This chapter, I have to say, is by far my favorite.
Plots and Duels
Back in Amity Park, Vlad had taken the week off of his mayoral duties to research the ghostly artifact he had procured from Danny. It wasnt the artifact, so much as the coat of arms etched into the back, that interested him. He had run a scan of the emblem and researched it thoroughly, finding nothing for two days. On the third day, however, he found something.
The coat of arms was ancient, dating back in the BC era, but not by too much. What he found was an ancient stone carving of something similar to what was on the back of the necklace, but it was so crude and worn from time that it almost didnt match. But at least he had a time period to work with - about 100, BC, give or take a decade or two.
Using every bit of his influence and a couple hundred thou from his bank account, he found another artifact with the exact same emblem, only this artifact was an ancient metal and wood shield that no doubt once was ceremonial and encrusted with jewels that were now lost to the ages. The coat of arms was clearly etched into the metal, and the shield was taken from an archaeological dig of an ancient battlefield. Using a bit more money and coercion, Vlad found out about the history of that battlefield.
The battle was a power struggle between two ancient kings and their equally-powerful armies. The battle seemed to be a complete draw, but during the immense struggle, one of the soldiers on one side managed to get in a lucky hit to the opposing king, which gave the winning king the opportunity to strike down the losing king.
The name of the losing king was Dark. Pariah Dark.
Once Vlad found out the bearer of the coat of arms' name, he sat in a numb stupor for hours. Pariah Dark, the Ghost King. Daniel was engaged to the Ghost King. To Pariah-bloody-Dark.
It took a few more days for Vlad to come to terms with this revelation, and once he did, he could not contain his rage. Daniel was going to become the Prince of all ghosts! It was COMPLETELY unfair! HE was the more powerful halfa! HE should have that honor, NOT Daniel! He didnt care if he had to marry the bloody Ghost King to get the title; it was HIS right, NOT Daniel's!
After getting his rage under control, Vlad dove into his portal, practically eviscerating the guards stationed on the other side, and sped like a bat out of Hell toward the Dark Castle. He had a score to settle and a princehood to obtain.
It had been a few days since Danny had returned to the Ghost Zone and made some peace with Pariah Dark, and things actually kept getting better. Danny did indeed tell his fiance many things about himself, from his favorite food to his favorite past time, to his dream of becoming an astronaut (after which, he had quite a time explaining exactly what an astronaut was, and therefor giving a history lesson to Pariah Dark about man's exploits in space). In return, Danny learned so much about Pariah Dark; things he'd never guessed.
He learned that Pariah Dark had first married at age fifteen, after the death of his father and his inaugeration as King. His first wife was a girl a year older than him, who was good-natured and kind. She was the only one who Pariah Dark ever showed true emotion to, and the only one who ever saw him cry. She had died of an illness at age nineteen. His first consort died only a year after they had been together, and all subsequent consorts never lasted more than three years. His second wife was ten years younger than him, when he was thirty-two years of age. She lasted five years, before being assassinated with poison in an attempt from an opposing side to rattle his nerve. It only angered him more, and he slaughtered that opposition without mercy.
Danny learned (with slight discomfort) that Pariah Dark died at age fifty-two after being slain on the battlefield. His weakness of having no left-side peripheral vision was exploited, and he was crippled by a soldier before being stabbed in the neck by the rival king. A horrendous way to die, granted, but Pariah Dark assured Danny that it was an honor to die on the battlefield, rather than dying old and gray in the deathbed. Fifty-two was actually old-age back in the day, and he had slew and outlived kings half his age.
Danny also discovered, much to his surprise, that the books of adventurous odysseys he'd read were actually Pariah Dark's traveling journals. Danny had proclaimed his everlasting love for those stories, and had been a little more than embarrassed when Pariah Dark had given him the news.
Aside from exchanging life tales, they had taken to dining more often, and actually talking rather than eating in silence. Conversation included deeper talk about running the ghost world, newer, more effective laws, and even some talk about wedding plans.
That last topic usually skived off before they reached the real issue of the marriage - the consummation. Pariah Dark usually caught when the conversation was slipping into that topic, and quickly changed the subject for his young fiance's sake, something Danny did not fail to notice, and felt eternally grateful for.
