See? Spontanious.
Shadow floated exhaustedly through the ghostly world. His eyes remained half-lidded from exhaustion. He clamped a hand to his side and gazed ahead.
"Need to…rest," he panted, his breathing uneven.
He came upon a rocky shelf and made for it, but was blasted away. The boy tiredly turned over in the air. Skulker, Ember, Thrasher, Box Ghost, Lunch Lady, Boxed Lunch, Cade, and many other ghosts were all lined up. Skulker was holding up his gun, signifying that he was the one who fired.
"Don't think that just because you were thrown out of your world, you can come here," Skulker said roughly.
"And I thought that you were supposed to be the strong twin, but you can't even beat back your own sister when she tries taking over the human plane," Thrasher added. (She still looks like she originally did).
"And now it's only a matter of time before she invades here, too," Ember growled. She had flown behind him and emphasized her statement by playing a power chord.
Shadow was knocked forward and sent tumbling through the air. He landed on the shelf that he was originally aiming for. All of his enemies stood above him in an inescapable circle. He tried pushing himself up, but was squashed by Cade's boot. He grabbed the shoe, trying to pry it off of him, but to no avail.
"Look, I'm not trying to cause any trouble," he stated in a strained voice while still attempting to get Cade's boot off. "I just came here to get away from Abby until I'm strong enough to fight her again."
"Don't want to cause trouble, please," Cade growled, pushing down harder. "You've caused nothing but trouble since the day you came around. And now, you've spilled your misfortune into the Ghost Zone. You know what's the worst, though?" the ghost ridiculed as he finally took his boot off of the young half-ghost so that he could lean down close to his face. "You can't even clean up your own mess."
Cade joined the semi-circle formed around Shadow again. The teen was badly hurt, both emotionally and physically. He managed to stand and clutched both of his sides while gazing up at the ghosts with his red eyes half lidded.
"Face it; you're just a pathetic kid who's in way over his head," Box Ghost hissed, staring the boy straight in the eyes. Shadow flinched, closing his eyes.
"Don't call me that," he muttered. "Just leave me alone."
"Fat chance," Thrasher put in as all of the ghosts began charging up their most powerful attacks.
"All you do is cause trouble," Ember taunted. "It's time to end it all. Say goodbye, you out-of-control, misfit freak."
"Don't you ever call me that," he threatened. His eyes snapped open, revealing them to be full-red once more. "Ever again!" With those words, he threw his arms out as red energy poured from him and red flames erupted on his hands moments before all of that energy exploded. The power raged and wiped out everything in its path, knocking the ghosts both backwards and unconscious. When the rush finally died out, Shadow's eyes returned to normal and his body went limp. He was forced to change back to human from exhaustion and joined the others in unconsciousness.
A figure with black boots on landed next to the passed out teen. Vlad stared down at the young boy with a mixture of confusion and fascination.
"Amazing. The rumors are true. Looks like that Teacher fellow knew something after all. Jacob, the chosen. I never would have thought, "Vlad commented to himself.
Jake's eyes peeled open slowly. He found himself in a large room.
"Look, he is awakening," an old male voice reported in a hushed tone.
"It's about time. He's been out long enough for Abby to take over the entire Ghost Zone," another man said in response.
The teen clutched his side as he made to sit up. The voices sounded familiar. He got his answer when he opened his eyes to see the Teacher floating at the foot of the bed he was on.
"What? Teacher? Where am I? What happened?" he blurted out in confusion and fatigue.
"I believe that those are questions more appropriate for me," Vlad said as he entered Jake's line of vision.
The boy's muscles tensed and his eyes narrowed as they flashed red.
"Plasmius. What do you want?" he growled.
"Now, now, Jacob. Is that any way to talk to the person who just rescued you?" he scolded.
"Rescued? What are you talking about?" the boy interrogated, never letting his guard down.
"After that little show you put on, I dragged you out of there. If I hadn't those ghosts would have killed you by now," Vlad snapped.
"Speaking of that little show," the Teacher cut in, "Do you have any idea what you did? That power?"
Jake looked at him with puzzlement. "No, not really. I just felt all of that energy and…I don't know, snapped. Why?"
The Teacher glanced at Vlad for a moment, signaling him to speak.
