Rebirth of the Beast
"I just need one more ingredient…" The Beast said as he took a step closer, one claw raised.
Before he took another step, one man came inside, readying his gun.
"I got good aim this time!" Razor said with a big grin.
However, Henri gasped in horror and tried to stop him.
"Are you serious?! You can't fire that in a hospital!" Henri exclaimed, worried he might hit some innocent person by accident.
"Really? Is the cop gonna try and stop me from getting rid of that flea bag?!" Razor said disrespectfully.
"Yeah, I don't wanna agree with him but… he's got the shot." Danny said, hating that he had to agree with someone like Razor.
"Not for long!" The Beast snarled, backhanding Danny and Henri and sending them towards Razor, knocking him down. "Catch me if you can, British Pig!" The Beast grinned as he made a break for it.
"GAH! He's run off!" Razor pushed them off as he went after the Beast.
The ghost boy and the police officer recovered.
"We gotta make sure he puts that monster down… preferably fast." Danny said.
Henri nodded as they both went after them.
Downstairs
People were running out of the building in terror. Not everyone was escaping, just those healthy enough to even have a chance to leave.
However, among them was Chloe, who was frantic right now.
"What do I do? What do I do?!" She said, unintentionally speaking in her normal accent right now.
"Chloe?" Alain caught up to her and sent her a concerned look. "We should leave…"
"Y-Yeah…" Chloe said before she felt a tug at her shoulder.
"Chloe!" Dubois snapped. "So, you made it out… good…"
"You locked me out with that monster!" Chloe shouted at her, furious with her.
"You what?!" Alain exclaimed in shock and outrage.
"It's not my fault you're slow… Now… go find the number of the limousine drivers. I refuse to stay here a minute longer. Do it or you can kiss that letter of recommendation goodbye!" Dubois ordered as she pointed away.
"Are you kidding me?! There's no way I'd do what you're sayin' for a letter anymore!" Chloe shouted as she stood her ground with arms crossed.
"You tell her, Chloe." Alain shouted in agreement.
Dubois glared viciously at her.
"Well… I won't just not give that letter of recommendation… I'll have you blacklisted." She threatened, glaring at her disgruntled protégé. "You won't ever get a job in the field you love so much… and I'll go as far as buy your family's store and up the rent if you dare to talk to me like that! Do you want that?!" Dubois said in an unhinged way, hating that Chloe was defying her.
Chloe's anger subsided at that, her fear of this threat growing.
"N…No…" She said in an uneasy voice. "I don't wanna- I mean… I do not want that, Madame…"
"Good…" Dubois said with a cruel smirk on her face. "Now… let's find a different way out, away from these peasants."
Chloe was about to do as she said, as Alain stepped up to her defense.
"Are you sincerely going to give her a letter of recommendation or credit her work? Or was this just some scheme to get a free gofer to do your dirty work?" He accuses Dubois of being a fraud who was scamming Chloe.
"I see no reason to answer you…" Dubois rudely snarled at him.. "Now come…"
Chloe said nothing with a defeated look on her face. As they left, Alain shook his head.
"Okay… she needs me to keep her safe. I can't let zhat monster keep using her like this." He said as he followed.
Meanwhile
Watching people leave, the Armstrong family waited until the coast was clear.
"Okay… we might be able to get out quicker. Come on." Johnathan said as he guided his wife and daughter, with her daughter's friend, out of the room to find a way out without a violent crowd.
"I hope Gayle and her assistant got out…" Stella said under her breath.
As they tried to find their way out, they heard what sounded like a canine down the hall.
"Guys?" Kwan said with a nervous voice. "What's that sound?"
That's when a nearby door was smashed open and a large, dangerous looking lycanthrope appeared, snarling and glancing around.
Panting, the Beast noticed Star and grinned maliciously. He recognized her as the other girl that was with Danny.
"Another one… I'll kill zhis one…" He said with an insidious sneer on his face.
Johnathan stood before his wife and daughter.
"Get back!" He shouted.
Seeing another man defend his wife caused another flashback to Jean Chastel, infuriating the Beast. Getting on all fours, he snarled like a rabid animal looking ready to tear him apart.
"I'LL RIP YOU TO PIECES!" The Beast growled, his fangs visible.
That's when a 15 year old superhero phased through the floor, tackling him into the ceiling.
"Go! Get going!" Danny said to them as he kept the Beast busy by fighting him.
With power flowing through his fist, Danny swung an uppercut to the jaw of the Beast that should have ended when the sound of bone snapping occurred, only for the Beast to land on his feet and use a hand to readjust the head, making another crunching sound.
"Zhat won't work on me!" The Beast snarled as he readied for tearing flesh.
As he leapt at the Ghost Boy, Danny zipped to the right, going around the Beast and grabbing him by the tail, swinging him overhead and into the floor. With a dismissive scoff, the Beast hopped to his feet and attempted to bite Danny's head off, prompting him to duck in time.
Balling his hands into fists, Danny created sword-based constructs and slashed the Beast across the chest. The Beast only snarled in pain for a moment before it morphed into a smile while his cut healed away.
"Where's a bunch of trucks filled with comically explosive condiments when you need them?" Danny muttered under his breath.
The Beast swings his left paw, forcing Danny to use one sword as a makeshift shield to block it. Thinking fast, he used the other sword to strike the Beast in the stomach, only for his lycanthropic adversary to recover quickly, followed up with him getting off the floor and kicking him several feet back.
