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"3…2…1!" everyone counted down together. Just as they hit one, the sun slipped below the horizon.
The group slumped back into couches.
"That was, without a doubt, one of the longest days of my life," Tori commented, sitting in between Matt and Jake.
"Which is probably because it started at 5 AM," Matt retorted.
Jake looked nonchalant. "I don't know. I've had longer." Tori smirked and pushed him. He chuckled. "But it did rank up there."
"So we're just going to wait for the alarm to go off?" Abby asked.
"Exactly," Tucker answered her. "It'll give us the coordinates of the attempted breech and we can head straight over there. And it's programmed so that not even the people Sylvio controlled can get in."
"Hey," Jake started warily. "How long do you think it'll take for it to go off, anyway?"
"It's impossible to tell, but…"Tucker began. He was rudely broken off by a wailing siren.
Danny sighed. "Well, that didn't take long." He unfolded his arms and stepped forward, changing into Phantom. "Okay, everyone, let's go! Tuck?"
"It's at the north end of town," he informed.
Abby, like Danny, switched to her ghost form, Valerie and Tori activated their suits, Sam and Jake grabbed ecto-weapons, while Matt joined Tucker by a control panel, slipping on a pair of good old fashioned Fenton Phones. The whole group wore them.
"Good luck!" Tucker and Matt called out as they both watched their best friends race out into the middle of the fight.
Matt leaned back. "Left out of the action again."
Tucker shrugged. "Just think of it as holding down the fort."
"Yeah, well, I want my revenge for being banned from daylight, so they better give that Sylvio a good kick in the butt for me," the younger commented with a smile.
"I'm sure they will."
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The team fast-approached the point of attempted entry. Just as they were closing in, though, Danny heard Tucker on the Fenton Phones.
"Dude, they're all over the place!" he exclaimed. "I just got a hit from almost everywhere else around the perimeter."
"Okay, guys, we have to spread out a bit," Danny ordered. "They're attacking us from all sides."
"Shouldn't we focus on finding Sylvio?" Jake asked, riding on Tori's board. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.
"Good point," Danny agreed. "So we'll spread out until we find him, then whoever does has to announce it over the communication link. Until then, make sure that no one breaks the barrier. Electric shocks as a last resort."
Obeying, the group split up to expand around the edge of the shield.
"This is bad," Jake muttered, watching as the hoards of possessed people passed by on the other side of it.
"You've got that right," Tori responded. She shut off her communicator for a second. "Are you gonna go ghost when we land?"
Jake shut his off as well. "Not a chance. Jake Fenton can't just suddenly disappear in the middle of the fight at the same time that Shadow shows up. Besides, it's harder to focus while duplicating. I'll be fine with just an ecto-gun."
"If you say so."
Simultaneously, they turned their communicators back on.
"Why did you turn off your communicators!?" was the first thing they heard. The voice, which they recognized as Matt's, continued with, "Ugh. Never mind. Your Moms found Sylvio just south of the Nasty Burger."
"Got it," Jake and Tori said together. The latter shifted the board into a sharp turn and headed in another direction. Preferably where the action was.
"Must be one heck of a fight," Tori thought out loud. "I can see it from here."
"You ready?" her riding partner asked.
"Whenever you are."
They streaked downward as fast as possible skidding to a halt in the air right after bursting through the green dome. Everyone was gathered there already. Sam, Valerie, and Abby were blasting back of few of the army members while Danny was trying to get in shots at Sylvio. It was apparent that every time he was just about to score, the vampire-ghost stuck a slave right in front of him, knowing that Danny wouldn't hit a human.
"Hey, Count Jerkula, over here!" Tori called a split second before firing.
Sylvio had no time to react and was blown to the ground. Danny fired up for a second assault, but the ghost teleported away from them.
"Nice try," the tattooed being mocked, "but that's not going to cut it." He snapped his fingers. Suddenly, more of his minions approached, blocking them from all sides. The individual little teams were surrounded, unable to fend off the creatures with merely ecto-guns. As it was, Jake and Tori were practically back-to-back.
"What was that earlier comment about being fine with an ecto-gun?" Tori growled out, pushing more lackeys back.
"What do you want me to do?" Jake questioned in a whisper after shutting down his comm. link again. "I can't go ghost here."
"I'll create a diversion. Just get your half-ghost butt up there."
"Okay, what do you have in mind?" Jake wondered, fighting desperately to shove away the zombie-like people that were five inches from his face.
"This!"
The Blue Huntress fired at the ground, creating a large cloud of smoke. Without a moment's hesitation, Shadow flew up and into the fight.
"Look who finally joined the fight," Abby commented with a scowl.
"Sorry, I didn't get the memo," Shadow retorted. "I kind of figured the fireworks over here were invitation enough."
