Hey everyone, Welcome to, You give me shivers. Now this is an Erma X Danny FIC and some of you might be here to call me disturbed as Erma is 8 in the series, don't worry this is during her teenage years she is just as old as Danny here. Just wanted to get that out of the way before the internet kills my writing career before it starts. This story has tints of horror if you are familiar with Erma you know why if you are not go look it up it's a free web comic and worth the time. Those of you who are here from "Rising shadow," good to see you, thanks for giving this your time. To those that don't know me, I would like to point out that I am writing in a second language and have dyslexia, so please have mercy on me and I hope you enjoy.
Tiffany snow had already made her way to the studio desk when the call came in. Even with or especially due to the strange ghostly maelstrom that had picked up amity 6 months ago, people should get the news. Supply updates, warnings of the danger and more than anything else assurance that things would be okay. Two years ago, Tiffany would have been a panicking mess. Luckily, life in amity had an effect on people. it had become a bit of a local joke to give things a strange score, the so-called amity scale. Box ghost stolen your kids' birthday precise? That's about a 5. Haunted diary spilling your secrets? Painful but only about a 7, town picked up in a maelstrom hero missing and mushed together with another town? Most people would give it a solid 90, she called it a scoop. so, the moment she had seen the sky return to the blue she had missed so much through the break room window she had left for the floor. She sat down and looked into the camera while the camera boy gave her the thumbs up, they were rolling.
"Good evening Amity park and Blair Wood, I am Tiffany snow and this is amity news. It seems that the ghostly maelstrom that kept our towns captured has lifted and from coming in information we get confirmation that the last ghost who haunted our streets have been beaten. I repeat, it is declared safe to leave your current holdout." she paused as she heard cheering from the building. Much like herself, colleagues and bystanders close to the new station had held up in here, and they were all glad that they could safely return home. "Before I continue, it would be amiss to thank all the valiant souls that braved haunted streets to keep the ghosts in line, deliver food medicines and other necessities. I think I speak from the hearth of us all when I say thank you. This leads us to the question of Where is phantom and does he have anything to do with these events? Now closing out this broadcast, a moment of silence for those of us that passed away due to events that transpired." The towns opened their doors and walked out biting back or letting out tears as they found out if loved once had made it out, a duo of friends all but carried each other out of an alleyway.
"Ugh, that was way too close Tuck." Sam Manson said as she dropped the fried ecto blaster.
Tucker let out a whine, "Yo, I want a vacation from patrol of at least a week."
Sam shook her head. "I want to bet that this is nothing compared to Danny, let's get our asses home. I want to be able to stand up straight when he shows up."
Tucker smiled, "Do we hug him or kick his ass?"
"Yes" Sam simply said as she tried to put weight on her left foot and winced.
In a house not far away, a blonde wiped the blood off her brow and rumbled through her drawer. "Lighter, lighter, where is it….got it." Amy grabbed the candles and turned to her friends. All of them were in the process of patching themselves up with first aid kits. Black eyes cuts and other nasty but not dangerous wounds all paled by almost Savage grins on their faces. The spookyteers they called themselves. And they had been among the groups that had taken to the ghost-infested streets almost daily. Now one mission remained to get back their missing friend and that would be commencing at midnight.
Cindy looked up. "Alright, so we got the candles and a lighter, Who is in for a pizza while we wait?"
Conner let himself fall on his back where he stood. "Darn right, I am."
Amy smirked, only to blush as her stomach betrayed that she had been without food for quite a bit herself. More than any hunger, though, worry ate at her. fingering a hearth shaped neckless holding a picture of her and Erma when they had been in grade school, the letters BFF engraved in the gold. "Pleas be okay, spooky, we miss you."
Ghost zone 3 hours earlier
Danny pushed himself off the ground. He thought that he had become stronger over the years. Well, he had after all he was still alive and fighting. But the newly resurrected ghost king was noting short of a monster. Danny's hand went to his side as he winced in pain. His ribs had taken a beating he was pretty sure that he would have gotten a mortal wound if he had been a human, luckily he was not.