"Cet homme nauséabond en noir ne m'a pas dit à quel point ce serait amusant. Je n'ai pas eu autant de plaisir depuis des siècles !…" The Beast said with a laugh. "Perhaps, I should show him some degree of gratitude? Perhaps your head vill do!"
As Danny narrowly avoided his attempt to claw his head off, that choice of words made the ghost boy look confused.
"Gratitude? What are you talking about?" Danny asks.
"Parlez-vous même français ?" The Beast scoffed. "Porcs non éduqués et incultes. I wish to merely thank the one who pointed me in the right direction… though perhaps a bath would be the ideal gift."
"Bath? What are you-"
He didn't get to finish his question as the Beast backhanded him into the window, cracking it before being pulled off violently.
The Beast was about to strike his head with his claws, only for Danny to use his power to slide to the side, away from being clawed. The Beast cackled as he reached for Danny, his speed somehow increasing enough to grab him by the knee and slam Danny into the floor once more.
Danny saw the Beast about to bite him, prompting him to use his power of ice to freeze his head as his jaw opened. The Beast pulled back, letting Danny go, and managed to break the ice by closing his mouth with all the force he had. The Beast opened and closed his mouth a few times before confirming he could still use it.
Danny rolled back, ready to fight again.
"I don't want to do this… but you're giving me no choice! I'm sending you back to… wherever you went after Jean shot you! Now hold still!" Danny said, eyes glowing bright green in anger.
The Beast snorted angrily at that, prompting him to tackle Danny several feet away.
"As you say in your era… make me!" The Beast shouted.
As Danny slid on the floor, phasing his hand through the floor to grab pipes under the tiles to stop himself. It was then he realized he did have one ace up his sleeve he hadn't used.
"Duh… why didn't I think of this sooner?" Danny asks as he decides to overshadow the Beast.
He gets up and goes intangible to overshadow his foe, but upon entering, his body was violently ejected, causing him to roll on the floor, his body making painful looking contortions before he was on all fours.
The Beast laughed at this as Danny hissed in pain.
"What's the matter? Avez-vous mal à la tête?" The Beast mockingly asks him in faux-sympathy.
"W-What the heck was that?!" Danny gasped as he panted while his knees buckled, feeling a horrible pain in his head and body.
"Oh? Were you planning to possess me? I'm afraid that my body holds too much dark magic zhat you wouldn't be able to stand it… it iz like stuffing your body into a burning furnace… which I can help with!" The Beast grinned as he slashed Danny's chest, making him yelp in pain before grabbing him by the head and slamming him into the floor with so much force that he broke through it.
"Get off me, Marmaduke!" Danny shouted as he tried to push him off.
"Now… where to find a furnace…?" The Beast mocked before he's struck in the back of the head by a floor lamp.
That was the work of Alicia, who, despite that she wasn't in the ideal state of health, held the now dented lamp up to use again.
"You… tried to hurt my sister and her kid! I'll skin ya and make stew outta yer guts!" She threatened.
The Beast's response was a simple snarl before the motion of his back leg to knock her back.
"Hmph… pathetic. Not only is she not even comely and acts like a man, but she can't even stand up like one..." He dismissed her as he went back to dealing with Danny. "Now… where was I?"
Before he could do anything remotely painful to Danny, a shot to his back caught his attention. Turning his head, he snarled at the sight of Jack and Maddie, holding blasters.
"Get away from him!" Maddie shouted.
The Beast scoffed as he was then kicked in the face by an invisible Dani Phantom, who turned visible after he was knocked off Danny.
"She asked you nicely!" She said with a faux smile on her face.
The Beast was ready to attack again, when he heard him.
"WHERE ARE YA, BEASTIE?!" Razor shouted from downstairs.
The Beast grinned.
"I have prey to play with…" He said before getting up and running away.
"Get back here!" Jack shouted as he was about to go, only to see Danny pushing himself up. "Oh… you okay?"
"Yeah… I'm desensitized to near death experiences…" Danny muttered.
Jazz caught up with them, gasping for air as she saw Danny on the floor.
"Danny!" She ran to help him up off the floor.
Maddie turned her head to see her sister on the floor, she ran to her in worry, despite what happened before.
"Alicia? What are you doing here? You should be out of here!" Maddie said, sounding angry and worried.
"Just proving my point, that… I can make a change." Alicia said.
"A change, huh?" Maddie said before letting out a breath. "So…" Maddie turned her head to see her son and youngest daughter in ghost form and cleared her throat. "So… Alicia?"
"Uh… Maddie?" Jack tried to say something but she wasn't listening.
"Jack…" Maddie interrupted. "She's my sister and I feel like she should at least know that-"
"Maddie." Alicia crossed her arms and took a step forward. "I know your boy's Danny Phantom. This is not a big reveal…"
All 5 of them stare at her with blank expressions.
"Wait… what?!" Danny shouted, having not expected it.
"Come on…" Alicia responded with an eye roll. "Danny Phantom? Danny Fenton?" She held out one hand to gesture to him before pulling it back to the arm fold. "Only shows up in Amity Park or wherever y'all are? Sudden buddy-buddy after that whole space rock thing?"
"... I was just gonna...uh... bygones with the only ghost who isn't evil..." Maddie said weakly, but her sister sent her a flat "really?" look.
"Wow… you're less dumb than I thought…" Dani commented, earning an annoyed look from her aunt.
