Hey guys, Jack here with a new chapter. You didn't think I'd given up on this, did you? On with the chapter.
"BEWARE! For I am the Box Ghost! And you will soon meet your d…YAOOO!" the pale warehouse worker shrieked as a bolt of magenta colored plasma slammed into his face, sending him careening backwards into a stack of shipping crates.
"We get it, you like boxes, do you EVER shut up?!" Valerie yelled as she lowered her blaster. This was the infamous, and incredibly annoying Box Ghost. From what I could gather, the guy had once been a warehouse or dockworker based on his clothing, which consisted of a stocking cap, gloves, and overalls. He probably had a superiority or power complex in life, and death had only skyrocketed those attributes. The result was an entity who's mouth wrote checks it's ass could never cash.
I strode forward to the downed ghost and leveled a device that resembled a soup thermos. Removing the cap, I pressed a button on the side and watched as a beam of white light sprang forward. It enveloped the Box Ghost, who let out an annoyed sigh rather than an expected cry of defeat.
"You cannot contain me," he said halfheartedly before vanishing inside the thermos. I replaced the cap and returned the container to my belt. My outfit was relatively utilitarian, given what we were doing. An orange jumpsuit I'd stolen from Uncle Jack's collection hidden under a tan trench coat.
"He didn't seem as into it there at the end as he usually is," I noted as Valerie walked over by me.
"He's probably getting tired of getting caught all the time. This is the second time we bagged him this week," she replied. I couldn't help but shrug at that. If we were catching him this much, one could only imagine how often Danny did it.
"Well, he's stubborn, I'll give him that. Can't seem to take the hint," I said.
"That's an understatement. How's the helmet working out?" she asked. I turned my head side to side, watching the heads up display do it's work.
"Everything is functional. Seems to be holding up pretty good," I replied.
"Good. We should probably call it a night. Still got school in the morning and all that," Valerie said. She clicked the heels of her boots together and her board unfolded out to it's full form. I stepped onto the craft behind her, and with a whoosh we were off.
Flying on Valerie's jet board had taken some practice to get down. More than once, we'd been thrown from it during mid flight. But, we finally managed to work something out so that every banking turn didn't threaten to send us plummeting to our deaths. She dropped me off onto the Op Center of Fenton Works, and I gave her a short wave as she sped off into the night toward her place. Once she was out of sight, I took off the helmet and slipped inside.
Lucky for me, both Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack are relatively heavy sleepers. I easily slipped past their room and down to the lab, intending to dispose of the night's catch. The ghost portal was open, as usual, bathing the lab in an eerie green light. Based on the fishing pole and half eaten sandwich leaning against a lawn chair not far from the opening, Uncle Jack had probably gone ghost fishing again and forgotten to shut the thing before going to bed.
"Who'd you get tonight?" a voice behind me asked. If this had happened three months earlier, I'd have jumped straight out of my skin. But, with everything that had happened recently, voices out of no where was just par for the course.
"Box Ghost, you?" I asked as I stuck the thermos into a circular slot next to the portal and hit a red button. Box Ghost appeared in the swirling green whirlpool of the portal, screaming as he was drawn back into its depths. I hit another button with my fist, causing the steel doors on the portal to slam shut.
"Some old ghost vultures wearing fezs. Overall a quiet night," Danny answered. He was in his human form, but still wearing his clothes from the day. He'd probably only just gotten back from patrol himself.
"It doesn't help that your dad keeps wandering off and leaving this damn thing standing wide open," I said, pounding my fist once on the portal door to make my point.
"Hey, I've tried talking to him about. The man forgets his own wedding anniversary every year, it's not like he'd suddenly start remembering things now," he said, holding up his hands in defense. Danny had finally given up the charade that he and the ghost kid were two different beings. After he'd seen that not only did I not care, but I'd also taken up ghost hunting myself and was giving him tabs on Valerie, he finally started trusting me.
Sam and Tucker were somewhat of a different story. Tucker was giddy at the sight of the helmet and other gear I'd taken to using. He even offered to give me some upgrades or help repair the stuff if it got damaged in a fight. Sam, on the other hand, had the opposite reaction. She seemed utterly convinced that since I was working with Valerie, I was a step away from blasting Danny in the back of the head and stuffing him into a thermos.
"How someone can be so brilliant and so idiotic at the same time," I said, shaking my head in mild disbelief.
"Hey!" Danny snapped, standing up for his dad. I just folded my arms and cocked my eyebrow at him.