A shriek went through the room as a pillar was ripped off the wall and hurled towards the maniacal monarch of the ghost zone, who barely had time to smash it to pieces with his mace as from behind it a green blade met his chest plate, scratching the black steel and making him jump back. The young woman who wielded the spectral Naginata continued her assault without letting up. Her moonlight eyes told the king his title meant nothing to her, here was an heiress of a line that struck fear within humans and yokai alike since times long forgotten. And she was ready to show this so-called ruler that she could carry that torch straight into the very hearth of his realm. Danny pulled himself up to his feet and flew forwards aiming a powerful ecto blast at his enemies enormous weapon arm they had fought for hours and both parties would have been wounded to death were they mortal. The king's once intimidating armor was reduced to a dented metal husk, and the ecto blast was enough to tear straight through and into the spectral flesh. With a loud thud, the king's mace buried itself into the ruined ground. Erma didn't give her enemy time to recuperate and pushed her attack, her pole arm was like a hail storm of green steel slamming into him while Danny rocketed in and delivered a punch that made the room shake to his enemy, launching him into the ruble. What happened next made Danny's blood run cold, a ghostly wail came from the king. Avoiding the deadly wave by a moment he answered with his own closely followed by a psychic wave of energy send by Erma, the last thing the King of ghost felt was his keep collapsing in on him and his enemies.
Pain was the first thing Danny Felt as he woke up, He recognized his surroundings as the far frozen medical bay. He was in a healing pod floating in a transparent ectoplasma based gel he had dubbed saw Erma sitting up right in a nearby bed reading some unknown book. noticing he was awake Erma made her way over she seamed to have healed faster than him, he guessed this was because she was born a halfa and her body reacted to the Bacto faster than his own. Yet, the battle had left its marks her right arm had a long scar running from her upper wrist to the elbow and Danny didn't doubt that the Blast the ghost king had hit her from behind with had left a burn scar on her back. He could see her wince while moving, and she was somewhat unstable in the air, Pain killers maybe? Her eyes were clear, though, and they shone with gladness at her friend's return to the land of the not-so living.
"Erma, are you okay?" Danny asked the girl, who gave him an alright sign with her hand and tilted her head. An unspoken question about how he felt himself.
"I be okay Erma just sour." was the answer which they both knew was not the whole truth as the bacto was numbing the pain quite a bit Danny knew if he would leave the healing pod and scrubbed off the icy gel right now, that the full force of pain was going to hit him like a truck that would send him to a world of hurt.
Erma responded with a roll of her eyes, obviously aware of him just playing the hero. Honestly, she couldn't blame him. She had over the past few months gathered the respect of the ghost that called the infinite realm their home, but Danny, he was a different thing. Friend or foe the ghosts knew he was a heroic soul and that image had rallied the troops, and it had spurred the young man to adopt the persona that befitted such. It was cute in a silly way, most ghost did not keep up with mortal pop culture or literature, so the boy had taken to quoting some heroic lines here and there.
"What do you mean duh?" Danny asked, mocking annoyance.
Erma looked at him shyly and rubbed her arm before she opened her mouth, almost cringing at the sound of her own voice. She had never liked her voice that much. It didn't sound bad, that was the whole problem. Usually people who heard got scared when they saw what was attached to the voice. Not the fun kind of scared, the angry type, the type that would make them hurt her ever since she was little.
"Because you got your ass kicked badly." she dared to say, flinching she looked Danny in the eyes ready to see him look at her revolted, instead he looked honored at the fact she had spoken up at all. Soon though, he looked at the door of the medical bay, a shadow fell over his face making the boy look a decade older.
"How is Dani, could they help her?" his voice shook.
Erma's moonlight eyes grew fierce as she let out a curse in her mother's native language, and her fist balled. "You are right to call that Vlad a fruit loop, The doctors figured out what went wrong with her cloning. her makeup is not designed to be a copy, but to be a child. he tried to make a kid with the DNA of one parent."
for a second, they were quiet. the soft buzz of the machines of the medical bay was the only thing that kept the silence at bay as realization crept into Danny's mind
"A kid from only one parent, she would miss half her DNA. Can we do anything to help her?"
