- Ready To Rumble.
"Danny, Tucker and Sam are here."
"Thanks, Mom." Danny, on his pajamas, sat at his bed, rubbing his eyes. Maddie left his room as Sam and Tucker entered.
"Good news, man; Lancer and the other teachers got compassionate on you, and spared you from homework today." Tucker commented as getting a chair and sitting next to the bed while Sam sat aside Danny.
"That's cool; after all the tests my parents performed on me today, I'm not in the mood to do anything. I was afraid they would discover my secret by accident."
"And how are you feeling?" Sam asked. Danny uncovered his shoulder, showing a little bandage on it.
"Much better; it doesn't really hurt right now, but it seems I did well when removing the bullet before turning human." Danny commented as covering back his shoulder, "My parents analyzed the bullet, and it seems that, besides being able to hurt ghosts, its molecular composition is quite similar to a neurotoxin's one; if hitting a human, even if not touching anything vital, those bullets might kill him or her, or, in the best case, produce a coma-like state for some time."
"Ouch." Sam and Tucker chorused with their eyes wide-open.
"I thought the same; luckily, my powers healed me partially when changing back to normal, so my parents think the bullet simply scratched me, and that explains why I'm not unconscious or worse." Danny sighed; of course he had faced anti-ghost weaponry in the past, but this one made him feel particularly vulnerable.
"That's good to hear, little bro." Jazz entered the room at that moment, holding some papers. "I did some research on your ghostly thief, and think I have a few answers here."
"Like why he could escape the Thermos?" Danny gave his sister full attention.
"And why he is a police officer and a burglar at the same time?" Sam added.
"Maybe he was a corrupt cop." Tucker shrugged.
"Actually, he's not… I mean, he wasn't a real cop." Jazz explained as giving a copy of her research to each of the trio, "I found a few articles about this Captain Phantasm; his real name was Sergio Goyri, of Latin American-Rumanian heritage, and he was a major thief during the fifties and sixties. His modus operandi consisted on him disguising as a police captain to surprise his victims, who allowed him to approach and even enter their homes without suspecting a thing, and check this; his favorite weapons were Colt .45 pistols."
"Okay, that explains why he was nicknamed 'Captain', but why the 'Phantasm' part?" Tucker asked, not reading his copy since he was, as Danny, paying full attention to the red haired girl, who now was sitting at another chair.
"Well, he got caught eventually, but handled to escape shortly after… and did it more than once. He never changed his modus operandi, so the cops always managed to track him down and recapture the guy, but always escaped from any prison he was sent; he did it exactly seven times, and the only reason the man didn't do the eighth one is because he got executed by the jail's warden before fleeing again." Jazz concluded.
"That's why the Thermos couldn't contain him," Sam said in realization, "because his ghostly ability is precisely that; escaping!"
"That's going to be a major problem when facing him." Danny commented as getting a thoughtful expression, "But this doesn't explain why he only stole ancient mirrors; I mean, surely those are pretty expensive and all, but the museum has some jewelry and other artifacts."
"I've thinking about that as well," Jazz pointed, "but my research didn't reveal anything about him doing this in the past; he normally stole regular stuff, like money, jewels, and so."
"Guess I'll need to go patrol tonight." Danny sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Just remember to quit using your intangibility against him, and use the shield instead, okay?" Jazz reminded a nodding Danny the moment Jack knocked the bedroom's door.
"Danny, you got another visit."
"Cool; come in, Dad." Danny said as motioning his companions to hide the research's papers. A moment later, Jack opened the door, and allowed Valerie to pass.
"I'll be at the lab with your mother. Have fun but don't stay too long; Danny needs to rest." Jack directed to Val, Sam and Tucker, who simply nodded at him before closing the door.
"Hi, Val," Danny greeted the girl as he and Sam moved aside to allow her to sit at the bed as well.
"Hi; how are you feeling?" Valerie got a pretty concerned look; Sam noticed it, and got a slightly one as well; as much as Valerie hated Danny as a ghost, it was obvious she cared a lot about him as a human, and the Goth simply couldn't dislike anyone showing concern about Danny's welfare on any of his identities.
"Better, thanks, but I'm lucky the bullet just scratched me. According to my parents, it would be very hurtful for a ghost, but for a human is even more dangerous than a regular one." Danny commented at Valerie, who was especially attentive; as the other teens correctly guessed, this was Danny's way to prevent Valerie in case of her facing Captain Phantasm before him sending the specter back to The Ghost Zone.
