I wonder how those previously mentioned ones are doing?
Chapter 39: Only A Ghost's Chance
Bowser's Airship
The eight villains were finally brought back to Bowser's flagship, walking onto deck where April and Brain waited. The blonde Dickson girl immediately ran over and hugged Dani and Nolan. "You're okay!"
"Hehe, yeah." Nolan blushed.
"Yeah, yeah." Matt replied simply. "But we need to get to Planet Avalar."
"Cad Bane can take you there on his ship." Brain said. "Meanwhile, could I speak with you inside, Nolan?" Nolan complied and followed him inside the ship.
Nolan sat in the center of the room while Brain paced back-and-forth behind him. "I sense you are troubled, dear boy. Might I ask what's wrong?"
Nolan looked down and sighed. "On that planet… Leo was killed. I mean, he turned out to be okay, but-"
"Watching the death of someone close to you is an unbearable thing, no?"
"…Yeah. I mean… I'm not exactly 'close' to him… but Danika is. When he 'died'… she just went out of control. She looked so hurt. And seeing her that way… felt worse than how I felt when Dillon died…"
"Mmmm…" Brain slowly moved in front of him. "You mustn't fight these feelings, Nolan." The former operative looked up at him. "These are good feelings. They make you strong…"
"I dunno… it doesn't feel…"
"It will feel good, in time. There is something I wish to show you. Get some rest. Then, I will take you to Planet Coruscant. My father's former domain." The Brain left Nolan to his thoughts and rolled out of the room.
Ghost Zone Prison (Play the "Fellmuth Arena" Theme from Spyro: Eternal Night.)
Chad and Emily lay unconscious inside a damp prison cell. The two groaned and awakened, finding their selves in a rusty old prison. "Where are we?" Emily asked.
"I dunno- Huh?" Chad then realized a cuff was wrapped around his right wrist, and an energy chain connected it to a cuff on Emily's left wrist.
"Pray! Art thou okay?" The two peeked into a window on their left, seeing Luvbi and Shaunie trapped in the next cell.
"Wh-What is this place?" Shaunie quivered.
"Urgh! Let go, please!" The four looked outside the cell to the left, seeing a couple green ghosts, dressed as police officers, dragging Penelope Taynt down the hall and throwing her in a cell across from Shaunie and Luvbi's. "Sir, perhaps you don't know who I am. My name is Penelope Taynt. I'm Amanda's number one fan, please."
"Can it, Kid." One of the guards ordered. "You're under arrest for breaking into Star Station."
"I was TRYING to schedule a meeting with Amanda in her private quarters inside said station until YOU guys ambushed me."
"Whatever. Just wait here until the warden-"
"I have my own Amanda website, y'know. Www-dot-AmandaPLEASE-dot-com."
"I-"
"It features anything you need to know about Amanda, and-"
"Enough!" came a voice down the hall. The two guards turned and saluted as the warden, Walker; a ghost entirely dressed in white, except a black hat, walked down the hall beside Skulker and Ember. "You two are dismissed." The guards drifted down the hall. "And I'll deal with you later." He shot Penelope a glare.
Chad and Emily stood straight and kept their guard up as the three ghosts stood outside their cell. "This is her, Walker." Skulker said. "The Halfa that Brain created."
"Are you sure?"
Skulker took out the Fenton Crammer and set it to 'uncram', aiming at Emily and firing. In an instant, she smiled and reverted to her ghost form. "All right!" she exclaimed, doing an air twirl.
"I'm sure." Skulker smirked.
"Who are you?" Emily asked.
"My name is Walker." The warden answered. "And this is Ghost Zone Prison, where I'll be your warden."
"Hey, I've heard of this place." Chad mentioned. "The Ghost Zone is one of the dark areas of Galaxia. A realm where ghosts wander off to live. And this is the prison where they keep the rogue ones."
"Correct. And it seems our good friend, Skulker here's caught us a Halfa."
"Halfa? What's a Halfa?" Emily asked.
"Half-ghost, half-human." Skulker answered. "A very rare breed of ghost."
"Before you, there have only been 2 other Halfas." Ember continued. "First, there was Vlad Plasmius. A traitorous ghost who's been dead for months now. …Then there's him." Skulker pulled out a picture of a white-haired boy in a black jumpsuit, and glowing green eyes.