"I'm guessing that's the smaller one, right?" Alicia guessed.
"Yeah, it is…" Dani said. "Guess you're not so dumb after all… just overbearingly rude." Dani added with arms crossed.
"Uh… guys? Werewolf?" Danny asks, pointing to where the Beast went.
Outside in the rain.
The military van was around the corner to the hospital, seeing those who could leave creating chaos as they they still panicking.
"Terrific…" Larissa muttered.
"Lieutenant?" One soldier shouted, holding her phone up. "Phone for you."
Taking it, she spoke into the phone in an impatient way.
"What is it?" She demanded before the answer came, causing her eyebrows to shoot up. "You want me to do what now?"
Inside the hospital
The Armstrong family found their way downstairs, where they were down a hallway.
"Where do we go from here?" Stella asked, worried about her daughter's safety.
"Good question. Still a lot of people but maybe we can take a different path? Maybe the employee's exit?" Johnathan suggested, as he kept looking around.
As the matriarch and patriarch sped up their pace, Star buckled her knees and leaned on the wall, Kwan going to help her up.
"I got you." He says to her.
"Thank you…" Star said with a tired look on her face. "I am so ready to go home already."
Before they could go any further, a gunshot was heard from afar, followed by an inhuman cackle.
"GET BACK 'ERE!" They heard a man with a Cockney accent shouting as the sounds of animalistic footsteps grew ever closer.
That's when the ceiling above the area between them started to break apart.
Panicking, the two sets of two parted, down came much rubble, along with the Beast landing on his feet. Laughing viciously, he looked up the hole he made.
"Come and find me, Cochon britannique!" He called out before breaking his way through a wall, causing the building more damage that caused what he already did to start expanding in cracks.
"STAR!" Her parents called out from behind the rubble they could not see her through, much less cross to get to her and see if she's alright.
Seeing no means to escape, Star and Kwan both glanced at each other before being forced to go the other way.
"We'll find another way out!" Star called out to her parents as she and Kwan started running again.
With no other means to get through the rubble, Johnathan and Stella had to settle for this but they were both worried about their daughter's safety.
As Star and Kwan ran down the halls, they came across two people they became acquainted with during their time in Paris.
"Why are you two still here?" Chloe questioned at the sight of the two.
"I could ask you the same thing." Star said in a smart mouth way.
"Chloe is willing to serve a woman who left her for dead and find the information of a limousine service that has their number on the cafeteria's board with many other riding services, but that witch wants something fancier…" Alain said in a very angry tone.
"Look!" Chloe snapped. "I'm upset but… it's for my family!"
"So you're willing to do anything for your family, even if it means getting yourself killed listening to some witch who doesn't care one bit about you…" Alain said disapprovingly.
Before they knew it, footsteps by heavy boots were heard, alerting them to a man with a shotgun in his hands.
"Oi! You litt'l punks! Outta my way!" Razor shouted.
The four of the parted to not be in his path as he ran towards the hole that the Beast made. Before they could also go, a much friendlier face reached them.
"Are any of you okay?" Henri Hernandez said in a more concerned voice.
"Henri? Why are you here?" Chloe asks.
"Never mind that. Are you all alright?" He asks as they slowly nod. "Good… let's get you all somewhere safe…"
Before they knew it, the portion of the wall that was down where Henri came from broke down, the Beast leaping out and grinning.
"Safe? Policier stupide! There is no safe place from me!" He said.
As the five stepped back, Henri tried to protect the youngsters, Razor aimed his gun from inside the cafeteria that the Beast exited from.
"One shot…" He whispered, ready to pull the trigger.
"Razor! Come in!" The voice of Larissa called from his earpiece.
"Just in time, sweetheart! I'm about to bag this beastie…" He chortled with a grin.
"Do not fire!" She ordered, much to his confusion.
"Come again?!" He asked, sounding lost now.
"New orders! Bring that thing to us! We're taking him in, alive!" Larissa ordered.
"Are you outta yer mind, woman?!" He lowered his arm to shout into the earpiece. "After all the trouble to bewitch these bullets and suddenly you want this thing alive?! What in the world do ya want him?! For a pet?! Want me to housebreak him too?!" He sarcastically shouted even further.
At the same time, the Beast approached the five, ready to claw them to death when a certain ghost boy phased through the wall and kicked him in the face.
"Back off!" Danny shouted.
The Beast stumbled slightly before grabbing Danny by the leg and throwing him into the cafeteria. The Beast panted heavily after this, his head whipping between the more defenseless people and the ghost boy. He made his choice who to hurt next.
"I find fighting you more fun…" The Beast grinned as he sent a mocking look at Danny.
Danny rolled out of the way, clenching his fist and firing a stream out of his fist. The Beast titled his head out of the way before baring his teeth with a murderous grin.
"What in the heck do you even want with the book? Aren't you already so powerful that you're a real life monster?" Danny shouted at the Beast, dodging the monster's swipes.
"Oui... but I am not content with what I have now..." The Beast sneered, his eyes gleaming with malevolence. "Zhe book's spell will make me even more powerful... and make the odds of killing me less likely!"
The Beast charged at him as Danny managed to roll out of the way.
"And then what?! Rule the world?! Scare everyone on it to death?!" Danny yelled as he shot a ghostly energy blast at the Beast, who simply swiped it away with his claws.
