Hey everyone! Sorry if this chapter came out a little later than usual. I know it's not that late, but still. I've just had a lot of little things going on this week that required my attention, a lot of them still up in the air right now. Just stuff related to jobs, writing my second book, and just generally finishing up a class. Plus, this chapter was a little harder to write.
I don't really know why it was so hard to write, but I think I'm facing a block right now. Hopefully forcing myself to write more will stop it, but I think it's okay.
I do have something to announce at the end notes, though, so feel free to read until the end there.
I'll see you all the end of the chapter!
"Please tell me you aren't serious." Sollux looked over the sound files Karkat had collected off of Skulker's arm. He sighed loudly, handing his friends phone back to him. "For fucks sake, you're serious. I can't believe this shit."
"A one in a million chance to meet someone else with ghost powers, and he may have staged an attack on our school." Aradia's thousand-yard stare into the distance was one for the history books, especially since it crossed into becoming a death glare. "I'm starting to truly think you're cursed, Karkat. I really am."
"Join the fucking club. I still can't believe this either, and I practically stayed up all night listening to those." Karkat had done that after taking the arm and hiding it somewhere from his dad. He'd made sure to go over most of them to double check if it was some kind of misunderstanding. "And I'm pretty sure he's expecting me to call him up soon. Which would be fine if he wasn't a goddamn supervillain."
"Look, maybe this isn't that bad." Sollux received some weird looks for that, which he waved off. "Shut up, I can try and be positive too. Maybe he didn't mean for Skulker to nearly burn down the school. Maybe he just wanted him to back off and test your skills?"
"That doesn't negate the fact he started a forest fire, Captor." Karkat huffed. He almost wanted a ghost to show up just to let off some steam, which probably wasn't a healthy thought to have. "Which reminds me, make sure to look up anything involved with the name Ampora. If he's willing to commit arson, then he's probably doing some shady shit financial wise."
"Any idea what you're going to do then? About the training, I mean." Aradia fumbled with the straps of her backpack, a worried look crossing her face. "As much as I don't like that you'd be alone with him, it'd be suspicious if you didn't do anything about it. Especially after last night."
"I'm think I'll just have to play along for now. I guess as long as he actually teaches me some shit, I should take what I can get." It didn't sit well with him either, but the halfa figured as long as he didn't make him do anything shady, he'd be fine. "Maybe I can make sure Oberon isn't doing anything worse. Not to mention keep an eye on Eridan, see if he's shady too."
"Maybe you should call up Terezi and Nepeta too, while you're at it. If he does have contacts in the Ghost Zone, that means he's probably known there too." Aradia figured the logic was pretty much sound. Karkat couldn't really argue with it. "Give them some warning, though. Just in case."
"TZ's right, we really do need to stop calling her when a crisis is going on." Sollux pulled out his phone, already beginning his research. "Aradia, you mind looking up some stuff on Peixes? I'll do the heavy stuff for them later."
Aradia grunted in the affirmative while Karkat brought up Ghostian on his phone. He sent out a probing message, which got a quick response.
CG: RISE AND SHINE! THIS AIN'T A SOCIAL CALL EITHER.
AC: :33 hi karkitty! what's up?
GC: WH4T'D YOU TH1S T1M3, K4RKL3S?
Karkat sighed. This was going to be a long one.
CG: YOU WANT THE GOOD NEWS OR BAD NEWS FIRST?
AC: :33 ...good news?
GC: OH, TH1S 1SN'T 4 GOOD ST4RT.
CG: THE PRESENTATION WENT OFF OKAY. SOME SLIGHT DISRUPTION AT FIRST, BUT YOU KNOW HOW IT IS.
AC: :33 not really, but okay!
GC: 4ND TH3 B4D N3WS?
CG: I KNOW WHO HIRED SKULKER TO FIRE AT YOU WHILE YOU WERE WEARING YOUR NECKLACE.
GC: HOW 1S TH4T B4D N3WS?