Erma smiled shyly while rubbing the back of her neck. "I wish I could have checked it with you first, but Dani was in a critical condition, and we couldn't wait." The half yokai's face showed a dark blush. "I Offered my DNA as a donor to fill up the gaps, Luckily I am just human enough that the blood and ectoplasma, or whatever my yokai half bleeds, bonded well with her."
Danny let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. causing the goo he was floating in to bubble, and he smiled down at the girl in front of him.
"Everything will be fine, no nasty surprises?"
"Maybe one, She had lost a chunk of herself when I got to her clockwork came in and offered help," Erma bit her lip trying to find the right words. "we managed to safe her, but He needed to turn back her clock in a way she is younger, I think she is about 10 years old now."
Danny's face showed too many emotions to read properly, which made the next part even harder to say.
"Danny, I haven't told you everything, and I am not ready to do so yet." She swallowed and cursed her cowardice. "My mother's family, they are, can be dangerous."
Danny placed his hand on the glass. "You have done enough, Erma, I make sure she knows what you did."
"I'm not letting it end like that Danny, she is of my blood whatever the circumstance." flashes of the past months passed her mind's eye. Three children of both worlds. There were times Danny and Erma had woken up from uneasy sleep homesick and afraid their eyes looked into the either looking home. Dani never did because she had no home to return to. The day of the fight, the girl didn't want to leave their hiding place, and the older halfas now realized that she was not afraid of the fight. she was afraid of having to say goodbye to the first family she ever had. "That girl will not go on without a mom."
"Together?" Danny asked as he placed a hand on the glass
She went back to her silent but telling communication and placed her hand over his, the glass was nothing to them as they smiled. whatever happened going forward, this strange bond they shared with that little girl would last.
Erma left the room shortly thereafter, as much as she wanted to be with Danny, she knew that he needed his rest. She walked out into the sterile halls of the medical facility, soon to be greeted by the strumming of guitar strings and a singing voice.
"Just carry me away
Once more, just call my name.
And I will tell a lie
I want you to stay with me.
Goodbye then, goodbye then, goodbye then
Sayonara Memory."
The shapes of Kitty Johnny and his shadow and Ember McClain sat on their beds, the rock ghost waved at her.
"Baby dip okay?"
Erma narrowed her eyes, letting her hair wave on a psychic wind. She had gotten along with Ember good enough over the months, both being tricksters at hearth, this did not mean she forgot about the villainess track record. Ember saw the defensive stance of the younger ghost and raised her hands.
"Wo wo wo wo. Easy I meant it after what we have just been through I have zero maybe negative interest in getting on your bad side right now, this calls for like two weeks of truce."
Kitty groaned, "Make that a month, I need cuddle time with my man."
Johnny smiled and pulled his girlfriend close. Ember smiled and gave Erma a sideways glance.
"So I take your leaving for home soon?"
She nodded, wondering where the rocker was going with this all.
"Listen Empty orchestra I know how you look at baby dip, oh don't you deny it, Hell in another life I would probably have the same kind of feelings for him, he is a good egg, even if he can't let us have some fun."
Kitty nodded. "I once did the whole try dating someone else to make your boyfriend jealous thing with him, he was so nice, I say go for it."
Johnny looked at her serious. "Look, we can all see something is there between you two. What you do with it is up to you guys, but there is something you guys might want to consider, your halfas you guys won't die in the traditional sense your human sides will probably just kind of fade over time. See what I'm saying?"
A cold realization closed around her hearth, no Mather the times Danny would save others they would be gone one day. and she would walk the earth for a long time after her father and friends would be gone. Did Danny know or realize this? She gave the ghosts a half-hearted wave in goodbye before wandering out of the room. Kitty looked at ember, uncertain.
"Do you think it was the right move to tell her this?"
Ember shook her head. "No, but you have seen what they did, they didn't just beat the ghost king, they destroyed him."
Ember strummed the strings of her guitar. "Now the old king is dead, long live the king. And if Pariah was mad from a power trip and nobody to keep him in check. Let's just say I rather see the dipstick playing superhero because I don't like to imagine what he would do if he turned to the dark side."
