Here ya go folks. A little bit short, but here's the next chapter. Sorry it took so long, but for some reason this one feels a bit off to me. Anyway, please R . I'm loving the feedback. Thanks and enjoy.
"So, Vlad is really back?" Maddie asks. They had just finished eating and moved into the living room to sit on the couches.
"Yeah, he is." Danny replies. "And he's stronger than ever." He lifts his shirt to reveal the bruise on his abdomen. It has gone from deep purple to a lighter shade of yellow. "This was the first punch he threw at me. I wasn't expecting something like it and it almost took me out"
Ember winced at the sight. She knew he took a hard hit from the first time he showed her, but could tell he was still worse off than Danny let on. "Danny, we should have stayed longer. You're not even close to being healed up" she scolds him.
"I'm fine" he says quickly.
"I agree with Ember. You're in no shape to fight right now" Maddie points out.
"It looks worse than it is" he retorts.
Suddenly Dani is beside him poking him in the stomach causing him to almost double over. "Liar" she says to him with a smirk.
"Well it's a good thing we left when we did. Apparently half the ghost zone knew I was there and are coming for me" he says to them all. "Besides, I couldn't just sit there and do nothing knowing Plasmius is back" he says trying to justify his actions.
"Well from what you've told us you and Ember did a number on him as well" Jack points out.
"Mostly just Danny" Ember.
Jazz whose mostly been quiet finally joins in the conversation. "I doubt it, I've seen the way you fight. Next to Danny and Vlad, you're one of the stronger ghosts in the zone. I'm sure if anything, you just being there threw Vlad off his game."
This comment causes a bit of pride to swell in Ember, but before she could comment Danny's phone begins to ring. Looking at the caller ID he sees Tuckers name pop up.
He answers and puts it on speaker for everyone to hear. "Hey Tucker. What's up?"
"Dude," he begins. "The box ghost is down at the docks causing trouble again."
"Ugh, seriously?" Danny questions. "I'll head that way. Thanks bro."
"Sounds good dude." He replies. "I already cal..."
Before tucker could finish he hangs up the phone. "Well, I guess duty calls." He says as he stands from the couch.
"No!" Jazz, Maddie, Dani, and Ember say at the same time.
"Come on guys, it's just the Box Ghost" he says with a chuckle.
"Danny, you can't fight right now" Dani exclaims, to which Danny places a hand on the top of her head.
"I'll be fine" he says reassuringly. "Look, I won't do anything to put myself in harms way."
"Damn right you won't" Ember says. "And I'll be there the whole time to make sure of that."
"Come on, what's the worst that could happen?" He questions. Ember gives him a pointed look. "There's no stopping you is there?" He questions her.
"Nope" is all she replies.
"Okay, but if were going we need to leave now."
"You two be safe" Maddie says. "Call if you need us okay sweetie."
"We will mom" he says as he quickly transforms into his ghost form and phases through the wall.
"He always rush off like that?" Ember asks a little surprised.
"He does" replied Jazz smiling.
"Better hurry then" Ember states as she follows Danny through the wall. Once through she rushes to catch up to Danny. "Thanks for waiting dipstick" she says sarcastically once she catches up to him.
"Sorry, kind of a force of habit" he replies as they come within sight of the docks.
"Found him" Ember says pointing to a small cyclone full of boxes next to a storage warehouse. They both dive down and land on their feet behind the box ghost.
"Hey Box Ghost!" Danny practically yells.
Turning around he sees Danny standing there. "Beware, for I, The Box Ghost, will..." he stops suddenly when he notices Ember standing next to Danny "Oh, hey Ember. What are you doing here?"
"Hey Boxy" she replies. "Do you mind stopping the box twister for a second so we can talk?"
"Oh, right" he says realizing what he was still doing. He turns around and gently lowers the boxes to the ground. "So what's up?" He asks turning back around.
"Could you do me a favor?" Ember asks him. "Do you think you can tone down on the hauntings?"
"Wait, what?" Danny asks turning towards Ember.
"Just like do it at night when there's minimal people around" Ember finishes.
"Why should I?" The Box Ghost asks.
"Because you don't want to be stuck in his stupid thermos for the next month" she says in a slightly more aggressive tone.
Putting his hands up in mock surrender he says quickly "sure Ember, anything you want. But why are you helping Phantom? Aren't the two of you archenemies?"
"Yeah, well it's kind of a long story" she says.
"What just happened?" Danny asks Ember.
"We made a deal" she simply says. "He is to only haunt at night with little people around. Maybe if you weren't all shoot first, ask questions later, you would have more ghost friends" she finishes with a sarcastic smile plastered on her face.
Suddenly, before Danny could reply, a green energy blast hits the Box Ghost directly in the chest sending him flying backwards into a stack of boxes.
"What the hell?" Ember asks as her and Danny's turn to see the assailant when a voice cries out.
"Danny, look out!" Sam shouts as she fires another shot from the Fenton Bazooka she was carrying straight at Ember. Ember quickly braced for the blast until she saw Danny jump in front of her and create a ghost shield which blocked the shot.
"Sam, what the hell!" Danny shouted at her as she aimed to fire another shot at Ember, who doesn't look very happy about being shot at. Danny quickly fires a small ghost ray from his finger, hitting the bazooka and sending it out of Sam's reach.
"Danny, what are you doing?" She asks angrily.
"What the hell are you doing?" He asks back, with just as much anger.
"I'm here to help!" She shouted.
"You're not helping dipshit!" Ember shouted from behind Danny. "If anything you probably just pissed him off!"
Sam just stood there dumbfounded for a moment. "Wait, What's going on here?"