"Alright, fine, so he's forgetful. At least he's trying," he said.
"I never said he wasn't, cousin. I was just admiring that someone could have the brains and knowhow to make all this, and yet still forget his anniversary for a twenty year run," I said, gesturing to the lab around us.
"Eighteen. And I'm pretty sure Mom does most of the thinking," Danny said. I simply shrugged.
"Don't know, don't really care at this point. We need to get to bed. It's Monday, starting in three hours," I said.
"Technically Monday started three hours ago," Danny said, looking at his wristwatch.
"I reject your reality and substitute my own."
"Guys, were going to be late for school. Guys? Guys!" Sam yelled, which I'm pretty sure damaged my left ear drum. Danny and Tucker, however, were utterly oblivious to the goth shouting at them.
"Isn't it everything I said it would be and more?" Danny asked.
"You did not lie, dude, you did not lie," Tucker replied. They were staring in awe at some shiny new, yellow Humvee, truck hybrids. The four of us had been walking to school when Danny had pointed these things out to Tucker, and now they were drooling over the trucks like they tended to drool over most shiny things they liked.
Sam and I held back and waited with our arms folded. We were both unimpressed by the vehicles, but for vastly different reasons. Sam was a hardcore environmentalist, to the point that she regularly partioned to have the school ban students from driving and had apparently tried to set the frogs free from the school science labs earlier in the year. Given that she was the only person pushing these issues, she was usually ignored. Although there was a time or two that it had caused it's fair share of trouble from what Danny had told me.
I, on the other hand, disliked these things for more practical reasons. They were exactly the kind of make and model car companies produced to try to sell to people who lived in the suburbs and act like they had a country life of some kind. They tried to talk the talk, so to speak, but when the time came they couldn't walk the walk. Take one of these things to my hometown back in Arkansas and it'd be at the bottom of a mudpit in no time flat. Or had it's tires stolen, whichever came first.
"These things are an environmental nightmare!" Sam declared as she read the description in the driver's side window over the vehicles' features.
"I'm actually gonna side with Sam on this one," I said. This earned me a stunned looked from the goth in question, and a confused one from my cousin.
"Wait? You're an environmentalist?" Sam asked, dropping back to the ground from her perch on the running board.
"No, I'm practical. Take this thing off pavement and it'll fall apart faster than Dash's college prospects not involving football," I answered. She went from stunned back to annoyed at that.
"Does anyone in this town take the environment seriously?!" she ranted, mainly to herself. By this point Danny and Tucker had left the conversation again, going to back to admiring the trucks.
"I cut firewood for warmth and crapped in an outhouse before I moved here," I said. You get over the whole 'loving nature' thing when the only option you have for toilet paper is poison ivy and rhubarb. Sam let out a roar of frustration before storming off.
"I just wish someone would destroy these stupid trucks!" she snapped as she went past me. I glanced at my watch, realized that we were actually going to be late at this rate, and hurried after her. Danny could fly, and Tucker was with him. If they were late it was going to be no one's fault but theirs.
"You do realize that destroying those things wouldn't actually solve anything, right?" I asked as I caught up to her.
"It would teach them a lesson," she muttered.
"Would it? I'm not very business minded, but wouldn't they just go destroy more of the environment to make another one?" I asked. Sam let out a long sigh.
"You're right, Will. I just get so frustrated sometimes, I lose my head," she said. The sound of a rather large moo came from behind us. We turned, just in time to watch a massive red eyed cow raise it's hind leg and unleash a torrent of milk on Danny, Tucker, and the trucks.
"This is a messed up town," I said.
Clockwork's Tower.
The ghost of time carefully observed the events going in Amity Park. His form shifted back and forth between an old man and a child as watched things unfold.
"Hm. Events are unfolding as planned," he said to himself. Behind him, there was the sound of a crash, followed by a massive boom. The Thermos, and the table it had been sitting on exploded into a billion pieces. From out of the dust cloud came a figure moving so fast, the eye almost couldn't track it. It slammed into Clockwork, separating him from his staff and slamming him into the wall behind him.
"You won't stop me this time, old man," Dark Danny said as he floated in mid air. He turned his head and looked at the portal showing Amity Park, his old friends, and his past self. Fire flared in his eyes. Now that he was outside of time, there was nothing stopping him from taking his revenge. Without a word, he flew into the portal and vanished, leaving Clockwork behind.
The ancient ghost rose and took up his staff again. He waved it before the portal, watching as events of the timeline shifted again.