They usually spent the remainder of evenings walking around the courtyard, and it took Danny a few days to notice that Pariah Dark rarely walked around in his immense-height form; the Ghost King now took his 6"6 form most of the time, and even toned down the armor. His horned helmet was absent for the most part, as was most of the armor. Now only the breastplate and the thigh armor remained, which made Pariah Dark look much more approachable, in Danny's opinion.
After about four days of this newfound familiarity with each other, Danny was escorted to his room by Pariah Dark and was bidden good-night. It was only after he had shut his door that Danny realized that Pariah Dark had been in physical contact with him - a hand on his shoulder or back - the whole evening. And Danny hadnt noticed, let alone freaked out. He was becoming comfortable around the Ghost King.
And what was more, he was enjoying Pariah Dark's presence. The Ghost King was making a real effort to make him feel comfortable and at home.
...And it was working.
The next day, Danny woke up with a strong sense of foreboding. He didnt know why, but it was just a feeling. But it was also a feeling he had learned long ago to never ignore. These 'feelings' always pertained to ghosts, and Danny pegged it as another power; something like phyisical foresight. Nevertheless, Danny got out of bad, took a bath, dressed, and walked down to the dining room.
He had barely made it past the throne room when he suddenly heard a loud explosion, followed by a commotion that he KNEW would end in ectoplasmshed if Pariah Dark had anything to say about it. He flew right for the castle doors and skidded to a halt when he came across the scene.
About a dozen guards were unconscious on the floor, and standing over them was Plasmius, who was looking more homicidal than Danny had ever seen him. He currently had a guard up by the throat, and was demanding an audience with the King.
Danny suddenly felt angry; how DARE Vlad barge into the Dark Castle uninvited, and threaten the guards who had always treated him so nicely? Who the hell did he think he was?
"BACK OFF!" he found himself shouting, drawing the sword he always carried with him, now very glad he had listened to Fright when the former Knight said to keep the six-pound piece of ghost-made steel on him at all times. THAT caught Vlad's attention, and the elder halfa dropped the guard, turning to stare at Danny.
No words were spoken for the longest time, then Danny spoke up again. "What are you doing here, Vlad?" he demanded, tightening his grip on his sword. Vlad growled and shot his hand out in front of him, and Danny saw his necklace hanging from the chain. "How did you get that?" he asked.
"It doesnt matter," Vlad snarled, tossing the necklace to the floor almost childishly. "You little rat! You're marrying Pariah Dark!" It sounded almost accusingly. ...'Actually' nothing, Vlad was ACCUSING him.
"...I am," Danny said after a moment, still not loosening the grip on his sword. "So what of it? Until you actually die, it doesnt really concern you."
"IT CONCERNS ME PLENTY, BOY!" Vlad shouted back, his fists sparking dangerously with dark pink electricity. "You're becoming the PRINCE of this whole bloody world! It should be ME!"
NOW Danny was severely annoyed; furious, even. "You're so full of yourself, Vlad!" he spat. "Pariah didnt choose you for PLENTY of reasons, THAT being one of them!" He fought down his 'battle mode' until Vlad actually did something to provoke it, rather than showing off electrical fireworks, as usual. "Now you'd best get out of here before he decides to kill you."
"You dont tell me what to DO, you insolent little - !"
"He is your Prince to be, Plasmius," interrupted a voice to Danny's right. Both halfas turned to see Fright step into the room, a sword of his own drawn into his hand. "He CAN and WILL tell you what to do, on his own authority. You have no power or say-so here."
"Fright Knight," Plasmius growled, eliciting a hard scowl from the ghost.
"It's just 'Fright' now, Plasmius. I was demoted for foolishly assisting you in My King's incarceration. I was a fool and a traitor, and I was lucky to not have been destroyed for my treason. I serve only My King and My Prince-to-be. Now..." He held up his sword, which glowed an ominous green. "...Heed the Prince's warning and leave. My Liege will be most displeased that you dared to storm his castle AND speak so hostily toward his intended."
Vlad snarled and spat most ungentlemanlike on the floor, dangerously close to the necklace. "I wont," he growled, clenching his fists even more tightly before pointing to Danny. "That little bastard took MY right away from me! As the older, stronger, MORE POWERFUL halfa, it is MY right to take the title of Prince! NOT DANNY-BLOODY-PHANTOM'S!"
