Danny and the others reach Glitzville on their search for the Crystal Stars.
OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO
Of Ghosts and Glory
Danny looked out the window of the blimp to see Glitzville. It looked like a huge colorful party with all of the balloons floating from it.
"Isn't it amazing?" said Goombella.
"Well, it's defiantly nicer than the other places we've been," said Danny.
"The blimp will be stopping soon, please gather into the elevator," said the captain over the loudspeaker.
"Mama-mia!"
"It's tight in here!"
"Well, now we have proof the star is here."
"Could they have made it any smaller?"
"Hey, we're moving!"
Though the blimps elevator was too crowded, they managed to safely land in Glitzville, where they immediately fell as soon as the doors opened.
It was a nice place, there was apparently a band of some kind playing.
"Wait, I recognize that tune," said Danny.
"Oh Ember! So warm and tender! You will remember my name!"
"Glitzville! Tell me who you love!" shouted Ember from on top of the juice bar.
"Ember McLean! Ember McLean!" shouted the crowd made up of Toads, Toadettes, Lakitus(Koopas with glasses in clouds), and Rexes(bipedal triceratopses).
The chanting caused Ember's hair to flare up. A single flame flew away from Ember. It managed to hit a cart full of cabbages in front of the juice bar.
"My cabbages!" shouted Kabbage Koopa.
"Trying to take over Glitzville and destroying a poor Koopa's cabbages," thought Danny, "Ember's gone too far this time."
"Guys, we have to stop her!" said Danny.
"Why, she isn't doing anything bad," said Goombella.
"Not yet, but you'll think differently when all of Glitzville is under her control," said Danny.
"Danny seems to know a lot about her, we should listen," said Koops.
"Right, what's the plan?" asked Mario.
"First, I'll get her off the roof, then we can all battle her in the street," said Danny.
"How will you get up to her Daniel?" asked Vlad.
"That switch seems suspicious," said Mario. He ran over to a large blue switch, he used some boxes to get on top and ground pounded it, and activated it. This caused the juice bar sign to unfold into stairs leading to the roof.
Danny quickly ran into action and ran to the roof where he hit Ember with an icy blast.
"What the!" said Ember, she turned around and saw Danny, "Oh, it's you. What do you want dipstick?"
"I want you to leave Glitzville alone," said Danny.
"Afraid I can't," said Ember, "I'm planning on ruling once I get Grubba's trust."
"Who's Grubba?" asked Danny.
"Wouldn't you like to know," said Ember, "So, are you going to stop me? Alone and without your powers? Fat chance." Ember blasted Danny with a power chord, knocking him into a sign with a picture of a large yellow bird.
"Who says I'm alone?" said Danny, "Come out guys!" Vlad, Mario, Goombella, Koops, and Flurrie all ran to where Danny was.
"A couple of old geezers and some freaks? I'm incredibly scared," said Ember.
"You should be," said Vlad. He got angry and shot a fire blast at Ember, healing the damage Danny did.
"Vlad! Fire attacks heal fire enemies!" said Goombella.
"I'll just sit this one out then," said Vlad as he backed away, shamed.
Danny quickly hit Ember with another ice blast. Mario hit her with his hammer and Koops used his shell. Flurrie used her gust to blow out Ember's hair and Goombella used her headbonk.
Ember, retorted with a sonic blast that Team Mario dodged. Kabbage Koopa had finally put out his cart and saved the cabbages. The sonic blast was absorbed into the cart, making it fall apart. "My cabbages!" shouted Kabbage Koopa.
"What does Ember have against that man?" wondered Danny, he didn't notice another sonic blast hit him. He fell down, but quickly got back up and fired another ice blast.
Another round of attacks was commenced and Ember was finally down. Danny quickly sucked her up in the thermos.
"Well, Glitzville's safe from Ember's evil music now," said Danny. Now all there is now is to find the Crystal Star. He turned to the door the Glitz Pit and saw a Toad woman quickly disappear.
"Come on Daniel, let's go see what we can find out in there," said Vlad.
"Coming!" said Danny who forgot about the Toadette he saw. The gang walked into the Glitz Pit.
"Now what?" asked a Toad.
"How about you all buy some cabbages," suggested Kabbage Koopa, who had fixed his cart again.