CG: HE'S A HALFA AND HE KNOWS WHO I AM.
There was a nearly a minute of radio silence from the other two, which was to be expected. He gave them enough time to respond with their hopefully helpful responses.
AC: :33 jesus furreaking christ.
He wasn't sure what he expected.
AC: :33 are you cursed, karkitty? or is this normal fur halfa's?
CG: ARADIA ALREADY BEAT YOU TO THE PUNCH ON THAT JOKE, NEPETA.
Terezi's response was characteristically more curt and confused.
GC: 3XPL41N.
GC: NOW.
CG: TURNS OUT MY DAD HAS A HISTORY WHEN IT COMES TO TURNING PEOPLE INTO PART GHOSTS.
GC: TH4T ONLY R41S3S FURTH3R QU3ST1ONS.
AC: :33 and he's working with skulker? what's that about?
CG: I'LL SEND THE SOUNDBITES THROUGH THE PHONE. RIGHT NOW, WE'RE NOT DOING ANY FIGHTING, BUT I DO WANT SOME BACKGROUND CHECKS.
CG: I'D EXPLAIN MORE, BUT I'M HEADING TO SCHOOL.
GC: F1N3, BUT WH3N YOU G3T 4 FR33 P3R1OD, YOU'R3 3XPL41N1NG 3V3RYTH1NG.
AC: :33 what does he look like? maybe we've s33n him somewhere befure.
Karkat typed out a quick description of Oberon's ghost form, adding Eridan's too. He figured if the other halfa was working with Skulker, he might be working with other people too. He kinda hoped this was a one-time thing and maybe he could reason with him, but a part of him started to doubt it.
The creeping of the bus on the horizon caused him to curse. Looks like he'd have to cut this conversation short.
CG: BUS IS COMING. I'LL TALK TO YOU LATER.
AC: :33 stay safe!
GC: H3 B3TT3R.
Karkat put the phone in his pocket before the bus stopped, taking a deep breath. Despite the Oberon situation, he hadn't forgotten the possible landmine that school would be due to dad's demonstration. Plenty of the townspeople were there and they had livestreamed it.
He regretted asking Sollux to do that. Why the fuck did he ask him to do that again?
…Oh, right, he was being petty. God damn it, past Karkat, why did you have to do that?
Karkat figured he should head on aboard first, get the weird shit out of the way. His first few steps into the bus sounded louder than they usually did, but that was probably just nerves.
And everyone was staring at him. Great. Just act normal, Karkat. You practically died and came back to life without people noticing, so doing this should be a cakewalk. Which was honestly sad now that he thought about it.
He actually got to the usual seat with his friends with no incidents whatsoever, but it didn't feel like a success. Some people were either still staring or trying to avoid looking in his direction. The latter, he realized, were made up of those ultra-Christian kids that usually did their own thing. Karkat figured that was better than getting soaked in holy water, he supposed.
"So, I'd say this has been a success." Aradia joked when they sat down. The spell was broken by then, the other kids tentatively speaking to each other about other topics. Glances were still thrown their way. "Now we just have to get through six hours of this before we can leave school."
"We should've ditched." Sollux provided helpfully. He still hadn't looked up from his phone since they got in here. It was most likely to defend himself from everyone looking at him. "You're dad's all over the news, dude."
"I know." Karkat slumped against the back of his seat, closing his eyes so he could get some sleep. "I know."
Today was going to suck.
The good news was that the presentation hadn't dominated the conversation entirely throughout the day like he thought it would. Though, debatably, it was sometimes worse than that.
Karkat's history teacher had been distracted all morning, talking about all sorts of historical figures and things that weren't really related to the curriculum. The science teacher had looked ready to cry every five minutes, muttering about physics being broken now. The math teacher didn't even show up, the substitute doing their best to cope with the little material they'd been given.
The only class that was mostly normal was Mr. Lancer's. He actually told anyone that if they wanted to talk about the 'situation' in class, they'd have time to do so. When no one did, he simply moved on and did things like no one had their perception warped about life and death.