"FUCK YOU, VLAD!" Danny shouted, his eyes flashing pure blue and his hair flaring slightly. "You dont DESERVE to be the Prince! You treat the ghosts like personal slaves, you're arrogant, self-serving, and manipulative, AND you abuse your powers, which, while we're on the subject, you ARTIFICIALLY ENHANCED! You're TAINTED, and Pariah would rather slit his own throat than marry you!"
To say that Plasmius was mad would be a severe understatement; Vlad was LIVID. He let out a shriek of rage and dove right at Danny, only to be intercepted by Fright, who took a swing at Vlad with his sword; the sword was blocked by a shield from Vlad, but then Fright shot his leg out and kicked Vlad right in the chest, sending the elder halfa into a wall hard.
That didnt seem to phase Vlad much. He pushed himself from the wall, glaring at Fright. "You want to play like that, Fright?" Vlad growled, summoning a sword of ecto-energy to his hand. "Let's play." He made a move to rush at Fright, but a white-hot flash of firey ecto-energy separated Vlad from Fright and Danny. A second later, Pariah Dark appeared in all his twelve-foot, fully-armored terrifying glory, ghostly aura blazing with fury.
"WHAT IN TARTARUS IS GOING ON!" he demanded. Fright immediately knelt down on one knee, his sword down and handle pointed to the Ghost King in an instinctual offering. Danny lowered his sword and bowed his head in his own showing of respect. Vlad, of course, kept on the defensive, something that made Pariah Dark even more furious. "EXPLAIN. NOW."
"My Liege," Fright addressed with fear and respect, "the elder hafla, Vlad Plasmius, stormed your castle, harmed your guards, and dared to attack your intended out of petty jealousy."
Pariah Dark narrowed his eye and turned to Danny, who nodded, glaring at Vlad with ill contempt. "It's true," Danny said. "Vlad said so himself that HE should be the Prince, not me."
The Ghost King's glaring turned homicidal as he turned to glare at Vlad, who at least had the intelligence to lower his ecto-energy sword. However, that seemed to be as far as his intelligence would go, for he matched the Ghost King's glare with one of his own. "I say this because it is true!" he shot back boldly. "Daniel but a mere boy! He hasnt the strength, the power, nor the experience to rule alongside you! I am the better choice!"
If Pariah Dark HAD to give Plasmius anything, it was that the older halfa had QUITE a pair on him to speak so disrespectfully right to his face. However, those points were lost to stupidity. But before he could retort with a total one-sided massacre of the impudent halfa, Danny spoke up.
"I have PLENTY of strength, Plasmius!" he growled, taking a few steps forward. "I have MORE than enough power! And I have enough experience to be a BETTER ruler than YOU will EVER be!" He pointed his sword at Vlad. "You want to be the Prince so badly? Fine." His eyes turned pure ice blue with resolution. "By the ancient Laws of the Consorts, I, Daniel Phantom, challenge you, Vladimir Plasmius, to a duel for the Princehood."
One could hear a pin drop in the castle, had someone dropped a pin to begin with. Fright was gaping at Danny in awe, and Pariah Dark only let a moment of shock slip over his visage before quickly reschooling it into its usual stony contemptuous expression. Though he would REALLY have to have a word with Phantom later, his young fiance had declared a perfectly legal, legitimate, and binding duel. He did regret telling his fiance about how to properly declare those duels (since two of his consorts had become consorts because of those duels), but not by much. Should Plasmius lose, provided Phantom didnt kill him, the older halfa would be exiled from the ghost world indefinitely.
Vlad stared at Danny in shock for a moment before collecting himself and pointing his own ecto-energy sword back at Danny. "Challenge accepted, brat. Prepare to lose."
Danny didnt deign to respond to that, and instead led the way to the practice courtyard while Pariah Dark headed to the second-story observational balcony, where he would overlook and judge the duel. Fright walked between Danny and Vlad, just in case the older halfa would do something underhanded, and finally gestured to either side of the dueling ring, acting as referee.
"We shall first determine the nature of the duel," he stated formally. "Lethal, or non-lethal?"