"The ghost boy legend known as Danny Phantom." Skulker said, disgustedly.
"Danny Phantom? I've heard of him! I'm, like, his Number One fan!" Emily exclaimed.
"Just stay away from mine, Sister." Penelope told her.
"Well, that's great to hear." Skulker smirked, putting the picture away. "The Brain's got a plan to bring him and all the Brotherhood's enemies here. You'll be sharing his fate."
"NOT so fast." Emily smirked, switching back to human form. "I know about your little zone, too. In the Ghost Zone, HUMANS are ghosts." She was then about to walk through the wall on her left. "We'll be out of here in a couple of-" She was suddenly blocked by the apparently-solid wall, feeling around it. "Huh? What the-"
"I'm well aware of our ghostproof-only walls." Walker replied. "Ever since the incident with Danny Phantom. That's why I've remade the prison walls so that humans can't walk through either. You're gonna be in there for a while." He smirked. "And if you kids even think about trying to escape…" Emily stepped back in fright when Walker got in her face and stuck his finger close, "you and me are gonna have a problem."
"Hey, Walker!" They looked left again when a short, blue-shelled Koopa, with spikes and glasses, came over.
"Ah, Iggy." Walker greeted. "These are the four kids we told you about."
The crazy-looking Koopa looked at the four of them and sniffed. "Ah! So, YOU'RE the four that beat Morton! Whaddya kids think you are, some kinda plumbers?"
"I'm not a kid! I'm a teenager!" Chad corrected.
"All I know is that you're ANNOYING! But I'll have you taken care of before long. Oh, Tubba! Here boy!" he called down the hall, making a whistle.
The hall started quaking from some stomping when a large, chubby blue Koopa, with big, orange lips, stomped over. Emily's eyes widened in fear when the monster stuck his nose by the cell and sniffed a few times. "Mmmm. Dat shmellsh gooood."
"Haha! Tubba Blubba here's a ghost eater!" Iggy laughed. "He just got finished eatin' a bowl of Boos earlier, but he's-a gonna have-a HALFA for dinner! EEH!" The Koopaling laughed as he walked down the hall, followed by Tubba and the three ghosts.
"Well, this is just fabulous." Chad said sarcastically. "Trapped in a ghost prison, chained to a half-ghost freak."
"Hey, I'm having a hard time enjoying this experience with YOU here. And if I don't get out of here, I'm gonna be eaten by that…that THING!"
"Pray, thankst Rayquaza I doth not hath to be chained to yonder crybaby." Luvbi remarked.
"It doesn't help with you being so mean to me." Shaunie whined.
"Alas, both couples continue to bicker as they stand trapped inside the cells of this ghostly prison." A Spanish voice spoke.
"What?" Emily looked to the cell across from hers to see none other than the mariachi owls, playing their usual music.
"Will this bickering group find a way out of the prison? Or will they meet with a horrible-"
"Hark, 'tis the mariachi band!" Luvbi shouted.
"Hey, you're the owls that followed Nigel around." Chad recognized. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, the author wanted us to appear in an earlier part of the story. But we got a little… held up."
"Grrr." Penelope grumbled. "Forget these owls! I must get out of here to meet Amanda, please!"
"Psst. Ahem." Emily and Chad turned their attention to a guard on their right. The guard shook his head until his green face became a more pale face, with a white mustache and big, white bushy brows that covered his eyes.
"Who are you?" Emily asked.
"My name is Bootler, my good madam and sir. Word has spread that a Halfa has been arrested and dragged to Ghost Zone Prison. I have been sent by His Highness, the Ghost King to find you." He took out a pair of keys and tossed them into their cell. "There are many guards around here. Meet me at the top of this building if you wish to escape. I will take you to the Ghost King from there. Be careful." With that, his face switched back to that of a guard's as he drifted away.
"…Well, that helps." Chad said. "Now, let's sneak out of here and-"
"Wait!" Emily suddenly realized something. "What about the Eds, where are they?"
"We believe they are being forced to work in different parts of this prison." The leader of the mariachi band said.
"We have to find where they are and escape with them."
"Ugh… it can't ever be easy, can it?" Chad groaned.
Stage 34: Ghost Zone Prison
Mission: Rescue the Eds and get to the top of the tower.