Karkat always liked Mr. Lancer, even if he was kind of an old grump. Today certainly helped boost that opinion.
That was only the teacher's reactions, though. The students were a lot more varied.
It was a split between avoiding him twice as hard as they did before and trying to schmooze him up, with the latter being equally terrible. Avoiding him felt like a slap to the face at first, but he never really talked to any of those guys anyway. Plus, they were part of the crowd whose parents were those strict traditionalists that had protested against any event that was deemed 'non-Christian.'
It was the people trying to be nice to him now that irked him.
Some people apparently smelled the fame coming on and tried talking to him like he was an old friend, something that really pissed him off. He did try to be polite, coming up with excuses, but it took him so much effort not to go intangible and leave the school. He hoped they got the message at some point.
It honestly took until lunch for him to finally get a break from it. He mentally thanked the fact free period was coming up after it too, meaning he could just hide out in the library until he could get to his last class.
"Well, you look like shit." Sollux kicked at Karkat when he sat down. It was joking and light, though he had some apprehension on his face. "Lack of sleep finally getting to you, or are you trying a new look?"
"Fuck off Sollux, I don't need fashion advice from you." Karkat kicked him back, though he was glad to finally have some genuine interaction today. "I've been avoiding people all day, and that turns out to be very exhausting."
"God, I know how that feels. You know how many people have been asking us about you today?" Aradia scoffed, taking a bite out of the cafeteria roll. "Seriously, two inventions work, and your dad becomes the next messiah or something."
"I think we're really downplaying the presentation, but at this point, I'm going for it." Karkat started devouring his food, taking only a brief moment to ask question. "Sollux, what've you dug up on Oberon?"
"Nothing outright bad, but definitely some shady shit." Sollux turned his laptop around, showing him an article on Ampora. It was flattering, putting him into good light as a self-made millionaire. "This guy apparently made millions not long after he graduated college, which wouldn't be weird if he'd done something to get it."
"He's apparently been able to convince several business owners to hand over their seats so many times through charisma alone. Which sounds like bullshit." Aradia's implication that it may have been possession was obvious. "Despite some accusations from them later about not remembering it, all the legal documents are legit."
"Anyone who's been too mouthy have been sued straight to hell too." Sollux brought up another article. This one was a lot less flattering, showing the picture of a woman being escorted to a car. In a strait jacket. "His ex-wife apparently said some stuff too about him being the devil and her kids being devil-spawn too. Which caused her to be institutionalized."
"Jesus Christ." This wasn't looking great for Oberon. Then again, his wife probably didn't know about the ghost powers until her kids started shifting through floors, so it wasn't like she had a frame of reference. "If you just found that through Google searches, then I'm scared to hear what the girls came up with."
"I'd love to say that it's something good, but they're still searching." Aradia waved her phone, showing the Ghostian screen. "They're on a trail right now though, just based on your description."
"No news is still news, I guess." Karkat sighed deeply, tapping his fingers on the table. "Hopefully, we can get through the rest of the day without anything happening."
The universe, as big and mysterious as it is, decided that he was being too prideful right now by having the school speakers turn on.
"Mr. Vantas, can you please come to the office please?" The voice was indifferent, which matched the state of the universe pretty well, honestly. "Mr. Vantas, can you please come to the office?"
"…I practically asked for that, didn't I?" Karkat didn't bother waiting for a response, getting up from his seat. "Well, guess I'll see you all later. Don't have fun without me."
"I doubt we will." Sollux saluted him sarcastically as he headed out of the cafeteria. When he was good ways away, he leaned towards Aradia. "How much you wanna bet Oberon's at the front office, trying to enroll his kid."
"My mom and Heido always said to never bet against a sure thing, so I'll pass." She flicked his forehead with a smile. "Let's look up the Peixes next. I haven't found shit on Eridan and it might be a good idea to check them out too."
"Roger roger."