"Yeah, you were lucky; ghosts can do a lot of damage." Valerie's concerned face switched momentarily to her scowling one.
"Don't need to tell us; ghost hunting family, remember? But, ironically, it was another ghost who saved him." Jazz pointed, noticing Val's scowl and deciding to make her own contribution to eliminate, or, at least, reduce the girl's hate for Phantom.
"Danny… about that… Phantom really saved you?" Valerie asked him, with a mixture of doubt and concern.
"He took a bullet for me." Danny commented without any doubt; this was easy since, technically, it was true. Sam and Tucker nodded at Valerie with their most honest faces, adding more credibility to his statement.
"Wow; that's curious, isn't it?" Valerie looked down for a moment, suddenly remembering the ghost boy seemed to be wounded when fighting the other specter. The rest of the teens exchanged a fast glance, and dropped the topic, talking about various stuff; Val visibly relaxed and joined the chatting, yet it was obvious the girl was still thinking about Danny's words.
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Much later, at night, the manager of "Ancient R Us", Amity's main antiques shop, closed the business, and started doing some paperwork before going home, not noticing the ghost phasing through his office's door.
"Working late?"
The man looked up, and gasped in fear when noticing a grinning Captain Phantasm aiming at his face with his pistol.
"W-what do you want?"
"I need certain information; basically, a list of any ancient mirror you have sold, or at this store right now. I need some specifications, like size, age, and origin. You can do that, right?" The ghost said calmly as moving closer to the sweating man.
"Y-yes, of course, sir, I can d-do it." The manager managed to reply, and, slowly, taped some commands on his computer's keyboard. After a few minutes, he printed a list and handled the papers to the ghost. Captain took the list, and checked it; after a minute or so, he got a mischievous smile.
"What a good service! Thanks a lot, kind sir; allow me to pay you." The ghost aimed at the man's right leg.
BANG!
The manager hardly reacted at the shot before falling to the floor unconscious.
"You'll not die; with some luck, you're waking up in a few days, maybe." The ghost chuckled as leaving the office, right after shooting the computer as well to cover his tracks. The specter then took out his sack, and started moving around the store, stopping next to a particular object; as the list stated, the place recently received a silver-framed mirror with dragon carvings on it.
"Ming dynasty; I'm having Chinese tonight." Phantasm grinned; the mirror was old enough and the right size. He placed it inside his sack, and phased through the ceiling.
And got a chilling surprise.
"What the…?" Captain hardly could talk before being entirely covered in thick ice, courtesy of Danny's freezing beam.
"Next time you shoot, use a silencer." Danny glared at the captured ghost; since his enemy was robbing ancient mirrors, Jazz suggested him to keep an eye on antiques shops, and Danny started with the main one, proving to be a wise move.
"Jazz? Danny here," the halfa communicated with his sister via cell phone, without losing sight of the frozen ghost, "You're right, but maybe I came too late. Call 911 and tell them to send an ambulance; apparently our thief shot someone before I could capture him." Danny got a positive answer from Jazz, and hung off; even if his enemy was some sort of Houdini, Danny was ready to blast him the moment he escaped from the ice.
"BEWARE!"
"Oh, please," Danny sighed as turning back, "look, I can't lose time with your boxes today…"
WHAM!
Danny was sent the other side of the street, and, after hitting a wall, fell over a car. At the same time, his icy prison started glowing, and, a moment later, Captain Phantasm phased through it; normally, because of ectoplam's vulnerability to extreme temperatures, a freezing one could stop most ghosts for a while unless having ice powers him/herself, but Captain's power allowed him to escape in record time.
"Either The Box Ghost had been working out, or I'm in trouble." Danny said as standing up and rubbing his chin. He then noticed Captain Phantasm hovering over him, and a large muscular ghost next to him; he was a slightly blue one with a tough expression and a thick moustache, wearing a white tight shirt, brown old pants and boots, and red gauntlets.
"Yes, you're in trouble. I asked him to cover my back in case you or that huntress appeared again; Walker had him imprisoned because of several disturbances and fights all across The Ghost Zone… and needed half of his guards to catch him." Captain Phantasm said smugly as the other ghost cracked his knuckles and glared at Danny.
"I'm The Boxing Ghost… beware." The muscular specter growled, and then charged at Danny.
"Have fun, kid." The ghostly thief smirked and then dashed away, leaving Danny with the other fugitive.
