Night Wind
By: Wilona Riva
Disclaimer: Butch Hartman does; I don't.
Author's Note: The Night Wind people were named for Night Wind, a ghost king who founded their realm. Nightwind, who helped rescue Danny, is named for him. And after this chapter, there will be no more clips from "Dying Wind." I have deleted it from my other account.
Bubble Forest
The Bubble Forest was unlike any place in the Ghost Zone that Phantom had ever seen, not that he remembered thanks to a certain piece of fruit.
"Dusk," he said, turning around in circles, eyes taking in the 360 panoramic vista. "However did you find this place? It's amazing!"
Dusk laughed. "So it is. You brought me here when I was a little girl, Phantom."
The Bubble Forest was composed entirely of bubbles. Dusk and Phantom had rubbed a soapy mixture over their bodies before entering, so as not to pop any. The trees were made of tightly condensed smaller bubbles and the grass and plants more loosely. Bubble birds chirped from the canopy above, while the occasional curious bubble fauna allowed themselves to be seen. Rainbow colored bubbles floated through the air around them.
"Hey, Phantom, you have to try this!" Dusk cheerily called out, sitting down on the only solid objects available-a cone-shaped bubble geyser. It erupted and encased her inside a large purple colored sphere. "Now we can float without floating."
Phantom laughed merrily. "Gotcha!" he said, taking his turn on the geyser seat. Moments later, he was floating next to her in his own orangish-green sphere.
"How about we have a race?" Dusk challenged.
"You're on."
When Phantom's bubble popped, Dusk's followed suit. Such was the nature of things in this world. Both flopped laughingly into the bubble grass, watching the bubble geysers spew their rainbow wares into the sky.
"That was fun!" he exclaimed.
"We can always come here with Sunset and really have a bubble war," Dusk suggested, teasingly.
"I think she'd love that. There's so much more to learn with each passing day," he told her. Suddenly, a strange sensation passed through them.
"The Queen of the Night Stars calls," Dusk explained.
"Let's go," Phantom said, rising to his feet. Turning intangible, he felt the soap scum wash free of his body. Dusk grabbed his arm and teleported them to the throne room.
All the phantoms were assembled in front of the Night Queen's throne. Six sets of eyes followed the Lady as she paced back and forth in irritation.
"My little phantom," the Night Queen said, "humans and a half-ryu have been seen entering our realm."
Phantom blinked. What does she want me to do? The unspoken words hung in the air.
"Take back your human form."
Phantom obeyed; the transformation was painful. The phantoms watched his short white hair become black as a raven's feather and emerald eyes turn blue as the winter sky. Phantom stared down at his hands devoid of his natural glow. He looked up at his queen in puzzlement.
"My little phantom," the Queen of the Night said, quieting his soul. "Listen to me."
Danny shut his mouth.
"Look at Sunset."
He did.
"Would you take this life from her?"
He shook his head.
"Come to me."
He obeyed. She kissed his forehead. A spark passed between them.
"Phantom," she said, catching his attention. "Get these humans out of my realm and back in their's. Bring me the half-ryu."
He rose to his feet and bowed solemnly to her. The others rose after him, bowed to the Queen of the Night Stars and followed him. His task was also theirs.
"Danny-boy, we thought you were gone forever," Jack exclaimed upon seeing his son emerge from the woods. "What did those foul spooks do to you? Your mother saw them carrying you and wouldn't let me shoot them."
The boy didn't speak, but raised one hand and the rest of the Night Queen's phantoms appeared, Vlad's daughter among them.
"What have they done to them?" Maddie whispered to Vlad, who shifted into his ghost form. "When you told us of this kidnapping, I didn't want to believe you."
"The Night Wind have ways of making you forget," Vlad told her. "They are very dangerous creatures. Daniel hasn't been fully converted yet, by the looks of things. Danielle is lost to them."
Take them alive, Phantom signed, looking with disgust at the half-ryu floating next to them. The halfling is mine.