Chapter LXVI
Danny looked at the clock that hung above his television nervously. His anxiety was a direct result of his friend Tucker; more specifically, Tucker's presumptuous attitude and, even more specifically, Tucker's decision to go on a double date with Paulina and Star. Tucker was becoming more of a liability than an asset, but that was to be expected when hormones started overtaking the brain.
Danny absently flipped through channels, not even bothering to look at what was on as his eyes constantly drifted back to the clock. He silently cursed the plastic black pointed arms as they continued their monotonous rotation. Each miniscule tick seemed to draw him closer to – what? What was so terrible about going on a double date? Tucker would be there with Star and he would be there with Paulina.
And therein laid the problem. Danny couldn't put his finger on why, but for some reason the prospect of igniting a relationship with the Hispanic beauty goddess didn't sit well with him. But why? She was gorgeous; from his previous conversations with her Danny had figured she was fun and intelligent, for the most part, and she was interested in him. Those were more than enough reasons, but it still didn't feel right.
Danny struggled to find the answer to his dilemma. He searched his feelings, slowly and meticulously reviewing everything in his mind for a reason that he would even be the slightest bit apprehensive about dating Paulina.
Then it hit him. In actuality, Paulina was not the most physically attractive person he had ever met. She definitely was not the first girl to take a romantic liking to him. Danny felt his face paling as the mental image of the one female that fit that description formed in his mind's eye. And through his mind's eye, Danny found himself looking at Penelope Spectra. So sickened by this prospect was Danny that he rushed to the bathroom in record time. A shame; his lunch had been most delicious.
Bertrand felt like shit. There were no other words in any language, be it Ghost Zone or physical realm, that could adequately describe how he felt and no babied or watered-down version of the word could attain the accuracy needed to convey his feeling.
The ghost was aimlessly floating in the all too familiar void of ectoplasm he called home. After being loosed into the Ghost Zone after his particularly humiliating encounter with Phantom, what aim could he possibly have?
Bertrand was contemplating the myriad ways his pathetic life could go on when his unguided floating was abruptly halted by a heavily muscled and even more heavily armored torso. The green blob opened his eyes weakly and found his red optical receptors staring into two glowing, blood red eyes.
"Turpetrator," Bertrand said with a very weak smile. "How ya doin?"
"I've been better," the warrior sneered. His voice produced a strange yet menacing echo behind his helmet. "Of course you obviously share my sentiments."
"As a matter of fact, I do," Bertrand sighed as he righted himself in the gravity-devoid abyss. "But I can't imagine you've put up with what I had to a few hours ago."
"Hours?" the Turpetrator asked bemusedly. "You suffered your defeat at the hands of the ghost child three days ago!"
Bertrand grinned. "Been that long?"
"Yes."
"Bummer. I guess I gave you and the Mrs. plenty of time alone together, huh?"
The Turpetrator's eyes narrowed; his way of smiling as his face was constantly concealed by his helmet. "Yes, and for that I am eternally grateful."
"Well then it was time poorly spent," Bertrand said in a scolding tone. "You should have been whipping your useless seed into competency."
Bertrand was easily dwarfed by the Turpetrator. The hulking titan of a ghost stood over seven and a half feet tall and each square inch was just as intimidating as the last. However, the words of the noticeably smaller ghost held the stench of truth; and truth was something the warrior was not in the habit of hiding from.
"You . . . are right. Upon her return to the Ghost Zone, she managed to hide from Desiree and myself. Her reappearance is relatively recent and time to reprimand her for her inadequacy has been short."
"I see." Bertrand rubbed his chin. "Perhaps I should accompany the child in her latest mission. I guarantee that she won't fail you completely this time."
"That would be most welcome, but I should warn you; the situation has become more complicated than originally speculated."
"And what is this supposed to mean?"
"Phantom is mastering a new ability and Desiree believes that his is close to discovering his subconscious desire for Spectra, if he hasn't found out already."
"And how is that a problem?" Bertrand was very much awake.
The Turpetrator looked upward and rubbed the area on his helmet that covered his temple. Bertrand often wondered if his friend's helmet actually was his head. "I am unsure. But it does not bode well for the mission."
"I will do everything I can to ensure that this plan will not fail. Your victory over Plasmius is as important to me as it is to you."
The warrior nodded silently. Bertrand had once been very close to the Dairy King and his son. They had been his friends.
Phantom tapped on Tucker's bedroom window impatiently. The African American teenager look at the floating specter nonchalantly before opening the window.
