- Breaking Mirrors.
"No answer yet?" Star, sitting on Captain to keep him on place, asked Danny.
"I get some weird noises, and I'm almost sure they're the voices of my friends and sister, but can't understand what they're saying." Danny replied, sighing. Everyone around him shook his/her head in disappointment, except Dash, who was eying the treasure.
"Well, if we're stuck here, at least we are rich." The blonde commented as getting a greedy look.
"Dash, as long as we are trapped, whatever currency you might posses lose its monetary value since lacking a place to provide us with products or services on exchange of it." Kwan said him as rolling his eyes.
"Uh?" Dash got a confused look.
"He said that money is useless when you don't have a place to buy anything." Danny explained, and, at that moment, his expression brightened. "Guys, I'm getting something! Is Tucker… he says we are getting rescued as soon as they prepare something to help us."
"Tell that fool to hurry up! I can't stand looking like this… and you stop playing with my dress!" Paulina snapped at the kid yanking the back of her skirt.
A few moments later, a large bright circle appeared over the captives, who got eager looks, hoping to be rescued. However, instead of Tucker or any other person, two large creatures entered from the circle, that disappeared immediately after; the animals were dark colored, with huge sharp teeth, long ears, and the size of grizzly bears.
"Are those… rabbits?" A kid asked, puzzled and scared, a moment before the animals roared and charged against the humans. Danny jumped in front of the beasts, hoping his strength would be enough to contain them.
"Giant carnivore rabbits! Everybody run for cover!"
Danny received the full impact from one rabbit's charge while the other attacked the people behind him. Danny placed his hands on the rabbit's cheeks, keeping its long teeth away from his neck, pushing as hard as he could; then, when the animal's jaws were far enough, Danny drew back a fist and punched it full strength, stunning the creature. The boy took advantage of the situation, and kicked the rabbit's side, sending him a few feet away; the animal roared in pain, and attacked back. This time, Danny hardly could avoid the rabbit's bite, and, when the creature tried hitting him with its front paws, the boy jumped over him, starting a rodeo-like struggle, with the rabbit trying to take Danny down from its back while he held himself on place by grabbing its ears.
On the meantime, everyone else was running on several directions, which confused the other rabbit, that couldn't decide on a target, until spotting Captain Phantasm, who was slowly regaining his conscience. The animal charged against him, its roar making the former ghost to react and search for his gun.
"My pistol! Where is it?" Phantasm said in fear and surprise when noticing he was unarmed. The man rolled on the floor to escape a bite, and stood up, ready to run for coverage; unfortunately for him, the rabbit was faster, and turned to hit him with its left paw, hurting Phantasm badly.
"Cool! The rabbit is going to eat him!" Dash said in happiness, hiding behind a pile of coins. Kwan, next to him, had a different opinion.
"As much as I dislike that person, a perfectly logical feeling since he is partially responsible of our current situation, it's ethically and humanly incorrect to find joy in a living creature's suffering, and surely there are legal procedures that can ensure a more proper and civilized punishment, so I insist on us assisting on his despair's moments."
"Uh?" Everybody around Kwan gave him a puzzled look, making him to sigh in annoyance.
"And to think my intellectual capacity is normally smaller than yours," Kwan groaned as taking a jewel next to him, about the size of a tennis ball, and aiming at the rabbit with it, "I meant, we can't let that animal eat him!"
Kwan hit the rabbit's head with the jewel, stopping him by the moment. Star thought for a moment, and then, agreeing with Kwan, took a jewel as well and threw it against the animal; despite having a terrible aim, the girl could hit the rabbit's back, and, with her newly developed strength, it was a good impact. The rest of the people mimicked the Asian and the blonde, and soon all of them were throwing coins and jewels against the rabbit, distracting it, giving Phantasm the chance to crawl away from it.
The rabbit shook its head to get rid of a few coins stuck on its fur, and, growling, prepared to pounce against its attackers. However, at that moment, the other rabbit, with Danny still riding it, headed against its companion at top speed; the animal was so focused on getting rid of its rider, ignored everything around, so didn't notice the other rabbit until was right in front of its nose.
WHAM!
The rabbits clashed as Danny jumped down and rolled away, landing on a bunch of coins. The boy stood up and charged against the stunned animals, and, when at a proper distance, jumped against them, hitting both creatures with a double kick. The rabbits were sent several feet back, landing next to a huge pile of jewelry; the impact made it to fall right over the animals, completely covering and knocking them unconscious.