Act 1
Emily already proceeded to open their cell using the keys and walk out. Afterwards, they went to open the mariachi band's, Shaunie and Luvbi's, then Penelope's. "Thank you, please. Now I MUST be out of here to find Amanda. FARE thee well, beings." With that, the crazy fangirl proceeded down the hall on her own.
"W-Wait!" Emily called after her.
"Doth not wasteth thine time." Luvbi told her. "She ist long gone. Let us findeth yonder Ed Boys and be on our way, yea?"
"Good point." Emily replied before turning back to the musical owls. "You guys comin'?"
"We… are more used to standing in one place and playing music."
"…Okay, then. Let's go, guys."
The four of them continued down the hall where Penelope ran. A couple guards were coming down, so Emily became a ghost and held on to them, becoming invisible so the guards would go right by. When they were gone, they became visible and kept going. They spotted the cafeteria doors up ahead, and ran and hid behind the doors as they peeked inside.
A line of ghostly prisoners waited impatiently at the stand for their food. On the other side, Ed was happily taking a bath in some gravy. "Prison gravy, prison gravy, prison gravy…" he repeated over and over.
"Well, there's one of them." Emily noticed.
"Th-There's a lot of scary ghosts there…" Shaunie whimpered. Luvbi rolled her eyes at him.
Chad looked around: to their left, a guard stood by the door, staring disbelievingly at the bathing Ed boy. On the right was where the tables were, several guards patrolling around them. It seemed the only way behind the long food stand where Ed worked was on the other side of the room; without that guard on their left seeing them. "If we get past those guards around the tables, we'll reach Ed."
"And how do we get him out of here without all those guys spotting us, Mr. Spy Guy?" Emily asked.
Chad looked and saw some ghostly meatballs by a spoon. He studied a lightbulb hanging above the prisoners in the back of the line, saw the very back prisoner just a few inches out of the line, behind the second-to-last, looked to the wall by the tables, then saw a clear path between the tables toward the back prisoners. "We'll start a riot. Just follow my lead. Let's go."
The four snuck to the right and dashed under a table as a guard passed by. They crawled under the next table before he came back. Another floated in one spot beside that table, so they just crawled under another one to their right. A guard paced back-and-forth around the next one, waiting until he was on the other side before they crawled under it. They saw a row of trashcans around a corner and ran to duck behind them before any of the troops noticed. A guard was pacing beside the trashcans, but they easily avoided him when he wasn't looking, running over behind the food stand where Ed was.
"Scrub my tushy, scrub my tushy, scrub my tushy…" Ed sang, continuing to bathe.
Chad and Em just looked disgustedly and rolled their eyes. The two continued to squat below the stand and waddled over to the ghostly meatballs. Chad grabbed the spoon and put the meatball in, aiming at the light hanging above the prisoners. He bent the spoon back and let go, flinging the meatball off like a catapult. It bounced off the light, to the wall, then off the floor between the row of tables, right past the very back prisoner out of line, and hit the guy in front of him square in the head.
That prisoner looked at the guy behind him and immediately thought it was him. "Hey, what's the big idea? !" he yelled, shoving him.
"What's your deal?" he replied, pushing back. In a few seconds, both prisoners were in a fight, with every other prisoner joining in.
The guards exchanged surprised glances and ran, er, flew in to stop the fighting. "Bathe in gravy, bathe in gravy, bathe in gravy!" Ed repeated when the four finally went over to him, the large Ed stopping and noticing them. "Oh, hiya, guys! Are you here to take a gravy bath with me?" he asked, holding the ladle of gravy above him and letting it pour down all over.
"Er… maybe later." Emily said, creeped out. "We need to find the rest of your friends and get out of here."
"Let's sneak out through this door." Chad instructed, leading them through a back door beside them.
"Don't chuck what you can't chew, guys." Ed smiled, wrapping the gravy tub around his shoulders like a backpack and attempting to take it with him. However, the tub immediately broke off when Ed failed to drag it in the door.
They were now inside the prison's kitchen, standing on a platform above some stairs and overlooking the many mechanisms. There was a long treadmill that carried the disgusting food into the cafeteria line, with several prisoners working at the ovens and dishwashers, and several guards patrolling the area. There were also huge pieces of meat hanging by rows of hooks along the ceiling. There was a huge pot beside a wall, sitting on a tall platform, and Chad noticed a lever on that wall. He spotted a ladder on the far other side, leading up to a ledge that led to this lever. And the only thing there seemed to be to hide from the guards were short sacks.
