Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any of the characters. Danny Phantom is the sole property of Butch Hartman, Nickelodeon and Paramount global.
Empowered
Chapter 9: A Blonde Heroine and A Fake Haired Villainess
Colette was still marveling over her latest discovery.
"I am... powerful.I don't know how this happened, but who cares?! This is magnificent!..."She thought, feeling a rush of excitement.
She had powers, ghostly powers.
She still isn't too sure about what caused this sudden appearance of powers. However, the limits of her power became what she wondered about the most. As well as their origin.
"Still...just how powerful am I?..."She thought.
She wondered if she could take on Danny Phantom, but pushed that aside as she realized that she finally had the means to rid herself of Star for good.
"You know...this is magnifique! I have powers now. Estelle was already beneath my league, but now I am so far above her...and I am sure that Danny will worship me like a goddess now... unless he wants to suffer my wrath..."She thought, smirking evilly.
"And if that silly Starlight Spirit is back in town, I may as well finally get my payback on her before retrieving my prize..."She added, already making plans to have her revenge.
Still, this is all very new and she needed to be able to know just what she's capable of before picking a fight.
"Perhaps I should try and practice these powers first before I go claim what is meant to be mine..."Colette pondered, as she started to hover, much to her surprise.
She was mildly surprised in a delighted way and was about to go. She stopped, however, to realize she's actually too formal in her appearance.
She eyed herself in her appearance and frowned.
"I simply cannot go out looking like this. I do not want my dress to get ruined by lasers or stained by filthy ghost blood or whatever. I wonder how I can deal with the two pains in my life without drawing attention? Perhaps... a disguise..."Colette said, as she tried to consider her options.
After a moment, the spoiled red-head recalled a few outfits her stepmother had picked up over the months as part of costumes for parties that Colette always rejected. However, they would be useful now as she didn't want people to know it was her, at least not yet.
"I'm almost glad Mama kept these hideous things..."She thought, deciding to give them a try.
Later
After a good 30 minutes, she had something. Her latest outfit for her to try was ready and she eyed it critically.
"It's not the finest thing that I have worn, but I suppose that it shall do..."Colette thought, as she stared at her new appearance in the mirror.
She was decked in a yellow-gold bodysuit with an orange sash as a belt, along with orange high-heeled boots and matching elbow-length leather gloves. It was rather form-fitting, and it reached all the way to her neck, leaving her face exposed.
She sighed as she knew she couldn't show her face right now.
"As beautiful as my face is, I cannot let anyone recognize me and tattling on me to Mama and Papa..."She thought, knowing that she needed to be discreet.
Thinking fast, she pulled out an old Mardi Gras domino mask, which was also orange. Once she put it on, her eyes glowed red and her hair became a more inhuman shade of red, almost the same shade of blood. She also wore different earrings, yellow orbs as opposed to her usual white.
She also decided to kick it up a notch as she decided to work on her make up.
She switched her usual pink lipstick, for a dark red one that she hasn't used yet. She even took it to another level by adding some body glitter that she had purchased due to it being a fad at the time and had stopped using once it stopped being popular and was too lazy to throw it away.
However, it was useful to her now and she applied it on her face and her bare shoulders and arm. She used enough to make her skin sparkly.
Once she was done, she checked it out and gave a passing gesture.
"Hmm...a little comic book-y, but at least no one will recognize me...and I am sure once Danny sees how attractive I am in this, he will no longer be able to resist me..."She thought as she even floated in place, and considered the endless possibility presented to her.
"Parfait! Perhaps I can even make the oddly attractive Phantom fall for me as well. True, he is not marriage material, but I could always use someone to rub my feet while I am with Danny...and it would be a good way to get back at that blonde super-powered fool Starlight Spirit, and that idiote Paulina too..."She said, giggling mischievously before she hovered upwards and aimed for the window.
Before she went, she realized something.
She had the new look now, but she still needed something to call herself in this new form.
"What do I call myself now? Do I need some kind of villain name? Should I use my own name with an alteration? Colette...Spectre? Hmm... no. That's too on the nose, so much so that only absolute idiots wouldn't notice we're one and the same..." She thought, rejecting the name.
She tried to think of new ideas, but lost patience and interest so quickly with a loud scoff.
"Eh, I shall think of something later. Right now, I do need to practice my new gift, before I can deal with my enemies. Perhaps a bit of exercise is in order!..."She declared, wanting to keep her priorities in order.