"Or just have some fun with it, really." The Beast shrugged nonchalantly, his eyes never leaving Danny. "But you... you are in my way. And I do not like obstacles."
As this fight went on, Razor watched on with a disgruntled snort.
"All this trouble and I can't shoot this stupid thing anymore…" He grunted under his breath as he hid behind one table, still holding his gun in case he decided to break orders.
The best roared as Danny lifted off into the air to avoid a row of pointed teeth.
"For such a smart guy who can adapt to the modern world, Devereux... you're kind of an idiot." Danny quipped, trying to keep his distance as he hovered in the air, watching the Beast's every move.
"How so?" The Beast questioned as he threw a table at Danny, who blasted it into splinters with a burst of energy from his fist.
"For starters… you've been alive again for less than 24 hours and you're only interested in more power? You could just, I don't know, get a life? Like, literally. Make a new life for yourself without killing?" Danny suggested.
"...where is zhe fun in zhat?" The Beast shrugged with a smile as he continued his attack.
As this went on, Dani phased through the ceiling, having her family hold onto her to see from afar in the cafeteria what was going on.
"There's that varmint…" Alicia snarled as she attempted to join the fight, only for Maddie to pull her back.
"Don't even think about it…" She warned.
At the same time, Sam and Tucker ran down the hall to see the group outside the cafeteria, watching in concern.
"Come with us." Sam said.
"Yeah, we… I mean… Danny's got this." Tucker responded.
The Beast leapt into the air, attempting to claw Danny's limbs off as he grabbed the wrists. His weight forced them down as Danny did his best to keep his arms from being clawed.
"Let go…" Danny shouted as he struggled to break free. "See… I'm pretty sure dropping the sociopathy would make a lot of people less likely to think you're disgusting…"
"Zhere's nothing wrong with who I am now and I don't have to change to make anyone happy." The Beast scoffed as he tried to claw Danny.
Hearing him say something she herself said to Danny earlier caused Star's eyes to widen.
That sounds… uncomfortably familiar… She said under her breath in horror.
Danny was forced to go on his back to kick the Beast off and away. The Beast used his claws as an anchor as he skidded on the floor.
"As far as I'm concerned, I don't have to change who I am…" The Beast laughed. "I didn't have to change how I am just before just because someone I had a desire for didn't like how I always was! Why start now?!"
That was another metaphorical punch to Star's gut.
Why am I getting an awful sense of Deja vu? She thought in an uneasy way.
As the Beast kept attacking, Dani flew in and kicked him in the back of the head.
"You know!" She called out as his face hit the floor. "You got a literal second chance at life… why not take it and not bother people?" She suggested.
Before the Beast could attack her, he's shot in the chest by Maddie.
"Hold still… before I blow your head off!" Maddie shouted.
Razor stood up, aiming his gun at them.
"Hold it!" He shouted. "Change of plans… I need 'em alive!"
"Alive?! Are you kidding me?!" Danny shouted in disbelief. "That thing is evil! He is trying to kill us all!"
"Look, I agree he should be put down, but not for the same bleedin' heart reasons as you! That thing's pelt was gonna get me a fortune, it would! And it killed my beasts! Ate one of 'em!" Razor pointed out as he glared at the Beast.
"Two… actually…" The Beast grinned. "Primate meat is much more delicious zhan expected." He licked his lips in recollection of that feast.
"Point is… the lieutenant's new orders say to bring 'em in!" Razor revealed.
Before the Beast could attack again, Danny and Dani fired shared beams of cold energy, freezing him from the neck down and the knees up.
"Chill." Danny quipped.
"You believe I am disabled? À quel point es-tu stupide?!" The Beast said as he managed to break out of the ice.
The chunks are flown out, hitting Razor, Alicia, and Jack in the face, knocking them out.
The Beast laughed as he backhanded Danny turning his attention to the unconscious Razor and taking him by the leg.
"Where do you think you're going?!" Maddie aimed her weapon.
"Zhis British pig is useful to me right now… I'm about to make myself more powerful…" The Beast bellowed before letting a chortle.
"At the cost of what little humanity you have left? Changing into something that enables the worst aspects of yourself?" Maddie criticized
"If it means changing who I am to get ahead in life, so be it..." The Beast dismissed. "After all… Success cannot come without change."
Hearing something she herself said earlier, Chloe cringed, her expression one of regret and shame.
"So the only change you agree to is the kind that enables the worst of you?" Maddie continued to ask in a scolding manner.
"As if I care for the opinions of a woman…" The Beast scoffed. "Now if you do not mind… zhis pig and I have business to attend to."
Before anything else, he grabbed the nearest table and threw it at the human woman, causing both Phantoms to react and blast it to pieces.
Once the debris cleared, the Beast was gone. He smashed through another part of the wall
"Find him!" Maddie exclaimed.
"Razor! Razor!" The voice of Larissa was in his ear.
"Five more minutes, Sweetheart..." He mumbled as he felt his head rubbing on the cold floor of the hospital, which made him open his eyes. "W-What?!" He gasped out in shock.
"You are awake? Good…" The Beast threw him to the wall, where he slid down and landed near all of what he had stolen during the night. "I need you for one last ingredient…"
Razor pushed himself up, reaching for his gun before realizing he didn't have it.
"Oh no…" He grumbled.
"I just need zhe blood of one who is guilty. It cannot be my own, I need human blood. You… from what I've seen… are hardly a noble man." The Beast said with a wicked grin on his face.