"We were reasoning with the Box Ghost." Ember screamed at her with her hair flaring up. "Until you're trigger happy ass showed up, shot him, and then decided you were going to shoot at me!" Her hands started to glow with ecto energy as she kept moving forward.
Danny came behind her and grabbed her shoulder spinning her around. "Hey Em, could you go check on the box ghost while I deal with this?" He practically begged.
With a look over her shoulder at Sam, she says "fine. But she better not be here when I get back" she says menacingly and begins to walk away.
"Sam, what are you doing here?" Danny questions her.
"Me?" She questions. "What about Ember? You know, your enemy?"
"Shes here with me" he says with the emphasis on with.
"Oh my god. She hypnotized you again, didn't she!" Sam says.
"No Sam, she didn't hypnotize me! She helped me" Danny exclaims.
"What do you mean helped?"
"She saved my life!" Danny says with anger building.
"I doubt it" Sam says sarcastically. "She's just using you Danny!"
"You need to leave Sam" Danny says flatly.
"What? No! I'm not going anywhere" she tells him.
"Like hell your not!" Ember says coming back beside Danny, clearly just as mad. "Im giving you one chance to go away from this on your feet."
Sam just stood looking back and forth between Danny and Ember. "Danny, you can't be serious?" She questions. "Your going to let this happen?"
Danny just crosses his arms over his chest in response causing Sam's jaw to drop. "Seriously?" She says to him then looks towards Ember. "I don't know what you've done to him, but I'm going to fix it and get you for it."
"I'll be waiting" she says threateningly, watching as she rounds the corner and out of sight.
"Well that was exciting" Danny says trying to lighten the mood. Ember stared at the spot where Sam was just standing, still fuming. Danny laid a hand on her shoulder. "Em, calm down. She's gone. Let's finish handling things here."
"Already did" she says tossing him a thermos. "Like I said, he wasn't too happy about being shot. Figured he'd calm down in there."
"Do I need to do the same to calm you down as well?" He asks in a joking tone.
Ember takes a deep breath to calm her nerves. "No, I'm good." She says as her hair starts to come back to normal.
"Good" he replies. "You ready to head back, or what?"
"Yeah" she replies. "Let's go" she finishes taking one last look around. They take off into the air towards Fenton Works. After a few minutes Ember suddenly comes to a stop looking toward the city.
"Actually, babypop" she begins. "I was thinking of something else." She grabs his hand and takes off towards the city with Danny in tow.
"Where are we going?" Danny asks her after a few minutes of flying.
"There" she points to a taller building on the outskirts of the city. They both land and Ember walks over and takes a seat on the ledge, then Danny follows suit. Nothing gets said between the two for a few minutes and Ember appears to be lost in thought.
Suddenly she breaks the silence. "Remember when I asked you if you remember how you died?" She asks quietly. Danny nods. "See that house over there?" She asks pointing at a small home directly in front of them.
"Yeah, I see it." Danny responds.
"That's where I lived before." She says. "And where I died."
Danny couldn't believe it. He knew she had been human before, but had no clue she was from Amity Park. He moves closer to her, encouraging her to go on.
"You've obviously heard my song, remember" she says to which Danny nods again. "I wasn't very popular when I was alive. I had a few friends, sure, but mostly just kept to myself. Got bullied quite a bit, but overall it wasn't too bad I don't guess. One day one of the more popular boys started talking to me. We talked for a few minutes, then he asked me out to a movie. I was so excited, I mean here I am thinking someone is actually taking an interest in me.
"I spent so much time getting ready. I wanted everything to be perfect. I caught a ride with my dad to the theater and we got there a few minutes early. I found a bench and waited for him. When he finally showed up, I almost couldn't contain my excitement anymore. We went and saw the movie then he took me out to dinner. I had more fun than I ever did at school. Then, I made a stupid decision. I went with him back to his house for the night." She says full of regret. She brings her knees to her chest and wraps her arms around them. Danny places his hand over her shoulders but doesn't say anything.
She leans into him slightly and continues. "I thought we had something going, but I didn't see him the next day at school. When I got home I tried to call to no avail. When I would see him at school after that it just seemed like he was avoiding me. This went on for two weeks, until eventually I just gave up. I decided to just shut myself away from everything. Stay locked in my bedroom until I could find a way to leave and start making music. Then one night I went to bed like normal, then woke up in the ghost zone" she finishes nonchalantly.
"I'm sorry Ember" Danny says. "No one should have to through that."
"No, it's okay." She turns to him. "I've accepted it. If it didn't happen the way it did, I probably wouldn't be here, and I wouldn't have gotten to have all the experiences I've had or the friends I've made along the way." She says with a small smile this causes a smile to come to Danny's face. "And I wouldn't have gotten to meet you" she finishes as she leans forward and kisses Danny.
At first, Danny is completely surprised by what's happening and doesn't know how to react. Once his mind catches up to what's going on, though, he relaxes a bit and deepens the kiss he's sharing with Ember.
When they finally pull away from each other Ember looks into Danny's eyes and asks "do you feel the same way?"
"I do" he says to her with a smile.
"Even after all the things I've done? Really?" She questions hanging her head slightly.
"It doesn't matter what you've done in the past, Em" he says with a smile. "What matters is the here and now." He tilts her head up slightly with his fingers touching her chin and gives her another kiss.
She pulls away first and stands holding her hand out to him. "We should probably go. Your family is probably getting ready to send out the rescue party."
He takes her hand and stands but doesn't let go. "Yeah, your probably right. Ready?" He asks with a smile.
Flashing her own smile back she nods and they fly off together towards Fenton Works.