I do not own Danny Phantom or Extreme Ghostbusters. Their individual companies own those. This is a sequel to Unclogged Graves.
Announcement at the end.
The bookstore seemed like every other in New York, except with most, if not, all of its contents and literature showcasing the various aspects of the occult and the supernatural. However, given a previous ghostbuster owned it, that was to be expected.
As the entrance bell rang, the man at the counter, a skinny, fair-skinned fellow with a scruffy, brown mustache being the only hair on his head, saw Egon and dropped whatever task he was doing as he held out his arms.
"Professor Spengler! Welcome! It's so good to see you again!"
"It's good to see you too, Charles," Egon replied, extending his hand. The two shook as Danny and Jazz entered, catching the clerk's attention.
"And I see you brought some...junior ghostbusters?" Charles scratched his head.
"Junior Ghostbusters?" Egon readjusted his glasses. "We never had any such recruits...besides the new ones, I mean."
"Junior ghostbuster?" Danny paused with a blink. "Wow, That sounds lame, like someone's trying to muscle in a franchise or something."
Neither the ghost boy nor his sister heard anything so subpar. The only Jr. they ever heard of were baby names or television for babies, and the idea of kid ghostbusters sounded ridiculous and stupid.
"Ghost getters is a better name," Jazz muttered. She winced as her brother jabbed an elbow into her arm with a roll of his eyes.
As a sore arm was rubbed, Egon shook his head, taking to Charles about the Chronicles of the Fright Knight. It seemed the man was in luck as one copy was donated not too long ago, stored in the back.
Charles offered the guests a seat as he walked through the back door, explaining he would need a minute.
The wit felt forever for the ghost boy as he leaned on the counter. Counting books did not help either as he listed the titles of nearby tomes.
"A Brief Recapitulation of Troll Lore? The Lesser Key of Solomon? Ghosts: A Cultural History? Who writes this stuff?" Danny pointed at the spines, almost wanting to tap at the literature.
"Philosophers, Theologians, and priests to researchers and even some scientists." Egon stared at the ghost boy. "You'd be surprised how many texts and scriptures there are about the supernatural."
"But nobody reads them...except for goths, geeks, and nerds...and my parents."
"Maybe. However, that does not mean they're not important. In ancient times, people would go out and encounter spirits, learning about them as humans progressively interacted with the spirit world. Call it what you will, there's still a lot to be discovered about the supernatural."
Danny paused. The world seemed to stop as he thought back to his encounter with the gluttonous ghost from before to the spirits he called his enemies.
Months back, there had been an infestation when one of those enemies plagued his school with a ghost virus. Though his parents found the concept silly when they heard, the virus had temporarily granted the teens powers like his own, if not randomly assigned.
Danny never thought about it then, but Egon's words rang true. There was more to ghosts than he ever thought possible. And now one of his most powerful foes had come stalking him, only to see him leave because of history.
This was now becoming a mystery, and the ghost boy had no idea how to look for clues.
If fortune favored him, then perhaps Charles bringing in the spare copy of The Chronicles of the Fright Knight would help. Almost in instinct, Danny grabbed the book, immediately burying his head into the pages. While eye raising, nobody thought different to his actions.
Egon thanked the clerk for his help, stating the book would be returned momentarily. With the task done, he and the Fenton siblings headed back to the firehouse for some research.
The drive was short, but that did not stop Danny from taking a peak. The dusty pages flipped back and forth as the ghost boy scrolled through the contents, looking for any hint that might have been missed. Carrying the open book, he did not let go as he walked out of the Ecto-1, almost tripping at the first step out into the garage.
"Next time, you might want to drop the book before you walk." Came a voice.
Danny looked up to see the Extreme Ghostbusters inside, unpacked and resting from the long walk.
"What are you doing here?" Danny glanced from his book. "I thought you were investigating calls about the Fright Knight."
The Extreme Ghostbusters said nothing as they all huddled in the reception desk at the other side of the garage entrance. Janine was typing away feverishly as the printer hummed and whirred.
"Without the Ecto-1, we couldn't get far," Roland said, leaning on a file cabinet. His arms were crossed with a finger tapping on a sleeve as the group waited.
"But doesn't New York have a public transport system? You know, the subway? The bus?" Jazz thought out loud, puzzled as she walked over.
"Well, we did, but we were short on cash." Eduardo pointed at Kylie. "And just when Kylie had an idea on where to go."
Kylie was silent, giving off an uncomfortable face as she counted the planks on the ceiling.