"Hey, Shaunie, I need you to sneak past those guys and get to that lever." Chad whispered.
"Me? Why do I have to do it?"
"Since you're not wearing shoes, you won't make a sound when you walk. Besides, you're the only one small enough to hide behind those sacks, so move." The Fulbright child only whimpered in fright before slowly walking down the stairs and dashing behind a sack while a guard's back was turned. He snuck behind two sacks on his right as a guard paced between two more. Shaunie ran behind the sack on the further side, thankful that his small, bare feet didn't make a sound. He looked ahead at two guards pacing around two sacks parallel to each other. When they were both facing away, Shaunie hurried behind another sack across from him.
"Hey, Mack?" one of those guards said to the other.
"Yeah?"
"How come we always float around the same areas over and over?"
"I dunno. I think it's just to give the prisoners a sporting chance if they escape."
"Oh… that's kinda weird, don't you think?"
"Yeah, well, the job just gets so boring, it's pretty much in our instinct to make it interesting."
"Phew." Shaunie sighed below his breath. He spotted the ladder and hurriedly climbed up, dashing behind the huge pot on the ledge and pulling the lever.
The guards were startled when the hooks holding the meat started moving. "Grab on." Chad whispered, leaping around a meat chunk so the chain, binding him and Emily, would wrap around where the meat hung from. As a result, Emily was able to grab on and hide with him, squeezing behind the meat to avoid detection. Luvbi floated up and grabbed a piece to easily hide behind. The guards only watched confusedly as the hooks moved along, not noticing the kids hiding behind. They didn't even notice Ed who, rather than hide behind a meat piece, engulfed his entire piece and was hanging from the hook by the mouth, his body having taken the shape of the meat piece from having swallowed it whole.
Shaunie had jumped from his ledge to the ledge where the exit was, as the others landed on with him. Still having the huge meat inside him, Ed wobbled along as they continued outside. They were now on a ledge on the side of the building, overlooking the railing at the endless ghostly space below. "Sure wouldn't wanna fall here." Emily said, viewing the eerie green, ghostly dimension. She and Chad looked above their heads and saw how high the prison building really is.
"Hm… it's a tower, alright." Chad noticed.
"No duh, Sherlock." Em remarked.
"Hmph. Let's keep going."
The path continued down their left past some trash bags. A ladder led up to a higher ledge where a guard paced back-and-forth. They climbed up and hid behind two trashcans, not seeing any way to get by him. "Great. Now what?" Emily asked.
"I know." Chad replied. "Your turn, Ed."
The five waited until the guard was turned around before Ed lifted one of the trashcans. "Aliope!" the dimwit cheered, chucking the can straight at his head, the ghost too late to react before the can hit and knocked him out.
"Alright, Ed!" Emily smiled as they kept going past him.
"I took lessons as a hula lady." Ed replied as they went into the next door.
When they entered another hall of prison cells, Chad held Emily back with the shackle before she walked further. "What?" she questioned. Chad pointed ahead at a door opening, Tubba Blubba walking in and sniffing around.
"Mmmmm… something shmells goooood." When the chubby monster started coming their way, Emily immediately grabbed and made them invisible. They stood completely still while the beast stood right by them, sniffing around their space.
"Tubba!" A whip suddenly whacked him in the tail, held by Iggy Koopa. "Quit wandering around! It's almost time for dinner!" With one last glance in the team's direction, the monster followed Iggy back into the other room.
As they proceeded down the hall, they started to find strange, blue labels on the walls and cells, reading 'Wall', 'Cell', 'Keyhole', etc.. On a staircase ahead, there were labels that read 'Stairs'. The team walked up the stairs and crouched below the top, peeking in a room guarded by green ghost dogs, vicious and snarling as ectoplasm drooled from their mouths. On the left was a treadmill moving big chunks of trash to be squished flat by a steel slammer. And the one pulling the lever was Double D.
For each chunk of trash he smashed, he put on a label, such as, 'Squished', 'Smashed', 'Flattened', 'Mashed', '2-dimensional', 'Two-sided', 'Etc.', etc.. Emily looked around the dog-guarded area and smiled when she spotted a small puppy, holding a stuffed bear in its mouth. She whistled and called quietly, "Here boy!", clapping her hands.