"We'd rather have hot dogs," said a Lakitu as the large group went to Hoggle the pig's hot dog stand.
Inside the Glitz Pit, Danny and the others decided to watch a match to find clues about the star. The arena had a large stage where the fighters fought with a large screen to provide close ups behind it. Spectators could stand in front of the stage or in the larger balcony.
Up on stage the large yellow bird from the sign drop kicked a young white ponytail haired, green eyed girl who wore a black and white two piece jumpsuit with Danny's emblem on it. When she hit the ground two rings of light separated from her waist, changing he hair to black and her eyes to blue she now wore a blue hooded sweatshirt, red shorts, and a red hat. The surprising thing was that she started melting into green goop.
"Dani!" shouted Danny, he was about to run up on stage, but Dani glowed gold and stopped melting.
"Winner and still champion, Rawk Hawk!" shouted a large blue lizard, wearing a black hat, green shirt, black vest, and red bowtie. He presented the yellow bird, Rawk Hawk, with a belt that had the Crystal Star on it.
"Guys look at that belt, it has a Crystal Star on it!" said Goombella.
"This causes a problem," said Flurrie.
"Let's not talk about it here," said Vlad.
They went into the lobby to discuss how to get the Crystal star. The lobby was luxurious. It had a large crystal chandelier, red carpets, and stairs that led to the arena balcony.
"Well we can't just steal it," said Danny.
"Looks like we have to fight," said Mario.
"And here I thought this star would be easy to get," said Vlad.
"How do we get entered in this place?" asked Koops.
"I guess we just ask," said Danny.
"Who?" asked Mario.
"I don't know," said Danny.
"And we run into another problem," said Vlad, "Let's just grab it and go."
"Did I mention how we can't just steal it!" shouted Danny.
"The whole honest way doesn't seem to be making any progress!" shouted Vlad.
While Danny and Vlad were arguing, Dani came out of the lower left door to the lobby.
"If I can't beat that oversized chicken, I'll never get enough money for a ticket on the blimp, and I'll never be able to search for Danny," said Dani. She started thinking of ways to win, but couldn't due to the loudness. "What is wrong with those people over there. They're… they're," she looked at them, "Danny! Vlad!" She quickly ran over to them.
"I never thought I'd see you again!" said Dani. Danny and Vlad didn't notice her and Vlad knocked her across the room when he threw his hands up in the air. This angered Dani and she transformed and shot an ecto blast at Vlad.
"Who did that?" yelled Vlad.
"Me," said Dani.
Vlad pointed his fire wand at her, but lowed it when he noticed who it was.
"Dani!" shouted Danny, "Are you ok?"
"Sure, I just got hit by a chicken nugget and a fruit loop. Nothing a Phantom can't take," said Dani.
"Why did your breakfast and lunch attack you?" asked Koops.
"I mean Rawk Hawk and Vlad," said Dani.
"Dani, what are you doing here?" asked Danny, "And how can you go into ghost form?"
"I signed up as a fighter so I could get money for a blimp ticket. And this ring Grubba gave me keeps me in ghost mode," said Dani. She held up her right hand and showed Danny a silver ring with a gold, pyramid-shaped gem on it.
"Well, it's good that you're safe, let me show you who I've met," said Danny, he showed Dani the others and said, "Mario, Goombella, Koops, and Flurrie."
"Hey," said Mario.
"Hey there," said Goombella.
"Hi…" said Koops.
"Hello," said Flurrie.
"Hi!" said Dani.
"Good, we're all acquainted, now on to our problem," said Vlad.
"What problem?" asked Dani.
"We're trying to find out how to sign up for the fights," said Mario.
"Why?" asked Dani.
"Maybe I should explain everything," said Danny. He explained all that happened to them to Dani and why they wanted to sign up.
"Oh, I see," said Dani, "Well I can help you get in."
"How?" asked Koops.
"We just have to see Grubba, let's go," said Dani. She led them into the back halls of the Glitz Pit and entered a door labeled "Grubba's Office."
"Huh? Who's there?" asked the large blue lizard, sitting at the desk.
"It's me," said Dani.
"Ah, Inviso-Jill. What's on your mind?" asked Grubba.
"My friends here want to be fighters," said Dani, motioning to the others.