Razor stood up, pulling out a small knife and held in defense as he glared at the Beast.
"Try me, fleabag!" Razor challenged defiantly, glaring at him.
"If you insist…" The Beast then charged at him.
The werewolf and the criminal began to brawl.
He could feel his heart pumping loudly as Razor tried his best to avoid and deflect with his blade. The Beast savagely swung his sharp claws, getting a few threads from Razor's clothes as he narrowly dodged the claws. He kept his focus on dodging the Beast's fast attacks, but when he saw a chance, he went and stabbed the Beast on the exposed left side but found his hide hard to penetrate. Razor then felt the wind left his body as the Beast hit him with his arm, sending him to a wall, falling on his knees, holding his ribs.
"I ain't going down like this!" Razor shouted as he tried to stand up, ignoring the throbbing in his ribs.
"You make it sound like you have a choice, le mon chéri. Once I get what I need, you're next on my list after Phantom..." The Beast said, licking his sharp teeth.
Razor tried to think fast as he looked for a way to escape, before he spotted his gun a few feet away.
Sweat flowed from his head, his eyes focused on the gun, something the Beast noticed as he turned his head, following his gaze. Razor quickly threw his knife at the distracted Beast, causing him to narrowly dodge, his eye almost getting nicked. Razor then rushed towards his gun and jumped towards it, grabbing from the ground and rolled on the floor, jumping back to his feet. He then aimed at the Beast and fired, but the former man quickly dodged and leapt to the corner on the ceiling, his claws letting him stick on it.
"You aren't getting away again!" Razor shouted, refusing to let it end like this.
"Well...I don't intend to without what I need!" The Beast said as he leaped at him, claws ready.
I got a lovely lady waiting for me… I can't let this monster win… Razor thought as he tried to avoid the slashes.
Razor swerved and duck as he waited for the chance to shoot, since he only had a few bullets left. He noticed something glinting on the ground, making him turn his head. That gave the Beast the chance to swipe at Razor, sending him to the right, his right shoulder cut and bleeding profusely.
Razor fell on the ground, making the Beast smirk as he slowly stalked at the fallen mercenary. Once he was close enough, he went to grab Razor, before he suddenly turned around and threw the knife towards the Beast, who caught it with his mouth.
Before he could gloat, there was a loud 'bang!' and the stunned monster looked to see a bleeding bullet hole to where his heart is located. The knife fell out of his mouth as he fell to the ground face first. Razor was panting heavily as he saw the Beast, fallen from his shot.
"Ha! I did it! Take that, you monstre immonde!" Razor went as he walked towards the Beast, to grab a tooth as a trophy before leaving, since he didn't catch the Beast alive, but it was either him or the Beast, and Razor always choose him.
That's when the Beast made his move.
"Idiot." He said with a grin before he turned around and swung his claw as Razor, startled, quickly aimed his gun and fired.
There was a long pause.
"GAAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHHH!" Razor was heard calling out in a pained yelp.
Danny arrived, having heard that and arrived, seeing Razor on the floor, his hands pressed into his face.
"What? Razor? What just ha-"
"MY EYE!" Razor yelled as he lifted one hand to point to his hand that covered his right eye.
That's when Danny heard a vile snicker, seeing the Beast put his claw and something red on them into the container with salt.
"Zhat is it. I already have what I need...which means you are now useless." The Beast said, his eyes glowing red as he glanced at the pained Razor.
"Y-YOU! YOU… DA…. PIECE O- GAAHHH!" Razor cried out, his hand clutching his face as hard as possible.
In the van
Larissa heard his cries of pain through the vehicle's radio, her expression going from stoic to slight concern.
"Razor? Razor, come in! Do you copy?!" She ordered, getting no response. "Rex?!"
Danny, seeing Razor on the floor in pain, drifted his attention to the Beast, who laughed to himself as he carried the container with all the ingredients.
"Now… I just need a little air and rain… then I can cast the spell needed to give me what I deserve." The Beast declared with a wicked grin on his face.
Fists clenched, Danny sent him a defiant glare.
"Not if I stop you!" Danny declared before he flew at the sociopathic lycanthrope.
The Beast merely responded with a quick strike, knocking Danny away with a swing of his leg.
Danny quickly recovered and charged back at the Beast, who grinned as they locked hands, trying to overpower one another. Danny grunted as he clenched his teeth as the Beast just laughed, enjoying the struggle. As they struggled, Danny's family, including Alicia, arrived, and they were horrified when they saw the state Razor was in.
"You know, I'm grateful that a worthless wrench rejected me…" The Beast said to Danny. "Because of that, I finally became what I'm destined to be, a creature above you weak humans, un dieu."
Suddenly, there was a bang, and shotgun bullets hit the Beast's face, barely phasing him, though it did annoy him. He turned his head and saw Alicia with a smoking shotgun, cocking it again.
"Where did that shotgun come from?" Dani asked.
"Don't ask." Maddie said as she applied first aid to Razor, tying a torn cloth around his eye.
"You're so mad a girl said no to you that you turned into an old fleabag?" Alicia said as she aimed her gun. "That's just dumb. How about I shoot your head off so you won't feel bad anymore?"
"Like the opinions of une vilaine clé matters." The Beast said as he turned his focus back to Danny, who gave him a kick to the jaw, knocking him back.