"You know, if that loser was just a little bit like that when out of this dimension, I would date him in a snap." Paulina, impressed, said to Star, who was staring at Danny just like everyone else.
"Too bad Valerie isn't here; she would love to see him like this." Star said to herself, and then rubbed her chin, "Of course, if Val was here, maybe she would be reduced to a cry baby or something, so it's better she isn't."
"Are you guys okay?" Danny, panting, addressed the rest of the people, who simply nodded in reply. At a distance, Phantasm was rubbing his back in pain, and giving Danny a nervous look.
"And you are fine as well?" Danny turned at Phantasm, who groaned softly and nodded, "Good; now, stay close to the group because I'm not losing sight of you."
At that moment, a little portal appeared just a few feet ahead Danny, and, a few seconds later, it glowed with a slight green tone, as a melody, that was some sort of rock n' roll tune played softly, was easily heard.
"A very interesting phenomenon, I must say." Kwan said as he and the others slowly approached the portal, "Since no vicious creature or helpless victim had appeared from it, guess it's sure to assume this is the assistance we had been waiting for."
"Yes, it is." Danny said to the jock, looking at the portal and getting a slight smile, "Okay, everyone, jump at that portal; I'm doing it the last to keep an eye on both the rabbits and our flesh-and-bone ghost."
Paulina and Dash were the first ones to jump at the portal, followed by the kids, Paulina, and Kwan; Danny then grabbed Phantasm by the collar, surprising him.
"Sorry, but I can't risk you escaping the moment you have your powers back, so…"
PUNCH!
Danny tossed the unconscious Phantasm inside the portal, and then ran next to the rabbits.
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"Oh, yeah!" Dash smiled when looking at himself after getting out from the portal (located at the street and right behind the Fenton RV), and ignoring Sam, Tucker, and Jazz next to him. "My muscles are back!"
"And my flawless skin too!" Paulina exclaimed the moment she jumped out of the portal.
"We couldn't leave them inside there?" Sam rolled her eyes at Tucker, who simply shrugged. The rest of the people emerged a few moments later.
"Wow! That was really cool!" Kwan grinned, but his expression changed to a slightly pained one a moment later as he grabbed the sides of his head. "Boy, my head feels dizzy."
"Well, I'm glad we're out of there; that body wasn't exactly fitting on the cheerleading squad… but I guess could have started a wrestling team." Star added as checking her body that was back to normal as well.
"What's taking that young man from going out?" One of the guests, now back to a formal adult, asked to nobody in particular while looking at the portal. At that moment, an unconscious Phantasm, back on his ghostly form, emerged from the portal and landed face first.
"The ghost! Run for your lives!" Dash screamed in fear, making everyone but Kwan (who was still dizzy), Star (helping Kwan to keep balance), and Team Phantom to scram. Phantasm, groaning, raised his head as slowly regaining conscience.
"Jazz, do it now!" Sam said, and, a moment later, Jazz activated the Ghost Peeler; in a matter of seconds, the girl got covered by massive body armor, with two large cannons on her arms.
SHOOOM!
YEEEAAAAGH!
Jazz shot Phantasm with the Peeler's beam, making the weapon to do what its name indicated; literally, the ectoplasm on the ghost's body fell down one layer at a time, and, when finished, Phantasm was just a shadow of his former self. Instead of the strongly built specter in uniform he usually was, the beam turned him into a skeletal one, covered on shredded clothes, and barely able to move or talk.
"Let's see if you're strong enough to escape now." Tucker aimed at Phantasm with a Thermos, sucking him in; with some luck, the ghost would lack the energy he needed to use his power, therefore the trap would contain him.
"You guys do this frequently?" Star, stunned at the scene, finally got her voice back.
"You have no idea." Danny said, right behind Star and the jock, holding two little white rabbits, and the small portal now gone. Danny emerged from the portal a few moments after Phantasm, back in his Phantom form (since it was the way he entered the mirror dimension), and used the momentarily distraction caused by Captain's capture to turn back to human; even Kwan's now normally low intellect would question Phantom emerging instead of Fenton.
"Those are the…" Star pointed at the bunnies, getting a nodding response from Danny. "Well, look at that; they aren't so scary now… can I keep them?"
"If you do, just remember you owe the Pets Shop ten bucks." Sam stated, and then pointed over her shoulder while looking at Kwan and Star, "The mirrors' lady is fighting, well, everyone, just a few blocks ahead, so you'll better leave this place."