So far, she can float, but she wanted to see if she could really fly as well as Phantom.
"Now...how does Phantom do it?..."She thought.
After a moment of trying, she was in mid-air and began floating around the pent house. After 15 minutes of practice flying, she was feeling pretty confident in herself.
"Ha, zhis is easy. Like swimming in the air...only I don't have to worry about my hair getting wet..."She said, brushing her hair over her shoulder.
"Now to leave..."She thought, before flying to the window.
She then stopped, recalling how the windows of buildings this high do not open.
"Wait... how do I leave then? Hmm... if I can fly and shoot beams like that Phantom, can I also go through walls?..."She thought, wanting to see.
Pressing her hand on the wall, she closed her eyes and thought of how he does it, going through the wall. Seeing herself outside, she grinned.
"Magnifique!..."She declared, loving this more and more.
Colette soon left her home, a new sense of vigor and desire filled her as she flew off to go practice her "gift" and end those who have kept her from her goals.
Meanwhile
Star and Danny had been enjoying a romantic flight together in their ghostly hero forms. It has been a while since they could have a moment like this, and they wanted to make the most of it.
"I always wanted to do this with you again!..."Star said, feeling excitement.
"Yeah, me too..."Danny said, only for his ghost sense to go off.
Star's did as well as both half-ghost teens groaned in unison.
"Except I never wanted this to happen..."He said with a groan.
That's when the sound of something zooming at them was picked up by their ears. Turning their heads, the saw a small missile coming their way. Thinking fast, Danny fired a blast to explode it, before it came close to them.
"Gee... I wonder who fired that?..." Danny asked sarcastically, already knowing the answer.
"As if you need to ask!..." Skulker's voice was heard as the hunter made himself visible.
"Skulker? Again?! Seriously? Don't you have someone else to bother?..." Star asked, irritated.
The hunter ghost saw her in her suit and had a sinister smirk on his face.
"Ah, so the rumors are true. The girl has regained her ghost powers, which will make defeating her all the more satisfying..." Skulker said as he readied a wrist cannon.
"Wait, rumors? How the heck did you hear rumors about that? Star just got her powers again a few hours ago?..."Danny asked.
"News travels fast in the Ghost Zone, and you, Whelp, happen to be a very hot topic. You wouldn't believe how annoying it is about how popular you are..."Skulker said, rolling his eyes.
The ghost boy didn't seem pleased to hear any of this.
"Oh, goody. So, I'm the subject of gossip and rumors in TWO worlds..."Danny said sarcastically, hating what he's just learned.
"No worries, after I make a pelt out of you, you won't have to worry about any more rumors to concern yourself with..."Skulker said as he aimed at them.
"So not happening, Bone Head! So take a hike, while you still have legs!..."Danny said as motioned his hand to shoo Skulker away.
"I'm not going anywhere..."Skulker said, firing at them.
The half ghostly love birds dodged the attack, and both became irritated by the brutish hunter and his desire to skin them.
"Get lost, Skulker. No one likes a third wheel!..."Danny said, eyes glowing.
"Then allow me to do some maintenance!..."Skulker said as he aimed at them once more.
Danny was about to face him, but Starlight flew into his way, clearly wanting some action.
"Let me, Danny-Boo. I've been itching to clobber him for so long..."Star said, winking at Danny.
Danny remained unsure for a moment, but saw the look on her face and gave in.
"Okay... I'll be here in case something happens..." Danny said as he crossed his arms.
"Thanks..."Starlight said as she planted a quick kiss on his cheek.
Once done, she turned to face the hunter ghost, who as always, got really cocky.
"Ha! Too easy!..." Skulker went as he fired once more.
Star swung her leg, creating a wave of energy that formed into a shield that protected her from the shot.
"Funny, I was gonna say the same thing..."She taunted, feeling confident as her eyes glowed bright green with ecto-energy.
Skulker, undaunted, flew at them. Star flew towards him and, with her agility, managed to swing her arms out to not only push him down by his shoulders, but do a somersault over him. Using that momentum, she kicked Skulker in the back, angering him further.
"Lousy whelpette!..."The mechanical villain shouted.
Pulling out a blade from his arm, Skulker attempted to slash her. Star, however, wasn't an easy target to slash in close range. Almost as if practicing ballet, Star would spin with each turn to avoid his blade. Skulker made at least 3 slashes that missed their target, before he swung his arm out wildly. Star simply ducked, using the fact that gravity did not affect her to kick up into his mechanical body's abdomen, pushing him upward.
