Chapter Eighty-Nine: Bully
Apparently, The Box Ghost wasn't lying or exaggerating about the animosity between Ghostwriter and Poindexter. As soon as they arrived for the party, they made sure to avoid each other entirely, truce be damned. Danny, of course, was concerned about it and determined to find out what caused this utter distaste for each other. Surely it wasn't just about the ruler?
"Hey, Poindexter." Danny greeted, walking up to him with a glass of punch. "Want a drink?"
"As long as nothing was put in it." Poindexter took it.
"There better not be, my son is drinking this stuff." Danny glared towards Dan.
'Why do you always assume it's me?' Dan asked in his mind. 'Don't worry, I've told Johnny, Ember and Skulker, no spiking the punch.'
Poindexter sighed, sipping his punch. "This sure is a nice party, Danny. I know we haven't gotten along the best, but we're good now."
"Yeah, speaking of 'not getting along', what did Ghostwriter do to you?" Danny asked.
Poindexter made a face. "That…that bully used his book powers to prank me in a really horrible way! I'm never forgiving him for that!"
"Well, you've seen how he pranked me before." Danny smiled. "I've gotten over it. Isn't it the point of the Christmas Truce to learn to let bygones be bygones?"
"I'm not going to forgive him until he apologizes!" Poindexter said firmly, taking another sip of his drink.
Danny sighed, looking at the monochrome ghost helplessly, then looked towards Ghostwriter talking with Dan by the punch. 'Phantom, can I ask you a favor?' He thought.
'Talk to Ghostwriter about Poindexter?' Dan asked mentally.
'Yes, please.' Danny replied.
'I'll try.' Dan sounded doubtful that he would succeed.
Danny sighed a bit. Poindexter looked at him, confused. "Is something the matter, Danny?"
"Oh, just…You know I have a link with my brother, right?" He tapped his head.
"Phantom, yeah." Poindexter nodded.
"I was sighing about something he said." Danny grinned.
"Well, tell him not to hang around bullies." Poindexter gave a pointed look at Dan talking with Ghostwriter.
"I'll see what I can do." Danny chuckled. "He doesn't always listen to me."
"Eh, who does he listen to?" Poindexter shrugged.
Danny chuckled. "True."
.
Dan ignored the conversation he was overhearing. "So, I hear that you pranked Poindexter. What brought that on?" He asked, chuckling as he served Ghostwriter more punch.
"He insulted one of my works, said it was 'mediocre' and the characters were 'not fleshed out enough'." Ghostwriter smirked. "So, I put him in a story. It was a love story, and he even believed it up until he realized it wasn't possible for Ember to be interested in him."
"Did you agree to this?" Dan looked at her.
"I was bored, so I figured 'why not'." Ember shrugged. "If it wasn't me, he would've written someone else into it, so I volunteered when I heard about it. Skulker was so pissed at first, but then he joined the story as the rival and things got fun." She grinned.
"You guys are twisted." Dan chuckled. "So, I'm guessing you have no remorse for what you did?"
"I don't intend to apologize until he apologizes." Ghostwriter said calmly.
"Come on, Ghostwriter, what kind of writer can't take criticism?" Dan raised an eyebrow. "You can't mess with the life of everyone who says your stories aren't as good as you claim."
Ghostwriter huffed. "As if that foolish child would know anything about REAL literature!"
Dan sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead. 'You hear that, Danny?' He thought.
'Yeah. How will we get them to apologize to each other?' Danny thought. 'I mean, clearly what Ghostwriter did was going too far. Poindexter won't forgive him so easily.'
'And Ghostwriter has his insufferable pride.' Dan thought. 'Alright, I'm just going over to you. This is a face-to-face discussion thing.' He excused himself from the group and flew off to find Danny. He found him by the Christmas tree and motioned up – he wanted to talk on the roof.
Danny nodded and they flew out the window together and landing on the highest roof.
"So, we can't have them still angry when the truce is over. Who knows what they'll do?" Danny said, sighing as he sat down on the roof. "We have to solve this dilemma…"
"Personally, I think we could just leave it up to them. Maybe they'll sort it out if we just talk to them. Maybe tell Poindexter he was too harsh, and that anyone would've reacted badly with that kind of insult to their work." Dan stretched out on his back, looking at the stars above. "So, if Ghostwriter won't apologize until Poindexter apologizes, and Poindexter won't forgive him until he apologizes, we just have to get Poindexter to apologize first. That'll set off the chain-reaction."
"Great. So, I'll leave convincing Poindexter to you, since you think it's so easy." Danny said, lifting into the air.
"Hey, wait! He doesn't like me!" Dan stood up. "You have to convince him, Danny!"
"Well, you're the one who thinks it's a simple task!" Danny said firmly.
"I never said it would be easy!" Dan groaned. "How about we BOTH go?"
"He'll see it as ganging up!" Danny replied.
"You know, you could ask someone who hasn't pissed him off before to talk to him."
They looked over to see that Dark had come to see what they were up to. "Even if I did it in my time, he doesn't know me as the same person." Dark said matter-of-factly. "After all, they don't know our history."