"Because that's a very rare ability. Only one ghost may possess that power at a time. Jacob, you're that ghost," Vlad informed.
Jake's eyes went wide as he glanced between the two. "What?! No, that's just…impossible. It's got to be a mistake. I mean; I'm not even full ghost!"
"Calm down, boy!" the Teacher ordered. "There is no mistake, I have figured it since the day I met you."
"How?" the teen questioned.
"That 'X' you bear. It is a mark," told the old ghost.
"A mark? Of what?"
"Of a pure spirit, Jacob!" Vlad boomed in aggravation. "That is what you are; a being that has access to their core spectral energy." He pulled an ancient book off of a nearby table and thrusted it at Jake.
The young half-ghost opened the book warily and flipped through the pages.
"It's much more than that," the Teacher corrected. "It's an honor. The power that now runs through your veins belongs to that of an ancient ghost. The ghost was powerful and had taken part in locking away Pariah Dark. This ghost, called Spiritus, later realized that he was fading. So, he found a way for his power to be passed on to one individual every time the previous owner expired. However, there were gaps in time where the power was dormant, waiting for the right individual. They were later called
'pure spirits' because of their ability to access the essence of their spiritual power and being. In fact, I have actually met one of the previous pure spirits."
The ghost raised his hand and the pages of the book Jake was holding instantly flipped to a picture of a young man with green skin, a white and purple karate suit, scruffy black hair, and full red eyes.
"His name was Chang. He sought to keep the peace between his own home and the ghostly world. When I saw you, I remembered him and had no doubt that you would be the next pure spirit," the Teacher continued.
Jake flipped through the pages. There were quite a few others pictured in the pages along with names, dates, and brief stories. All of them bore the mark he now had. Well, with the exception of the color scheme. He finally flipped all the way through until he reached a blank page. He gasped. An image of him slowly faded onto the page. Words became scrawled next to him along with his name, Shadow, scrawled at the top. Unlike everyone else, though, he wasn't wearing an expression of pride. No, his looked a little more…shameful. His head was tilted downward slightly while the red flame-like energy burned from the fists he had at his sides.
"Ah, there you are," the Teacher observed with a smile.
"But this just doesn't make sense. Besides, shouldn't there we some sort of catch? Power like that just doesn't exist without a hitch," Jake explained.
"Hm, you might be brighter than I give you credit for. Are you sure you're Daniel's son?" Vlad mocked.
Jake glared at him.
"Oh, alright! Calm down, already," Vlad snapped. "Such a temper. But, yes, you are correct. That power feeds off of you. You see, spiritual energy is how ghosts exist in the first place. It's what carries over from their human self; what remains. When you use this energy, you are directly tapping into your human life energy. Using too much could be fatal, Jacob."
The boy's eyes went wide. "Check. For desperate times only." He paused for a moment. "Wait, is this whole freaky spiritual energy thing going to help me beat Abby?"
"Indeed," the Teacher replied. "Although, I find this ironic. In Vlad giving Abby Phantom the power to tear down both the human and ghost planes, he causes the absolute revelation of your power, which he then has to teach you about, which you will then use to fix the original mistake. Odd, isn't it?"
Jake's ears suddenly caught something in that sentence. "Wait, Vlad gave Abby that necklace? Then this is all his fault!"
Jake looked like he was about to leap off of the bed and attack Vlad, but the older hybrid used his powers to form a shield around him.
"Yes, I did give Abby that amulet in hopes of a plan that seems to have become futile, but I am also one of the only ones who can help you with these powers. I have the book and that's the only written record of your kind. Most ghosts are unknowledgeable about even the existence of the pure spirits! So, if you are planning to use the power entailed with that ability, you really don't have much of a choice," Vlad explained, leaning toward mocking near the end.
"You must trust him on this one, young Shadow. If there were any other choice, neither of us would be here," the Teacher put in, clearly showing his dislike for Vlad.
"Fine," Jake growled. "But that doesn't mean that I'll like it or that I trust you."
"Understandable," Vlad accepted. "Now…"
The next chapter might be a while in coming. I have to play it out just right.
Hope you enjoyed this little twist to the plot. And, look! I actually gave a reason for the 'X' to mysteriously appear.