"Right on time," he said.
Amity Park.
I sat in the school library with my feet on a table, leaning back in my chair as I drew in my journal. Aside from the appearance of female knockoffs of 80s horror movie villains over the past couple of days, nothing was really out of the ordinary. Apparently Danny and Sam had a fight and were now pretending that they didn't know each other. At least that's what I gathered what had happened when I asked Danny about what happened. He simply asked who Sam was, and I rolled my eyes and went about my business.
"Will?" I looked up from my drawing and realized that Sam was standing there with a concerned look on her face.
"Trouble in paradise?" I asked, going back to filling in a line I had been coloring.
"Huh?" she asked, clearly caught off guard.
"Between you and Danny. Figured you two had a spat of some kind," I elaborated.
"We did, but now he's acting like we never met," she said. I gave a grunt at that.
"Yeah, he's been sticking to that story all morning. I asked him what happened, and he claimed to have never heard of you. Give it to the end of the day, I'm sure he'll remember to grow up some by then," I reassured.
"The thing is, Tucker was doing it too," Sam said.
"Those two have been friends since, what? Birth? He's probably picking Danny's side in whatever argument you two had," I replied.
"No, Will. I mean Tucker played into it so much he hit on me like I was another one of his attempted conquests," she added. That actually made me stop and look up at her. Tucker could be petty, but he'd never sink far enough to actually hit on Sam. He knew how Danny felt about her, and the girl absolutely terrified him.
"Tucker?" I asked, cocking my eyebrow in disbelief.
"There's more. Did you hear about the ghost sighting this morning?" she asked. I rocked my hand back and forth.
"Eh, kinda? Something about a ghost in a bikini top and Mikey sticking Dash and Kwan in a locker?" I said. Sam sat a book down on the desk as I closed my journal. It was open to a page, which depicted a ghost with long black hair, a belly dancer top, and a long tail instead of legs.
"This is Desiree, she's a ghost that grants every wish she hears. Last night, after a fight, I wished that I had never met Danny. Desiree must have been listening and made it happen," Sam explained.
"Neat theory, but you got anythin' other than a hunch and some weird behavior to go off of?" I asked. Sam sat two photographs down on top of the ghost page. The one on the right depicted her, Danny and Tucker, all leaning on each other and looking like they were having a good time. However the one on the left was a clone of the first, except for one distinct detail. Sam had been erased from the photograph entirely.
"This one is mine, and this one is the one that Danny keeps in his locker," she explained, pointing to the right and left on respectively. As I opened my mouth to speak, she held up her hand.
"There's more. When Desiree showed up this morning, Danny just turned and ran, rather than going ghost," she added. That actually gave me pause. Danny didn't run from anything. Not without a good reason, and not while people were potentially in danger.
"It doesn't explain how you and I are unaffected," I said after being quiet for a while.
"My running theory is that I wasn't affected because I was wearing this," Sam said as she pulled out a metallic belt that I recognized as Uncle Jack's handiwork. The 'Spector Deflector' if I remember right.
"And me?" I asked. Sam shrugged.
"I'll be honest, when I approached you I had kinda given up hope and figured you'd be like everyone else," she explained while rubbing the back of her head. I rolled my eyes at that.
"So what's the plan, Ms. Strategist?" I asked.
"I don't know, maybe get Danny to listen to us and convince him of the truth?" she suggested.
"And then?"
"Recreate the accident that gave him his powers?" she said, sounding unsure of herself.
"We could just find the ghost that did this and reverse what you did," I said.
"No, we can't do that! Deseree's magic never works out like its suppose to. We're better off just getting Danny his powers back on our own," Sam said.
"So rather than get regular Danny, you want coward Danny, who's just as likely to run away with piss dripping down his leg," I deadpanned.
"I don't like it as much as you do, but we can't use Desiree," Sam pressed. I didn't need to be a head shrink to know that there wasn't anything more I could say that would convince Sam otherwise. Once she got it into her head that a certain way was the way to go, there was no changing that until it blew up in her face.
"Fine. But when this backfires, I'm saying 'I told you so'," I finally conceded.
Luckily for us, Danny's afternoon routine is more or less the same regardless if he has ghost powers. Go home, drop his school crap off, and then head to the mall. I went back to Fenton Works and changed into my ghost hunting gear. The thought of calling Valerie crossed my mind, but I quickly decided against it.
