Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! It's time fo Chapta nine! XD First off, I'm not 21. Or a pirate for that matter. Second, I'm not black. Or racist. But anyways, here we are at Chapter 9! Some applause, please? *Crickets* Ok, thanks, guys. I love you too. *Sobs in corner* ...*Cough*...... Okay, anyways....I hope you all enjoy it! It's been long-coming, the final confrontation of Walker and Phantom! *Oohs and Ahs*
Legal Disclaimer: Yet again, my attorneys here have advised me to tell you all I don't own Danny Phantom, and never will, despite the very threatening and persuasive letters I've sent to our old friend Butch Hartman.
("Dear Mr. Hartman,
...WON'T YOU PLEASE GIVE ME THE RIGHTS TO DANNY PHANTOM!? PLZPLZPLZPLZPLZPLZPLZPLZ!!!!!! I PROMISE I'LL MAKE IT AWESOME AND STUFF. I PROMISE. LIKE, A GAZILLION AND FIVE GALLONS OF ICE-CREAM PROMISE WITH NINE-HUNDRED GAJILLION SEVENTY-TWO THOUSAND CHERRIES ON TOP!!!! PLZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
Thank you in advance,
John)
….*Cough.* On with the story.
"Mr. Walker, uh, sir?"
"What is it?" the Ghost-Warden rapped his knuckles against his chair's arm, a sign he was quite peeved at the Hunter for not having checked in.
"Uhm, well, sir...we seem to have the lost the signal of the Hulker, Skunter," he quickly corrected his statement, not wanting to appear too afraid to Walker, "I mean the Hunter, Skulker!"
"What do you mean, 'lost the signal'?" he fingers stopped tapping against the chair, his voice's tone just a little too calm for the reporting ghost."
"Uhm, well, the tracking device on him stopped transmitting a signal..."
Walker remained silent, all previous motion and noise from him ceasing immediately.
"Uh...sir?"
"Gather all of our troops. We're going to recapture the prisoners."
"Y-Yes, sir," the ghost-officer replied, heading out of the room to go and alert the other troops.
"If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get, Phantom."
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"I have to get ready..." Phantom began, standing up from the spot he had been sitting in next to Danny.
"Let me help..." Danny groaned as he stood up, his entire body still in pain from the Hunter's previous attack.
"No...I want you to rest...Your body isn't used to being pushed so hard..."
"I don't want you to be alone during this, Phantom. You've been alone pretty much all the way until now. I want to help you, even if it's only standing around encouraging you..." Danny smiled at him.
"Well...I, ergh..." Phantom began blushing, "Thanks, Danny..."
Danny smiled once more before his face turned sour.
"Augh..." he held his hand to his side, putting pressure on the spot that was throbbing.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay..?"
"Don't worry about me, worry about yourself."
"But---"
"Stop explaining yourself and just get ready!" Danny gave him a serious-yet-gentle look to show his resolve.
"Alright..."
The two went around and collected useful looking pieces of equipment from around the house.
"Why would your parents ever need a bazooka?" he got a strange look from Danny and reworded the statement, "Why would our parents ever need a bazooka?"
Danny, being satisfied with the question now, smiled and answered, "I have no idea. But they made it, so use it."
"Fair enough," Phantom replied, slinging the strap across his chest.
As the two continued talking, a ripple ran throughout the air, distorting everything in the room. Danny looked around to find the reason why to no avail. Phantom, however, immediately knew what was going on.
"That's---"
As if being summoned, an uneven tear appeared in front of the boys, soon shown to be housing Wulf.
"Wulf!"
"Phantom," the man greeted him.
"How did you get out? I thought Walker got to you!"
"He did, but now he called all of his guards to come into the human world. I escaped amidst their confusion."
"He's bringing ALL of his guards here to get me?"
"Apparently so, yes."
"Ouch..."
"What's wrong, Phantom?" Danny asked.
"Well...Walker usually uses most of his men to guard his 'prison', so...to bring them all here for one 'law-breaker'...it's kind of a bad sign."
"Oh..." was Danny's only response.
"Listen, Phantom..." Wulf began, closing the portal he had opened and facing the boy, "If you're planning on going against Walker, I'll help you."
"I don't want to put you in risk too..." he began, "Danny here is already insisting he helps me."
"You bet so, punk," Danny punched Phantom in the arm jokingly.
"I'm older than you," Phantom stuck his tongue out, "punk."
"Are you okay?" Wulf gave Phantom a serious look, unused to the cheery side he was seeing at the moment.
"Y-Yeah," Phantom blushed, realizing how foolish he was acting.
"Anyways," Wulf began once more, "I know how we can stop them."
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"Keep your eyes peeled, soldiers. Phantom managed to take out Skulker by himself, there's no telling what he might be able to do. Now, I want Platoons One and Two to head to the east and west before closing in on him. If we spread out our troops so they gradually flood him out we'll be able to capture him."
"Yes sir!" the army of ghost-men behind him responded.
Among the streets was nothing but the moonlight shadows and a ghostly green glow emanating off the soldiers. All people who had been roaming the streets instead of sleeping were, at this point, most likely, far, far away from the invading troops.