Karkat weighed the possibilities as he made it to the principal's office. On one hand, he figured he might get expelled, which was labeled the worst-case scenario. On the other, the best-case scenario was it was just some bureaucratic bullshit where they questioned if he needed therapy due to his dad's sudden success.
Finding Oberon and, surprisingly, Crocker with their kids talking with Aranea was simultaneously better and worse than both possibilities.
"Ms. Serket." He still wasn't comfortable with having her outside the Ghost Zone, but she'd been behaving and keeping her misery cultivation to a minimum. That didn't mean she wasn't on thin ice, though. "Any reason I was called up? Nice to see you again, Ampora's, Peixes."
"Ah, so you were available. That's good." Oberon smiled pleasantly. Karkat felt his skin crawl, remembering how that smile came from a man that can sound so cold while ordering someone to start a forest fire. "Nice to see you again, Vantas."
"Oh, you do know each other then. That makes this easier." Aranea did not look like she wanted to be here, especially with Karkat around. "These two here are planning to enroll Eridan and Feferi into Casper High. I figured since you probably wanted to get away from everyone…"
"Alright, I get it." Karkat would never admit it, but he was actually thankful for this. At least this gave him one on one time with Eridan. "I'll be the tour guide today. God, that would keep everyone away from me for a little bit."
"At least you know someone here already." Crocker gave Feferi a quick hug before heading off down the hallway. She stopped gave Karkat a look. "Keep an eye on her. She gets distracted easily."
"Mom!" Feferi looked embarrassed, though she didn't necessarily contradict her. She pulled Eridan towards her, which certainly threw the boy off. "Eridan keeps me out of trouble enough as is."
"That didn't stop you from trying to get into the fish tank with those sharks when we were nine." The young Ampora wilted under the glare he got from his friend seconds later. "Well, you can't say that wasn't risky."
Karkat wasn't sure how to react to that, so he figured it would be best that he didn't. He watched Oberon say goodbye to his son, making sure to watch him leave out of the corner of his eye. When he was officially out of sight, he figured he might as well get his two charges in order.
"So, if you'll follow me, I'll happily show you this level of hell we call Casper High." Karkat didn't wait for them to respond, already moving down the hall. He heard them stop bickering and follow behind him quickly. "Surprised to see you two here. Your parents are thinking about staying here then?"
"Yeah. After mom held back on getting drunk last night and figured that she should invest in some places. She thinks it'll be big thanks to your dad's work." Feferi shrugged after her explanation. It seemed like sound reasoning, at least to Karkat. "I'm pretty used to moving around a lot, though I'm kinda surprised she decided to let in a real school. I usually do stuff online."
"Likewise." Eridan didn't sound as excited as Feferi, which was characteristic of him. "Seriously, I don't get why I have to attend this place too. I've never done well in places like this."
"That might be because you're a bit of a downer, Erifish." Feferi pinched his cheek, smiling mischievously as he tried to swat her hand away. "Maybe if you cheered up and complained a little less, you'd be a little more popular."
"Hey, I can be popular if I felt like it!" The boy tried to defend himself, looking away with a pout. "I just don't want to."
"Alright, that's all well and good, but we should get this going. I do have a free period after this, but that doesn't last long." Karkat turned around, head tilting to the side. "Which means I should ask; where do you actually want to start?"
The tour had been going fine, though it wasn't like it was going to be difficult.
He'd shown them most of the place that were relevant and some of the places that weren't. He'd kept his eyes on them the whole time, trying to get a read on them, especially in how they acted.
It was pretty easy to say that if Eridan was in on whatever his dad was doing, he was extremely good at hiding it. From what he could tell, Eridan was just naturally a somewhat grumpy asshole. That didn't mean he couldn't joke around or anything, he was just like this nearly 24/7. Not to mention his occasional weird glance to him, as if he didn't know how to start talking to him, made Karkat think his existence legitimately was a surprise to him.