Dan sighed. "Well, if it wouldn't be too much trouble." He gave a little shrug.
"Good. I'll do that after I talk with Danny a bit." Dark glanced at Dan. "You can go back to the party."
"You know I'll know what you say anyway." Dan frowned.
"But you won't comment. Shoo." Dark waved him off. Dark made an offended noise and flew off.
Danny frowned. "What…did you want to talk about?"
"During the ghost battle, you used a weird move." Dark said, moving closer to him. "You bit down on the enemy ghost."
"That was just to warn him off." Danny said. "I didn't…drink anything. I didn't bite that hard."
"'Drink'?" Dark frowned. "Dan said it's something you sometimes do."
Danny sighed, sitting on the edge of the chimney. "…You know I was a Shadow Ghost before, right?"
"Yes." Dark nodded.
"You…didn't see the ugly side of it." Danny shivered. "Even when with Phantom…but mostly when he's far away…I get…urges. I can usually fight them, but…" He looked at Dark. "A Shadow Ghost is also known as a 'ghost vampire'. They feed off the ectoplasm in other ghosts to survive. I still…" He looked down. "I still…hunger. And if a ghost bleeds around me…"
Dark looked at him thoughtfully, then removed one of his gloves, cutting into his wrist with a claw. "What happens?"
Danny looked up in surprise and gasped, moving to pull his claw away. "No, don't! You don't want to see it! The scent…"
Dark watched as Danny's pupils turned to slits and then moved his wrist away from Danny, seeing the younger ghost follow the movements like an animal. Then Danny lunged, and he flinched when the younger ghost started to lick and suck on his wrist, taking in his ectoplasm.
"Alright, so that's what happens." Dark held up a hand and did a sharp karate-chop to his back. It was enough to shake Danny out of his trance and he pulled away in horror, ectoplasm on his lips. He wiped it away and then flew away, ashamed.
"Interesting." Dark hummed, watching his wrist heal up. "Shadow Ghosts…"
.
Dan was furious, but chose not to go after Dark now. He had known the guy was twisted, but that was just mean. He flew out to where Danny was sitting on the balcony and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. "It's okay, Danny…you're not like that. You're not just a Shadow Ghost. You can fight the hunger."
Danny sniffled. "I'm scared, Phantom. What if that happens again?"
"It won't." Dan held him tighter. "I promise you, it won't. I'll always be here to stop you. Always."
"What happened to Danny?" Poindexter asked, walking over to them. "Was Danny bullied?"
"No, he wasn't bullied." Dan shook his head. "He'll be okay, Poindexter." He turned to him. "But, I do need to talk to you. Will you listen to what I have to say?"
Poindexter nodded slowly.
Dan sighed, nodding. "Okay. Poindexter, you don't like bullies, right?"
"Right." Poindexter nodded.
"How do you feel when someone takes an essay you worked hard on and rips it to pieces, or calls it a piece of junk?" Dan asked.
Poindexter looked thoughtful. "I…feel really bad."
"Well, how do you think that Ghostwriter felt?" Dan asked. "He lashed out at you in the way he knew how, because he's not a fighter and he wanted to prove you wrong and teach you a lesson. You really hurt him, Poindexter. You bullied him. I know, because I once did the same thing."
"I-I bullied…Ghostwriter?" Poindexter looked towards where Ghostwriter was.
Dan nodded. Danny looked at him and smiled, glad that he was handling it so well. "You both have your pride, I know, but when it comes right down to it, you're the one that bullied first." He gently placed a hand on Poindexter's shoulder. "You said you'll forgive him if he apologizes, but he won't apologize until you do. You have to make the first move, Poindexter, just like how you made the first move in this fight. You have to end it first."
Poindexter rubbed the back of his head. "Gosh…I guess I wasn't really being on the square, was I?"
Dan shook his head. "You weren't being fair at all. But you can fix it, but going to him and apologizing. Call him away to do it, if you're worried about the others."
Poindexter nodded, walking off to Ghostwriter. The two brothers watched from the balcony as Ghostwriter listened to his request to step out and talk and then turned around to see them fly out to the garden.
"Think it'll be okay?" Danny asked.
Dan smiled, nodding. They couldn't hear what was being said, but Poindexter spoke, and then Ghostwriter said something, Poindexter spoke again, and then Ghostwriter looked thoughtful before speaking again, holding out a hand. Poindexter took it, smiling. "Yeah. I think it's fine." He said, looking at Danny.
Danny smiled, leaning on the balcony. "That's good. Animosity between ghosts is no good. Especially since Poindexter would be a great teacher in his school." He grinned at Dan.
Dan laughed. "Well, we'll leave that up to them. Let's go see what your family is up to, hm?" He patted his shoulder and then flew off. Danny flew after him, going inside.
Probably better that they didn't get Dark's help in the end. I don't know in Poindexter even trusts him, based on what he might've heard.
Ghostwriter and Poindexter would make good friends, if they weren't butting heads over a book. We're not even gonna bother trying to get Ember and Skulker to apologize. :p
Dark seems interested in knowing more about the Shadow Ghosts and how much Danny is still like one. Should we be worried? ~ Zone