"Are you sure?" Danny said, noticing the look in his eyes changed. "Because it feels like you're slightly bitter about it? What, is the big bad wolf sad he got rejected?"
"Ferme ta gueule!" The Beast exclaimed angrily as he rushed at Danny.
Meanwhile, Alicia paused as she felt his words hit home, watching the Beast lash out angrily, similar to how she had done.
Sam and Tucker came into the room a few seconds later and saw their friend doing his best dodging the Beast's razor-sharp claws. They also noticed Maddie giving Razor first aid.
"Oh man…" Sam said, seeing this violence for herself.
"I am no man, I am an animal, a Beast! I have no need for your weak human emotions!" The Beast exclaimed as he wildly slashed Danny, who narrowly avoided his wild attacks.
"Take that back!" Sam exclaimed angrily, getting the Beast's attention. "Animals are kind and noble creatures, something you're clearly not!"
"You're an idiote, girl." the Beast said.
"Look, you're bitter and single, but that doesn't mean you can just hurt people like that!" Sam exclaimed angrily. "Maybe use your influence so people won't go through the same thing you did?"
"I am no pushover… I have my own way of doing things…" He laughed off her demands.
Hearing words she herself once said, Sam paused as his words echoed in her mind, reminding her of what she said to Danny on the hill when they started their relationship before it went sour. She couldn't help but notice how similar his feelings were to her, when she saw Danny getting along with other girls.
Was she as bitter as this psychotic monster but didn't want to admit it? Was she just as against making the kind of changes he didn't? If she allowed these feelings to fester, would she somehow end up as the Beast, a monster that would hurt others with any regards?
"Move, girly!" Alicia said as she aimed her shotgun at the Beast, who didn't even bother dodging as the bullets harmlessly hit him.
"Enough, I have godhood to claim!" He said, feeling annoyed with all the interruptions.
Danny charged and tried to punch him, but the Beast swatted him aside before rushing out the door. Alicia cocked her shotgun, but the Beast swatted her aside, sending her to a wall. Jack, Dani, and Tucker tried to block him, but he just ran past them and started running towards the emergency exit, smashing through the door and climbing up, towards the roof.
The Beast made his way up the stairs, carrying the jar with ingredients up as he made it to the roof under one arm while keeping the book in one hand, breaking the door down.
"HA!" He held it up, letting water from the rain fill. "Now…"
He plants the jar on the floor as he begins mixing the ingredients with a free hand, crushing some of them as he does so.
He snickers about it as Danny phased through the roof.
"That's enough!" He shouted.
"Hmm…" The Beast didn't look at him as he stared into the jar. "I had heard you were one for zhis… witty banter." He looked up with an eyebrow raised. "No more amusing observations to make?" He mockingly asks, his smile growing to his right.
Wordlessly, Danny fired a strong ghost ray, only for the Beast to grab the jar and jump to the side to avoid him, letting Danny charge at him. The Beast calmly used a spell he whispered, not too strong, but strong enough to repel Danny. Using a small amount of the dark magic in him to create a barrier just as Danny threw a punch. Surprised, Danny was blasted back by the barrier, sending him crashing on the floor.
With a snicker, the Beast continued mixing as he opened the book with one hand.
Danny pushed himself up as he saw him turning the page.
"I gotta get rid of that book…" He said under his breath as he readied to fire a ghost ray, about to fire before a familiar ghost appeared before him.
"No!" Marie appeared in front of him, startling him before his expression turned serious.
"Marie, please step or float aside so I can blast that book to pieces." Danny demanded, but Marie just raised her arms.
"That book has spells we can use to counter the one he wants to make! If you destroy it, then we won't be able to stop him anymore!" She exclaimed, trying to convince him to spare the book.
The Beast, hearing that, twitched his ears as he looked over his shoulder.
"Is zhat so? I'll be sure to rip it out…" He said loudly, getting their attention.
Marie put her hands on her mouth as she looked absolutely horrified at accidentally helping the Beast, again. Danny raised an eyebrow at her.
"This is like… the second time you helped him without meaning to. I'm sorry, but whatever he's trying to do, I need to stop it before he finishes it…" Danny said in a deadpanned tone before he flew around her to destroy the book.
The Beast tried to do the barrier again, but this time, Danny phased down the floor and quickly flew back up, hitting the Beast from below, making him stumble, though he still held on to the jar tightly.
The Beast grunted as he shook his head before leaving the jar to let it stew before he swatted Danny away. Danny was rolling on the roof before the Beast leaped and stomped on Danny, pinning him to the floor.
"You are almost as grating as Jean…" The Beast snarled in his face as pressed Danny into the floor with his foot.
"From you, I take that as a compliment… thanks." Danny gave him a smug smile.
Snarling in anger, the Beast attempted to claw his head off, but Danny split in two before he could cut him in half, right down the middle. This let him get out from under the Beast's foot, surprising the werewolf enough to give Danny an opening to blast the Beast on the face.
Growling with his eyes glowing with primal rage, the Beast forgo his usual style of egotistic arrogance of prolonging the fight. He waited as Danny charged and threw a kick. The Beast dodged and grabbed Danny by the chest and slammed him to the ground, stunning him. He then grabbed Danny's right leg and started slamming him to the ground repeatedly. He looked at Danny, who was nearly unconscious, so he threw him away before turning back to the jar, noticing that it was now glowing.
