"- and the rock was like ka-BOOM!" Danny shouted as he slammed his fist onto the hard plastic surface of the table for emphasis.
Sam and Tucker jumped back, awe and delight evident on their faces. Danny's pounding sent his Nasty Burger and fries into the air, scattering the fried potato strips and dissembling his hastily constructed burger.
"That's so freakin' awesome that Skulker let you use his suit to wail on those three," Tucker said as he inhaled his Triple-Decker Angus burger.
"Well, technically," Danny said as he took a sip from his milkshake, "I only got one. When I took the thermos back to the Guys in White, they told me only Desiree was in there, which means Bertrand managed to get out."
"But how?" Sam inquired. "I thought the thermoses were designed to contain all ectoplasmic energy."
"Well he was a shape shifter," Danny stated absently. "Maybe he can alter his genetic physiology and base molecular composition." His two friends stared at him from across the table. "What? I'm not allowed to listen to my parents when they blather on about ghosts?"
"No, you're just not supposed to understand them," Tucker corrected as he shoved a handful of fries into his mouth. "That's my job."
"Well anyway, I messed Bertrand up pretty bad," Danny said with a smug tone. "So the only thing he gets to use his freedom for is to lick his wounds."
"That still leaves the Turpetrator out there somewhere," Tucker commented.
Danny's air of self satisfaction was swept away and his smug grin melted into a discontented frown. "Even when he does recoup, he won't be doing much of anything to anybody."
"Uh, I don't want to be the wet blanket here-"
"Then don't," Tucker interrupted Sam as he viciously tore at the remnants of his burger.
"-but shouldn't you have captured the Turpetrator? I mean, you just left his body floating around in the Ghost Zone. If he's as powerful as you said he was, he will be back eventually."
"Well think of it this way," Danny countered. "If he is as powerful as I said he was, then the Fenton Thermos wouldn't be able to hold him for long. He could've broken out of it, and if he did so in the GIW headquarters, there would be one world government with one good reason to take me out."
". . . You didn't even think of it at the time, did you?" Tucker asked monotonously.
"No, no I didn't," Danny hung his head in mock shame.
"At least he's incapacitated and Spectra's out of the way for the time being," Tucker noted. "You'll have plenty of time to yourself without the constant intrusion of your future in-laws."
Sam kicked the boy next to her under the table.
"Guess not," Danny replied absently. "Now I can finally focus on getting my social life in order."
"And since the Hulk and Grimlock teamed up to take out the school, you'll have plenty of time to work on it with Dash's constant part-ays." Tucker grinned at the prospect as he finished off the last of his drink.
"Hey Fenton!" Dash Baxter shouted from the other side of the eating establishment. "Come over here!"
"Speak of the devil," Sam sighed as she took a bite of her salad.
Danny was already halfway across the Nasty Burger by the time the lettuce leaf entered her mouth.
"What's up, Dash?" Danny asked casually. He took notice of the rather large crowd of the popular students standing en masse behind the tall blonde boy.
"Funny, Fenton, that's just what I was gonna ask you."
Danny looked around nervously. It was the first time in a long time that he had felt nervous around the people who had taken him in as one of their own. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm not sure what's going on, but every time there's a ghost attack, you disappear from my parties. Not sure how you get out of the house, but you just up and disappear. Kwan tells me you never even bother to use the front door," Dash gestured to his Asian friend, who nodded. "And after we got together and thought about it, you seem to disappear from a lot of stuff every time there's a ghost attack."
Danny gulped nervously. His palms started to sweat.
Calm yourself, they cannot know you are Phantom.
They may have found you out! DESTROY THEM!
NO! This situation calls for rational thought. Now relax, Daniel.
Danny felt his palms dry out, as if controlled by some other force working in his body. His heart rate steadied and slowed from its erratic beats to the metronomic tempo he was used to. With his stress level reduced, Danny's mind cleared enough to formulate a response.
"So you figured me out, Dash," Danny said with an irritated inflection. He heard Sam and Tucker gasp from their table. "You finally found out that, every time there's a ghost attack, I get out to call my parents."
Dash raised an eyebrow. "Then how come you never come back afterwards?"
"Well as ghost hunters, my parents aren't too thrilled about the other person I have to contact."
Dash thought for a moment, but someone else spoke up before he did.
"Phantom?" Paulina squealed.
"Exactly. I have to get a hold of him after, but he isn't so easy to reach."
"So what, you just call him up on the Phantom hotline?" Dash demanded.
"Well no, not like that-"
"Save it. Its obvious you're just trying to cover your own ass."
Danny looked at all the faces of those who had once treated him as their friend. Almost all of them were looking at him like he had personally wronged each one of them.
"You can keep the shirt," Dash said as the group behind him dispersed. "But don't expect an invitation to anything once school starts up again."
Danny watched as the tall football star turned and strode from the Nasty Burger, leaving him behind.