"Non-lethal," Danny stated, trading in his 'everyday' sword for a dueling one. Fright and even Vlad looked a little surprised at his statement.
"...Non-lethal," Vlad repeated, creating a stronger-looking sword from his own ecto-energy. Fright glared disapprovingly at him.
"Duel-approved weaponry only, please," he said. Vlad scowled at him, but chose a weapon from the sword case. "Traditional, or power-included?"
"Seeing as how I cannot yet control my berserk mode," Danny said, twirling the blade with quick wrist movements, "power-included."
"Power-included," Vlad also said, looking almost pleased with the choice.
"Very well then," Fright said, edging out of the ring. "Non-lethal combat using powers. Duel fairly and with honor. No intentional acts upon the other's...life. Since you are both halfas, I pass in motion of either the first to revert to human form, or the first to be rendered incapacitated or unconscious be declared the loser, and therefore an exile of the Ghost Zone. The victor shall be rewarded with the title of Prince-apparent."
"Seconded," Danny said, cracking his neck.
"I pass the motion as well," Vlad concurred, gripping the sword tightly. Fright glanced up at Pariah Dark, who nodded back.
"Motion approved. En-garde." Danny and Vlad both took professional dueling stances. "Duel!"
Danny made the first move; he darted toward Vlad, sword raised in both hands. He took a swing, and Vlad parried; for a brief few moments, it seemed to be a struggle of brute strength to make the other give.
"Give it up, Daniel," Vlad hissed so only Danny could hear it. "I have twenty years' experience on you!" He shoved Danny away and swung his sword back, charging the ghostly metal with electricity. Danny saw Vlad's strategy quickly; when their swords connected, Danny, who was currently wearing gloves that wouldnt block electricity, would be shocked and stunned long enough for Vlad to quickly go on the offensive.
So instead of attacking Vlad, Danny instead backed up, encasing his hands with the flexible ice armor that was impenetrable, as long as he could keep it up. It was taxing on his energy, but well-worth staying in the fight for. When Vlad shot forward with a strike, Danny parried with his sword, which sparked dangerously with the conducted ecto-electricity, but his ice armor kept the electricity at bay.
It took Vlad a moment to notice this, and he snarled at seeing his first strategy fail. He swung his sword back and hammered at Danny's sword mercilessly, trying to physically overpower the boy.
Danny held on and parried without fail; Vlad was strong, but Fright was MUCH stronger. Danny had held onto his sword after being on the receiving end of Fright's worst, and it was still better than Vlad's best. That, and his ice armor was keeping his hands hard and steady. It was Vlad's speed that was getting to Danny; the elder halfa was using a brutal combination of hard strength and swift speed, making it difficult for Danny to parry all of the blocks.
And at the same time, while it seemed Vlad was getting desperate, in reality, Vlad was trying to break Danny's control. He knew about the younger halfa's 'berserk mode', and knew it would give him an opportune reason to cut loose his own power. He could already see that Danny's eyes were becoming wilder and more focused; Danny's hair became flame-like, and his posture more primal. If he could land just ONE little hit...
And he did; the tip of his sword nicked Danny's upper arm, just enough to draw a bit of ectoplasm. Danny cried out in pain, and then all freezing Hell broke loose. Danny's sword-hand whipped out unexpectedly and the blade struck the hilt of Vlad's sword, barely half a centimeter from the older halfa's hand, and Vlad dropped his sword. A second later, Danny's left fist - which was still covered in ecto-ice, collided with Vlad's face.
Vlad was sent sprawling, but he quickly recovered and dodged out of the way of another of Danny's wild attacks. The gloves were off, and Vlad was once more in his element. He charged up an immense ecto-sphere of violently-sparking electricity and hurled it at Danny, who merely whipped his hand out and created a shield of ice that not only blocked the attack, but absorbed it. Danny then clenched his fist, and the shield shattered, taking the electricity with it.
Seeing that his opponent was using ghost power, Danny's mindset told him that ghost power was the way to retaliate. He clenched his sword tightly in his fist, making it glow an iridescent blue, and swung it in a long arc, sending sharp blue ecto-energy right at Vlad. The older halfa quickly snatched up his own sword, charged it with ghost energy, and swung upward, cutting the energy-arc in two.