"You'll pay for that!..." Skulker snarled.
"But which of us?..." Star asked as she duplicated self and became 4 Starlight Spirits.
Skulker scowled with his lip curling. He tried to lock on whichever was the real one, but was too late to do so as the blonde heroines surrounded him, each one looking ready to clobber him.
"Get ready to be sent home in pieces!..."All four Stars said at once, before they descended on the ghostly villain.
Danny saw this and grinned as he watched the mostly one-sided battle, thoughts of excitement going through his mind as he watched all four Starlight Spirits clobbered Skulker around like it was nothing.
"This is a fantasy come to life and every bit as awesome!..."He said as he watched all 4 copies of his girlfriend beat the tar out of Skulker with coordination.
"We got this..."The Starlights said in unison, as they all worked together in perfect sync.
One kicked Skulker in the head. Before he could retaliate, another used an energized hand to tear the machine off from the body, before blasting it and reducing it to ash. Before Skulker could respond to that, another Star grabbed him by the legs, swinging him for about 2 seconds, before throwing him away.
"This isn't fair!..."Skulker complained he tried to use his jet pack to realign himself, but he still had no chance against her.
"Since when do YOU care about playing fair?..."All four girls stated, before each one sending a charge of ghost energy at him to short out his suit.
The last Star then pulled out a Fenton Thermos and fired at him, trapping the ghost within the swirling vortex.
"No!..." Skulker shouted before he was forcibly pulled into the cylindrical device, the last Star clasping it shut.
Once Skulker was captured, the 4 Stars became one again. They, or rather she, felt a sense of satisfaction after winning the fight.
"Cathartic..."She said, having a small smile on her face before she saw her boyfriend staring at her and pretty much drooling right now.
"What?..."She asked, as he kept staring at her like a lovesick puppy.
"Nothing, but I think I just fell in love with you all over again..."He said, eyes on her in awe and wonderment.
Star giggled upon hearing this.
"Oh, stop it. Being a flatterer won't get ya everywhere, Boo..."Star said, clearly loving what he said.
"You still love when I do it, right?..."He said, making her giggle again.
"True..."She said, loving every moment of this.
The two engaged a kiss in mid-air. However, their fun time was cut short when Danny received a phone call and saw that it was his father. The ghost boy saw this and got a bad feeling about it.
"Aww crud, I hope that I'm not in trouble..."He said as he answered.
"Yeah, Dad?..."Danny asked as his father responded and didn't sound too happy right now.
"Daniel Fenton, what in blazes are you doing?! You have beakers to clean, an ecto-filtrator to empty, the living room to dust, trash to take out and dishes to do. Where are you?..."Jack demanded.
Danny cringed.
After he was late for curfew too often, his parents assigned him to do extra chores. Chores he had forgotten until now and he now immediately regretted not finishing them quicker. He also realized that he was now in danger of getting grounded if he didn't come up with a good excuse.
"I...uh...I'm with Star right now, Dad..."Danny said, being vague but somewhat truthful.
"Hi, Mr. Fenton..."Star said into the phone, waving despite the fact that he can't see her.
"Hi, Star. Sorry, but I need my son back. He's got chores to do..."Jack said in a friendlier tone, before becoming stern again with his son. "Come home, now, before your mother comes back, sees they're not done and makes me do them..."The father said, sounding serious.
"Now?..."Danny asked.
"Yes, Danny. Now..."Jack said, and his tone made it clear that it's not negotiable.
"You can go on a date any time, but chores should be done before your mother gets home in 2 hours or else she'll yell at me for not making you do them sooner..."Jack said, hanging up.
The two teens heard this and sighed bitterly after the call had ended.
"Wow... your mom sounds scarier than ghosts..." Star commented.
Danny sighed as massaged his forehead with one hand.
"You should see how she acts when Dad forgets their anniversary..."Her boyfriend muttered before sighing.
"Looks like our time ends here..."He said.
"Darn. And it was getting really good too..."Star said, smiling a little at how amusing the entire thing was.
"Let me wa-er, fly you home..." Danny offered.
"Thanks, but I think I got it. I don't want you to risk getting grounded...again..." Star said, gesturing to her flying a few feet away.