"Alright dude, what is it you have to tell me so badly? We're going to be late!"
Phantom touched down on Tucker's floor and let a surge of electricity wash over him, changing him back into his human form much faster than his traditional method. "I've got a huge problem, and you're the only person who could possibly hope to understand what it is that I'm going through . . . maybe . . . kinda . . . hopefully . . ."
"Out with it!" Tucker growled.
"I still like Spectra." Danny said quickly.
The four words hung in the air for over a minute. Tucker, having had ample time for his mind to comprehend what he had just heard, sat down in his computer chair calmly.
"Ok, I'll get to that momentarily. First things first, why on Earth would you think I'd be able to help you out with this one?"
"Who else would I go to?"
"Uh, Sam? She's a girl, you know, a girl that totally likes you, by the way, in case you didn't notice."
"Not now, Tuck," Danny sighed. "Besides, do you know how incredibly angry Sam would be if I came to her with this news flash? She'd turn me into a full ghost!"
"I think angry is be an understatement," Tucker mumbled.
"Plasmius is a definite no because, well, she always comes to me to try and ruin my life. And the Guys in White would try to kill Spectra if I told them."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
Danny scrunched up his face in confusion. "I don't know, damn it! I'm so freaking confused right now, I think my head's going to explode."
"Alright, look, just calm down. Have a seat over there," Tucker motioned to another chair in his room. Danny sat down in the chair and sighed as he sank into the cushion. "Look, it's natural to have feelings about your first girlfriend after you've broken up. Now your case in different in so many ways, but the same principles apply. This is probably some pent up emotions that surfaced after your breakup with Valerie. Your mind is probably trying to help you cope by bringing your strongest emotions to the forefront, which just so happen to be the ones you felt for Spectra."
"But why her? Why now?"
"Well I'm no psychologist, but my best guess is that your ghost half has a powerful hold on your subconscious. Since Spectra is a ghost, your ghost half is probably feeding you the powerful emotions that it fostered for her as an attempt to make up for the loss of Valerie and the hurt you felt when you discovered she was the Huntress."
Danny chuckled. "You should consider a profession as a psychiatrist. You'd be great!"
Tucker smiled. "I'm a math guy. Besides, I don't have the patience to listen to people complain about their problems. It takes an advanced kind of smart to be able to handle that stuff."
"Well now that we have that out of the way, I'll move on to the next part," Danny cleared his throat. "I can't go with you tonight."
"What?!"
"Look, I can't explain why I'm feeling what I'm feeling for Spectra-"
"I just did."
"-right. Still, that doesn't change the fact that the feelings are there. I just feel uncomfortable going out with anyone right now. At least until I get everything in order upstairs," Danny tapped on his head.
"Dude, do you know how many guys would kill to be in the position that we're in right now?"
"Tucker, this is high school. You won't remember Star's last name after just the first semester in college. Come to think of it, I don't know what it is now."
"It's-"
"Never mind that. Look, just call Star and tell her to tell Paulina that I can't make it." Danny let the surge of electricity wash over him, changing him into Phantom in the blink of an eye.
"What am I supposed to tell her? That you like another girl who happens to be a ghost?"
"You're smart, you can think of something."
"And where are you going?"
"To get help."
Phantom flew through the wall and out into the city leaving a very upset Tucker in his wake. With a scowl, the human child retrieved his cell phone and dialed Star's number.
Phantom flew through the streets, looking for something – anything – that would give him an answer to his problems.
"Mommy, can I get that?" a little boy asked as he peered in through a window of a toy store. His gaze was settled on an old, old toy. Phantom recognized it from an equally old television show.
"No, Bobby, not today," the boy's mother replied as she whisked him away from the window.
The little boy continued to stare at the window. He pouted as he rounded a corner and the toy vanished from sight. "I wish he was real," the little boy mumbled.
That's it! Phantom thought. All I have to do is wish for something and that creepy voice will send out Gertrude or whatever that ghost's name was! I can see if he knows anything about it!
Oh, but what are the odds of Borland knowing anything about what I'm going through? He's probably never even heard of Spectra!
Hey, come on now, that's not a very positive attitude!
Who are you?
I'm you, idiot.
Oh, right.
"Your heart's desire is my command!"
Ok, now that was definitely not me.
"HOARRRRRRRRG!
"And that was someone else entirely," Phantom said as he flew around the corner the little boy had appeared from.