The two halfas then began dueling at a distance, sending ecto-energy attacks at each other, using the swords as a conduit, and using their free hands to form shields, all the while inching closer and closer to each other.
From his position on the balcony, Pariah Dark stared on, stunned. It wasnt Vlad he was impressed with; the older halfa had artificially enhanced his powers to where they were now. No, it was his fiance that amazed him. Even in 'berserk mode', the younger halfa was showing remarkable control and strategic thinking. But unlike Vlad, who was focused primarily on blocking and attacking, Pariah Dark could see the ice armor spreading. It was currently encasing both of Phantom's arms, and was spreading to his chest. And it didnt look like shapeless shards of ice; the armor was actually taking the actual shape of metal armor, and even had decorative adornments, such as spikes over the shoulders and forearms.
Even Danny didnt notice his armor spreading; he too was too engrossed in the dueling to pay attention. He was now a mere two yards from Vlad, and the ecto-energy attacks were coming in harder; just as they were five feet away from each other, Vlad swung his sword out and shattered Danny's shield before shooting his leg out and kicking Danny in the chest.
Danny went sprawling, dropping his sword and cracking his head on a stone that jutted up from the courtyard floor. Vlad, disappated his shield and stalked over to Danny, the air around him crackling with static. His eyes glowed an almost blinding red, and his pinkish-red aura flared dangerously.
"You think you could best ME, Daniel?" he snarled, shooting a large ecto-energy blast at Danny. It struck the younger halfa, sending him skidding into a stone wall. Up on the balcony, Pariah Dark gripped the arms of his chair so tightly they shattered. But he did nothing to interrupt the duel.
"You think you can take what is MINE?" Vlad stalked over and kicked Danny in the side, eliciting a sharp cry of pain from the boy. "You insolent weak little IMBECILE!" He reached down and picked Danny up by his collar, seeing Danny's ice armor receding as though being rapidly melted. "You dont deserve to be Prince, you little thief! This is MY right! MY honor! MY DESTINY!" He let Danny drop, and the younger halfa barely managed to stay up on his knees. Vlad sneered down at his younger halfa counterpart and raised his sword, preparing to jut Danny in the shoulder, somewhere non-lethal, but with just enough force to coerce the transformation back to human. "Pathetic, thinking Pariah Dark would find YOU worthy." He swung the sword down.
The sword never made it to Danny's shoulder.
Instead, the blade was caught tightly in Danny's hand; the ice armor protected the flesh from being pierced. Vlad, growled and pulled his sword back, only to find that he couldnt; it was stuck tight in Danny's hand. He looked down and saw Danny glaring up at him with glowing white-blue eyes. Danny's hair was now in full-flame mode, and the ice armor was rapidly spreading back up his arms, over his chest, and over his entire body, creating a helmet very reminiscent to Pariah Dark's own, which left room for his wild flaming hair to whip around like a wildfire.
Danny stood up, forcing Vlad's sword up with him. Vlad growled again and tried to pull the sword back, but before he could actually do so, Danny's hand clenched hard, and the metal froze and shattered uselessly, leaving only the hilt in Vlad's hands.
Up in the atmosphere around the Dark Castle and the surrounding land, the air slowly began to freeze, creating a snowfall. A wind appeared out of nowhere, and seemed to pick up the strongest around Danny, who was advancing on Vlad like a snow leopard on its next meal.
And for once in his life of knowing Danny...Vlad felt frightened of the younger halfa. Where in the world was this power COMING from! He could feel it pulsing in the air like a bad omen just WAITING to happen.
And as for that omen, Pariah Dark felt it too, and remembered what his fiance had told him that first day - about combining his strongest attack with the eco-ice. A deadly blizzard, even to ghosts. Pariah Dark wasnt really worried much; his own fire abilities would keep him from freezing; it was everyone else around the castle that had him worried, especially Fright.
Before he could ponder more on the matter, Danny stopped in his advancing of Vlad and just stared at the elder halfa for a long moment before inhaling sharply, giving everybody in the general vicinity the feeling of a shoreline right before a tsunami. And that was what came right after.