As for Feferi, he got the read that she wasn't really a threat unless you threatened her first. Definitely the "be nice, but take no shit" kind of person, which he could get behind. Very excitable too, especially anything related to marine biology. He actually got to talk with her about some stuff he learned himself, which was fun.
There was one thing he wanted to clear up though…
"She doesn't know anything about the ghost stuff, does she?" Karkat threw the question out there before he could stop himself. Feferi was watching some of the fish swim around in one of the school's fish tanks, far enough away from him and Eridan.
The question itself had caught the other boy off guard. Eridan made sure to double check around themselves before taking a deep sigh.
"No. She has no idea." The tension he'd been hiding was a little clearer, the mask of haughtiness giving way to open curiosity. "I sure as hell didn't expect to find you here. Everything kind of came out of nowhere, and I'm just…"
Karkat wasn't fond of jumping to conclusions, but he was starting to really think Eridan wasn't involved with any of his dad's shit. There wasn't a way to fake that surprise. He'd felt that too not that long ago.
"How do you think I feel?" Karkat snorted, which seemed to put Eridan at ease somewhat. "You and your dad are the only other people in the same situation I am and I sure as hell didn't figure you'd appear at my dad's high school reunion."
"Yeah, that is kind of a long shot. I'm surprised you didn't shoot us on sight, actually." Eridan got a weird look on his face, mentioning that. It sure as hell wasn't a meet cute, that was for sure. "I mean, you were ready too. Is that normal for you to do that?"
"Some undead assholes sometimes slip through the portal and very few of them have been actively nice." Karkat shrugged, trying to play it off. Oberon may know he had fighting experience, but Eridan didn't need to know too. "The Box Ghost isn't exactly a threat. Then again, you could probably already tell."
"Boxes aren't exactly threatening. Except for coffins, I guess." Disturbing thought aside, Eridan chilled out a little. Clearly he'd been dying to talk about this all day. "My dad told me about, well…"
"Don't think about it too much. I've been trying not to." Karkat decided to cut the apology before it could come out. He wasn't in the mood for pity right now. "I've come to terms with it right now. Just dealing with it for now. At least the ghost fights help me practice my powers."
"I'm not exactly sure that's a positive, Kar." Hey, he earned a nickname. Good for him. He was definitely starting to feel guilty that he was going to start pumping him for information. "Though, I guess that ain't the worst way to learn about it."
There was a comfortable lull in the conversation that gave Karkat some time to think. What should he question about first?
"Why did your dad come to the reunion, anyway? From what he told me, he had every reason not to." What excuse did Oberon give his kid? If it was just for him, then he'd be creeped out, but that would be relatively fine. If not, then what the fuck was he planning?
"I'm just as confused as you are, actually. Dad never talked about high school and he definitely never talked about your dad." Eridan paused before a cringe crossed his face. "Actually, never mind. He did mention him once after… something involving my mom. It was probably nothing though."
That didn't sound like nothing and Karkat was tempted to say otherwise. He opened his mouth before he remembered something.
"His ex-wife apparently said some stuff too about him being the devil…"
He clacked it shut, desperately thinking of a new topic. Not the appropriate time.
The universe seemingly took pity on him, giving him and out. That out was a window smashing not far away from them, followed by wild laughter.
Karkat flinched at the sound while Eridan and Feferi yelped. He was the first to make it to the window, looking out into the parking lot with vigilant eyes.
The culprits themselves looked like two rowdy teenagers, which wouldn't be that weird if it weren't for the broken window. Whoever they were, they'd thrown a fucking cinderblock through it.
What Karkat figured his obsession was flared in his chest. Someone could've gotten seriously hurt from that if they weren't careful.
"The hell is wrong with those two?" Feferi had moved beside them, looking out with disbelieving eyes. "They're lucky they didn't hit anybody with that or- hey, where're you going?!"