He was suddenly knocked back as a concussive blast rushed through the air, shattering all the windows within a hundred meters. People began to scream and panic. Car alarms blared through the streets and horns honked at pedestrians who tried to scramble over the vehicles to get away from the blast.
But it was not the explosion that had scared the civilians. It was the creature that had created the explosion that had sent them fleeing in terror. Phantom's jaw dropped as a massive, metallic red dragon emerged from the flaming building. Smoke wafted from his nostrils from the prior burst of flame. The evil yellow eyes darted around, looking at the fleeting humans before him. The massive beast took several steps forward, inspecting his environment.
"What is this?" the dragon asked in a hauntingly familiar voice. "Where am I?" the beast tapped an almost invisible button on his shoulder. "Rampage, Inferno, converge on my position at once." There was no answer. "Rampage, are you there? Rampage? Inferno? Dinobot? Waspinator? Is anyone out there?! Answer me!"
"Don't know who you're talking to on your little walkie talkie," Phantom shouted as he flew in closer. "But they can't help you now!"
"Human filth! How dare you talk to me in such a way! Do you have any idea who I am?"
"Sorry, but I was learning to shoot guns when you hit the shelves." The dragon looked at Phantom, clearly not amused by his remark. "The name's Phantom."
"Well Phantom, you're about to learn a lesson in respect! Megatron, TERRORIZE!"
The ghost boy looked on in shock as the memory of a certain cartoon show where beasts engaged in some kind of war with each other. What was that show called? Oh right. Beast Wars. Phantom watched as the dragon's body spontaneously reassembled itself, shifting and rotating until the dragon resembled a humanoid robot.
"And you're about to learn a lesson about the twenty first century!"
"Which is?"
"Those darn kids have no respect at all!"
Megatron roared in anger and let a stream of fire erupt from his dragon head, which had taken the role of the robot's left arm. Phantom dodged out of the way, but the Transformer kept his aim steady. The trail of flame eventually subsided and Phantom moved in, firing his own blasts. Each one only seemed to shake the massive robot.
"Oh, the human has super powers! A pity that you are hardly at Waspinator's level of combat. Otherwise this battle may have been interesting! Yeeeeeeees!"
"Oh man, I completely forgot you did that yeeeeeeees thing. You know drawing out words only leaves you open for an attack?"
"It hardly seems to be a problem for me, human. Your attacks are disgustingly primitive. I'll be surprised if you manage to chip my paint!"
"You don't have paint!"
"Exactly!"
Phantom growled and fired a blast of electricity from his hands. The electricity washed over Megatron, sending him into a spasm.
"W-what is t-t-this f-foolish-shness?" the robot stuttered.
"Something that works, I guess," Phantom said more to himself.
Megatron roared as the wave of energy passed through him and prepared to attack again. A tank shell had other ideas. The round slammed into the robot's torso, exploding on impact. Megatron was sent crashing into a two story building, which collapsed on top of him following the impact.
Phantom looked from the crash site to the source of his unexpected salvation. Agents 089 and 02 stood atop a strange tank vehicle holding rifles in their hands.
"This is Agent 02 to headquarters," Mike said into his communicator. "The target has been neutralized, I repeat, the target has been neutralized. Send the Dragonflies to our coordinates to retrieve the target."
Jackson hopped off the tank and walked over to Phantom. The ghost boy grinned at the government agent, but received no such facial expression in return.
"What's up?" Phantom asked as he hovered over to the taller man.
"My salary. At least it better be after all this," Jackson gestured to the incapacitated robot. "This is the fifty-eighth attack by some sort of creature in the last two days."
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah, and it gets weirder. Every single creature we've taken down matches a fictional entity that is or has been featured on a children's television show or something to that effect. We took out Doc Ock this morning down by the docks. And right before we got here we had to save an old woman from Kermit the Frog."
Phantom's eyes widened. "So what do you do with all these things?"
"We take them to our Center for Ectoplasmic Sightings and Studies and Protection Of Original Life."
Phantom paused for a moment. "CESSPOOL?"
Jackson shrugged. "It keeps people away. At least that's what it's supposed to do."
"Hasn't been working that well as of late," Mike said as he walked over. "We've had three attempted break-ins; all of them left ectoplasmic trails."
"Ghosts were attacking a top secret government facility? What do you guys have there?"
"Sorry kid," Jackson said, keeping Mike from answering. "Eighteen and over."