Danny let out a Ghostly Wail that was colder than the deepest, darkest abyss of space, and everything went deafeningly white. Pariah Dark barely managed to fly down to Fright and press his hand to the Dark Castle and cover them both with a hot shield to keep them from freezing.
Never...even in all his years of being in the middle of blizzards and snowstorms, had Pariah Dark seen such a hellish mess as this. It was the freezing equivilent of being tossed into an active volcano, was the best comparison he could come up with. And he wasnt too far off. He could only think that the snow just outside his shield was as cold as magma was hot, and he REALLY didnt want to know what that kind of cold was like.
And the worst part was, it didnt seem to be stopping anytime soon. Pariah Dark could feel his shields bending to the will of the ultimate ice storm, but he didnt want to make his shields any hotter; doing so could cause his subjects and Fright harm. He would have to stop it on his own.
Keeping his castle and Fright encased in the shield, Pariah Dark covered himself in the hottest shield he could muster and stepped out into the storm. It was like walking into thick slush, but Pariah Dark ignored it in favor of finding his fiance, and finally he did.
Phantom was standing in the middle of it all, still Wailing away into the freezing air and completely out of control. Pariah Dark found it harder to keep going forward the closer he got, but he finally enveloped his own body in a reddish-black fire, the strongest he had ever remembered summoning, and reached out to pull Phantom to him.
He expected a violent retaliation. He expected a fight to a second death. Instead, his fiance stopped Wailing and just stood there as though a switch had just completely turned him off. The Blizzard slowly died down into a mere light snowfall, which quickly turned to something reminiscent of rain as the fire and ice collided. Finding no more threat of freezing ice, the shields around the Dark Castle and Fright died down, and the servants and guards in the castle, looked, dumbfounded, out the windows to see just what in the world was going on.
Pariah Dark held Phantom tighter to him, until he felt the ice armor receeding, and he let his own firey aura die down, until they were both back in their natural states. Danny then went completely limp and transformed to his human form once more.
The Ghost King quickly picked his fiance up, and looked over at Vlad Plasmius, who was frozen on the ground, looking to be stuck between human and ghost form; the older halfa must have been in the transition back when the Blizzard hit him head-on. No matter; the duel was won by his future Prince. He would have to exile the arrogant bastard, but right now, Phantom was his priority. He carried his fiance inside to the healing room, his mind reeling from the awesome power his fiance had displayed.
Vlad didnt know how long he'd been out, or what had really happened; all he knew was that he was in a LOT of pain. Everything from his hair to his fingernails hurt, and screamed with agony when he moved anything. But as soon as he woke up, he was met with a VERY angry Pariah Dark and several heavily armed guards.
"Vlad Plasmius," Pariah Dark spoke, his voice low and dangerous, making even the guards shudder, "you have lost the duel with the Prince-to-be, and are hereby forever exiled from the ghost world." He leaned forward, green Hellfire blazing in his remaining eye. "...If I ever find you in my kingdom again...if I ever hear word of harm against my Prince...if I ever find evidence of your interference with my world again...I will send you to depths of Tartarus so deep, even the God of the Underworld wont find your remains."
That said, he pressed his index finger into Vlad's forehead and made it flare with white-hot fire, eliciting a scream of pain from the older halfa. When he brought his finger back, a blazing red X was forever branded into the skin. He stood up straight and motioned to the guards. "Take him to the nearest portal and throw him back from whence he came."
Ignoring the shouts of agony from Vlad as the guards snatched him up, Pariah Dark walked to his fiance's room, where Danny was still sleeping off his exhaustion. He receded in size and sat down next to the bed, taking off his helmet. Dora brought over a bowl of warm water infused with ghostly herbs that aided ghosts in ectoplasmic energy recovery and set it down on a table opposite to where Pariah Dark sat and soaked a cloth in the concoction before wringing it out. She made a move to dab Danny down with it, but was surprised when Pariah Dark held his hand out.
"I will attend to him," he said, his voice sounding more tired than she'd ever heard it. She nodded and handed the cloth over, then turned and left the room as Pariah Dark tended to his fiance, knowing any form of intimacy Pariah Dark would show, wanted to be shown only to and with Danny.
Fight scenes are so much fun to write! I hope you enjoyed it!