The ghost suddenly realized that the man standing in the sight of it was a threat.
It lunged towards Danny with its jaws unhooked. He swiftly leaped back just in time before it managed to maul him. His face was inches away from its snapping mandibles. In a panicky reaction, he grabbed a nearby random chair and flung at it. The chair smashed right in its face, causing it to wince. He then seized the opportunity to sprint out of the room.
By the time it opened its eyes, he had already run out. Feeling enraged, it charged forth and crashed through the door with its large body in pursuit. All the surrounding objects got thrashed as the ghost crawled rapidly down the almost constrictive hallway.
Danny looked back and saw it closing in. He could see a mass of distorted body supported by its bulbous four limbs as it came into the brighter side of the corridor. He made a sharp turn at the corner and headed up to a flight of stairs. The hideous creature that followed behind slammed its body right into the corner wall. It twisted its torso to squeeze through the tight entrance towards the stairs. Its limbs pushed with all might and managed to shove through the entrance. Rusty steel balustrades were bent as it forcefully climbed up.
Danny was already up a few flights of stairs and looked down. He noticed its movement decelerated by the tight spaces of the stairway. He quickly unclipped the Fenton Thermos hung on his belt, popped open the cover, and aimed at it. When he was about to press the button on the thermos, it vanished right in front of his eyes.
"Shit! Where did it go?!
Danny didn't expect it to go intangible right at this instance. The next thing he knew, he got rammed against the wall. It had knocked the wind out of him, and he collapsed onto the staircase landing area. The thermos slipped out of his grip and rolled to a corner. Intense pain coursed through his spine as he gasped for breath. He tried to lift himself, but his limbs were shaking. The minute he looked up, he found himself staring at the ghastly-looking face.
"Time to say your last prayer, human," it smiled as it slowly opened its fang-filled mouth, ready to crush him.
The core within him began vibrating with powerful energy. A ring of light emerged from his core and wrapped around his body. As the ring split, luminous ecto energy burst out and morphed his body. His human flesh completely disintegrated and replaced with a disembodied shadowy form. His legs fused and turned into a spectral tail. His once raven black hair became ghostly white and almost wispy. Sharp fangs and claws grew out. His usual bright blue eyes now glowed in acidic green.
The creature was shocked by the bright light and withdrew its jaws immediately. The man who lay helplessly on the floor was now transformed into a ghost, floating right at the same spot. Before it could react, Danny shot out multiple blasts of ectoplasmic beam, and the shots pummeled its body with great intensity. It screamed in awful pain as its bulky body slipped off from the rail of the stairs and plummeted through the stairwell hole. A loud boom shook the whole building once it hit the ground.
He grabbed the thermos and flew straight down to the ghost that lay on the floor in agony. The impact of the fall broke its limbs. It was bleeding profusely, and ectoplasm was splattered all over the place.
"You... you're one of us...," it groaned. "How could you do this to me?"
The phantom floated nearer to it. It shuddered in fear as it sensed an ominous aura that it had never experienced from any other ghosts before. Iciness could be felt throughout the atmosphere.
"You seriously think I'm like you? Well, think again," an unearthly voice echoed from him.
He aimed and pressed the button on the thermos. A beam of light shot out from the mouth and engulfed its body, pulling it into the thermos with an incredible suction power. It finally understood that the being it encountered was no ordinary ghost. He was Danny Phantom, a truly high-leveled ghost that led an army and won the battle against the mighty ghost king, Pariah Dark, in the Ghost Zone.
Danny capped the thermos once it sealed the ghost inside.
"I'm gonna have to talk to Walker about this and send it into the Ghost Zone prison, but first..."
Rings of light reappeared and washed over his body, reverting him into his human form as Danny Fenton. He could still feel the aching pain in his back after that fight. Fortunately for him, he could recover from injuries like this within a day.
He then glanced in the direction where he found the portal.
"...what should I do with the active portal?"
He walked back into the corridor and entered the room. The portal was still vibrantly glowing with ecto energy. He stepped forward and examined it closely, wondering how the scripts on the wall managed to activate it. After a while, he picked up his cell and started dialing. A familiar face soon appeared on the screen and spoke from the speaker.
"Hello, is that you, Danny?"
"Hello, Tucker. Yeah, it's me."
"It's been a while!"
"It sure is."
"How's life over there?"
"Pretty alright. I'm still new at teaching. So, there's going to be a learning curve for me."
"I'm sure you do, buddy. It was the same for me when I first started working at FentonWorks. Your mom and dad are great at coaching me about building Fenton technology and research."
"That's good to hear. Anyway, I wonder if you have the time to spare? I got a problem, and I need help."
"What is it?"
"Do you, by any chance, know how to seal a portal activated by spells?"
"Spells?"
"Yeah, you know those that are used in sorcery type."
"I've never heard of such a portal. A portal activated by spells? That's a first for me."
"Well, I just happen to stand in front of one right now," he raised his cell and faced the camera at the portal.
"Holy, freaking, heck! What a discovery! I'll need time to do more research on this! I do not have any knowledge about this kind of portal. Perhaps I could get Sam to help out. She might know a thing or two about occultic practices and witchcraft."
"Please do. I don't want any more menacing ghosts prancing through. I just dealt with a big one guarding this area." He presented the thermos to the camera and rattled in his hand.
"Nice. You caught it."
"Yup, I've secured this site as my haunt, so no other ghosts will dare to trespass here. For now, I can use this portal to send them back into the Ghost Zone."
"Speaking of trespassing, don't you think other people will stumble upon it?"
"This whole building has already been cordoned off. No one can enter the area except me."
"That's good to hear. Can you snap some pictures of the inscriptions on the wall and send them to me and Sam? Hopefully, we'll figure out some clues on how to seal it."
"Thanks, man. Oh, I should go now. My next class will start in 15 minutes."
"Alright, chat with you later."
"Later."
After snapping and sending out the pictures using his phone, Danny walked in the direction where he first came in. Just when he was on the way out, he spotted a baseball on the floor and shattered window glass scattered around it. He picked up the baseball, and he noticed there was an autograph on it. He casually held it in his palm and strode out of the building.
As he was out in the open area, he spotted Elmer shouting, "Argh! Stupid me! That was my best baseball collection! I never should've thrown it into the building!"
"Too bad you can't take it back now. It's illegal to break into that building, and you'll be in big trouble if you get caught breaking in," Lisa snickered.
"Gah, stupid me!"
Danny approached him and asked, "What's the matter?"
"Mr. Fenton! My baseball is inside this building, and I can't get it! What should I do?! It's one-of-a-kind baseball that I got from the game last summer!" His pleading eyes looked into Danny's face, almost sobbing.
"What does your baseball look like?"
"It's signed by the famous Mikey Trott from the Angelus! I thought I could throw like the pros! I never should've done that! It was my mistake to throw the ball without thinking!"
Danny raised his hand that gripped the ball and looked at the signature with the name Mikey Trott written on it.
"Is this the ball you're searching for?" Danny extended his arm and showed it to Elmer.
Elmer jumped in great joy, "Yes! This is it! How did you manage to get it back?! This whole building's completely sealed off!"
"Um... I saw a cat holding it in its mouth and dropped it in the grass. So, I just happened to walk by and pick it up..." Danny lied through his teeth.
"Thank you, Mr. Fenton! You're my savior!"
The boy ran off cheerfully, holding tight onto his precious ball that he just got back.
"Savior, eh?" Danny chuckled as he watched the kid dash into the baseball field. It had been quite a long while since he last heard that from other people.