Phantom mumbled incoherently, but it was quickly drowned out by the sounds of two helicopters. The Dragonflies were startlingly similar to their namesake. Each one had a sleek, aerodynamic body, an extended tail segment and four insect-like appendages that were folded underneath the bulk of the machine.
The one Dragonfly hovered over the felled Megatron and extended its mechanical legs. Each one stabbed into the robot's body and slowly hefted it into the air. The second Dragonfly, which was visibly bulkier than the first, kept its weaponry trained on the unmoving mechaniod. The two vehicles quickly vacated the premises, heading in a southeast direction.
As soon as the helicopters disappeared, Mike's communicator began to crackle with static. The man tapped the device on his arm. "Go ahead."
"This is Operative L. We're currently engaging a target that matches the entity known as . . . as Pikachu."
Jackson sighed and checked the ammo counter in his rifle. Mike rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses. "Sure your Poke'dex isn't broken?" the Caucasian man said with a smirk.
"Positive."
"Well than capture the little yellow fur ball. Complete your collection."
"Negative. I already have a Pika – WATCH OUT!" a zapping sound filled the communicator, followed by several screams. "Son of a bitch! Medic! Get those men to the chopper! The rest of you, defensive maneuver Omega!"
"What's going on over there?" Mike shouted into the com.
"Little monster just took down four of my men. Looks like third degree electrical burns, poor bastards. Get the Dragonflies to my position, Grid Zulu."
"Sorry, the Dragonflies just finished off the Beast Wars over here and are escorting Megatron to the base. Just hold your position for another half hour and the Drag-"
"Half an hour? We'll be dead by then, Agent! Get over here pronto! We could use that tank!"
"Roger that. We're on our way." Mike switched off his communicator. "You heard the man, let's go."
"I'm coming too," Phantom said confidently.
"No you are not," Jackson stated firmly as he walked back to the tank. "You still need to recuperate from the shadow ghost incident."
"I'm fine!" Phantom protested.
"Scanners say differently," Mike said as he opened the hatch and climbed in. "Your ectoplasmic energy has yet to synch up with your biophysical structure after being disoriented by the shadow ghost. Give it another week and you'll be back to normal."
"But I'm fine!" Phantom whined.
"We've got us a modern day Luke Skywalker on our hands," Jackson said as he climbed into the tank.
"During or post ANH?"
"During. Definitely during."
"I concur."
Phantom sighed as the tank rolled down the street in the direction of wherever the rampaging Pikachu was. Several minutes later, a loud BOOM echoed through the city and a high pitched squeal announced the death of the pokemon.
But by then Phantom was sitting atop the tallest building in Amity Park, which was arguably the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. He knew all he had to do was wish for the solution for his problem, but that was obscenely vague. He needed to be more specific, find the root of his problems.
And that's when, for the second time that day, a realization hit him. It made him almost sick to his stomach, but he knew it was the only way he could figure out why he was feeling the way he was feeling.
Phantom took a deep breath. "I wish Spectra was here."
"Your heart's desire is my command!"
To Be Continued
A/N
Danny finally comes face to face with "his heart's desire" again. Just wait until the next chapter, you'll see. In further news, I stayed up until four last night writing the synopsis for the rest of the first season, suffice to say that the remainder of this season will be wonderfully wierd. And no, this isn't the crossover. This just happens to feature some popular characters from other forms of entertainment.
And I was kidding about ending the story there, but it strangely attracted the largest amount of reviews in the shortest amount of time, so I'll just have to do stuff like that more often.
CONGRATULATIONS to slyfoxx for winning the 700th review contest thing. However, if a reply is not given within the week, the contest will be withdrawn and reset to a later review number. For winning the contest, slyfoxx gets to create an original character for this story. Slyfoxx also gets the link to my secret DeviantArt account.
Speaking of reviews, let me thank everyone who has contributed to the ever-expanding number. Fulcon, leadfoot352, Skye-chan, Lt. Commander Richie, Silverline Scimitar, Writin' Dude, sparky333, hydraling110, darkbunny92, Amras Felagund, TDG3RD, Tevagirl 16, Thunderstorm10, Musicallity, Orochigin, MissMeliss4251, slyfoxx, Vasell, Bitchy Princess and Theripula.
Sorry if I spelled your name wrong, I've never had to thank so many people at once. If I did, let me know in a review and I will make a little paragraph for you in the next A/N.
FREEDOM IS THE RIGHT OF ALL SENTIENT BEINGS