"Now!" The Beast opened the book and began reading. "TENEBRAE VIRES, DA POTESTAS HIC POTESTATEM DABIT POTESTATEM QUAERO! Humanitatem expurgate, omne vestigium eius, et facite me bestiam ego vere sum! Bestia peto fieri!"
The storm momentarily grew violent, sounds of thunder were above as the inside of the jar glowed a sinister sickly red color, making his grin grow more wickedly. Danny slowly stood up, wincing from the pain before he saw the glowing jar.
"He's casted the spell!" Marie cried out in horror as she helped Danny up.
Danny panicked as he sped towards the Beast, who tilted the jar and let the contents fall into his mouth. With no wasted moment, he drank the content quickly. He saw Danny fly towards him, so he backhanded Danny away, letting him slide on the roof as he finished consuming the contents.
With one last gulp, he licked his lips and grinned before tossing the jar, letting it break to pieces.
Danny pushed himself up, watching in horror as the Beast stood still waiting.
Any moment now, he could become a greater, unstoppable monster that could kill anyone in his way.
However, seconds passed and nothing happened. The Beast's grin slowly faded.
"...what?" He asks, looking down at himself. "Why am I not changing? I'm not enlarging, growing wings or even changing color!"
As that happened, both Danny and Marie shared a brief look of confusion and relief.
"I guess… the recipe went wrong?" Marie shrugged, having no better answer.
"I guess so…" Danny said, a little relieved that the plan failed, before seeing the Beast kneel over in pain. "What's happening now?!"
The Beast clutched his stomach, grunting in pain as he went to his knees. He used one hand to keep himself from falling, the other still on his stomach as he continued to cry out in pain.
"Pain… what is zhis?! Ça fait mal! Ce qui se passe!?" He questioned as he was notably shrinking.
Both ghosts watch as he slowly shed away his fur, revealing pale skin that was slowly peeling away, replaced by normal, saggy flesh, his ears became small and rounder, his snout flattened to a normal nose and mouth, disheveled hair sprout from his head, his legs turned normal, his arms shrinking, his nails becoming dull. Soon, instead of the ferocious Beast, in front of them was a naked, powerless man.
Danny covered Marie's eyes as Devereux was now before them, still on his knees and without anything to wear, the angle he was in keeping parts he wanted to keep concealed were still concealed.
He looked to his hands, seeing them human again. Panting hard, he slammed his fist into the floor, ignoring the pain as he screamed in outrage and confusion.
"NO! They tricked me! I'm human again?! I was supposed to be powerful! J'étais censé être puissant!" He shouted into the sky.
Danny, seeing the proudly wicked sociopath that was Cedric Devereux reduced to a weak, pathetic man, couldn't help but laugh at the situation.
"Look at that!" Danny said as he approached slowly. "No more fangs! No more claws! No more Beast!"
Devereux panted hard and angrily as he glared venomously at the boy approaching him.
"Tais-toi, gamin insolent! I'll kill you all!" He growled, though it lacked the usual fierceness due to being a harmless human.
"And how? You're not a werewolf anymore…" Danny said as he raised his fist at him.
Devereuc glanced at it briefly before looking up at Danny's eyes.
"You wouldn't kill a human, would you?" He taunts.
Danny glared at him. He could blast a hole into this person's head, end someone who should have died centuries ago. But if he decided to go with it, then he would be no better than Devereux, who thought he had the power to decide who lives and who dies.
He lowered his fist, finding that killing another human, no matter how irredeemable they are, was not something he'd do.
"I knew it." Devereux scoffed. "Too strong of moral character… makes you too weak to do the job…" He only had a moment to laugh before Danny punched him in the face.
Devereux held onto his injured nose as Danny remained there, feeling very satisfied as Devereux held his bleeding nose.
"I'm letting the military take you, let them do the job. You're just a human, so you'll be tried like one… I'm sure modern-day prisons will make you wish you were dead again, assuming that's what they'll do to you…" Danny couldn't help but taunt after all the things he did.
"Espèce de putain de monstre…" Devereux snarled before pulling his hands away from his face to glare up at Danny. "I'll teach you-"
"Without powers? I'd like to see you try…" Danny taunted.
Devereux was about to try and insult him again, before his body violently twitched, causing him to fall on all fours. Danny stepped back, questioning what was going on.
"S-somezhing is… wrong…" Devereux's body suddenly began to vibrate, causing him pain. "What's… happening… to…" He sat up. "...me?"
His body suddenly turned pale before going gray.
He was stone. His body on its knees, his hands raised in the air as if reaching out to someone, his face contorted with pain.
Danny stared at this questioningly before walking away.
At that moment, Dani phased herself, their parents, Aunt Alicia, and Henri to the rooftop.
"I gots Razor's gun! Where'd that varmint go?!" Alicia said, gun aimed and ready to fire.
"You can drop the gun, he's… not going anywhere." Danny gestured to the statue that was once Devereux.
All of them looked at the bare statue in confusion.
"Is that… him?" Dani said as she looked at the statue with a disturbed expression.
"Used to be." Marie said in a somewhat sad tone, though she was happy to have the book safely in her arms. "It seems whoever made that potion had a change of heart halfway and left a poison… it took away his beastly form and… turned him into that." She gestured to what was once alive.
"So… what do we do about him? I can't exactly arrest a statue…" Henri said, looking at the statue uncomfortably.
"I guess… I'll bring it back to the Ghost Zone." Danny suggested. "His soul did escape a one-way ticket to eternal torment…"
"What about the book?" Maddie asks. "We can't leave it lying around for another lunatic to use it.