The popular teens nodded, and then grabbed the bunnies after heading the other direction as fast as they could; Star stopped a few feet away, and turned at Danny for a moment.
"Thanks for protecting us back there, Fenton; even if you're not that strong here, now I can understand why Val likes you." Star gave Danny a little smile that he replied with one of his own right before she and Kwan left for good.
"The popular crew thanking you… you really did something good in that dimension, uh?" Sam gave Danny a knowing look.
"Not nearly as good as you guys did here." Danny said, and then looked around, "And the same goes for you two; come on, you can turn visible now!"
At that moment, two ghosts appeared next to Danny; his werewolf friend, Wulf, and Danny's former foe currently dating Wulf, Ember.
"Why, thank you for remembering us, dipstick." Ember said with her usual sarcasm, while Wulf high-fived Danny.
"I didn't know you could go to that dimension, Wulf."
"Neither. I. First. Time. Ever." Wulf replied in his short yet clear English.
"And you can thank your friend here for thinking about it." Ember pointed at Sam, "Good thing for you that the whistle can be used by humans as well."
Ember, of course, referred to the special whistle she gave Danny some weeks ago. The little thing allowed Danny to call Wulf whenever he wanted, and, thanks to the lycanthropic ghost's portal-creating abilities, he could materialize one to join his friend wherever he was.
"And good thing your music could keep the portal open so everyone could escape." Tucker pointed; because of the mirror dimension's properties, Wulf would lose his powers if entering it to rescue Danny and the others, leaving him trapped as well, so Ember had to use a special tune to keep the portal active after Wulf created it. They also had to turn invisibles the moment Dash emerged to avoid scaring him and the rest of the rescued humans.
"Well, back to main problem… what the Empress had been doing?" Danny asked which made everyone to get concerned expressions.
"Basically, she is having fun giving everyone a really bad time." Jazz said as deactivating the Peeler to get rid of the body armor. "No matter what our parents or the police do, she has a counterattack for everything. Valerie tried to contain her as well, but this ghost is just too strong."
"What about the Ghost Peeler? We hadn't used that one yet." Tucker proposed.
"You mean a weapon that might backfire and peel your body as a fleshy banana?" Sam arched an eyebrow at her friend, making him to gulp in fear.
"Wulf, you were Walker's prisoner for a long time. No idea about how to stop her?" Danny asked his friend, who sighed sadly.
"Sorry. Only. Spoke. Esperanto. At. That. Time. Never. Talked. To. Her. Only. Know. She. Dislikes. Banshees."
"Wait a moment… banshees? She said something about that after I attacked her with my Ghostly Wail; that it was nothing compared to a banshee army."
"That's it!" Jazz exclaimed, "A banshee is a female specter that communicates through yelling and wailing; what if that's the way Empress got defeated first time, with the help of a large amount of banshee ghosts?"
"And my wail, even if couldn't stop her, hurt her and couldn't counterattack…" Realization hit Danny and everyone else. "Then, the only weapon that serves against the Empress is…"
"SOUND!" Everyone chorused and turned to see Ember, who got a slight grin a moment later.
"Is anyone on the mood for a good concert?"
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Valerie fell on her back, stunned and bruised, and doing a massive effort to keep conscience, knowing that, if losing it, her suit would disappear, leaving the girl even more vulnerable. One of her copies, also bruised but grinning wide and evilly, stood in front of her; the tag-team strategy worked fine against the huntress, so, even if she succeeded in hurting the mirror clones, she got injured the most while her enemies were still at fighting conditions.
"Very nice, my dear girl; too bad show has to end." Empress, hovering over Val, smirked at her, and then made a signal to the copies, commanding them to finish the girl. The copy in front of her took out a gun, aiming at Valerie's head.
WHACK!
"What the…" Empress got a surprised look as the copy disappeared, destroyed by a powerful hit courtesy of the Fenton Battle Stick (that had anti-ghost energy on its extremes), currently carried by a blue-outfitted woman wearing red goggles.
"Get her!" Empress commanded the other 2 clones while Maddie stood protectively next to Valerie.
"BANZAI!"
The copies turned when hearing Jack Fenton, charging from behind with the Jack-O-Nine Tails, his anti-ghost whip. One clone jumped aside on time to avoid the attack, but the other wasn't fast enough, and got trapped by the weapon; a few seconds later, the whip's tails crushed the copy, and released an energy shock that destroyed it definitely.