"Great! Some new faces wishing to fight," said Grubba, "Wait…"
"What's wrong?" asked Danny.
"Your group has six people on it, talk about cheap. The limit is four people, you'd have to split into two groups," said Grubba.
So they split up. One group was Mario, Goombella, Koops, and Flurrie. The other was Danny and Vlad.
"A little uneven, but I'll take it," said Grubba.
"Sir, I want to join Danny and Vlad's group," said Dani, pointing to them.
"Whoa! Really Inviso-Jill? You do know that will knock you to the bottom?" asked Grubba.
"I know, but I can't leave them so outmatched," said Dani.
"Heh, that's the sort of caring spirit I like to see in a fighter. Always there for your partners!" said Grubba, "Well, Danny, was it, and mustache. All you need to do is to sign a contract. Here." Grubba held out two contracts which Danny and Mario signed.
"Danny and Mario, now those are nice names, but they don't sound good in a fight," said Grubba, "I'll give you some new fighter handles."
Grubba pointed at Danny and said, "You look kinda like Inviso-Jill, so you'll be Inviso-Bill!" Danny groaned silently at the name.
Grubba pointed at Mario and said, "You will be known as the Great Gonzales! Woo nelly, a name like that doesn't come up too often." Mario looked slightly confused at the name.
"I have some time, so why don't I show you around," said Grubba. He led the group out into the hall and went to the other door on his wall. "This is the champ's room. I'm certain he isn't there," said Grubba. He was soon proven wrong as a small barbell flew over his head.
"Can't a champ weight train in peace?" shouted Rawk Hawk, shooing them away.
"Uh, on to the next stop," said Grubba. He led them to the first door from his office in the hall they walked down to meet him. The room was a clean locker room. "What do you think? Pretty clean, huh. I may sound old-fashioned, but I care about my fighters."
They returned to Grubba's office where he explained something to them, "Now we've never had two teams join at once so you'll have to fight each other to decide your places in the roster."
"Mr. Grubba," said a toad woman in a read suit and glasses. She had a white, pink spotted cap and blond hair hanging in her face.
"Perfect timing Jolene, I've talked too much, so why don't you explain the fight rules to these new fighters," said Grubba.
"Yes sir," said Jolene, "Well, to register for a fight you must use the terminal in your locker room. Once you do that Mr. Grubba will explain a certain requirement for your fight. You must obey Mr. Grubba's requirements. If you don't, you lose. If you lose you will be sent down a ranking. But if you do everything right and win, you'll go up a ranking and win a monetary prize."
"Well that about covers everything. You guys should head to the arena," said Grubba, "Bill, you should appeal to the crowd. Gonzales, you should do a special attack."
They had to enter two separate doors to get to the arena. Team Gonzales took the blue door and Team Inviso-Bill took the red door.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" shouted Grubba into the mic, "Today we have two new teams joining the fight for the top! This match will decide their ranking! Let me introduce, Team Inviso-Bill!" Danny and the others walked up to the stage. "And Team Gonzales!" Mario and the others walked up on the other side of the stage. "Let's battle!"
Mario quickly started off jumping on Danny. Vlad knocked Koops on his back with a fire blast.
"We can't use Earth Tremor with Koops on his back, and a Sweet Treat isn't that great so…" thought Mario as he pulled out the Emerald Star and used it.
A large red bomb with a green star on it appeared in Mario, Goombella, and Flurrie's hands.
"This is heavy," said Goombella.
"We have to through it!" said Mario.
They used all of their strength to toss the bomb and Team Inviso-Bill.
"Oh man!" said Danny before the bomb exploded and froze them in time. This gave Team Gonzales the perfect opportunity to get in free hits, severely weakening Danny and the others.
When they got out of the freeze, Danny quickly ate a mushroom and gave some to Vlad and Dani, which helped a little.
"Dani, use the wail!" shouted Danny.
"What?" asked Dani.
"The ghostly wail," said Danny.
"Daniel, are you mad? It's dangerous for her," said Vlad.
"I don't know, that ring protects her from melting. She'll just have to stand back until she can go ghost again. But it will be strong enough to knock Mario's team down a little," said Danny.
"I'll do it," said Dani. She took in a deep breath and started screaming at Mario and the others.
"For my clone, she doesn't have all of my powers," said Danny.