After Walker finished explaining their plan, the troops dismissed themselves to the specific areas and locations he had assigned them to.
"Let's see how well you fare against the Warden of your living nightmare himself, Phantom."
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"Do you both understand the plan?" Wulf looked back and forth between the two identical boys, attempting to assure himself they could be trusted.
"Yeah, no problem," Phantom replied.
"I guess so," Danny shrugged.
"Not the most convincing responses..." he muttered under his breath.
"What?" Danny asked.
"Nothing," Wulf quickly replied, "Anyways, we best get going, Walker's liable to show up at any moment now."
"Yeah," Phantom agreed.
"Okay!" Danny chimed in.
Wulf looked at the boy queerly, "He does understand it's a matter of life or death for him, right?"
Phantom gazed at his raven-haired brother, "Yeah. He's just...what's the word..." he thought for a moment, "Well, anyways, he pretty much just doesn't care," he smiled at the boy who, despite the atrocity occurring all around him, looked as though he might have just won the lottery.
"Let's head out!" he cheered to the two, marching out the door to the street. They shrugged to one another, and, as Phantom scratched his head and gestured towards the exit with a grin on his face, followed suit out the door.
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"Checking in, Sir," a ghost officer's voice came in through a radio Walker was carrying, "No sign of the fugitive yet, Sir."
"Keep searching, he responded with a scowl on his face; he was going to find the law-breaker no matter what tools and tricks he had to use.
"Sir," a second voice came in through the radio, "I believe I've located the fugitive."
"Send over your position right away. I'll have the First and Second Platoons close in around your position."
A small little device Walker was holding, presumably given to him, made by, and/or confiscated from Skulker, began to beep a distance away from the man. He sent the coordinates to the other countless ghosts in the area, and one by one they began to head towards their target.
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Danny recalled Wulf's instructions for their plan.
'As soon as you see the ghosts start heading off in one direction, I need you to get any that stayed behind for watch duty. If you don't, they'll be able to break Walker and the others out of Skulker's device and then we'll have no chance whatsoever.'
Danny, having previously been atop a building to survey the situation, began heading down the stairs with the words ringing throughout his mind.
In classic Danny fashion, his mind was racing with thoughts almost completely impertinent to his mission.
"I feel like a super hero or something," he smiled strangely, a bizarre image of himself in spandex flashing through his mind, "I wonder if Phantom is this excited right now?"
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Despite Danny's thoughts of Phantom being excited by the situation, Phantom was near-petrified.
"You realize if we don't get through this, he's never going to let your friend off alive, right?"
"...Yeah, I know," Phantom near-whispered back to Wulf, not wanting to think about that possibility.
"I mean, we'll both survive, almost no matter how severe our punishment, but..."
"I know, Wulf.." Phantom responded, "I didn't want to get him involved in the first place. I...I don't know what it is. But...something inside me needs to see him."
"Wow...you really have changed."
"I have not. You're insane," Phantom scoffed, once again looking through his binoculars to look at the army of ghosts slowly surrounding his previous location, "Good thing we got away in time...because...wow. He's really gone all-out."
"You're avoiding the topic," Wulf responded looking through his own binoculars at the sight.
"What, are you going to lecture me?" Phantom replied sarcastically.
"Listen, Phantom. You've known me a long time. I would know if you've changed or not."
"Whatever."
"See? This is how you always were before you met him."
"It couldn't be 'before I met him'. I did know him when I was alive," Phantom once again sarcastically responded.
"Fine, whatever. But what happens if we all do get through this and he asks you to stay here with him? Sure you hate the Ghost Zone, but before you wouldn't have chosen to stay here in a million years."
"Stop talking like we're lovers."
"You aren't?" Wulf gave him a serious look.
"Uhm...are you serious right now?" Phantom shot his head to the side to look at the man.
"What, I'm just saying..." Wulf shrugged, "I mean, in ten years of me knowing you, you've been the same static person each and every day. For somebody to change you like he has, he must have had a profound impact on you. And besides, you're gay, aren't you?"
Phantom cringed at the word, "Come on, could you not? I hate that word. And besides, it's not like I'm exclusively," he glared at Wulf who was only half-listening, "I've been with ONE guy. And besides that, I don't even think he i---wait, you know what? Why am I even talking about if he likes guys? That's just countering my point that he's my BROTHER."
"Okay, whatever," Wulf shrugged,"weren't you insisting you weren't brothers?"
"Well...uh..yeah, but that is..."
"Touching conversation, boys..." a voice came from behind them, "too bad I'm going to have to cut it short."
The two groaned at one another and slowly turned their heads, "Ugh...Walker."
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Danny started running towards some of the stray ghosts as he exited the building.
"Hey, you!" he shouted at them, half out of breath,"Didn't Walker tell you no slacking off!?"
The ghosts looked at him and analyzed him carefully.
"Doesn't he look like the ghost we're after?"
"The hair's a little off, but...I think so, yeah."
"Didn't the other guys just leave to get him though?"