"Jack, look out!" Maddie warned her husband about the other clone that attacked a split second after the other copy disappeared. Jack moved back to avoid a karate chop and drew back his hand to use the whip again, but the clone was faster and gave the man a sharp kick on his knee before he could use the weapon. Jack kneeled in pain, giving the clone the chance she needed to kick away the whip, and punch the man's chin.
Jack got stunned by the attack that was thankfully cut by Maddie's intervention, forcing the clone back. The copy avoided a couple of well-directed attacks with the stick and then kicked it away from Maddie's hands, as she did with the whip; the clone then threw a punch against the woman who, surprisingly for the copy, caught it and replied with a good punch of her own. If there was a person at Amity who could match Valerie's fighting skills, and therefore, her clones', was Madeleine Fenton.
The copy rolled at the ground and stood up, adopting a fighting stance; Maddie did the same, and both rivals circled each other. Maddie threw a fast series of kicks that the clone handled to block or dodge, and then replied with one of her own, that was equally blocked. Then, both females got a furious exchange of punches and karate chops, none of them connecting at all because of the fighters' defense abilities. Maddie realized her opponent's technique was as good as hers, plus being slightly faster, but the woman, being taller, knew her reach was better, so decided to use this on her advantage, keeping the copy at a distance with long-range attacks.
Maddie blocked a kick and then faked a punch against her enemy, who quickly moved her arm in a defensive position, not noticing the woman's foot heading against her belly, kicking the copy several feet away. The clone groaned in annoyance when standing up, and took out an anti-ghost gun; Maddie took out one of her own, so now the enemies were aiming at each other, waiting for the rival to do the first move.
BLAST!
The copy got disintegrated, and Maddie turned to see Valerie, still on a shooting position, standing with Jack's help.
"Nice fighting, Mrs. Fenton… kung fu?"
"Yes, sweetie… karate?" Maddie replied as both huntresses gave each other a little smile.
"I just hope that doesn't count as suicide." Valerie said a moment later as she lowered her head, pretending to be checking her bruises yet actually doing it to avoid being recognized by Danny's parents.
The three hunters looked over them when hearing a soft clapping sound coming from Empress' hands.
"How amusing, really. I have to say, you had given me a wonderful show I'll always remember; maybe I should conserve the three of you for entertainment… and actually, that's what I'll do." Empress said in a quiet tone as getting her evil smirk; one of her mirrors started glowing, and moved in front of her, aiming at the hunters, the three of them too injured and tired to escape.
BLAST!
The sucking beam was cut by a powerful ghost ray that got reflected yet avoided. The Empress looked up, and gasped in surprise when spotting Danny hovering over her.
"You do all this just for fun? Two words, lady; cable T.V."
"You… escaped… but that's impossible!"
"'Impossible' is my nickname," Danny smirked, and then got a casual smile, "actually, I have lots of nicknames… 'Whelp', 'Dipstick', 'Invisobill', 'Ghost Boy', and so, but you get the idea."
Danny kept his mocking grin yet discreetly gave a look at Valerie and his parents, glad that they were using the distraction to escape; sure, Jack had to practically drag Valerie away, since the girl, despite her injuries, still wanted to fight, but at least they now were out of the fire line.
"Are you mocking me; the great Mirror Empress, the rightful future ruler of all ghosts?" The woman glared furiously at Danny, her eyes glowing in rage.
"You should put that on a personal card," Danny replied, "I mean, you talk so much the Box Ghost seems a mime when compared. Maybe you should introduce yourself just like him," Danny made a goofy face and then a bad yet funny impersonation, "Beware! For so I'm The Mirror Empress, the mistress of all things shiny and reflecting; fear my vanity-driven rage and my awful make-up!"
"INSOLENT KID!" The woman roared as her mirrors glowed on dark red and blue tones, and started shooting several powerful beams against Danny, who dashed away to avoid them. The Empress, furious, chased him, with Danny phasing through parked cars, walls, and mailboxes that got the shots instead of him.
"That's it, lady, keep shooting at the ghost boy, and don't think about anything else." Danny said to himself as dodging the multiple attacks while increasing his speed; he wanted the woman to be blinded by rage so couldn't notice or suspect about the trap he was attracting her into.
Danny stopped flying when reaching his destination in the middle of a street with a few tall buildings. The boy landed and got a defiant look as the woman stopped several feet above him.