Garrett wheeled himself over, keeping Slimer away from yet another one of his personal candy bars. "So, you found a copy of the book?" He asked.
Danny shook the tone in his hands almost like a street sign. He did not put much effort as the book was worn out, not wanting to damage it or tear anything. Kylie came front and center as she loomed over his shoulder.
The ghost boy tried to focus on the text, but a scent hit his nose. It was not hard to guess that it was coming from the girl right by him, but it was weird. Goths don't wear perfume or any fragrances, except she smelled nice.
"It's shampoo," Kylie said bluntly, keeping her eyes in the book.
Danny held his mouth open but promptly shut it. How she seemed to read his mind was almost scary, and he fights ghosts. With a red face, he handed the book to the girl and walked away.
Bringing the book to the group's center, Kylie flipped through the pages, eyeing the sheets as they moved. Jazz placed a hand on the tome.
"Ok, no one reads that fast," she said.
"You obviously never met Kylie," Garrett scoffed.
The two engaged in a short stare-off. The latter seemed to enjoy pushing the Fenton girl's buttons, but there was no way she ever admitted it. Nor would she allow anyone to get an edge over her.
"He's right, you know," Eduardo said, earning a glare from Jazz. There was no reaction, focusing on the book as Kylie closed it on Jazz's unremoved hand.
"If you're done, we may want to get back to our problem with a ghost knight." Kylie spoke with a dull tone, but it got the desired effect as Jazz pulled her hand out and ceased her small tantrum. The goth kept her eyes on the book, humming to herself.
Danny and Jazz stared at her in disbelief, wondering how the heck anyone could read the entire contents of a book that fast.
"The sword," Kylie said, tapping the book.
"The sword?" Danny and Jazz said simultaneously. "You mean the Soul Shredder?" Danny then said.
"Soul Shredder? What? He couldn't think of a better name?" Garret snarked, unamused.
"Considering it apparently send you to a dimension where you live out your worst fear, it might be appropriate," Kylie remarked, handing the book to Garrett.
The wheelchair-bound boy placed a finger on the page as he read out loud, "Legend has it the Soul Shredder earns its name from its victims. When slashed, sending them to an alternate dimension where their worst fears come to life, rendering them mad."
The entire room was silent as they soaked in that tidbit. Egon hummed to himself, looming over Garrett's shoulder, looking over the text.
"Great. Just what we need. Now if we get cut, it's not our limbs we gotta watch out for," Garrett droned, putting the book down.
"This can't right." Egon was holding the book, rereading the line while adjusting his glasses.
"You mean the part where everyone now has to worry about living their worst nightmares or the book?" Danny rolled his eyes, not wishing to jinx matters worse. Though he felt that was already the case when he spoke, his humor sometimes would not let him be silent.
"I mean the dimension. From what I'm reading, it says the sword sends one there, but if that were the case, then why would they be released when the Fright Knight were to be sealed?" Egon flipped through the pages. "Even taking into account the ectoplasmic convergence destabilization upon capture, dimensional return would only be possible if the item's frequency differentiated from-"
"Um...in English...please?" Jazz pleaded with a soft smile.
Danny chuckled. Even with all the notes his sister took, Prof. Spengler's thinking was still farther ahead than anything her parents would lecture or babble about. This moment, a rarity outside the Fenton household, made him smile as he endured a slight glare from his sibling.
Jazz hated not being right or unable to keep up her straight-A student appearance.
"He means when a ghost is captured, all the spooky stuff they did is gone with them. Viruses, curses, you know, anything that the ghost can do," Edaurdo educated with a smug smirk.
Now Jazz really did not like how her intelligence was being questioned, especially by the guy who seemed more inclined to sleep in class. She could almost hear him gloating about how he was a scientist.
"Exactly," Egon said. "Which brings up how they are released if he is captured."
Danny watched as Spengler began pacing, muttering to himself. When his parents did this, it was annoying, almost amusing, but with the professor, the atmosphere was tense. The ghost boy watched the man think to himself, feeling more respect for the man.
"So, the Fright Knight, right?" Kylie asked. "You seem to know him."
"Yeah, the spirit of Halloween who lacks an indoor voice. He was in Amity Park last year. My parents kept talking about him a week after he was sealed," Danny answered.
Kylie raised a curious brow, smirking at the ghost boy's comment. "For some one who doesn't seem to care, you seem to know a lot about ghosts." Kylie's eyes pivoted their gaze into the ghost boy.