Chances are, she'd been altered by that wish thing too, and might not even be a ghost hunter anymore. If she was still a hunter, there was a very high risk that involving her would accidently reveal Danny's secret. It'd be a firefight after that, with Danny being completely clueless in the middle. No, it was best to leave Val on the sidelines and team up with Sam on this one.
Speaking of, I met Sam at the Mall entrance with the helmet in a backpack and my trench coat done up to hide the jumpsuit underneath. Sam, on the other hand, had gone all out in her get up. A pink sweater, pink pokadot skirt, and a pink bow in her hair. She'd even added some makeup that wasn't goth related.
"What are you doing?" I asked as she approached.
"I could ask the same thing. You look like you're going to go around flashing everyone," she said.
"You look like you escaped from some fifties girl next door dystopia," I countered. She looked down and flushed a little, though it was hard to tell with the makeup.
"I need a way to get Danny's attention and keep it," she explained, "what are you doing?"
"I'm providing back up. With Danny out of commission, there's no one to keep an eye on things if it all goes south," I said, opening my coat some so she could see the jumpsuit and gear underneath. Seeing no alternative, she gave a simple nod and we headed inside. As we walked, I couldn't help but glance at Sam out of the corner of my eye.
Despite the fact that she looked absolutely ridiculous, I figured it might be enough to at least get Danny's attention. My cousin rarely looked at someone's personality, and focused on the physical side of beauty, hence why he was always drooling over Paulina. Sam must have known this too, cause her outfit showed off her curves without actually revealing any skin. She'd have Danny's attention, alright, but whether or not he'd actually hear what she said was going to be a coin toss.
We finally found Danny and Tucker at the food court, eating ice cream cones, which I found a little odd cause it was the middle of Fall.
"Hi, mind if I join you?" Sam asked, getting their attention with the most flat voice I have ever heard which didn't belong to a computer. They both stared at her for a solid moment, before Danny dropped his ice cream cone and shoved Tucker out of his chair.
Sam wasted no time, going into her book bag and pulling out her diary. I simply took a seat across from them and crossed my arms. Danny was so infatuated with her that he didn't even know I was there. That, or he was simply ignoring me. Either way, it was irritating. Sam started by showing him the dual photos she had shown me. But Danny, with his ever quick wit, had a much simpler explanation.
"You broke into my locker and doctored an old photo of me. You must really like me, or your nuts. You're not nuts are you?" he asked.
"She's not nuts, Danny," I said. For the first time, the spell of Sam's outfit seemed to have worn off, and he noticed me.
"Will? What are you doing here? What's going on?" he asked. Sam let out a groan of frustration.
"Focus!" she said, grabbing him by the neck and shoving his face toward the book. Now, he was actually looking at the various pictures taped to the pages. It depicted the three of them doing several activates together, including one where they were standing in front of the closed ghost portal.
"Wait a minute, that's my parents' lab," he said, recognizing the hazard colors of the steel doors. Picking up the book, he flipped the pages a few more times. Finally, he looked back up at Sam with a bewildered face.
"Who are you?" he asked, a hint of bewilderment in his voice.
"I'm Sam Manson," she replied, sounding like she was pleading with him now. Sam then proceeded to give a quick rundown of his ghost powers and why things were the way they were. Danny, to his credit, looked like he wanted to believe her. But the story was just too outlandish. Finally, he looked to me.
"What do you think, Will? Is she telling the truth?" he asked.
"I wouldn't be here if she wasn't," I replied. Despite my say, Danny still looked like he had his doubts. Whatever he was about to say was drowned out by a loud, eerie voice that seemed to echo from everywhere.
"PAULINA!"
A set of neon green claws appeared through the far wall and cut a circle. The wall fell away to reveal what I can only describe as a fat woman cosplaying as Freddie Kruger. She wore a black hat, a red and black striped shirt, and two metal gloves with long, neon green claws extending from each finger. Her hair matched the color of her claws, and the scowl on her face indicated pure murder.
Needless to say, pretty much everyone screamed and ran in terror. I was on my feet in an instant, heading toward the nearest bathroom cubby. Unslinging my bag from my shoulder, I produced the helmet and slid it on. I drew both of the blasters from my Aunt and Uncle's lab, getting the satisfying sound of the weapons whirling up.
The HUD of the helmet went to work in a heartbeat, identifying friendlies and a lone, poorly dressed enemy. Both Danny and Tucker looked like they were on the verge of running themselves, while Sam looked like she was in a debate on what to do next. I strode my way toward the claw gloved ghost, keeping both blasters at my side as I went.