"This will be your end, boy!" The Empress growled as preparing a massive beam. "There's no way you can escape this one, even if turning intangible!"
"And what if I simply leave?" Danny said, and, in a perfect cue, one of Wulf's self-made portals appeared behind him, and the boy jumped inside. Before the female ghost could react, a powerful sound wave hit her from everywhere.
UUNNNGH!
"GOOD NIGHT, AMITY PARK!" Ember, standing on top of the tallest building, yelled at the microphone in front of her while playing loudly her guitar.
The Empress covered her ears while her mirrors did their best to protect her; the woman gave a look around, finally realizing the ghost boy had guided her to a set-up. Wulf and Danny had transported a lot of sound equipment both from Ember's lair and Fenton Works (thanks to the lycanthrope's teleporting skills, they could do it pretty fast), and the rocker ghost, aided by Tucker, Sam, and Jazz, installed it at the rooftops so she could send her voice and tunes to them and then against the Empress, who was right in the middle of the improvised trap, and receiving Ember's magnified power from different angles, mimicking the attack of several banshees.
"HOW DARE YOU, STUPID GIRL?" Empress snapped at Ember, doing her best to be heard over the deafening music.
"THERE ARE VERY FEW THINGS I WOULDN'T DARE, GRANDMA. AND DON'T 'GIRL' ME; I'M EMBER… AND YOU'LL REMEMBER MY NAME!" Ember replied as increasing her voice's volume and singing the last part, and, a moment later, Danny and Wulf emerged from a new portal aside her.
"AND NOW, FOR THE GRAND FINALE, THE GUEST SINGER… THEEEEEEE DIPSTICK!" Ember introduced Danny as moving aside to allow him in front of the mike without her stopping playing.
"THIS SONG IS CALLED… 'GOOD BYE, EMPRESS'" Danny said right before taking a deep breath; Wulf, as well as Jazz, Tucker and Sam (who were a few blocks away but still could hear everything), covered his ears, and Ember pressed a button on the guitar, getting ready for Danny's stunt.
Empress saw Danny's action, and remembered their previous encounter, right before sending him to the mirror dimension.
"Oh, no…"
WAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLL…!
All around Amity, windows and mirrors broke, people covered their ears, and cars' alarms got activated. Seismographers all over the country detected a weird telluric movement, and persons of the neighbor cities jumped in surprise at the sudden mysterious noise. At Amity General Hospital, the comatose manager wide opened his eyes and cringed, and, at his Wisconsin mansion, Vlad felt a deep chill through his spine. At The Ghost Zone, several specters hide in fear at the deepest part of their lairs, one of Skulker's weapons shot by itself, Technus latest invention cracked, Spectra and Bertrand spitted the tea they were drinking, The Box Ghost hide inside a large crate, Klemper froze himself, The Lunch Lady's pot exploded, Desiree's hair got ruffled, Johnny 13 almost lost control of his bike while Kitty's hair paled, and Youngblood swallowed entirely a large candy bar he stole last Halloween.
At Amity, an ancient female ghost's painful cries were blocked by the sound attack that shattered her mirrors, and, after a few seconds…
CRASH!
CRASH!
CRASH!
CRASH!
CRASH!
"NOOOOOO!" Empress yelling was finally heard when Danny's wail died. The crystal pieces fell to the ground, and, a moment later, the ghost fell as well, immediately getting back her unpleasant looks.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Empress had left the building." Danny panted and almost fell over his back because of exhaustion but Wulf helped him keep balance.
"I normally don't do duos, but that was really impressive, dipstick." Ember commented, and then got a little grin, "You realize that breaking a mirror means 7 years of bad luck, right?"
"Well, in this case, I guess the bad luck isn't for me." Danny replied a split second before changing back to human because of the Ghostly Wail's draining effect.
At the street, Empress was kneeled, touching the mirrors' pieces, and pathetically trying to put them together.
"Please… please… come on, my beauties… you can't fail me now…"
"Back to the retirement home with you, oldie," Ember, hovering over the defeated ghost, said right before trapping Empress inside a Fenton Thermos. "It feels great to be the other end of this thing for once."
Danny and Wulf, still at the rooftop, chuckled slightly at the scene and the irony of Ember using the very same device where she had been trapped several times in the past. Danny then gave a good look around, and sighed when realizing the damage caused by his little concert.
"I wonder if the 35 bad-luck years supposedly got actually stand for the 35 life-times I'll need to work to pay for everything I broke."
