Chapter Ninety-Two: Shadows
"Dani didn't come home?" Danny asked at breakfast the next morning. "Not at all?"
"No, and I asked Plasmius to check for Youngblood and apparently he's moved his ship." Vlad sighed. "Danielle…where are you?"
"We'll go looking after school; ask around to see if anyone's seen her. If it comes to it, we'll ask Clockwork." Dan promised.
"He won't help." Dark remarked. "Danielle going on a date with the pirate brat and not coming back the next day is no cause for temporal alarm."
"She could get hurt, though!" Danny frowned. "If they wander too close to the Shadow Realm…"
"Well, then you can go looking after school." Dark got up from the table. "Hurry up, kids."
"I'm gonna be worrying all day." Danny got up from his empty plate and went to Sam's chair, giving her a peck on the lips before he went to get his bag.
"Take the bracelet, in case we have unexpected visitors while you're gone." Vlad informed them.
Dan nodded, getting up and going to his own bag. "Stupid Dani…why did she take off?"
"Well, she IS dating a freakin' PIRATE. I DID try to talk her out of it!" Danny reminded Dan as they left with Dark.
"And most likely spurred her on to do this by doing so!" Dan retorted.
.
"Where are we?" Dani asked.
"Arr, stay down, lassie." Youngblood said, slowly maneuvering around the jagged landscape. "This be uncharted territory now. There could be beasties about."
She nodded, looking around. She didn't know this area, but she could swear she had seen shadows among the rocks.
"Land ahoy!" Youngblood heard one of his men say. They pulled up next to what looked like a warehouse and lowered the anchor to hook them onto it. He then turned to Dani and offered her a hand.
Dani got down with him and looked around curiously. He nodded and pushed open the warehouse door, looking in. "It's so dark…" She whispered, stepping inside.
He nodded, stepping in behind her. "Can you make a light?"
She nodded, forming a small ball of glowing energy in her hand. "There, this should help." She walked further in, Youngblood right behind her.
The place seemed to be completely empty, aside from a full-length mirror, a bed, and a table and chair that were all close together. She walked over to the mirror and gasped. "But, that's Dan's room!" She breathed.
Youngblood walked over and examined the bed. "This hasn't been used in a while, it looks like."
She looked over and then nodded, walking over to sit on the bed. He took a seat next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Well, we can use it as our secret hangout." She smiled.
"What if Dan sees us?" Youngblood gestured to the mirror with his hook.
She shrugged and leaned her head on his shoulder. "We can turn it around, if we're worried about that."
He smiled and changed the hook into a hand, gently tilting her head up and meeting her lips with his. She smiled and returned the kiss, pushing him down playfully. He held onto her waist and pulled her down with him, the two laughing.
"Youngblood, Captain, we have a problem." The parrot came flying in. "Those shadow creatures have boarded the ship."
"Can't the crew fight them?" Youngblood frowned.
"The crew is being attacked, Cap'n. We need you." The parrot said firmly.
Youngblood and Dani looked at each other and then went out, gasping when they saw the ship overrun with the creatures.
"Ye gads; what ARE these things?!" Youngblood pulled out his sword while Dani formed an attack.
"I'm not sure, but they certainly aren't friendly!" She cried, forming a shield around them as the creatures flew at them at a quick speed. They hit the shield and screeched, trying to claw open the orb that protected them.
"My crew isn't interesting them anymore." Youngblood noticed. "They're all paying attention to us now!"
"Then tell them to get out of here and get some help!" Dani cried, wincing as the shield weakened. "We have to get inside, Youngblood! We're not getting back to the ship through them!"
"Alright, alright!" Youngblood nodded. "Listen up, ye dogs! Get back to harbor and find help! We'll use this here shelter to hold them off! Now hurry!"
The crew quickly did as they were told, and Youngblood looked at the parrot. "Go with them!"
"But—"
"You heard me!" Youngblood snapped.