"Kinda have when you have parents that obsess over them, with a dad that likes to babble on and on about ghosts." Danny's tone was dry and weary as he dropped the book and shoved it away. "In the end, I learn more than I want."
The other Ghostbusters joined in, staring at the Fenton siblings, specifically Danny. Jazz put a sympathetic hand on her brother as she began patting his back, sighing as she recounted all the times her father would babble on about ghosts.
Jack Fenton's enthusiasm for the ectoplasmic studies knew no end.
"Sounds like your family was enlightened," Kylie said.
"I think the word you're looking for is obsessed," Eduardo snarked.
"Especially with how they acted towards Slimer," Garrett whispered to the former. Slimer, who was floating nearby, nodded feverishly as he recalled how Jack and Maddie almost vaporized him.
"That's putting it mildly," Jazz butted into the not-so-isolated conversation. Eduardo and Garrett did not seem to care they could be heard, but their thoughts were no secrets to anyone.
Egon hummed to himself as he and Janine shared a look. The latter almost gave a motherly stare at the slimy, green ghost. She probably would have jumped in more if the Fenton parents had managed to land a hit on the spud-like spirit.
Eduardo glanced at Slimer, who shook nervously. Placing a hand on the ghost's head seemed soothing, even if it drenched the former's hand in ectoplasm.
"What they said," Danny pointed at the boys. "Jazz and I were never really interested in our dad's babbling on ghosts...too bad they're all coming to us now." That last part was muttered silently to himself.
"Then what did you want to be?" Roland asked.
"I...want to be an astronaut." Danny leaned back in his chair. He stared at the ceiling, almost like he had X-ray vision from one of his favorite comic book heroes. "The stars, the endless darkness, discovering what could be cool and exciting...and who knows, maybe a new planet could be found."
"You mean like aliens?" Garrett couldn't help scoffing at his question as he asked. He gave a friendly elbow jab at Eduardo as the two smirked.
Danny shrugged. "Who's to say? I mean, ghosts exists, so aliens have to be next on the about-to-be-proven-to-exist list."
"Point taken." Eduardo walked up the boy's side. "But you do realize you sound like your parents right now, right?"
Danny's eyes shot wide as he groaned. First, he was ghost fighting, and now he was talking about aliens as undiscovered science, almost like his dad. All he needed to do was babble on about the existence of aliens and he was on his way to becoming Jack.
"Hmm...you sound like a romantic," Kylie said.
"A what?" The ghost boy was blushing for a moment, if he hadn't fallen off his chair, he might have noticed a wave of red hair on his mind.
However, as he got up, he gave the goth girl a blushing face. Her cold, mysterious face turned him into a stuttering mess as Garrett whistled. Roland chuckled with Jazz as the last teen, Eduardo, stared with mixed expressions.
"I-I don't—I mean I'm not s-seeing anyone, b-but—"
Kylie held up a hand, waiting for Danny to stop as she stared at him. It was almost cute how naive he was being, staring back with a red face as he smiled nervously.
Her hand was placed on her chest as she said, "I mean, you follow your heart. That's what it means to be a romantic."
"...oh." Danny's face would not stop blushing as he buried his face into his hands. The embarrassment was like his first year of high school, except without the social consequences and humiliation that would linger for days or weeks, depending on how much Dash found it funny.
A hand was felt, patting his back. It was probably Jazz, backing up her little brother as she gave some glares.
"Ah, relax. We're just messing," Garrett said.
"Besides, the whole embarrass someone over hormones ends at high school," Roland added.
Eduardo nodded, tired already of childish amusement. He and Garrett started to quiet down as Roland went to the Ecto-1 to inspect it. The iconic car was never running below full capacity, if the mechanic had anything to say about it.
Egon walked to the office chair and sat down, but before that he put down the book. Its familiar cover made the ghost boy grimace as Jazz picked it up. After flipping it through the pages, she put it down, allowing the Ghostbusters to study its contents once more.
Eduardo flipped to the table of contents, skimming his finger along the pages. For something that was the only written catalogue of their new ectoplasmic enemy, it did nothing to impress.
"This...looks more like an old story for kids," Eduardo said, pushing the book away.
"Maybe." Kylie took the literature and gave it a more thorough study. The pages flipping were heard as Danny lifted his head to look at the girl.
"Ok, there's no way you're reading that. You're just tossing the pages to the side," he quipped.