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At the spectral prison, Walker paced back and forth on his office; he was upset, anxious, and worried, all at the same time.
"Twelve hours," Walker groaned to himself, "a half-day without news about Prisoner X-13… and that mysterious sound yesterday… I don't like this." Walker rubbed his temples; knowing from previous warden how Empress got caught first time, he already had given instructions to his guards to gather a banshee army, but, because of their lonely and reclusive nature, getting enough banshees to actually try catching her would take several days, and, by then, the Empress would surely have returned and taken over the Ghost Zone.
"SIR, QUICK!" Walker turned to see Bullet entering his office in a hurry, "The Ghost Boy… he is here, outside the prison!"
Walker didn't say a thing as literally flying out of his office. As Bullet said, Danny was out of the prison, with the guards aiming at him with their weapons, yet, strangely, Danny was almost as calm as the ghost aside him.
"You came here to give up, boy?" Walker said to Danny the moment he saw him.
"Nope; I came to make a deal. Oh, and you know my lawyer?" Danny said, pointing at Sydney, who was carrying a black suitcase.
"Sydney Poindexter, at your service, Mister Walker," Sydney said as grabbing his glasses, "My client here and I are willing to negotiate the elimination of the capture order against him, and a few other petitions as well, on basis of his services provided to the Ghost Zone's legal system."
"Are you crazy?" Walker growled. "What services are you talking about?"
"The capture of Mirror Empress, for example."
Walker and his guards wide-opened their eyes all of them hardly believing the nerdy ghost was saying.
"But… it can't be… I mean, that woman is nearly unbeatable!" Walker finally got his voice back.
Danny placed a hand inside his outfit's pocket, and took out a shiny object he tossed to Walker, who couldn't believe his eyes; the object was a very ancient golden coin.
"I picked that up from the Empress' realm; it's not easy to get in or out, by the way, so don't even think about trying to get her treasure. I just brought that coin as evidence; good thing it seems the lady's powers don't alter gold and jewels."
"Now, as Rule 399-B, section K, paragraph 8 states," Sydney, who, as he claimed, spent most of his time studying and therefore had memorized Walker's laws perfectly, addressed the warden, "a ghost's sentence can be negotiated whenever he or she provides a significant service to The Ghost Zone. This clause was effectively used by all the ghosts that joined Phantom when he asked for a truce to fight Pariah Dark the second time he got defeated, which explains why several of your former prisoners, namely Skulker, The Box Ghost, The Lunch Lady and Technus, among others, are currently free, as well as some other specters with apprehension orders against them, like Ember. This means, of course, that you still owe Danny for said service, and, added to this one, it also means he can negotiate some special favors and concessions as well."
Walker groaned silently; he hated whenever his own rules were used against him. He was about to reply, when Sydney cut him.
"And, if by any chance you are about to change that rule, let me remind you Rule 128-H, section T, paragraph 11, stating that any modification of the rules can't be done the exact moment said rule is being applied or quoted."
Walker got silent, and eyed both ghosts. He could forget about the rules for once, and lock them in, but there were two details stopping him; first, going against the rules was entirely against his nature, and sure, he could twist or modify them, but the one the nerdy ghost mentioned stopped him from doing it right now; and second, the ghost boy had solid evidence of him fighting Empress, and it was possible he had caught her and the other fugitives, something Walker wanted even more desperately than getting even on his young nemesis.
"What do you want?" Walker finally said, clenching his teeth.
"First of all, get rid of that apprehension order against my client." Sydney started, "Second, you must promise to never, ever, attack Amity again, and allow objects and visitors from the Human Realm whenever they're not dangerous or hostile. Also, stop from changing and adding rules every time you feel like doing it, and allow some decent and respected specters to check the rules book to make some proper modifications and have a more fair and reasonable legal system."
"What do you mean with 'decent and respected', boy?" Walker arched an eyebrow. Sydney smiled and opened his suitcase, taking out three papers he immediately handled to the warden.
"According to the current rules, these ghosts fulfill the formalities asked to serve as law mediators; Lady Dorothea, ruler of the Middle Age area of The Ghost Zone; Frostbite, king of the yeti ghosts; and finally, Clockwork, the time guardian. All of them are well respected authority figures, and had agreed with us, as these signed documents can tell."
While Walker checked the documents (that apparently were perfectly in order), Danny approached him.
"I also want to ask for Wulf's sentence and apprehension order to be cancelled as well."