"Sorry…" said Dani.
"Hey, it's ok," said Danny, comforting her.
"Aww…" said the crowd, "That really appeals to us."
"Daniel, we've appealed to the all women crowd!" said Vlad.
"Well good, now let's beat Mario!" said Danny.
"Woo! That appeals to us!" said the crowd.
"Apparently there are some men here too," said Vlad.
Vlad was hit with a soda can, knocking him out. "Stereotype supporting jerk!" shouted the thrower.
"Let's go Dani!" said Danny.
They fired ecto and ice blasts at Team Gonzales and managed to knock out Koops and Goombella.
Flurrie pounded down on Danny and knocked him out.
"Danny!" shouted Dani. She looked angrily at Flurrie and shouted out a ghostly wail. This knocked out Flurrie and turned Dani back to human. Now she was defenseless against Mario.
Mario came running at her, but she quickly used a Boo's sheet to turn herself intangible and invisible.
"I'm going to lose unless I can fight, and this sheet won't last forever," thought Dani.
She was scared since the sheet was almost out of power. But she felt something in her right hand. It was a yellow wand with a yellow lightning bolt on top.
"Huh?" thought Dani, "What is this?"
She didn't have time to find out since the sheet had run out and Mario was coming at her with his hammer. She dodged and realized, "This is just like Danny's wand. I wonder…"
"Lightning!" shouted Dani. A lightning bolt shot out of her wand and hit Mario dead on. The shock caused him to become unconscious.
"The winner is Team Inviso-Bill!" shouted Grubba. Some nurse toads came out and used life shrooms on Danny, Vlad, Mario, Goombella, Koops, and Flurrie.
"Danny! We won!" said Dani.
"Alright Dani!" said Danny.
"Hey Inviso-Bill, how does it feel it win your first Glitz Pit battle?" asked Grubba.
"It feels awesome! Ma- I mean Gonzales' team put up a great fight, we would have lost if it wasn't for Dani," said Danny.
"Now that's what I like to hear! Well until next time people!" said Grubba. Both teams left for the minor league locker room.
This locker room was just like the major league, only less inviting.
"Pretty dirty, don't you think," said Grubba, "But that's all the more reason to fight your way to the top. Good bye." Grubba left and Jolene said, "Here is your money, I must be going now, good bye." She left after giving them their money.
Vlad looked at the consul and said, "It looks like we're in rank twenty, and Mario's team is in rank twenty one."
"Hey if it isn't the newest fighters," said a yellow shelled koopa with sunglasses, "Welcome to the Minor Leagues. I'm King K."
"Inviso-Bill," said Danny bitterly.
"I'm Vlad," said Vlad.
"It's me, Inviso-Jill," said Dani.
"The Great Gonzales," said Mario, still confused.
"My name's Goombella," said Goombella.
"Koops…" said Koops.
"I am Madame Flurrie," said Flurrie.
"Inviso-Bill? Inviso-Jill?" questioned King K, "Do you two know each other?"
"We're cousins," said Danny and Dani. "Clone," coughed Vlad.
"Have a cold Vlad? Anyway, I see the family resemblance," said King K, "But let me introduce you to the gang."
He pointed to a black Bob-omb and said, "That's my homey Master Crash. He has some kind of speech thing." "What BOMB thing?" asked Master Crash.
King K pointed to a green rock with horns and purple feet and said, "That guy there's Cleftor." "Cleftor no waste time with newbies," said Cleftor.
"Whoa, cold," said King K, he pointed at a tall creature who wore a green cloak and a white emotional mask, "That dude's Bandy Andy." "It's nice to meet you, now I must be going," said Bandy Andy as he left.
"That guy's always leaving to do something," said King K, "Anyway, I-Man. I'm sure you'll like this place."
A locker suddenly opened and a pile of dirty socks fell on Goombella. "Ew!" shouted Goombella, running out of the pile.
"So that's where we BOMB put them," said Master Crash.
"How we get all them in there?" asked Cleftor.
"I BOMB don't remember," said Master Crash.
"You'll probably get used to stuff like that," said King K.
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Because of the length, I've decided to separate Of Ghosts and Glory into several chapters. And I'll give you three guesses as to how Dani got the lightning wand. Here's a clue, starts with a W and ends with and A.
Please read and review.