Chapter 6
The world was a barren wasteland with nothing around, but ashy sand. It was like being in the far reaches of the Ghost Zone. An uncomfortable dead place; the sky was streaked with blue, purple and ecto-green. Danny awoke to the sounds of screeching in the distance. His ghost senses were tingling both to warn him of the ghost and that warm feeling he got when around his cousin. Someone Danny had thought much about him since all that time ago. However long ago it was with time becoming ever more unstable it was hard to tell. Danny, Valerie and the Old Man were standing in a bright open desolate wasteland. Dash was nowhere to be found and trying to communicate to him through their earpieces was fruitless. It was a very quiet world, not even wild animals scurrying about the world had a dead feeling to it. A sober reminder of what would happen if Danny failed his mission. Danny walked over to Valerie who was checking her ghost hunting gear as the Old Man was looking into a small compass without saying anything. "Well my gear is good. Are you feeling alright? I don't understand where the Lunch Box took us?"
"Physically I'm fine, but something is off. It's eerie, almost like being in the Outlying regions of the Ghost Zone. Uncomfortable, only more land and less green." Danny held out his hand and Valerie took it. It was a comforting thing in times like this unlike his self-imposed exile.
"Well that's better than nothing," the Old Man snapped out of his delusion and approached the two of them. "We need to start moving. I have a bad feeling about us realming out in the open. But to where we would go I have no clue?"
"What do you mean?" Valerie asked.
"If Box Lunch brought us here. There is a reason and I speculate we're reaching towards the end of this long nightmare. If Blonda attacked Earth it means she's seeking the rest of the visage. And that means the wand-waver war upon us. I believe if my failing memory is right. We're over a billion years since Blonda's fall and Melody's tune was played across the world. Over a billion years since the Wand-wavers developed into their war and now we find ourselves in the middle of it. Likely Box Lunch wants us to correct the time line irregularity." His thoughts trailed off, "And now we know why we haven't been able to find Danielle."
"What war?" Valerie asked. "You never mentioned any war."
"In time we need to find some place to hide before Blonda's winged angel finds us. And that's if I'm right." The Old Man said.
"What happens if you're wrong?" Danny asked.
"Something my boy are best left in the past," the Old Man said. With that he picked an arbitrary direction and started walking. "Don't swaddle too far behind." Danny and Valerie looked at one another. Neither said anything just followed the old man towards wherever he was walking.
X-x
The three of them had walked for some time across the barren wasteland. And the longer they walked the more apparent they weren't alone. Every so often Danny's ghost sense would tingle, but no one appeared. Some areas of the world had massive amounts of ectoplasma. With a few pockets of magic here or there they had stumbled across an old cave. With that the three of them had taken refuge inside it. Valerie was uncomfortable as her suit was starting to have problems. Without any way of fixing it, but Danny was there. The cave was cold with a heavy mist. Someone lived here as they explored deeper into the cave. There was a hammock for sleeping, some clothes and a few gadgets none of them could describe. "You guys might want to see this…it's ugly. Really ugly." Valerie said which caught both Danny and the Old Man's attention. "Whoever lives here has managed to capture one of those winged angel things."
Danny walked over to where Valerie was in her hand was a glow stick. In front of Valerie was a winged angel with irky white skin, chains wrapped around its hands, wings and feet. The metal was pure steel and glowed with a light hue to it Danny leaned to touch only to snap back a moment later. Valerie looked at him as his hand turned slightly red. "You okay?" She asked.
"The last time that happened was…" Danny's thoughts trailed off only for the Old Man to say something.
"It's magic," the Old Man said. "I think your cousin would be the answer. I've never been able to study these things in person. Creepy." The winged angel had one of its white wings torn off, its white eyes had been blinded. Its skin was silky smooth with blemishes; the thing wasn't even sentient. Just resting whatever happened to the damn thing happened a long time ago. "So this is Blonda's winged angels. Now then all we need to do is figure out how…" his thoughts trailed off.
"So we kill it?" Valerie asked, "I got a knife that should be sharp enough to pierce its skin."
"Without a laboratory that wouldn't be a good idea. I have no idea how dangerous it would be. And there is a chance, a very high chance we wouldn't be able to. As Wand-waver when they die turn into fairy magic and are returned into the universal magic pool that all magical creatures pool from. That's a very high risk with little reward." The Old Man said, "besides we don't even have a tool to break down enchanted metal."
Danny stopped from a moment as his magical creature senses triggered. Within a split second he held out his hand let a ball of ecoplasma form and sent it blasting towards the thing behind him. Which resulted in the entire cave shaking as the thing behind him slammed directly into the wall. A minor explosion took over the cave and Danny summoned a green ecto shield to protect them from the blast. A moment later the dust settled and a giant humanoid man landed on the floor. Danny held out his hand as another ball of ectoplasma appeared. The man on the ground was a tall man who was towering over all of them. He wore a gray clock that covered his body around the man's neck was a shock collar. The Old Man walked over to the man who Danny had knocked unconscious, "Lucky for us you managed to knock him out. Now then let's meet our host and figure out who they are…and what's going on." With that the Old Man leaned over the unconscious man and lifted him up by his collar.