"Why would I do that?" Walker growled.
"Because Wulf helped me catch Empress, plus he is currently keeping an eye on Phantasm so he can't escape again, therefore he also paid a major service to the Ghost Zone." Danny calmly explained, "Ah, and we want all this deal on paper, just to be sure; then, I'll compromise to bring here the Thermoses where we're keeping your fugitives."
Walker glared at Danny for a few moments before sighing in defeat.
"Bullet, prepare the paperwork."
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"Danny, wake up!"
"Uh? Jazz, it's Sunday… unless Vlad is downstairs, nothing is moving me from this bed." Danny said lazily as turning to sleep again, but Jazz was particularly insistent that morning.
"Danny, this is important! Hurry up!"
Danny groaned and followed her anxious sister downstairs; what he saw on screen fully awaked him.
"According to authorities," the anchorwoman said, "a fortune in jewelry was dropped this morning at the City Hall, along with a note stating it is an anonymous donation to help repair all the damage caused by ghostly attacks. This is particularly well greeted because of last Friday's extensive and expensive property damage produced during famous specter Danny Phantom's fight against the mysterious female ghost that attacked our city. The anonymous letter also states part of the money must be destined to people who had been directly affected by spectral battles in the past. We interviewed one of the benefited citizens, Mister Damon Gray."
"These are very good news." Valerie's father said on screen, "I lost my job and my house because of a ghostly break-in at Axion Labs several months ago, and my daughter and I had been on economical troubles since then; now, we might be able to move back to our old neighborhood, and have a slightly more relaxed situation. I want to publicly thank the anonymous donator, whoever he or she is."
At that moment, the phone at Fentons' place started ringing, and Danny picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Danny? It's me, Valerie! Did you hear the news?"
"Just a moment ago; I'm very happy for you and your dad."
"Thanks! Anyway, I also called you for two things… first, Star told me you got sucked inside that mirror dimension… and well, I know you weren't at Paulina's, and I was near that place, and didn't see you, so…"
"How could I be sucked then, uh?" Danny chuckled nervously as scratching the back of his head. "Well… my whole family was there, and guess I got too close to those mirrors for my own good."
There was silence the other side of the line as Danny and Jazz got expecting looks. They hoped that, since Valerie was groggy for a while after receiving Empress' attack, she would assume Danny got caught when she wasn't at her top and therefore couldn't notice.
"Well, I'm glad you are fine." Danny and Jazz got relieved expressions at the gentle and obviously caring tone. "The second thing I want to tell you is that, even if Dad and I solve our money problems, I'm not going back to being the jerk that ignored and insulted you; I want us to remain friends."
"You can count with that." Danny chuckled, "So, what about I call Tucker and Sam, and all of us have lunch together to celebrate your newly regained economic stability? God, it seems I heard too much of 'Smart Kwan' talking!"
Valerie laughed the other side of the line, and agreed with Danny's idea; after saying good-bye to each other, Danny hung off, and looked at Jazz, who was still looking at the screen. The boy was sure she and him were thinking the same.
"Who is the anonymous benefactor?"
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Phantasm groaned in pain, finally waking up and realizing he was back on his prison clothing. The specter shook his head and slowly stood up; he was still weak because of the Peeler's effects, as his still skeletal form proved, and it would take a while for him to be fully functional again.
"Good morning, Captain." The ghost turned to see a grinning Walker inside his cell.
"So, the ghost kid brought me back here, uh?" Captain got a sly smile that wasn't unnoticed by the warden.
"Yes, he did… you know, this escape cost me a lot of concessions, and a good amount of my liberty to dictate and execute law, but everything's worth the effort if I can keep you from escaping again." Walker said as turning, heading out of the cell, "And that ghost boy proved he can be useful at times; among other things, he suggested me a way to keep you in here for the rest of your sentence (that got another two thousand years added, by the way), and I like it. See you later, Prisoner X-12."
At that moment, Phantasm realized his cell had no gate; he approached for a better look, and noticed there was no invisible wall, shield, field, or anything to keep him inside.
"What's the big deal about this cell? I can simply walk out of here and…" Captain stopped talking, and froze at the spot.
Last time he thought escaping was the easiest thing in the world a bunch of guards surprised him and turned him into a ghost.
"What if Walker has some sort of surprise waiting for me outside the cell?" The specter thought out loud, and moved to the back of the cell, sitting at one chair, and stared at the outside.
