both were sharing each others power similar to the music store earlier that day. He wanted to march on that stage and fight Phantom right there, Ember was Kitty and Johnny's friend, the two biker ghosts were his friends. So despite only meeting the rocker ghost today, by extension that made Ember his friend as well and you protected friends. Andrew had started to move forward only to be grabbed by the two biker ghosts, both sensing he was about to do something stupid given he had no ghost powers that any of them knew of. The two probably would have also tried to help their friend out if Andrew wasn't fighting to break free from their grasps, even if their supernatural strength prevented him from doing so.
Unbeknownst to Andrew, Ember was also feeling this between their shared energies. She knew how she felt when she herself was angry, she didn't know what it was, but this time it felt different. She eventually emerged from the giant screen. She was seriously pissed off for the potential of her big debut being ruined all thanks to the Halfa known as Danny Phantom. Her flaming blue hair raging and a mess from being electrocuted, her makeup was running way down her face, there was a red spot on her face where she was punched. Her eyes turning red then back to green as she grabbed her guitar and used it as some sort of hover board before landing in front of Phantom and turned back to wielding her guitar in a playing position.
"Get this straight Dipstick, I don't do duets." She flicked a dial on her guitar before strumming a green ecto blast coming from it sending Phantom out into the now silent crowd only for the chants to restart cheering for her.
Ember had less than a moment of reprieve as she tried to restart her show that was until Phantom found his way back to the stage, he had grabbed her micstand with the microphone attached, wielding it like a sword. On the opposing side however the ghost girl had taken her guitar and started to wield it like a sword also. The two went back and forth trying to slash or more in the case of both being blunt objects bash the other, only to either be blocked or parried by the other until Ember finally broke the micstand in half and trapping Phantom in a vortex of pink ecto energy. It seemed that Ember had won the fight until Phantom had thrown the microphone to Tucker who had ran out on stage and started to sing a terrible rendition of Remember.
Ember had started freaking out horribly as this happened her pony tail snuffed out as it went down to nothing, no denying that her mind control powers were weakened severely. He could feel her anger subside replaced with what could be felt as anxiety, perhaps sadness as well. However his anger didn't subside as the ghost girl was screaming "say my name." almost as if it was a sign for help as she fell to ground paralyzed except for her face twitching from what little anger she had left.
Phantom stood over her with another one of those thermoses in hand pointed at Ember, "The only thing we're saying here is goodbye."
And that was the final nail in the coffin for his gasket as Andrew's eyes started to glow. The already fiery look the orange contained only seemed to intensify as he growled slowly turning into a scream, "GET AWAY FROM HER!"
Johnny and Kitty couldn't hold him any longer as he broke free from their grasp as he started to run forward. It didn't even register to himself nor anyone for that matter how fast he had made it between Ember and Phantom, it was almost like his feet had glided against the floor rather than make any real contact with it. To the shock of the crowd that was coming out of their mind controlled haze some were still recording the entire fight. Also to the shock of Tucker, Sam, Johnny, and Kitty... Andrew had punched Phantom right in his face, not even just that but he had also sent him to the ground a few good feet back causing the thermos to fall next to him.
"Danny!." Sam and Tucker had shouted, the Goth on the sidelines on the opposite side of the stage from where he originally was while the techno geek was still standing on the stage microphone still in hand. Neither of them could do anything for risk of Phantom's double life being known as the crowds mind controlled haze had by this point had almost completely dissipated despite the visible confusion.
Between punching Phantom and the glare Andrew got from the Goth was somehow satisfying as he walked over and placed his boot down on his chest somehow keeping him there, "Take that as your first and last warning Phantom. My friends are off limits from being stuffed into one of those stupid thermoses of yours."
Phantom had stared up at Andrew. He recognized him a bit from earlier that day at Bucky's but also from seeing him around school. That hit he was given he could be mistaken for a ghost but for all he knew he was human, however thing that caught him off guard the most were those fiery orange eyes glowing staring down at him, almost as if they were staring right into his soul as if they were trying to freeze him where he laid in fear, "Trying to protect Juliet over there Romeo?" Andrew wanted to hit Phantom again for his terrible quip but he relented as he kept his mouth shut knowing it wasn't worth his time as he walked back over to where Ember laid. He didn't bother to look behind of him as Phantom had seemingly disappeared taking Sam and Tucker along.
Ember had passed out at some point between Phantom trying to place her in his thermos and Andrew punching him. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around Ember's shoulders as he gently picked her up bridal style and she instinctively moved further into his chest as if she knew he was the one carrying her, her troubled look turning to one of somewhat being at peace. Kitty had grabbed Ember's guitar as he walked passed her and Johnny who were both still in shock from what they just witnessed from Andrew. They followed him out to his motorcycle which was parked next to Johnny's. Andrew had sat on his and gently placed Ember in front of him making sure she was secure up against him.
The three of them were quiet until Johnny spoke up as he sat down on his own motorcycle not reading the situation at all, "You really gave it Phantom good. We should of let you fight him from the start."
Kitty had elbowed Johnny in his side, "You sure you don't need us to take her?"
Andrew's eyes finally calmed down as his and Ember's energies had as well. He just let out a deep breath, "I can watch over her tonight so you guys can rest back at my place if you wish. I don't think she's injured too bad, but if it gets worse overnight I can get mom to help since she knows more about healing spirits than I do."
Kitty and Johnny had both just nodded as Kitty helped Andrew with placing Ember's guitar on his back since he was being careful not to drop her off his motorcycle. He didn't say a word as he took off with the ghost girl, Kitty jumped onto Johnny's bike and started to follow him. The night while it didn't turn out how he planned it, and the day leading up to the moment he was in now could be considered a screwy mess, it was fun. He had managed to cut school, hung out with his friends, met a drop dead gorgeous ghost rocker, one that the media made it seem like he was in a relationship with. When the Ghost Zone got wind of this, he could only imagine some calling him The Protector of the Ghost Zone or something similar and in an ironic fashion it made sense in his head, since it wouldn't surprise him if after today he made an enemy of the Fenton/Phantom Trio considering he protected humans from ghosts.
Looking down at Ember while keeping his eyes on the road he smiled a bit. Meeting her was truly a rebirth to his now crazy life, he didn't know what the future held in store for him. The only thing he did know for certain about his life was that himself, Andrew Branwen had it bad for Ember McLain.