"Keep them alive," I said to Sam as I past. She nodded before grabbing the anti ghost whip that Uncle Jack had invented. The ghost grabbed a teen and threw him out of the way as it went toward Paulina and Star, who were struggling to get out of a locked door. It only halted when I placed myself between them and it.
"Come quietly and it won't hurt," I warned. The ghost let out a screech and slashed at me. I leapt back, narrowly avoiding the claws, which left a clear trail carved into the wall. My response was to fire two plasma blasts into it's chest. The ghost went flying backward, slamming into a wall before collapsing.
Like a true horror movie villain, it got back up and leapt after me with murder in it's red eyes. I went to the side again, allowing it to slice a table in two as it went. Raising my blasters, I fired again, determined to hit it in the back and put it on it's face this time. However, it seemed to be learning, as rather than take the shots, it turned and batted them aside with it's claw gloves.
With I triumphant growl, it leapt at me again, this time tackling me to the floor. I yelled out in pain as I felt the claws rake down my front. Enraged, I head butted the ghost. Stunned, it reeled back just enough for me to get my blast up and fire a single green shot into it's face at point blank range. The ghost staggered backward, it's hands cupping it's face and wailing as the plasma burned away at it's form.
"Fat bitch rip-off," I growled before leveling my blasters and firing several times. The ghost's cries grew louder, until both of my blasters quit firing. The HUD in my helmet indicated that both battery packs were depleted. It's cries became more like whimpers, and it's form was flickering. But still, I wasn't about to be fooled by this ghost. Underestimating it had already nearly gotten me cut to pieces.
Luckily, I didn't have to worry about it, as Sam came over with the Fenton Thermos and activated it. The ghost vanished into a beam of blue-white light, and she lowered the silver cylinder.
"You alright?" she asked, putting a hand on my shoulder. I looked down at the open claw marks in my chest, which were oozing blood.
"Yeah, let's just get to somewhere I can treat this," I replied.
"That happen a lot?" Danny asked as he and Tucker came over to us.
"More than you remember," Sam replied. Danny and Tucker shared a look.
"Okay, you have my attention," he said.
"FINALLY!" Sam cried in glee, before she tore her clothes off. For a brief moment, I was concerned she was so excited to get out of all that pink that she would simply run home in her undergarments or nothing at all. But I quickly realized that she'd be wearing her usual goth attire underneath the whole time. She didn't even wait to kick off the pink shoes, settling for grabbing Danny by the wrist and dragging him along. Tucker followed after, but I didn't.
I needed to patch myself up, and I was praying that there was still one place I could do it without raising any questions.
I had my helmet off as I pounded my fist on the apartment door. My hope was that it would be Valerie who answered, and not some old lady who lived with her cats. Someone must have been listening, because it was indeed Valerie who answered.
"Will?" she asked, sounding like she had just woken up.
"Hey, Val, I need a patch up here," I said tiredly, raising my hand away from my chest and showing my blood covered palm.
"Oh my God, get in here, quick," she said, grabbing me and pulling me into the apartment. She led me into her room and plopped me down on her bed. Thankfully, everything looked to be the same. The only difference was that instead of Danny being in the center of her most wanted wall, there was some massive hellhound.
"What happened?" she demanded as she opened her medkit and pulled out some bandages. I slowly eased off my coat and began the long process of pealing away the jumpsuit.
"Ghost attack at the mall," I said with gritted teeth. The blood was making the suit stick to my skin, and thus it was quite painful to actually take off. When my entire torso was exposed, she leaned in close and studied my wounds.
"Did that dog do this to you?" she asked, casting a glare toward the poster on her wall. I shook my head.
"No. Some horror movie villain knock off," I replied. Valerie pursed her lips before opening a bottle of rubbing alcohol and pouring it down my chest. I had to grit my teeth to keep from screaming in pain.
"Consider that payback for breaking our partnership rule," she said as she sat the bottle down. Then she went to task of cleaning the wounds.
"Well, you're not going to need stitches," she reported as she began to apply bandages. I let out a sigh of relief. The pain wasn't fully gone, but it was much better than what it had been originally.
"Thank you, Val," I said. She gave me a small smile and placed her hand on my cheek. Then, she slapped me. Not hard, but with enough force to get the point across.
"Don't do that without me again," she said. I gave her a half smile.
"No promises."
And cut. That's all for this time. I don't know when the next chapter will be out as health related issues continue plague me. But, until then, remember to review or send a PM. Let me know what you liked or didn't like, and I'll see you all next time.