Imperfection07: (Coughing through the thick layers of dust) "Oh sheet, has it been a year already?"
Danny: "Most likely…" (Wheeze)
Imperfection07: "Well," (Hack-cough) "Let's get back to—" (WHEEZE) "Work!" (Cough) "Someone get a vacuum cleaner in here!" (Puts on a gas mask)
Danny: "And some air freshner!" (Gack!) "It smells really bad in here!"
Dreamscape Alternate: My Life Going Ghost
Chapter 8: Tangled Web
Note: Songs mentioned are (c) their respective owners
1st Person POV - Mona
It was pretty much almost ten o'clock at night. I wasn't really close to falling asleep since my mind was filled to the brim with scenarios that were playing in the good and bad categories, and I had a sneaking suspicion that if I fell asleep, Skulker would show up and kidnap me.
So, in order to get my mind off the situation, I decided to do the one thing that would ease my mind: song and dance. I'm not really good at either since I can only match the vocals of Stevie Wonder and I dance worse than someone with two left feet. If someone put me in a band, I'd be counted as the worst female singer in the US. An example being how boy bands sound like girls…no offense… At least I was having fun in the meantime.
I'm a GOOFY GOOBER!
YEAH!
You're a GOOFY GOOBER!
YEAH!
We're all GOOFY GOOBERS!
YEAH!
GOOFY GOOFY GOOFY GOOBER YEAH!
Okay…so…it was the best thing I could come up with…and I didn't really think Desiree would mind since she was out granting wishes…
I think she granted a wish to literally have a million 'bucks' last time she was out. That would explain why Main Street got trampled…
But anyway, like any plot, something just had to occur in the meantime. For instance, Danny was chasing a ghost. It had eight legs and looked pretty close to a gigantic tarantula…okay it WAS a giant tarantula…but it had glowing red eyes, jet black fur that was standing on end, and it had a green outline…
A ghost-tarantula…what else…?
"Is it just me…or is every ghost I'm encountering getting more and more disgusting?!" Danny Phantom asked himself before firing a ghost ray. The ghost scuttled to the side of a building, dodging, before dropping to the ground and disappearing into the shadows. Danny stopped in mid-air and looked around, a bit confused as to where it went, before said spider rammed him into the ground.
The halfa glared up at the spider which reared its massive head back with a cracked wail before diving down with its teeth. Danny went through the concrete, dodging the fangs which made two giant puncture marks. He immediately flew back upwards, giving a strong uppercut to its abdomen. The ghost-arachnid let out a screech as it was thrown backwards and struck the wall. Upon impact, it exploded into several smaller versions of itself and scuttled away before Danny could use the Fenton Thermos.
"Oh come on!!" The halfa gritted his teeth and flew after the nearest arachnid.
"What on Earth am I meant to do? In this crowded place there is only you! Was gonna leave but I have to stay! You have taken my breath a-way!" I lip-synched with one of the many songs on my CD player as I stood on the bed and used a flashlight for a microphone. The lights were still on and I didn't particularly care if I was keeping the neighbors awake, I needed to be preoccupied from this current problem.
"Is the world still spinning 'round? (Spinning-round) I don't feel like coming do-own! It's in your eyes!"
What I didn't realize, was that when I was 'singing-along', one of the smaller ghost-tarantulas got into the house. After crawling to the second floor, it reached my room and found it with little difficulty. It went through the door and I didn't really notice that it was right behind me until I turned around while singing to the chorus. No sooner had I caught sight of the spider, my voice got trapped in my throat and my eyes were completely locked onto the eight black dots.
It abruptly sprang towards me and I raised both arms to shield myself, dropping the flashlight. The arachnid did as I was afraid it would do: bite me right in the arm. A scream ripped out my throat and I swung my arm, throwing the spider into the wall and having its fangs get torn out in the process. I clutched my right arm and winced from the stinging sensation as I continued staring wide-eyed at the tarantula.
"It's staring straight at me…why the crap is it staring straight at me?!"
3rd Person POV
Danny, once he had caught a large number of the ghost-tarantulas, floated in place and closed the Fenton Thermos before wiping his brow.