Operative K looked at the tattered and battered body of the ghost genie floating in suspended animation inside the containment cell at the GIW HQ in Amity Park. The tall, dark skinned man examined her wounds from his seat outside the cell. What would account for bruises covered most of her body. The right side of her face looked as if it had been blasted by a cannon at point-blank range. The rest of that side of her body appeared to have suffered the same treatment. The worst wounds were on her back in the shape of a hauntingly familiar X.
"You gonna ogle her all night or are you gonna get to work?" Operative L asked from his seat across the room.
L was just as tall and muscular as Jackson and Michael, but his service record started some five years prior to the dynamic duo quickly becoming known as the "Knock-Out". His experience in the field had given rise to his own nickname, Lieutenant. While he was several steps ahead of most of his colleagues, L was one of the most approachable Operatives in the business.
"Just wondering why he had to beat her up so badly," K replied as he turned his attention back to his computer screen.
"They're ghosts," L murmered through a yawn, "Whaddya expect, a picnic or something?"
K grinned. "Not at all. Seems a bit uncharacteristic of our prepubescent Phantom, you know, going after a female ghost how he did."
"Maybe he was trying to make a point."
K lifted an eyebrow. "To what effect?"
"'S not like we treat him like someone we're gonna be hiring in four years, you know what I mean?"
"You think he wants us to treat him like an adult?"
"Probably. I mean, X doesn't treat us like babies, why should we treat Phantom any differently?"
"We can't just force him to man up to everything life throws at him." Jackson and L looked up to the balcony level of the complex to see Mike leaning over the railing. "He might think he wants to be treated like an adult, but since when do kids know a damn about what they want?"
"You've got a point." L conceded. He looked at the wall mounted clock and stifled another yawn. "I better check on Elliot."
K and O stared at Operative L with their jaws hanging open. "Elliot?" they asked simultaneously. "I thought he was incarcerated," K said in a low, angry voice.
"Still is," L confirmed. "I guess you two have been out of the loop, dealing with Phantom and this genie business and all."
"X ruled on his case personally," Mike said with an edge in his voice. "He's not due for his appeal for another five years."
"Yeah, well, those ecto-planarians did a number on him." L put a cigar in his mouth and lit it. He inhaled deeply and let the smoke billow out of his nostrils. "They got rid of the burned skin like they were 'sposed to, but then they moved on to his muscle tissue, then his bones and some of his vital organ systems. We couldn't risk removing them without killing the kid, so we had to let the worms do their stuff."
"So what's his status now?" K asked. While the Agent in Training had killed someone after he had put his own personal agenda into action, Jackson had felt somewhat responsible.
"We're attempting to use some of Phantom's regenerative DNA to put back what the worms ate," L explained as he took another puff of his cigar. "The boys down in the genetics department have been working nonstop since the incident at the observatory to isolate the strand that contains the regenerative properties. Last I heard they were pretty close."
"What effects will this have on Elliot?" O pressed in a hesitant tone.
"Hopefully, just bring him back to life. The worms made a meal of his heart and most of his brain before they kicked it. Any other side-"
"He's dead?" Jackson interrupted.
"Clinically, he's been dead since you let slip the worms of war. But we're living in a new age. The power to raise the dead is just a matter of finding the right DNA strand." L chuckled at his own musings. "Won't be long before the science lab supersedes the Holy Grail, and the Crusades take aim at capturing data instead of nations."
The man stood from his chair and walked over to a door on the far side of the room. He rested his thumb on a scanner next to the titanium-reinforced entrance and waited for the computer to grant him access. A green light winked on above the door as it slid open.
"As you were, gentlemen," L said with a salute as the door sealed behind him.
K and O looked at each other before slowly returning to their work.
Deep in the darkest voids of the Ghost Zone, a small tribe of ghosts was silently watching from the massive trees that encompassed their village. The object of the ghost's observation was the tribe's shaman, a ghost that held vast amounts of knowledge, and his companion, a stranger to the secluded and primitive corner of the swirling green dimension.
The shaman hovered in front of the massive ghost that was his companion. He watched with understanding as the hulking specter lowered another heavily muscled being into a strange sarcophagus.
"Lia vundii severa estas," the shaman stated as he looked over the Turpetrator. "Gi estis dum antau li resanigi."
"My plan can carry on without him," the ghost said in a hollow voice. He looked up at the shaman with his solid black eyes. "Of course, he will be an invaluable asset when he is restored."
"Kio fari vi pensi li estis kunigi vi?"
"By the time the process is complete, the Ghost Zone and Earth will be very, very different. He will have no other option."
"Ne tro sangi mi espero?"
The ghost chuckled as he stood to his feet. "Your village will become a powerful empire one day, Bullet. No amount of change will disrupt your destiny."
The shaman grinned. "Vi sondi tiel certa."
"Call it a hunch," Walker said with an identical expression.
Bullet waved over several of his men to carry the sarcophagus to the ceremonial grave dug on the outskirts of the large floating island. The two watched the tribesmen fly off. Walker slowly hovered off the ground, by a hand gripped his wrist. The shaman waved out two more of his villagers; two young women, who were carrying a bundle of cloth between them.
"Donaco car vi," Bullet announced. "La profetajo havi ek. Lasi gi procedi en via favori."