Abby's eyes flashed a dangerous green as she let her energy explode outward, shaking off approaching slaves. She zipped upward to join her ally/enemy.
"Don't just float there," she barked. "Help."
He rolled his eyes at her and both of them flew to the battle with Sylvio. Danny was getting some shots in since there were now four of him, but Sylvio's teleportation was tricky. Unseen, Abby snuck up behind the mysterious ghost and landed a charged punch to his back. He fell forward with the force, looking back and growling. He vanished and reappeared right behind Abby, ready to throw a similar blow, but was blasted out of the way by Shadow.
"Three against one," Shadow stated.
A crude smirk grew on Sylvio's face. "Try three against one thousand."
Just like that, some of the controlled humans began to jump up and grab onto their arms and legs. They held down Danny's duplicates and he was forced to recall all of them. Shadow winced as someone's fangs tore into his skin. He turned intangible, letting all of the attackers land like cats. However, that gave the leader enough time to try another strategy. Shadow's only warning was Abby's screaming.
He turned around just in time to see Abby holding onto her neck. Her eyes went wide and began to glow red.
"Abby!" Danny screamed. His eyes narrowed, burning almost yellow with his fury. As if some invisible shock wave had hit, all of the minions grabbing onto him were flung away.
This was an example of one of the most important rules and Amity Park: Never, ever do anything to Danny Phantom's daughter that would provoke such parental rage.
Sylvio had just crossed the line.
Danny floated upward, a supernatural wind swirling viciously around him. Sylvio's eyes grew momentarily large at the display of power, but he quickly tried to hide it. He braced himself for whatever Danny would attempt. Still, he wasn't prepared for the Phantom to shoot forward at an alarming speed and grab tightly onto his neck.
"Change…her…back," he spat, voice low and threatening.
Sylvio tried to teleport away, but only flickered, finding that his powers were being blocked. He clawed at the hands around his neck, unable to move them. Finally, he rasped out, "I…won't. Know now that if you destroy me…the last person I bit will become the new leader."
Another low growl echoed in Danny's throat. "You're bluffing."
"How much…would you like to bet on that? Her freedom? Her…life?"
Danny squeezed tighter, but spared a quick glance over to his daughter, twitching, and Shadow, who was staring petrified at her.
"Shadow," he ordered, "I want you to shock her. It's the only way to kill Sylvio's control."
"But…" he began to defend, realizing what his father was asking him to do.
"Now!"
Shadow's face set in a grim expression as he crossed his forearms in front of him. Red energy began to glow around them. Without warning, he snapped them outward and red lightning in the shape of an X bolted toward the target. In this case, his own sister.
It hit her straight on and she screamed. Loudly. It was painful to even hear.
It seemed to take hours for the ghost zapper to wear off, but it must have been less than a minute. Abby's eyes, now back to neon green, started to close as she leaned backward, losing altitude. Shadow's eyes widened and he rushed to catch her, succeeding just before the crowd below could touch her. Her eyes fluttered back open.
"Are you okay?" he asked with genuine concern. Abby had to blink a few times at the mere sound of it. It could have easily passed as just waking from a daze.
"Y-Yeah," she stammered, pushing away from him. "What kind of wuss do you think I am? I can take a hit!"
Shadow resisted the urge to chuckle lightly at her antics. That was Abby for you; a fighter 'til the end.
Instead, the boy responded with, "Then let's go help teach Sylvio a lesson, shall we?"
Instead of answering, she bolted forward, forcing the male ghost to play catch-up. Eyes burning with new fury, Abby was ready to beat Sylvio senseless. That is, if there was anything left after Danny was finished with him.
"I think it's time we moved this fight," Danny growled, his death grip on Sylvio's neck remaining. He reached out a hand and swiped at the air next to him. A glowing green rip formed out of nowhere. A portal to the Ghost Zone.
Abby suddenly stopped short, Shadow nearly slamming into her.
"Dad!" she cried. "I thought you said you can't control where you'll end up if you do that!"
"I can't," he informed. "Stay here."
Angrily, the older half-ghost threw Sylvio into the tear, following closely.
"I'm going," Abby said, getting ready to jump into the portal.
"But Mr. Phantom just said-," Shadow began.
"Like either of us always do what he says," she snapped back. "I don't know about you, but I want a piece of Sylvio. Particularly his head."
Before he could stop her, she leaped into the portal.
"Darn it!" Shadow muttered, chasing after her. The rip closed right behind him.
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These chapters are still so darn long.
I just realizized that Shadow hasn't called Danny "Mr. Phantom" in forever. It sounded weird writing it. But that's not going to change anytime soon.
Abby is vicious. Very vicious. But at least now it's not so fully directed at Shadow. (sigh) I sort of miss the mean-ness. I guess I'll just have to settle for distrust.