Her boyfriend, however, did not seem unsure about leaving her alone.
"Star, I'm glad that you still seem to be as sharp as ever with your powers, but Sam is right. We have no idea how you got those powers, not to mention if/when they run out. For all we know, you'll be like Odysseus, flying too close to the sun and fall..."He said.
"First off, it's Icarus and not Odysseus, let's hope neither of them are actual ghosts and get upset that you got their names wrong. Second, don't worry... I won't go too far or too high. I'm just gonna fly around a bit then head home. If I run into trouble, I'll get away and reach you. I promise..."She voiced.
"But..."Danny tried to argue about this further, but she shook her head.
"Danny-Boo. I'll be fine. I'm a big girl, and I can take care of myself even WITHOUT ghost powers. I got this. Now go home and finish your chores, before I have to risk waiting a whole week just to go on a date with you again..."Star said, practically like an order.
"And FYI, I don't think either of our parents will appreciate me sneaking into your room just to see you again, so don't argue about it..."She added, with a slight smirk on her face.
Realizing that she had a point and he did have chores and parents to deal with, the ghost boy gave in and relunctantly agreed.
"Alright..." He said in a defeated tone.
"Good..."She said, quickly giving him a peck on his lips to reassure him that everything's okay.
The ghost boy smiled slightly at that.
He would've stayed close to his girlfriend and make absolute sure that she'd be ok, but deep down you respected her too much to do so and trusted that Star knew what she was doing and can handle herself.
Danny soon left for home, while his girlfriend had something else in mind.
She stared at her hands, knowing the power that she now has and what to do with it.
"Now...let's see how much stronger I really am, now that I'm Starlight Spirit again...and much weight I can lose...ghost style..."She thought as she flew away, excited.
Later
Danny had gone home and quickly got to work, doing his chores. Chores he had to hurry with, unless he wanted to risk having to post-pone his next date with Star due to a potential grounding.
Anyway, while his father left to go pick up some groceries and snacks, the ghost boy did his chores and, with his parents out of his house, took advantage of his ghostly duplicates to speed up the process after he deactivated the ghostly security system.
"One good thing about ghost powers, it sure speed things up..."He thought, as he finished
As he did his chores, Danny took the time to text everyone to get everyone up to speed on what's been happening and to see if any new developments came.
"Hey guys. Any ideas on our problem?..."He asked out loud as he texted.
He got a response, the first being from the goth of the team.
"Yeah... I pay off Nasty to either ban Tucker or replace his food with veggie burgers in order to snap him back to reality..." Sam responded.
"HEY!..." Tucker responded.
Danny had an unamused look on his face as he responded with the real problem that they all needed to focus on
"I MEANT about Star!..." He said out loud as he typed.
"Oh... nope..." Sam responded.
"Noy me..." Tucker sent, which was followed by "*not".
Danny sighed.
"Star and I didn't make much progress either. Aside form retraining her on her ghost powers and fight Skulker again..."He typed.
"Ghost X..."Jazz typed, with an added winking emoji.
Her brother rolled his eyed, before typing again.
"His name is Skulker, Jazz. You know that he literally calls himself that..."He added.
"I still say that my name is better..."Jazz texted.
"Only you would..."Sam typed, adding an eye rolling emoji.
"What's that suppose to me?!..."Jazz typed, but her brother lost his patience.
"Guys, FOCUS!..."He typed, using all CAPS to get their attention.
"Sorry..."Both girls typed.
"Anyway, please say that you got something related to Star, Jazz..."He typed.
"Not this time but I did see something..."Jazz typed.
"What?..."Danny typed.
What came next was a picture of Danny Phantom and Starlight Spirit flying together, happy.
"The town knows she's back...and everyone is freaking out over it..." Jazz said.
"I know..."Danny said, recalling all the phans and reporters from earlier.
"I just saw on a message board what is obviously Paulina whining like a little bill about it..." Sam typed.
Danny rolled his eyes before noticing Sam's odd text.
"Little bill?..." He responded.
"Auto correct, but I'm sure you know what I meant..." Sam responded.
Danny sighed in irritation over the lack of progress.
The ghost boy put his cell phone away, sighing and feeling frustrated.
"Back to square one..." He said as he cleaned the ecto-filtrator and went back finishing up his chores before his parents get back home.
As he did this, he was unaware of what his girlfriend was up to, or the kind of trouble she would be in soon.