It was just too easy to escape.
Extremely easy.
Too good to be truth.
And too tempting to ignore.
Freedom was just a few feet away.
Or maybe, whatever happened to a ghost when 'dying' a second time.
Captain Phantasm had to meditate and weigh his options before even thinking about escaping this cell.
The only place he couldn't escape was the one letting him do it.
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"Explain me again why I'm the one carrying the treasure out of there."
"It's simple, nerd-o; Fuzzy here opens the portal and I keep it open, but he must stay with me in case the portal disappears even with my musical help, so you're the only one who can get in." Ember stopped playing her guitar, allowing the portal Wulf made at her lair to disappear, while the werewolf helped Poindexter with the jewels he brought from the mirror dimension.
"And why are we taking just the jewels and not the coins as well?" Sydney asked Ember while sitting down to rest.
"Jewels. Cause. Enough. Questions. Hard. Explaining. Ancient. Money." Wulf explained; ghosts used regular human currency and valuable objects to buy and sell things to each other (Vlad paid Skulker's occasional services this way, and the hunter paid Technus as well to improve his arsenal), and, if anyone could recognize the ancient coins as part of Empress' treasure, Wulf and Ember would become a target for several greedy ghosts hoping to explode their talents and get all of it.
"Good point… hey, maybe we can expend the money at Dora's realm; almost everything in there is ancient, and the coins wouldn't be so strange."
"Hey, good idea, nerd-o; it would work well!" Ember commented while taking a second look at the day's loot. "Who could have imagined that being on the dipstick's side could be this profitable?"
"The same that could have imagined you giving a large amount of this treasure to a bunch of humans who need it the most." Sydney pointed, making Wulf to smile warmly at Ember and the girl to chuckle slightly.
"What can I say? Dating a do-gooder and befriending another one is getting under my ghostly skin, plus I owed one to the dipstick, I mean, thanks to him I no longer have to fear Walker taking Fuzzy away from me, or me getting caged for hiding a fugitive. Besides, I can't say 'No' at any chance to get an ancient ghost pissed; if some day that Empress can get a look at her dimension, and notice her treasure is gone, she might die again!"
Sydney and Wulf shared a good laugh with Ember. After a few minutes, the nerdy ghost picked up his part of the loot while Ember played the melody that changed Wulf into his human form. Poindexter waved bye to the couple, and, before leaving the lair, turned back for a last question.
"So, how are you guys going to celebrate Wulf is free to go anywhere?"
Ember and Wulf grinned at each other, and Ember replied her nerdy associate while Wulf slowly passed an arm over her shoulder.
"With a week of not going anywhere."
THE END.
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Maybe the ending was a little bit too suggestive, don't you think, Tuck? (Yes, but, hey, it's Ember we are talking about, and even as an ally, she is her best when being naughty.) Good point.
Thanks a lot to all the reviewers. As promised, there's a second disclaimer here. (Sure thing; some of the fugitive ghosts are named and based on villains from 'Scooby Doo', especially the ones from the second live-action movie 'Monsters Unleashed', namely The Pterodactyl Ghost and The 10,000-Volts Ghost; also, some of the other 'X' prisoners that were briefly mentioned are based on ghosts from Scooby's cartoons; of course, Ramiro doesn't own any of them). By the way, using Scooby-villains came from a Nigtw2's suggestion. (Thanks a lot, man!)
We are making a pause here for a fast note. When I was working on the first chapters, ironically, this story became an homage one. (You're right; Iwao Takamoto, one of Hanna-Barbera studios' best animators ever, and Scooby's creator, joined his bosses on January 9.) Yeah; so, the ghosts we already mentioned, and the references to Scooby Doo made on the story, are a little homage to another great animator who created a loved and well-known character.
Going back to the disclaimer, Captain Phantasm, as said at the beginning of the story, is based on a real-life Mexican bandit, "El Capitán Fantasma", who became famous because of his habit of disguising as a cop and the several times he escaped imprisonment. (There's a semi-biographic movie about him; the title is literally translated as "Captain Phantasm's Seven Break-Outs", filmed in Mexico in 1989, being another reference for this ghost's background.) And, as another reference, the name I gave him in this fic, Sergio Goyri, is actually the name of the actor that played the bandit on said film; obviously, I don't own the movie, the character, or the actor.
Guess that's all. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed. (And thank you for giving me more participative roles!) You're welcome, Tucker.
Keep the good writing.