"Don't worry, this time, I'll keep the book hidden in a nice, secure place…" Marie assured them, though they gave her looks that didn't inspire confidence.
"Also, big help you've been…" Dani snarked at her.
"Me?" Marie said, feeling insulted by what they were implying.
"You had us cast the spell in the theater… breaking the barrier." Maddie couldn't help but add.
"Well…" Marie tried to defend that little mistake that allowed the Beast to grab the book. "Perhaps that was a bit of a blunder on my part…"
"A bit?" Dani said with a raised eyebrow.
Everyone was so distracted that they didn't notice something was happening to the statue. A small crack appeared over the eye.
"Guys… chill." Danny said as he got between them, calming down from the events. "Bad guy's been stoned. Good guys saved the day. It's over…" He smiled in relief. "We can all relax and enjoy what little vacation time we have."
The statue's crack grew slightly.
"I guess you're right." Dani said as she decided to let it go, before a smile came to her face. "Smoothies! Shakes! Anything else we can blend for breakfast!" She raised her fists in victory.
"I am okay with that." Danny said with a nod, not seeing the cracks yet.
"What kind of smoothies or shakes?" Henri asks.
"French toast, a cheese omelet, French onion soup, crème fraiche, whatever that is, that sandwich that sounds like a monster, a chocolate souffle, some strawberries…" Dani suggested happily, Danny nodded in agreement.
The adults, human and ghost, had expressions of disgust and confusion as their faces turned green, or greener in Marie's case. They still didn't see what was happening to Devereux.
"And you complain about my cookin'..." Alicia said with a snort.
"We still do." Jack said shamelessly, causing Alicia to glare at him.
"Yeah… no one wants roasted squirrel that you tricked us into saying it was rabbit. Soon as Tucker found out what lamb fries were, he kind of…bombed down south." Danny said with a smile.
"Eww… I'd never have let the poor eat that if I knew they didn't have a choice…" Marie said, her face wrinkled with disgust.
"See? Even she agrees with us." Jack said as he tried to pat Marie, only for his hand to go through her.
Everyone but Alicia and Maddie laughed, the former insulted and the other holding her back.
As Danny shook his head and looked back at the statue, now he saw it. His smile left.
"Guys?" He got their attention. "Devereux… his statue." He pointed at it. "It's… breaking."
Their enjoyment ended as they noticed it had cracks growing all over it.
"That's a… good thing… right?" Dani questioned.
The eyes of the statue broke off, revealing a familiar pair of red inhuman eyes peeking out. Everyone gasped as they rolled in their direction, squinting as if what was inside looked delighted to see their terror.
Almost instantly, the statue broke open from the inside, creating a small cloud of debris that obscured what was inside slightly. All they knew from the silhouette was that it shouldn't have fit inside.
Then the cloud quickly dispersed, and before them was the Beast of Gevaudan, with more hair on his back, wilder looking than before, and a tail that was raising quickly with the fur brisking up.
He stood up, turning to face them, breathing heavily through his nose. Once done, he stood straight, whipped his head back, and howled with such volume that all of Paris heard it.
Once done, he grinned violently at the rest, taking his first step.
Alicia took aim.
"Looks like I'm usin' the last one after all!" She fired, aiming for his chest.
The gunshot was loud enough to wake up the dead, echoing in the night, and it made its target.
However, the Beast's grin never left. It only grew as the sound of something hit the floor.
They saw in horror that the silver bullet harmlessly hit his chest. Where it hit was a slight bruise that instantly disappeared. The Beast's jaw opened as he cackled.
"It worked! IT WORKED! C'est merveilleux ! » He howled. "Zhose bullets can't kill me now! No silver can!"
"What…?" Danny said in horror.
"Zhat was my one weakness! In order to ensure my resistance was to give something up in exchange for zhat power! Zhey warned me I would be making a huge sacrifice… but my humanity was more zhan useless to me!" The Beast said in ecstasy, as he could no longer feel the human emotions holding him back.
"Your… humanity?" Danny asks, recalling a certain part from his path, something he couldn't never forget.
The thought of it, comparing this to his Ultimate Enemy, filled him with absolute dread at how Devereux's comparison between them was far too close to home for him. What was before him was something he feared becoming, inhuman.
And that something the Beast openly welcomed.
"Devereux…" Danny stated but was cut off.
"Cedric Devereux is DEAD! I am le Bete de Gevaudan! Now and forever!" The Beast declared, howling into the sky "Now…" He bared his claws. "Where were we…?"
A thank you to Flower Princess11 and TheWhiteTitan.
Just a few more chapters to go...
Invader Johnny: Sadly, Dubois still has her under her heel... for now.
RonaldM40196867: Ok. It just worked. I guess. Because I am not killing off teens and she probably doesn't exist here. Possibly? Because that was for pre-existing characters.
Luiz4200: Heh... yeah.
Luffy is king: Not sure who'd win. Also, all of Danny's ghostly foes would oppose the Paranormal Entities.
danifan3000: Not awful, that's for sure.
Daniel6: Sadly, none for now.
Leonardo: Me too. Didn't know that.
Guest: No ghosts for Paranormal entities. Eh... maybe but for now I wanna work more on the monster stuff. We already did earlier. Maybe? Thanks, here you go.
William Escobar 608: Creo que ya lo hice