"Phew, that's the last of them—"
And a loud scream of pain and fear caught him off guard. Danny, upon recognizing the voice as his new friend's, flew into the very direction it came from.
Elsewhere, a dark figure with the likeness of a spider watched the event unfold in a gigantic eye.
"Young…and ripe for the picking…perfect…" The figure smiled as she observed Mona, who was shivering and watching the spider with a terrified expression, before noticing a white and black flash across the eye. The eyes on the figure narrowed into slits when she spotted Danny Phantom. "And an interloper…this will be difficult…"
1st Person POV – Danny
Once I heard Mona's loud scream, I was already flying into a house where I assumed she was. Here's the situation I was greeted with: my friend was clutching her arm, which was a bit of a swollen red color and I saw some blood dotting her fingertips, while shivering and staring wide eyed at the ghost-tarantula I missed catching. And there was a catchy song by Kylie Minogue playing…
The tarantula's head turned in my direction and I pulled out the thermos, trapping the arachnid along with its other selves.
"You're alright now! I've got—" I barely caught sight of Mona as she ran out what I guessed was her bedroom and I heard a nearby door slam shut along with the faucet running full blast, most likely the cold tap. Either she was too freaked out at seeing my ghost form and getting bitten by the spider or it was because of something else. Whatever it was, I left in case her parents heard the screaming…
The odd thing is…I didn't hear anything close to worried questions…
And speaking of parents…my parents are not going to be happy that I'm out past ten…AGAIN!
1st Person POV – Mona
My teeth were clenched as I forced my arm under the faucet and tried to endure the waves of stinging along with the icy-cold tap water spraying on the spider-bite. I knew tarantulas weren't really venomous and that they bite extremely hard, but that didn't explain much.
"Crap-crap-crap-crap-crud-crud-ratfratz-ow-ow…" I cursed under my breath as I tried to stop the swelling in my arm. The swelling was reduced but the stings kept on shocking me wave after wave. "OW…OW…OW…!"
Another problem I was facing was that, not only had I become worse off than before, Danny knew exactly where I 'lived' and he probably noticed I was home alone without actual parents. This obviously meant the sense of distrust was growing and I was having no other choice…
I had to tell them…but I wasn't sure when it would be the best time…considering that I was too much in a ditch I buried myself in.
"Who do I tell…?" I asked myself through gritted teeth as the pain continued stabbing my arm. "Who to tell…who…who…who can I freaking tell?!"
Once the pain in my arm died down and the redness was rinsed off, I shut off the water and grabbed a bandage which I tied around my arm. Two small red dots could be seen but it wouldn't be noticed by anyone else…
I walked into the hallway in time to spot Desiree floating in with a rather contented expression on her face.
"Ahh…that was a great night and—" I hissed from a sudden sting in the arm and the wishing-ghost caught sight of me. "What happened to you?"
"Ghost spider…it bit me and it stings like heck…"
"Let me see that…" I pulled off the bandage and held my arm out for Desiree to look at. The pressure being applied caused me to cringe. She appeared a bit grim and afraid at the same time. "You've been marked…"
"Yes…in a very vampiric way too…" I replied.
"No, if a ghost marks you…it means he or she has a claim on you…and basically the stronger ghost has to fight whoever it is to win you…and in a way can remove the mark if he or she chooses it!" Desiree explained tapping it and making me cringe in pain again. "And judging by the pain you're experiencing…it's a rather powerful one…and has a deadline for whatever it wants with you…"
"WHAT…? I'm the least important person in the world! Or…either one…" I shook my head. "What would it want with me?! Can't you do something?!"
Desiree shook her head and had a bit of a depressed expression on her face. "…even if I try, I'm going to get expelled into my afterlife…"
That dampened whatever hopes I had for getting the heck out of here…
"Oh…great…and I was going to tell the others what's actually going on but THIS happens…"
"You'd better tell them soon…otherwise Plasmius or this one will take advantage of it…"
"Point…" I replied with a wince as Desiree rewrapped my injured arm. "In any case…I'd better go to bed and get ready for whatever life throws at me tomorrow…"
"You do that, and I'll be back around what you humans call: four in the morning…" Desiree replied as she started floating through the ceiling.