"Oh, alright!" The parrot nodded and flew off, leaving the couple to the horde of shadow creatures.
Dani pulled Youngblood inside with her and he shut the door, the shield dissipating as soon as it shut.
"Do you think they'll be able to get help in time?" Youngblood asked as Dani conjured up the light-orb again. "Maybe it'd be faster to use the mirror!"
"Phantom's not in his room right now, no one would hear us!" She looked around nervously. "You don't think one of those things got in?"
"I've never even seen the like of those! Wait, I have." Youngblood frowned. "Those creatures looked kind of like Johnny 13's bad luck shadow."
"Oh, great. That doesn't tell us anything." Dani frowned, going to the bed and sitting down. Youngblood joined her, looking around nervously.
"It's all I know, Danielle." He said, shrugging.
"I know…" She looked at him. "I'm just scared…I've never seen such things before…"
He sighed. "Well, hopefully my crew will find help." He sat down and she formed a shield around them, leaning against him and trying to comfort the frightened teen. Apparently when Danny fought him he had always been in a child form of around eight years, but he'd changed himself to look closer to her age since the Christmas Truce party.
He wrapped his arm tightly around her, the sounds of the creatures outside reminding them that they weren't alone, and could be attacked at any moment.
.
"That was the longest flippin' school day I have ever had." Danny said as he, Dan and Dark flew through the Ghost Zone.
"Phantom, you know the way the best." Dark looked at him. "Where's the Shadow Realm?"
"Actually, I was taken there by Johnny 13." Dan admitted.
"Then let's hurry to his place!" Danny said, rushing off to where Johnny and Kitty made their home.
When they arrived, Danny landed first and went straight to 13, grabbing his shoulders. "13, have you seen Danielle?!"
13 looked at him, blinking. "You mean your little clone? No…" He pursed his lips. "I have, however, seen Youngblood's ship heading past. If the Christmas Truce party was any indication…"
"Ah, you saw them under the mistletoe, too?" Danny asked.
13 nodded. "I think that the ship was heading towards the Shadow Realm."
"As we feared…" Danny bit his lip, then looked over when the other two joined them. "13 saw Youngblood's ship heading for the Shadow Realm." He looked at 13. "Can you show the way?"
"I'll have to interrupt Johnny." 13 looked reluctant and went into the house that had been created there.
A bit later, Johnny and Kitty were coming out on his bike, 13 close by Johnny was usual. "Don't worry, Phantom! We'll help you get your little sister out of there!" Johnny promised him. "Follow me!" He drove off into the Ghost Zone.
Dan nodded, flying after them with Danny and Dark. "How long ago did he see them?" He asked Danny.
"13?" Danny looked at the Shadow Ghost.
"…Hours." 13 said grimly.
"We better hurry, then! Full speed!" Johnny said, speeding up as the other three flew faster.
They reached the warehouse and found the door torn off, shadow ghosts all over. Danny let out an animalistic roar and flew in, letting out a blast from his body that threw the shadow ghosts out. "Dani! Dani, where are you?!"
"I-I'm here!" Dani cried, and he looked over to see the mirror had been knocked over and she was sitting with a weakened shield protecting her and Youngblood, Youngblood unconscious next to her. "I-I managed to get them off, but they…they were biting him! And they bit me, too! And i-it hurts, Danny!"
Danny's eyes flashed red and he flew between Dani and the shadow ghosts. "GET AWAY FROM WHAT'S MINE!" He roared, lunging at one of the ghosts and biting down. They seemed to realize that Danny was one of them and withdrew, leaving the one he'd caught with him.
"Get away, FAR away! If ANY of you come near anyone close to me again, I will SUCK YOU DRY!" Danny roared, his red eyes flaring. "You know me! You know my scent! And you'll KNOW if they're close to me!" He released the captive one and it fled with the others, the area clearing out quickly as they ran screaming.