Erma had found herself at Dani's room. And looked at her. The halfas ashen hair had taken her families' unruliness. And her skin had become a light gray, a tad darker than Erma's own for a fluster of a second the girl's eyes blinked the white of her eyes had gone black, and two lights shone out, one emerald and one moonlight. A tender smile played on the young woman's face as she gently stroked a lock of hair out of her face.
"Watashi no musume." (My daughter.)
unbeknownst to the youngsters, clock work and frostbite sat in a side room. The ghost of time frowned at the cup of tea in front of him.
"The snow berry tea not to your liking, my friend, I do apologize."
"Oh no, not at all, it's quite a lovely flavor, I worry about the young once the path this future took. It's not bad necessarily there is the possibility of prosperity for all realms involved, but there is also the danger of great calamity that might spell our end. I am beyond many things, but I am not so mighty that I am beyond fear."
"I see, crowns often snap the necks that carry them." Frostbite said thoughtfully
"Especially if they rest on young heads, History shows that in excess." Clockwork said sounding tired.
"Question is oh clockwork can we get them away from that peril."
"NO!" The time ghost replied fiercely before calming down. "No, we can not, trying would spell disaster."
The yeti placed his clawed hand on the time spirit's shoulder. "Then we must teach guide and help them, I will aid the great one in every way I can."
The time spirit smiled. "Then all is as it should be." he said while thinking, "You have touched many souls, my young friend. I wonder, will you be thanked for It?"
Danny, Erma, Amber Johnny and kitty walked out of the building. Danny stretched, feeling his shoulder pop. The Bacto had healed him enough that the pain was bearable. But the medics had sternly told him to avoid unnecessary heroics as much as he could. They had also asked Erma to keep her vital organs in their original places. Something the young yokai seemed annoyed by.
"So it's a deal, no messing with Amity for at least one month." Danny said. Too glad of the fact he was going home to sound stern.
The ghosts gave their answers affirming they all looked at Erma who was holding a bag that gave of a radiating pressure. Just before the medics had cleared the group to leave, clockwork had handed her the remains of the crown of fire. And the ring of rage. "Seek the future in the past." of course, the ghost of time had to love riddles. But it was not all bad she was planning on making a trip to Japan anyway, she knew that the news of Dani would eventually make its way to him, and she much rather had it at least look like she wanted to be the one to tell him. If only to keep the girl safe, also make it crystal clear to her cousins that Dani was off limits.
"So you really think your grandpa knows what to do with these?"
She nodded, she was unsure what these things had to do with her and Danny. But the old Tengu probably knew what their deal was. And why the time spirit had given them such powerful artifacts.
They flew off in the direction of the Fentom portal when Erma felt a familiar pull, she quickly grabbed Danny, knowing what was about to happen. it felt like reality bent around them as the green and purple of the ghost zone stretched and faded, it felt like they passed through a cold barrier and landed on white tiles with a thud. The room smelled like flowers mint and candles, Danny realized they were in a candlelit bathroom. A blond teenage girl threw herself at Erma and crushed her in a hug, oblivious of the boy also being in the room.
"Oh, thank whatever dark Lovecraftian god beast looks over you, you're okay."
Amy was on the verge of tears and the sound of stomping feet and whispering voices of people outside the bathroom door told the young half-yokai that there was more coming she hugged her best friend and allowed Amy to lead her into the room where her friends were waiting and cheered as they saw her home safe and sound. The noise caused Amy's parents to storm in, but their concern soon made place for relief as they saw the girl they had known since forever had returned and with a gust. Smiling at the spectacular ability of the young to get swapped up by joy in such a way, they spoke up."
"Alright kids, we get that you are happy that Erma is alright, but I think Emiko and Samuel want her back home as soon as she can. And I believe her friend there has places to be as well."
The kids turned around and saw the sheepishly smiling Danny. "Uhm, Hi." he said with a small wave.
Connor slapped himself in the face, "Did we just overlook a whole ass person?"
"I think we did, Conner, said a tanned skinned brunet with freckles." Hey nice to meet you I'm Cindy, Thanks for looking after our girl here, she has a nack for getting into trouble."