"Good night Desiree…"
Since she didn't respond, I could already assume she was flying around Amity Park. I then went into my room, got into my blue/green pajamas, and hid under the covers before shutting off the lights while staring straight into the darkness of my room. This was going to be a long night…
I was pretty worn out when I woke up at six in the morning from a dreamless sleep. My arm had begun stinging when I got into a sitting position and I had taken my early rising to stick it under a cold tap again. After thirty minutes, my arm began to go numb and I had to draw it out before rewrapping it with new bandages in case it started bleeding again and shutting off the alarm clock which I had to run towards and shut off before it damaged my eardrums.
After a normal morning, that was not quite normal considering the giant spider-bite that would have made Spider-Man proud and the fact I was getting ready to tell the group the whole story, I was already walking towards Casper High. I was pretty much unnerved by what would happen today and if the main characters would reject me if I did—
"Hey Mona,"
I jumped two feet into the air when a hand planted itself on my shoulder. After quickly collecting myself, I recognized Danny. All uncertainties of telling him shot back into the red zone. Terrific…that was just terrific…
"Oh, hi Danny…" I replied. "Geez, you really shouldn't sneak up on people like that!"
"Eh…my bad…I didn't really think that would scare you after those Ghost Clowns and Dash almost hurting you…" The halfa replied.
"Oh it's nothing…" I shrugged, avoiding asking the half-ghost about how he knew what happened since I saw him, before motioning to the street. "We'd better get to school if we don't want to be late…"
About halfway there, we caught sight of Sam, Tucker, and Evelyn waiting at the front. Danny noticed my bandaged arm and I caught sight of his look directed towards it.
"What…?"
"Uh…nothing…" He looked straight ahead and walked up to the others with me following close behind.
"Nice job Mona…you're really messing up your chances of getting out of here…"
First period was going smoothly but the odd thing was…I never got close to falling asleep in class before…especially if it was my favorite of the Shakespearean plays: "Macbeth". As Mr. Lancer explained the meanings behind the words, I heard his voice becoming slurred and my head sunk lower and lower until finally resting on the table. Oh please…I had at least 6 hours of sleep…but that didn't help my argument…
My eyelids were close to closing and lulling me to sleep before a solid weight in the form of a rather thick encyclopedia crashed onto my desk.
CRASH!
My head shot up and I found myself staring wide-eyed at the teacher.
"Ms. (edited),"
"Mr. Lancer…?"
"Please keep in mind that "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a young lady healthy, wealthy and wise" And you probably know it's altered from Poor Richard's Almanac, if you haven't managed to sleep through history class as well…"
I heard stifled sniggering from most of the lowlife classmates and tried not to sink into the ground. Oh hell, I really wanted ghost powers then but wiped the thought from my mind.
It was not such a good idea…
"That's unlike you…"
"Huh…?" I looked up from my turkey sandwich when I heard Sam speak up during lunch. "What's unlike me?"
"You never fell asleep in Mr. Lancer's English Class," The Goth replied before motioning towards Danny "unlike a certain someone we all know…"
"Hey…!"
"I had a nightmare that kept me up for the rest of the night…" I replied truthfully, putting down my sandwich in time to notice Evelyn staring at my arm. "…what?"
"What happened to your arm?"
"Oh…" I looked back towards the bandage. "I got bitten by a ghost spider…"
"Ghost spider…?" The pink-head blinked.
"Well…yeah…luckily I'm not going to become Ghost-Spider-Girl anytime soon…" I shrugged. "But it was eyeing me like I was its next lunch after I got it off my arm…"
Danny, after looking at my arm for a long period of time, abruptly turned to his backpack. "Well…that and…I think you dropped this…"
There it was…my notebook…not in a perfect condition but it was there all the same. A bit of a wave of relief swept over me at that point in time.
"Wow! Where did you find it?" I smiled and reached for the notebook.
"It was on the floor. I figured I'd hold onto it and I almost forgot to give it to you…" Danny replied as he held it over.
As I reached over, my right arm began stinging and Danny's ghost sense went off. The notebook clattered onto the table as I brought my arm close and gripped it tightly. The bite mark on my arm was stinging as though there was no tomorrow and no amount of cold water would be able to dull it.