"Do you think it's a trick?"
"HEY! I'm talking to you!" Danny pulled out a small glowing orb Wulf had given to him and attached it to the top of a staff he had slung across his back.
The orb slowly changed from a green hue to smokey white cloud wisps before it turned completely red atop the staff. His mouth was agape at the small light-show that had just occurred, but with the ghosts glaring angrily at him he soon remembered his objective.
"I really hope this works and I'm not crazy," Danny said, slightly looking away and covering his face with the opposite arm he was holding the staff with. He slowly raised it and pointed it at the two now-approaching ghost officers.
"Here goes nothing..." he murmured, completely closing his eyes and looking away as he thrust the staff forward at them.
For a very long moment, he thought nothing had happened; however, the suspended animation ended as quickly as it started and he heard a threatening sound come from the staff, vibrations waving down its shaft. He looked to see a scorched, smokey area on the ground and two completely off-put ghost officers.
"Haha!" he laughed at them, humored by his new-found power. He fired the staff towards them at will as he ran forward to catch up. Unfortunately, he forgot Wulf's piece of advice about not using it too much, and the red orb quickly faded away.
"Uh...uh-oh. I think I broke it."
The two ghosts now headed forward once again with ghostly night-sticks in hand.
"Ohhhh crap," he shouted running the opposite way.
The chase continued for a short while, before a turn finally came in the road and Danny darted down an alleyway. The two officers followed him short-there-after, each getting impressively hit by the hilt of the staff.
"Huh. Look at me. I'm fighting ghosts," Danny beamed proudly sticking his chest in the air.
'Are you fooling around again Danny?' he could nearly hear Phantom making fun of him.
"Okay, fine..." he began talking to the dismembered voice he imagined, "I'll go find the others."
As Danny ran around town to knock the rest of the stray ghosts out of commission, Warden had shackled and prepared the two ghosts for their voyage back to his prison. However, instead of leaving for the Ghost Zone as he had planned, he waited around.
"What are we waiting for?" Phantom grunted and groaned as he struggled against the cuffs, "You've got us, now take us back."
"I think there's another prisoner I'd like to take. This 'Danny' fellow you two seem so interested in.
Phantom's eyes went wide, shock radiating throughout his entire body and burning itself into his soul. His body was aching with the amount of emotional and psychological pain the thought of Danny coming to harm brought. Seeing Danny hurt was one thing, but knowing Walker would kill him with no mercy completely disheartened Phantom. He stopped struggling against his restraints and held his head down.
'Maybe Wulf is right, I don't care...but...I can't let anything happen to Danny. This is my own fault and my own burden, not his...'
Despite his overflowing will to fight Walker then and there, Phantom still couldn't break the sudden depression that had taken a hold of his soul. He sat on the grass completely disarmed and disheartened as Walker strode away laughing.
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Danny sighed in relief as he captured the last set of ghosts.
"Phantom was right. Like him or not, Walker does have some cool gadgets."
He let out one more sigh of victory, and then hopped on his scooter to check in with Phantom and Wulf.
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Approaching the area Wulf and Phantom instructed him to meet them at, Danny stepped off his scooter and looked around for the two ghosts. He sighed and sat down, deciding to just wait for the two. A minute or two after he had chosen to sit down though, he spotted something in the not-too-distant-distance. He ran towards it, tears beginning to stroll down his cheeks as he realized what it was.
"Phantom?"
A/N: Mwahahaha. Evil am I? Yes. Very. :P However, it had a good cliff-hanger ending, so yeah. Tomorrow is another day! So yeah. But R&R and tell me what you thought. A few things first, though.
1. Uh...Phantom isn't 'Gay', for the record. He's Bi. XP Just thought I'd clear it up for anyone still wondering that.
2. Danny's staff is, yes (If you were thinking it), supposed to be reminiscent of the staff Freakshow had. It's adapted to fit the story, but the idea for a staff came from that. Yes, I am cheater. XP
3. I know up at the top there I said the 'final' confrontation, but...I lied. It turned out to be two parts. So yeah. Deal with it foo's. XD No I'm just kidding, I am sorry. But next chapter really will be the end of the confrontation, so yeah. Also, there's two more chapters. So it'll be 11 Chapters total, just thought I'd clear that up from my mysterious '1-5' or whatever thing.
4. XD I included some pretty nice words. If you can spot em I'll give you a cookie! =D Everyone likes cookies. DON'T LIE, WE KNOW YOU DO. XD
But...yeah! That's about all. So...I hope you've liked the story thus-far, and will continue forward for the next two chapters! Thank you so much for your support, guys. ^^ So here's to a great grand-finale in the near future! ~Shin-Shui~
Quick Edit: Cuzza my schedule and stuff I haven't been able to update. But...I plan to update the last two chapters probably Thursday and Friday, or Thursday and Saturday. Like, 2 daysish for each interval. I have them done, I just haven't been able to get on to post them. And I don't want to just give it all to you at once :P I'm too mean to do that. xD Jk. But yeah. Okay, once again, I hope you enjoyed it and please rate and review! ~Shin-Shui~