Karkat had casually leaped over the window, not listening to a thing she said. He was already mentally going through the people in town he knew. The two were some kind of mix of biker and grunge, which didn't match up with anyone's style. He certainly didn't remember seeing that Kurt Cobain wannabe, or that motorcycle he was leaning on. And the girl on his arm probably could've passed for punk wasn't at any concerts he'd been to.
Strangers. Typical. Guess he'd have to put the fear of god into them while they were here.
"Hey!" Karkat caught their attention easily enough, keeping a relaxed if purposeful pace. "Mind telling me just what the hell you think you're doing?"
"Hey dude." The guy waved at him casually, like he was an old friend. "Nothing much, just enjoying ourselves. Nothing wrong with that, right?"
"Considering the fact you're the only ones here after a fucking cinderblock was thrown through a window," Karkat shrugged, stopping a good distance away from. "I'd say that there is something wrong about that."
"Oh come on, that could've come from anywhere. Right Johnny?" The girl slung herself over onto the boy's shoulders, almost drunkenly. He didn't smell any alcohol on them, but people don't usually make decisions like this sober. "We're just hanging out. That ain't a crime."
"This is a high school parking lot. Who in their right mind would want to hang out here?" Karkat paused before shaking his head. "What am I saying, you two are obviously drunk. Of course you're not in your right mind."
"We're drunk on life!" Johnny cackled, raising a can high up in the air. Some of it sloshed out, hitting the pavement. Karkat recognized the smell of beer. "Me and Kitty just wanted to see some idiots waste their time here. That ain't bad."
"Damn right!" The woman raised her own cup, stumbling. She caught herself with a giggle, her own two feet betraying her. "Wow, I should probably slow down."
"You two are just sloshed right now, aren't you?" Karkat pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a long sigh. "Great. Just couldn't go a day without dealing with this shit, could I?"
"Karkat!" Feferi, followed shortly by Eridan, finally caught up with him. She didn't seem bothered by the exercise, while Eridan was surprisingly winded. "Jeez, do you always run off like that? Look, I already called the police, just let them come by."
"Did- did we have to run all the way here? Why weren't there any doors closer to the lab?" Eridan looked ready to pass out. Karkat was definitely putting him low on the threat level for now. "She did call the police though. Just leave them alone."
"You see? Police are already on their way." Karkat raised his hands up, exaggeratedly. "Guess the jig is up. I'd suggest getting away from here on that little motorcycle of yours if I didn't think you'd run into somebody."
"Oh, now that's just a buzzkill." Johnny grumbled. He swigged the rest of his drink quickly down, throwing the can behind him with a lazy grin. "Real spoil sports. Can't take a window crashing without calling the police."
"How else are we supposed to respond to that?" Eridan sent a look towards Karkat, disbelief at this idiot's attitude. It wasn't like Karkat believed it either.
"Actually, one thing before I go." Johnny pointed behind them with a smile that made them feel especially uncomfortable. "I just have to say, that's the ugliest car I've ever seen."
The end of the sentence was punctuated by the revving of an engine and a large crash happening behind them, causing them all to jump. They turned to see a pink convertible having hit another car, leaving a huge dent in both. It didn't look too disastrous, though the driver got out and practically tripped out of the car, landing straight on their ass.
Karkat, having already running over to it, dully realized it was Trizza after she stopped to look at the scene with shock. She didn't look hurt, but she didn't exactly move from her spot.
"Tethis, you alright there?" Karkat stopped when he was close to the car. She didn't look hurt outwardly, but even simple accidents can cause some serious shit. "Doesn't look like a bad bump. Hope you have insurance."
"I'm fine." Trizza blinked again, still apparently not believed what just happened. "I don't even know what happened. I was just driving and then that car started backing up and just…"
She made a boom sound. She was in shock, clearly, but was otherwise fine. Karkat realized he could hear the sound of the motorcycle revving up, turning to see the couple starting to drive off. Mad laughter followed them, and he couldn't say anything.
Then he saw something else.