"Hey, are you alright?" Tucker looked over. "Maybe you should get that arm looked at…"
"It's…alright…it's going to…die down in a few…ow…or not…" I gripped tighter and hissed as Danny's sense went off again. The pain was unbearable and I got the horrible feeling that something was going to get worse.
I abruptly tore out the cafeteria, ignoring my name being called. I had to get to some water…
"Danny…is she…?" Sam looked over at the raven haired teen that had begun glancing around suspiciously as the colors of the room became darker like whenever a ghost appeared.
"No…it's something else…" Danny replied as the ceiling caved in and students scattered away from a gigantic Black Widow. He looked towards his friends and got prepared to duck under the table. "You guys check on Mona and get the thermos, I'll hold him off!"
No sooner had he done so, Danny Fenton had become Danny Phantom and flew at the black widow as his friends left the cafeteria.
The tap water wasn't getting rid of the sting. I was too busy clenching my teeth to stop myself from screaming in pain as pain stabbed through my arm. The bathroom door opened and I caught sight of Sam and Evelyn closing the door behind them.
"Sam…? Evelyn…?" My voice shaking from the pain as I spoke, "What are you doing here?"
"You ran out very fast. There's also a giant ghost out there and—" Sam caught sight of the bite mark on my arm. The tap water abruptly shut off and I clutched my arm, feeling the blood leaking slowly and steadily.
"You're bleeding!" Evelyn removed my hand. "Why didn't you tell us it was this bad?!"
"I…" I winced and clamped my eyelids shut as a wet paper towel was applied to it.
"There's no time, we've got to get out of—" The Goth started before I pulled myself to my feet.
"Sam, remember our conversation yesterday?" My hand gripped the towel.
"We can talk about it later!" I abruptly pulled myself back.
"I wasn't telling you the truth back then! I lied to you all! Okay?!"
"What are you talking about?" Evelyn had a confused expression on her face.
"I'm not from here!" I replied.
"Yes, you moved from—" Sam tried to get me to calm down but I had to get this out before it got worse.
"No! I'm not from here-here!!"
"Wait…what?"
"I think the Neurotoxins have gotten to her head…" Evelyn commented.
"It's not the neuro-whatevers! I know Danny's half-ghost! He became that way when he came in contact with the Fenton Portal!" I began blurting everything out, even the event where Tucker threw up in Sam's lunchbox in the fourth grade and told her it was someone else.
"Ew…" Evelyn cringed.
"How told you?" Sam's confused expression began growing as she tried to get this information to make sense. "Only Tucker, Danny, and I know about that..."
"Sam, Evelyn, this may sound completely insane but it was in an episode I watched where you fought Pointdexter! I come from another dimension, alternate universe, world, whatever applies!!" I replied as I went against a rather chilly wall. "I wished myself here after finding Desiree and now I'm being chased by Vlad Plasmius because he knows I'm from another world...and I can't leave unless I get Desiree back to the Ghost Zone and this bite mark is—"
Needless to say, cold hands reached from the wall behind me and abruptly clamped down, cutting off my means of speaking and preventing me from making a getaway. Sam and Evelyn could only gasp in horror as the ghost came through the wall slowly. I could only get a sideways view at first because I saw her lower half resembled a spider's body complete with sprawling eight legs and her top half looked humanoid but with sharp antennas pointed back and was a pitch dark color.
"Well-well, it looks like I've interrupted something important...haven't I?" The spider-ghost asked with a very sly tone as I tried to remove her grip over my mouth with a hand I freed earlier. Both the girls were staring horrorstruck as the ghost-human-spider fully came through the wall...dare I say she was 7 to 8 feet in height?! She looked down towards me with a grin that could have scared a basilisk to death (twice) before grinning up at Sam and Evelyn.
"Who are you?" Evelyn asked, getting into a stance that resembled a Soccer player getting ready to sprint.
"I am Arachnea the Queen of all Spiders. And your little friend here is going to be a special guest to my 100th death-day anniversary." She replied, still grinning. "Much like the turkey is at thanksgiving...now if you will excuse me, we shall be on our way..."