Danny jumped aside to avoid a mighty punch that cracked the sidewalk. The Boxing Ghost tried to hit him again, but Danny covered with a shield; however, despite that protection, the ghost boy was sent several feet back.
"I've heard about your fighting skills, halfa. Let's prove them!" The ghost roared as his fists glowed with red energy. Danny's shield got shattered by next punch, and hardly could avoid being hit when dropping it.
"My turn, Foreman!" Danny avoided a new hit, and replied with a hard one of his own at the ghost's face, but barely made him blink.
"Yeah! That's the spirit!" The Boxing Ghost seemed to get encouraged by Danny's counterattack because his own punches increased its speed. Danny could block a couple of them, but eventually received a hard one at his abdomen. The Boxing Ghost then hit his face, stunning Phantom, and was about to do it again when the boy handled to kick his legs, sending him over his back.
Danny shook his head to clear it as flying away from the fallen ghost, who quickly rolled over the pavement to stand up. Danny then started shooting ecto-blasts at his enemy, who got a defensive position and did his best to block them; as when he attacked Phantom, the ghost blocked several shots with his fists, but received a few hard ones at his abdomen and face, sending him back several yards.
"Nice hitting, boy; want to see mine?" The Boxing Ghost's fists glowed more intensely, and then threw several punches at Danny, forming small red energy balls flying against the boy. Danny had to stop them shooting a fast series of ghostly rays, but one ball passed over his defense and hit him, almost knocking Phantom out.
The Boxing Ghost took advantage of the boy's state, and hit the ground with both fists, sending a large energy line through it; when the line reached the exact spot under Danny's hovering body, it jumped as a massive red ball, hitting the boy and sending him down.
"Talking about a low blow…" Danny rubbed his head and closed his eyes as The Boxing Ghost slowly approached him, a large grin on his face.
"You gave me a good sparring, boy; too bad you only lasted one round." The large specter raised his fists, ready to smash Danny with a double punch.
"I hadn't heard the bell." Danny looked up at the ghost the moment he sent his fists against him. Danny reacted by grabbing his wrists, stopping the attack.
"Ha! Impressive, but your strength is no match for mine!"
Danny gritted his teeth at the effort as his enemy increased the pressure over him to overwhelm the boy, but the halfa resisted enough to focus his icy powers on his grip. A few moments later, Danny released his prey, and The Boxing Ghost's arms were covered in thick ice.
"This will not stop me!" The Boxing Ghost roared, and then hit his arms together to smash the ice, but used more strength than needed.
"AARGH!" The large specter shook his arms in pain while Danny focused his whole power on a massive blast.
"Thanks for doing that; it makes easier for me to do this!"
MEGABLAST!
The Boxing Ghost received the full impact, and got knocked out. Danny sighed in relief, and then grabbed his Thermos (that he carried strapped to his back), aiming it at the unconscious ghost.
"Back to the gym with you, Balboa," The boy grinned as sucking the ghost inside the Thermos. His good mood dissipated immediately when remembering Captain Phantasm had handled to escape again.
Danny turned invisible and intangible to get inside the antiques shop; he then found the unconscious manager, and ran at his side to check him up, still invisible to avoid any misunderstanding in case the paramedics Jazz called or Valerie suddenly appeared at the scene. The man was out cold, and didn't react when Danny touched and then slapped him softly; he was in a coma.
Danny got a sad look, and then an angry one when looking at the man's wounded leg. He stayed with him until hearing the approaching ambulance's siren, and then left, phasing through the ground.
At a distance, Captain Phantasm looked at the ambulance as well. He was far enough to avoid being spotted, but decided to turn invisible, just in case. He saw the whole fight between the halfa and The Boxing Ghost, and was impressed, to say the least; the boy handled to defeat one of the strongest and toughest specters ever.
"Not good… not good, definitely," the ghost said to himself, "if this boy keeps getting better, he might actually find a way to capture me… or worse, eliminate me if losing his patience. Well, at least I still have allies to cover me."
The ghost grinned, and phased through the street's pavement. He started flying through the sewers, and stopped when hearing munching sounds; he then phased through the closest wall, spotting a large creature hidden at the shadows, eating what seemed to be a huge rat.
"Don't eat that much, my friend; I'll need your help tomorrow, and you don't want to ruin your appetite, right?"
The Captain Phantasm got a simple yet scary shriek in response.