A shadow shot past his legs, like lightning. He didn't get a good look at it, but it stuck to the ground as it eventually molded onto the fleeing couple, taking place as theirs.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me."
Weirdly enough, that wasn't Karkat saying it, despite agreeing with that. Aranea had apparently came out at the sound of the crash, staring at the couple with a surprised, if somewhat annoyed look on her face.
"Do you know those two?" Karkat titled his head at the disguised ghost, frowning. "Where? And how?"
Aranea jumped at the questions, though quickly recovered. "I'll tell you later." Aranea went over to check on Trizza. She motioned for Feferi to come over. "Ms. Peixes, could you please help Ms. Tethis into the building. She isn't quite herself right now."
"Okay Ms. Serket." Feferi didn't even glance behind her as she helped the girl up. Eridan followed at first but stopped when Karkat grabbed him. Feferi didn't notice, having clearly been rattled by the quick turn of events.
As the two women escorted Tethis away, Karkat whispered to Eridan as he checked the area for any security cameras. "I'm going to find those two. I think they might be ghosts or working with one."
"Wait, what? How do you figure that?" Eridan watched Karkat walk away slowly as he checked the area for anymore onlookers. "And how am I going to explain you disappearing? I'm pretty sure Ms. Serket-"
"Ms. Serket's a ghost that did some shit. Tell her if she 'dismisses' me since I seemed shook up by the accident." Karkat turned around to look Eridan in the face. He nodded curtly. "That, and I need to talk to her and maybe her sister later. She knows who that was, and I need to know what she knows."
"Okay?" Eridan, bewildered, just threw up his hands before letting them down. He clearly didn't know what to say. "What are you exactly going to do to them? I mean, they could just be human."
Karkat shrugged, a smirk placing itself on his face. "Then they're gonna get quite a goddamn scare, aren't they?"
The rings of his transformation formed around him after he said this, his feet already off the ground. He gave Eridan a quick salute before zipping towards the direction of the delinquent couple.
Eridan watched him go with his mouth slightly ajar before Karkat eventually went invisible from the public eye. He eventually shook his head before turning around sharply, heading towards the school.
"What the hell is up with this town?" He muttered, though it wasn't as sour as one would imagine. "Jesus Christ, what is wrong with this town?"
Johnny and Kitty weren't exactly the smartest couple in the world, especially when it came to making good life decisions. Day drinking, drunk driving, causing mayhem at a high school of all places, and then spreading it further into town? Not great ideas.
Karkat figured this as he was able to eventually locate them with little effort. They'd left a small trail behind them of general bad luck, which thankfully wasn't any worse than what happened to Tethis.
Apparently they stopped to just hang out in an alleyway. Well, that made sure no one else could see them if they had to fight.
Karkat slipped into the alleyway, still keeping himself invisible. He listened to the two as they kept acting like idiots.
"I can't believe you did that. We're probably going to get run out of town for it, but at least it was funny." Kitty meandered through the alley, throwing away a can of beer into a dumpster. Somehow, littering wasn't on the table for crime when it comes to them. "Pretty damn bold too. I'm surprised no one saw anything."
"Eh, it wasn't much. Not like anyone cared anyway." Johnny made it a show to throw his own can into it. "Everybody's so worried about some presentation or whatever. I'm pretty sure that cop didn't even care when we stole the beer."
"Except for that one asshole." Kitty snickered, opening another beer. She cringed at the taste of it, clearly only wanting the buzz. "Getting all uppity over a broken window. Why the hell does he care about that?"
"Somebody could've gotten hurt." Karkat decided to speak up then, appearing right behind Johnny. "Then again, something tells me you don't care about that."
Kitty chocked on her drink while Johnny just yelped, turning around to find the ghostly form of Karkat floating above and behind him. It was an imposing look, he had to admit, though he floated closer to the ground. He tilted his head as they registered the spook in front of them.
"So, I'm going to ask this once." Karkat moved forward, causing them to take a step back. "How the hell did you do that to the car?"