Just as Arachnea was about to pull me into the wall, there was a sudden jerk and I caught sight of the same bluenette halfa from before grappling onto one of the eight legs and preventing her from going further. Then it clicked: Evelyn was the halfa I saw in Wisconsin...
"My friend would most definitely want to RSVP..." Evelyn remarked as she gritted her teeth and pulled back before Arachnea sprayed a giant web from her open mouth (that had a lot of fangs in it), catching Sam as well, and they got trapped against a wall. "Oh-kay this is just disgusting—"
"Evelyn, Sam, no—!" I yelled, pushing a hand away and struggling.
"If you want your friend back...you're going to have to stop hanging-around first...and that mark binds her to me...so you're going to have to fight me...if you CAN." Arachnea chortled and I could only watch helplessly as the spider drew me into the wall and Evelyn tried to pry herself and Sam loose from the ectoplasm.
3rd Person POV
Evelyn gritted her teeth before blasting off the web, freeing herself and the Goth-girl, and landing on the lavatory floor.
"You're half-ghost too?" Sam asked.
"Well Sam, it looks like we all have little secrets we're keeping from each other..." Evelyn replied as she looked back to the wall. "In any case, we have to warn the others...that spider looks like she has a rather tight schedule..."
Danny found his fight against the Black Widow to be strangely easy since it took every hit he threw at it. Catching it in the thermos was another story since the spider would suddenly recover and leap away.
It was like it was distracting him...but from what?
The arachnid stilled abruptly and Danny heard the faint whisper of: "We have what we came for...finish him!"
"Uh...that's bad..." Tucker commented from his hiding place.
Just before it could leap at him, Evelyn charged straight at it with a kick that looked like it could shatter concrete. The black widow shrieked in pain and crashed onto the ground as Danny recovered from the initial shock and trapped it into the Fenton Thermos.
"Thanks,"
"No problem..." Evelyn replied resulting in confused stares from Danny and Tucker.
"Uh...who are you?" Tucker asked.
"It's me..." Evelyn rolled her currently emerald eyes. "And YES, I have ghost powers...and it's a very-very long story!"
"We don't have time! They've got her," Sam interrupted, walking towards the group.
"What?!" Danny could feel a pit form in his stomach. "Who?"
"A ghost that calls herself Arachnea. She wants Mona for some odd reason and it's linked to that bite mark!" His Goth friend replied.
"I saw her get bitten by a ghost-tarantula yesterday." The half-ghost responded, going over to some rubble and pulling out the notebook which was dropped earlier. "I was going to check but she ran out and I didn't know if her parents heard."
"They probably did. I mean, girls can scream very loud." Tucker commented, earning dark glares from Sam and Evelyn. "Well it-you have high pitched voices! It's natural for guys to yell and girls to scream!"
"I'd punch you in the arm, but that won't help anything..." Evelyn grumbled as the techno-geek flinched.
"Ah-ha...just forget about the screaming comment...please?"
"Will do..."
"That's the odd part, Tucker." Danny replied as he stood up with the notebook. "I don't think her parents were at home the whole time."
"She also started saying something about knowing you were half-ghost and alternate universes and something about Desiree and somebody named Vlad Masters." Sam added as Danny flipped to a lined page which showed a journal entry in Mona's handwriting.
"That I can explain..." The silver-haired teen replied as he looked at the anime-like drawing of himself before closing the spiral notebook. "But for now, we've got someone else to be worried about..."
1st Person POV – Mona
After what seemed like a horrible nightmare, I warily opened my eyes only to find myself in yet another. I was trapped in the middle of a giant spider-web with several of the eight-legged...ugh...spiders crawling all over the dimly lit room that appeared to have a very early 1900s era feel to it along with a stage and several old-fashioned seats. A shadow was cast over me and I looked up at Arachnea who was hanging over me, with a single thread holding her up, and had the ugly grin on her face from before as I felt a pained sting from the bite on my arm.
"N-no..." I felt shudders of fear run across my spine as the Queen of Spiders loomed in close.
"Don't worry little human." Arachnea continued smiling and I could have sworn my blood froze as she continued. "The pain will go away soon...very soon..."
To be continued...
Danny: Unnerved expression "...that is just creepy..."
Imperfection07: "And the funny thing is that I could have posted this earlier!"
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