"It's called speed reading, and yes, I am doing just that." Kylie never looked from the pages as she stared, continuing her research. "You'd be surprised at what the brain can do when you don't waste it on everyday staring at a screen."
The ghost boy took offense at that remark. Part of him expected to hear the chuckles of the other boys again. However, they seemed guilty of similar actions as the trio of college boys had their phones out shamelessly. While Roland seemed to be looking up maintenance tips online, Eduardo and Garret's faces seemed more numbed, most likely on the web or social media.
Jazz shook her head but paused as she saw Eduardo's face shift, giving her brother a curious eye. Her gaze listed how he was also glancing at Kylie before glancing at the table. It was odd to see, but a small gasp escaped the girl's mouth.
Egon was waiting patiently, looking over at Kylie, who continued to reread the book. Adjusting his glasses for a better view, he went back his papers, organizing a lesson plan for tomorrow with Janine. Fright Knight or no knight, they still had to entertain the Fenton kids.
"There's nothing," Kylie remarked as she put the book down.
"What do you mean, nothing?" Garrett asked. He grabbed the book and began flipping the pages, going back to the first page.
"I mean, all there is are stories of the Fight Knight. Nothing telling us about his character. It just tells how he's the spirit of Halloween through some adventures."
"So, you're telling us that this book, the only one that has info on tall, dark, and spooky, just tells stories?" Eduardo asked.
"Basically." Kylie took the book from Garrett, flipping to the first chapter. She pointed to a drawn image of the Fright Knight, standing imposingly with a medieval background. "I mean, it doesn't even give specific dates. Apparently, he appeared one night, on Halloween, haunting the knights and attacking with the Soul Shredder. Whatever king he served isn't mentioned. The only thing that sticks out is of someone he's searching for, like a duel."
"A duel? You mean, like a fight?" Danny asked.
"Exactly. So whoever he's looking for, he fights for that someone." Kylie flipped the pages back to her.
"Didn't Mr. Fright Knight's bat-horse act weird last time he came?" Eduardo said. Everyone stared at him. "Think about it. He was about to slice us into little meat chunks, but then his horse acted up, and he left."
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Garret asked.
"Only one way to find out." Roland had finished his maintenance of the Ecto-1. It was all ready to go and did not need a trip to the gas station anytime soon.
"And since Fright Knight has been last seen traversing after dark—"
"Which means catching him at night," Danny slammed a fist into his palm, finishing Egon's statement. Blinking, he paused as the table stared at him. "Ok, I actually did not mean to make that pun...or I think that was a pun."
The ghost boy began blushing as he heard laughter in the garage. It was not loud, but the sound filled the room as most of the residents shook their head. For what it was worth, having someone laugh at his remark was somehow warm, an indescribable feeling that was not of any recognizable form. A smirk brushed along his face as he waited.
A knock from the front door came, alerting to a customer, and Eduardo got up to answer.
"Looks like someone's opening up," Garrett remarked with a grin. He rolled over an patted Danny in the back. "Who knows. Maybe we have you wearing a proton pack before you go."
"I don't have to wear spandex...do I? Or a jumpsuit?" Danny asked. It was almost ironic to him, given his Phantom persona's outfit.
A small laugh came from the group as the front door was opened. Eduardo froze in place, staring outside.
"Uhh...guys..." Eduardo turned halfway to the group, keeping his guest in his line of sight. His hand twitched as it slowly reached for the lockers, grabbing at the air. "We got a trick-or-treater."
This probably should have been updated in October, but it's here now. Looks like History isn't always the best subject, especially for Danny. Anyway, I want to take the time to announce something. This will be in the next chapters of all my other stories.
Over the past few months, I've been balancing real life and my fanfics, but with inflation, economic problems are becoming a concern. To possibly help, I've started a Pat re oN account(The site won't let me have it spelled normally). You can find it on the site; my username is the same as my Fanfiction and Archive of Our Own name, BeConFuzzled Wrtier. If you like what I'm writing and can help support it, or don't have an account here and want a way to stay updated with my fics, then give my page a visit.
Now, next time, more plot and lore.
Special Thanks! to Flower Princess11 for all her help!
Reviews:
RonaldM40196867: No. No video games inspired me for this. Yes and No. The Fentons have created an arsenal of powerful ghost weapons, but the Ghsotb uster gear also has more technical equipment, like a ghost beacon. In short, it's comparing power to technique. I doubt it. They seem more interested in fighting and dissecting than detection.
dennishoisington2: How's this?