"D-Danny…?" Dani dropped the shield and collapsed; the loss of blood and the use of her powers draining her.
"Danny, go outside and wait." Dark said, going over to Dani with a healing orb. "Now!"
Danny nodded, walking out with his eyes still red. Dan looked at Dark before he formed another healing orb and went to Youngblood.
.
The ship hadn't gone far, they were trying to figure out how to go back and save their captain on their own and so were coming back to help when they saw him being carried out by Dan. "Cap'n!" The crew cried, lowering the ramp so they could get on.
"He's okay, guys." Dan said, gently laying him down on the deck. "Johnny, why don't you drive up here and ride back with us?"
"Sounds good." Johnny nodded, driving up onto it.
Dani flew up and knelt next to Johnny worriedly, then looked over at Danny, who had gotten on after talking with Dark privately. He was wiping at his mouth, his eyes back to normal. 'I've never…seen him like that.' She thought. 'He was as feral as whatever those creatures were!' She looked at Dan. "Phantom…what were those?"
"Shadow ghosts." Dan said, kneeling next to her. "Ghost vampires." He looked over at Danny. "Danny used to be one of them, and still retains some of their quirks. Some ghosts are weak when they first die, so they become shadow ghosts to survive. Either they latch onto stronger ghosts to gain strength, or…" He looked at her sternly. "They feed off of a stronger ghost that is foolish enough to go into their realm."
She looked down. "How…how did Danny…change?"
"He was attached me to already from the moment of his death, because of our mental connection. I just had to find him, but he contacted me through that mirror you saw there. This place was Danny's home before I found him." Dan sighed. "It's because he was a shadow ghost that he always has those bandages."
She looked over at Danny. "He went…feral – like they were – because they hurt me?"
Dan nodded. "You're really important to him, Dani." He reached out and rubbed her head. "Don't scare him like that again, okay? Also, Dark's gonna give you detention for skipping school today."
"Uh oh." She winced.
"Yeah, 'uh oh'." Dark walked over to her with Danny, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Eheheheh..." She smiled nervously as he raised an eyebrow at her. "Sorry?"
.
"Oh, come on!" Dani huffed as she was handed the cleaning supplies. "Not even something at school? You're punishing me by making me clean the mansion by myself?!"
"You're lucky you're just getting this, young lady!" Vlad said firmly.
"Save sneaking off with boys for when you're 16 or older." Plasmius said, smirking. "Actually, sneaking out sounds like it would be a bad idea altogether, so just don't do it."
"Have fun, Danielle!" Dark ruffled her hair as he walked off with Daniel.
"You guys suck!" She stomped her foot and walked off to clean the first place.
"Well, that ended better than it could've." Sam said, looking at Danny.
Danny nodded, lifting her into his arms. "Yeah. Good thing we got there in time. Youngblood of course isn't in trouble, he has no guardian." He flew off to the den with her and Lucretius in his arms.
"I'm glad you were able to control yourself in that state." Sam said softly. "After what you told me at the party…"
He nodded, smiling. "Yeah."
Dan looked up as they flew by. "Finding somewhere away from Dani to sit?"
"Just going to the den, Phantom." Sam looked at him. "Where you off to?"
"Got a text from Val, gonna go to my room and call her back." He held up his phone, walking into his bedroom.
Danny nodded, sighing. "I'll be glad to relax for a little while. Dani's had me worried all day."
Sam nodded. "You and me both."
"And me!" Lucretius said, holding up a hand.
"Do you have any idea what we're talking about?" Sam asked.
"…Cake?" Lucretius guessed.
The young parents laughed and flew into the den, sitting on the couch together.
See, kids, this is why you stay in school - or at least don't wander into uncharted territory.
Danny went feral to protect his clone, seems he's getting this Shadow Ghost stuff under control!
Or not. He seems pretty freaked out by it. Hm...
Eh, he seems okay enough to relax later. :) ~ Zone