He could see the two briefly look at each other, clearly contemplating what to do. Not exactly what they planned for today, especially so forcefully.
Unfortunately for them, they made the wrong choice when Johnny raised his hand and fired an ectoblast at him.
Karkat, dodging easily since the guy was kinda drunk, couldn't help but think that at least answered one question.
Karkat immediately shot at Kitty, giving her no time to shoot a blast of her own. He dodged a swipe from Johnny, which was sloppy. Turning quickly, the halfa swung and kicked the boy in the head.
Kitty was actually able to blast at him this time, missing when the halfa shot forward and punched her in the stomach. He noted the glowing dog tags necklace around her neck, which he pulled.
A puff of smoke. One ghost.
Johnny had enough time to get up from the previous attack, groggy as he tried to fire another round. Karkat dodged again, making sure to hit Kitty with the butt of one of his sickles before firing at Johnny's feet.
The other boy stumbled at the sudden onslaught, being further assaulted by the blasts. He kept dodging, focusing on them, not noticing Karkat having made it close to him.
He had a few seconds to realize his predicament before Karkat kicked low, knocking him off his feet. Johnny hit the concrete hard, groaning as his body made the impact. A sickle was at his neck a second later, making his body go rigid.
"Don't. Move." Karkat didn't have any intention to slice Johnny's neck. The threat was to make sure Kitty didn't try to attack anymore. Noting the glow from Johnny's skull necklace, he pulled at that too, rewarded when more smoke flowed out of his mouth. "So you're both dead. I suppose that makes sense."
"Look, man, I don't know what your problem is, but we're just here to have some fun." Johnny raised his hands in the air to keep things calm. The buzz apparently left him already, which was to be expected when you have sharp object in your face. "We don't want any trouble."
"Considering I can list an several crimes I've seen you two do in the last half hour, I'd say that ship has sailed." Karkat raised a glowing hand when he saw Kitty twitch. "I don't know if you're from the Ghost Zone or came from somewhere else, but I'm going to ask you to get out of here before you hurt anyone else."
"Hey, this is a free country! We can go wherever we want!" Kitty was still drunk, apparently. Karkat increased the energy in his hand, but that didn't stop her. "We just wanted to see if any ghosts wanted some stuff to blend in! Isn't it our right to do that?"
"Not if you nearly get people killed in the process." Karkat sighed. He turned off the light in his hands, reaching for the thermos. "Looks like I'm taking you back to the Ghost Zone myself then. Should've just cooperated."
"Counterpoint?" Johnny raised a finger, pointing it at Karkat with a panicked look on his face. "Shadow, attack!"
Karkat stiffened, but it was too late as a large, pitch black mass knocked him into the wall. A loud screech could be heard as a creature slashed at him, getting him in the side before he was able to get a shot in.
Karkat slashed at the things face, shooting an ectoblast into its chest. He got a good distance away, getting a good look at the mass of shadows for the first time. Its yellow eyes locked on him, letting out another screech before charging forward once again.
Karkat dodged the swipe, slashing the arm quickly. He fired a long ectoblast at the creature, which caused it to back off. It grabbed a concrete block lying in the alley, throwing it at him at full speed. Karkat went intangible, putting his arms in front of himself instinctively when it went through him.
When he opened his eyes again, the figure was gone.
Along with Johnny and Kitty.
"God dammit." He muttered, no one responding to the curse at all.
Yeah, I'm not fully satisfied with how this went, especially introducing the two people the chapter was named after so late. Then again, they're related to the big overarching arc in a small way, so they'll serve a purpose soon enough.
Onto the announcement; I'm thinking of doing a QnA type deal on my Tumblr about the two fics I'm doing right now. Feel free to ask me some questions about the fic on there and I'll try to answer them without spoiling anything. Really, just send me some questions and maybe check on them later to see if I answer them or not. I might as well try and interact with you guys outside of these notes, right?
Link Here: blog/the-helpless-lemon.
Anyway, I'll see you all next chapter!