Meanwhile
As Danny did his chores, Star was going back to her workout and diet.
However...with a twist.
Star had gone to a defunct train station, one that had many freight cars and rundown locomotives, some of which were no longer in use and laying about, some of them rusting over time.
The blonde heroine wasted no time in using these abandoned trains.
"97...98...99...100..."Star said as she did her exercises...using a freight car as a weight as she lifted it with her arms.
Once done, she put it down. She wiped the sweat from her brow and grinned, feeling satisfied as she patted her arm to feel muscle.
She did some toe reaches and arm flexes.
She grinned, as she feel the parts of her body, that she had simply imagined that they were turning soft and flappy, was starting to turn lean.
In her ghost form, she had super strength and way more durability...which means that she can do way more intense workouts and lose weight faster.
She felt proud of herself and could feel herself getting less heavy all ready too.
"And I wanted to join a gym... Ha!..." Star went victoriously as she did her workout.
Here she was, using the rundown train locomotion as a weight that she pushed up with her legs. She finished about 100 before feeling the burn in her legs.
Finally she was finished with that exercise, she let the train down gently and grinned even more.
"Now... with 100 of those done, what else can I do? Hmm..."She then noticed some nearby cables that were on the ground, no doubt once used for the trains.
She smiled at an idea.
She had wrapped the cables around the front of the train and used it to pull. Thanks to her strength, it wasn't nearly as heavy, just enough for her workout.
"This form is stronger... and I have a faster metabolism. Why not take advantage of the situation?..." She thought with a smile as she continued to push her new limits.
"This SO beats the treadmill that Dad bought last year..."She said to herself as she continued her SUPER workout session.
Little did she know, she'd be dealing with something much more strenuous than weights very soon.
Elsewhere
Star wasn't the only one who was taking advantage of her sudden gaining of ghostly powers and using them in exercises.
It was Colette, who was up to her own tricks, regarding her new "gift".
Here she stood, at a junkyard. Normally, Colette would never step foot here, but this was the perfect place to practice her powers and tried to figure out how they worked.
"Now...how does that oddly attractive Phantom do it again? That blast with his hands?..."Colette wondered as she tried to recall how he did that.
She concentrated and soon a red blast left her hand, hitting her target of a trash can.
She grinned.
"Magnifique!..."She exclaimed, looking elated.
She tried her next move.
"I wonder if I can fire from more than my hands?..." She thought as she glared at a broken car.
Two beams of energy fire from her eyes, burning a hole through the car.
"This is...as the Americans say...so cool...but all this isn't going to be that impressive until I use them in a more flashy fashion. I need to do at least one more hour before I am ready..."Colette said as a dark smirk formed on her face.
Once she's done, Danny would be hers and Star would be out of their lives... forever.
-To be continued-
Next time on Empowered
Uh-Oh! Trouble Approaching
A/N(1): I dedicate this chapter to my family, my friends and my love for God :)
A/N(2): Special thanks to NeoMark, Jay The Average Fanboy and BeConfuzzled Writer for all his help. You guys rock :)
REPLIES to my loyal and totally awesome reviewer:
Saberwolf335 and Jebest4781: Yeah.
Danifan3000:
1) Unfortunately, he's too stubborn to stop right now.
2) Sorry, no spoilers. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens.
SuperSonicBros123: Both of horrible things to happen.
Invader Johnny: No, it does not.
CZS4: Thank you :)
RonaldM40196867:
1) Yeah, it really is sad and pathetic.
2) Probably.
3) I thought that it would make a cool story.
4) Yeah, it would be. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens.
5) She probably learn about it, when Colette and Jean-Luc argued about it.
Pokemon fan 1991: Nothing good could come of her gaining powers, that's for sure.
Eecobeo: Unfortunately, Colette is somewhat smarter than Chloe...and that's not a good thing.
Tempest86: Thank you :)
Jacob Cook: Sorry, no spoilers. We will have to wait and see what happens.
JDF Legacier Morphicon: Thank you :)
Here are my responses to your questions:
1) I don't know.
2) I think he was always a ghost, or a weather spirit.
3) You may need to be more specific.
4) Maybe Pandora and Dora, since they are friendly ghosts.
5) Neomark does a lot of pictures. So does CRSTO20 and Amethyst-Ocean, along with a few others.
6) Sorry, no spoilers. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens .
:) I hope you enjoyed this! Remember to read and review :)