Walker extended a hand towards the young girls. They lowered the bundle, which was almost as large as one of the girls, into his open hand. The pale ghost lifted the bundle up to his face and used his pinky finger to unfold the blanket. Beneath the off-white cloth was a wolf-like creature. It looked at Walker with curious, glowing green eyes before letting its tongue roll out of its mouth. The pup's tail wagged beneath the blanket in anticipation of whatever games the new ghost would devise to play with it.
Walker smiled down at the pup and rubbed the top of its head with the same finger he used to unfold the blanket.
"I am grateful," Walker said finally. He instantly regretted his selection of words. He was more than merely grateful for the pup, but his extensive vocabulary had failed him in the presence of new life.
Bullet nodded sagely. "Iri nun, venki la demono koni kiel Danny Phantom. La profetajo estis ordigi en movo kaj tempo estas de la esenco.
Walker let the pup climb onto his shoulder. Long, silver claws dug into his skin in order to steady itself, but the humanoid specter felt no pain. He grinned. I have all the time I need.
Walker took to the air, leaving the ancient tribe behind in its dark corner of the Ghost Zone. He sped through the endless voids of ectoplasm, the grin never leaving his face as the momentum of his propulsion sent otherwise motionless air streaming over his face. The pup on his shoulder yapped in excitement as his master accelerated.
The massive ghost eventually slowed. His deceleration caused the pup on his shoulder to whine with disappointment. Walker chuckled and sped up just enough to appease the small furry ghost. A relatively small island appeared not too far off in the distance. A building took up almost the entire expanse of land. The ancient prison had been abandoned for centuries before being converted to suit Walker's purposes.
He touched down on the roof of the facility, letting the pup slide down his shoulder. It ran around in circles, sniffing out its new territory before lifting a leg next to a partially toppled pillar.
"Hey!" Walker growled. The pup ignored the ghost that was easily over twenty times larger than it and relieved itself on the pile of rubble. "Stop that," Walker said as he sent a tiny red beam of ectoplasm at the pup's tail.
"Having trouble keeping the rodents away?" said the hungry voice of a large green condor. "I'd be more than happy to assist you."
"Keep away from him," Walker spat.
Hans hyper-extended his beak and let his tongue wiggle in the air. "Blah, what's the point of keeping me around if you won't feed me?"
"Did you carry out your task?" Walker regarded the condor as he racked his brain to think of a name for the canine.
"I escorted the worthless green puddle to the Turpetrator's daughter, just like you said to," Hans sighed and preened his feathers. "Spectra's the one that, supposedly, needs protection. By the time she's done tending to Bertrand's wounds, the Turpetrator will have healed."
"Their continued survival is vital to my operation," Walker stated. He rubbed his forehead as the pup began to mark its fifth spot on the roof of the building. "You! Stop that immediately!"
Hans leapt from his perch and landed on a large boulder right above the pup. "That's a dumb name to call a puppy."
"I didn't name it yet," Walker grumbled as he crouched down and summoned the animal away from the condor.
"Well it's a wolf, isn't it? Just call it Wolf." Hans flew up to a higher perch as the pup charged at him with its extendable claws.
"That is also a dumb name," Walker said as he called the pup over to him again.
"Then just change the spelling," Hans offered. "Like a ph instead of an f."
Walker scooped up the small ghost and looked down at it as it tried to squirm away to continue marking its territory. "No. I think replacing the o with a u is better."
"Yeah, that's fine if you're gay," Hans mumbled as he scraped the sides of his beak against a rock.
Walker squinted his eyes at the condor. "I have another mission for you."
"Oh joy," the large condor sighed. "What does the master desire now?"
"It's time to make my presence known."
Hans glared at Walker. Anger flickered in his eyes. "You want me to go to Plasmius."
"Affirmative. She will, undoubtedly, set a series of events into place that will make my revelation to . . . Phantom all the more effective." Walker's forked tongue slithered around in his mouth at the name Phantom.
"It is more than likely that I will not return. Plasmius does not take kindly to traitors."
"Your wellbeing is none of my concern. What I am accomplishing is more important than you will ever be able to understand." Walker looked down at Wulf as the pup sat obediently at his master's feet. "But it something all life can appreciate."
Hans closed his eyes and inhaled deeply before taking to the skies. The condor understood what needed to be done. Hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, maybe more would be lost in the battles that were to come, but each life lost would be necessary . . . in order to save the future.
To Be Continued
A/N
Whoa, a little too much there, huh? WRONG! Well no, maybe it is. I don't care. I love blowing your minds. It hasn't happened since I revealed Plasmius, though. Or maybe I did. Hmm. Looks like I have some speculation to do as well, but not as much as you guys.
I'm not sure if I want to close this segment here or do another filler chapter. I don't want to break the Rule of Nine, but I don't want to have a chapter of just rambling. Oh well. I'll think of something.
Sorry for the delay. As soon as I get started writing the Reality Wars, the pace will definitely pick up. Oh, you don't know what I mean by that, do you? LAWLZ, s'pense/10!