Erma Glared at the rat girl, clearly she had stated before that trouble came to her naturally and she didn't look for it herself. Danny smirked at the sight, already knowing that Sam and Tucker would hand him a verbal tongue lashing when he got home, hopefully they would allow him a night of rest and some food first. " so, does anyone know what direction I need to fly to get to Amity park?
"About half a meter in any direction, whatever happened had consequences here we got stuck in some strange vortex and a couple of specters started causing trouble." Amy told him.
Erma looked concerned, but terry waved it off
"Don't worry, the town was defended between the rat people and your mom." They shuddered.
"I am never pissing off an onryo" Cindy said
Right, but we digress. When the vortex appeared, the two towns were thrown together, stuff is hard to find. It took me about an hour to find the way back to the underground," Cindy stated.
"There is way too much to unpack" Danny said
Silvia spoke up "my dad runs a diner at the end of the street. I say you gather your people and Erma gathers hers, and we meet each other there in the morning better to discuss it all in one go."
"I agree, well, I'm off "
He hugged Erma and flew out of a open window the sights had definitely changed as the urban landscape spread out before him he could make out Casper high or what it had been part of the building seemed fused with another. city hall was clear to see and swiftly avoided. Danny did not know if vlad had returned jet, but did not want to chance it. the familiar sight of Fantom works was like a lighthouse after a sea storm, he flew towards it texting his friends as he went.
I'm home, we talk tomorrow. The merge has given us a new diner we meet there.
He sent them the address
Oh thank god you are okay, see you there.
Sam texted
Dude never scare us like that again!
Tucker added
Are you guys okay?
Yhea well.
Our parents found out we have done ghost hunting with you. (Not your secret just hunting)
It's alright, bring you folkes. I'm going to spill the beans best you guys are free as well.
You sure dude? My folkes like you but…
Tucker stated
Mine hate your parents, they don't hate you so to speak but I would be a liar if I said that they like you.
Sam finished
I am not sure but it is high time to end this charade and besides soon I won't be able to keep it up. I like to have my friends at my back.
Don't worry dude be it school or ghost..
Tucker typed
..Or the corrupt government and mega firms
Sam responded
…we face it together.
Came a double reply
Thanks, guys.
Danny put his phone away and flew up to his home he saw light up in his sisters room and raced up to her window before he ended up being dragged in by the redhead in question and crushed in her arms.
"I might turn into a ghost if you keep giving me hearth attacks like that little brother."
"Good to see you, Jazz, how have you been?"
"Outside worried sick? Busy. What do you know?"
"The ghost king was loose again, he had grown a brain and destroyed the sarcophagus of forever sleep."
"Don't tell me…Danny have you been fighting a war?!"
"I guise it wasn't just me though, 2 others were drawn into the firing line with me other halfas."
Jazz frowned, " Vlad?"
Danny shook his head, he was there but ran away the moment he saw what we were up against. The others….well, tomorrow we are meeting with one of them the other is still healing, the final battle left her in bad shape but she is making a good recovery.
She nodded "Danny. Your secret, well we never said anything but when Fenton and Phantom were both gone for over a week."
She flinched, remembering her parent's pained faces. The ghost hunters had stayed silent, threw themselves into their work. the painful truth remaining unspoken. at least when she was in the room. she had heard them curse and cry from afar. she shook her head.
"Lets just say that a lot of the strange stuff that has happened over the past two years make a lot more sense when you add Ghost powers to the mix."
"I guise that my unmasking tomorrow is going to include a Q&A."
"You bet your ghost tail you do. Now get downstairs and let mom and dad you are okay and head to bed, you look like you are ready to drop."
And Jazz was quite right Danny might have spent a couple hours unconscious in the medical bay of the far frozen he had spend days without sleep fighting Dark and his warriors, he was drained still sour and not least of all hungry. Luckily he had been eating enough that he would not suffer a shock if he ate solid food but he was definitely not well fet at the point. He hugged his older sister good night and walked down stairs where he saw his parents looking up and looking shocked.
"I am so sorry for scaring you."
Song Sayonara memories from the anime Naruto english dub lyrics by Amalee