Chad grabbed her left arm and whispered, "What are you doing? !"
"Relax, Blondie, I got this. Here boy!" she whistled once more. The puppy noticed her and started panting and wagging his tail, walking over with the toy. She took and tossed the toy a few feet, the puppy running to grab and bring it back. She took it once more and wiggled it above the dog's head. "You want this? Huh? You want this, boy? Go scare off the other doggies, boy! Go scare them off!"
"Ruff ruff!" The puppy turned around and faced the other dogs. His eyes turned a blood-red, snarling and growing 10 times bigger than his previous height. He erupted a loud roar, blowing saliva at the frightened dogs and even Double D. The other dogs whimpered and ran off, phasing through the door on the other side. The puppy shrunk back to normal size and went over to lick Emily's cheek.
She giggled and said, "Good boy, Ghostie Puppy… thing! Good boy!" She scratched the back of his ears and tossed the stuffed bear for him to run and catch it.
"Good lord." Double D said, looking disgustedly at his saliva-covered form. "Prisons are so filthy! I don't belong in here! Eddy, perhaps, but what kind of society is this?"
"D'ah, don't worry, Double D." Ed replied, walking over and rubbing some gravy on his armpits. "I saved some gravy for you to scrub nice and clean!"
"Um… thank you, Ed, that was… moderately gracious." The kind Ed boy thanked, although he was quite disgusted.
"Say, what are all these labels for, anyway?" Chad asked as Edd proceeded to place a label on the treadmill and slammer.
"Ah-ha. Well, it's just unbearable to work in an unlabeled environment."
"Ay, must be a joy to be thee." Luvbi rolled her eyes.
"Hey! Did you here something?" came a guard's voice back the way they came.
"Can we just keep going, please?" Shaunie whimpered.
"Yea, before the newborn whimpers again." Luvbi retorted.
"I'll have you know I'm five!" Shaunie yelled as they entered the next door.
They were at another hallway with some stairs to their left. They walked up and crouched beneath the top as two guards stood by a door. They could hear some kind of thumping going on behind the door. "Me thinkst this be yonder solitary confinement hall." Luvbi figured.
"Hm, but why is that door so guarded?" Double D asked.
"Maybe they have the world's hugest nose hair!" Ed exclaimed.
"Um… I highly doubt that, Ed. Though they must have something important in there."
"Let us see what it may be." Luvbi smirked. "Watcheth this." She then carefully twirled her right index finger and conjured a small whirlwind, extending it behind the closer guard's head and smacking the side of the further one's.
"Hey, what was that for?" he asked, rubbing the spot where the wind hit.
"What?"
"You smacked me."
"I did not, I was-" That guard was then smacked by a whirlwind himself. "…Huh?"
"Praaayyy… flee for thine liiiives… I am yonder ghost of Ghost Zone Prisooon…" Luvbi moaned in a fake-eerie voice.
"AHH! Prison ghosts! RUUUN!" With that, both guards took off.
Afterwards, the 6 came out of hiding and burst into laughter. "Ha HA! Ghost of yonder prison! How simpleminded art these fools?"
"I must say, that was oddly brilliant." Double D complimented. "Now, let's see what they have in here." They quietly walked to the door as Emily and Chad peeked in the small window.
"Um… hello?" Emily whispered.
"MMAH-HAH!" A girl with a blue hat, glasses, and a crazy face popped up and startled them.
"Ah!" The two jumped back. "And… you are?" Emily asked.
"My name's Courtney."
"Uh… well, hey there, Courtney. Why are you in there?"
"RAH-HAH!"
"Uh-huh… how pleasant." Edd could only say.
"Open the cell?" Courtney grinned crazily.
"Eh, might as well." Emily figured. "Think you can open it, Double D?"
The smart Ed boy did so and tinkered with the door's lock. "Hmm… this should work." In a few seconds, he was able to unlock the cell and let the strange girl out.
She looked at Edd, still keeping her crazy expression. "Thank you, Sock Boy. Time to fly." She looked ahead to a barred window and walked over, easily bending the bars enough to squeeze through. She looked back at the group and yelled, "RAH-HAH!", before leaping out the window.
"O…kay." Was all Chad could say.
"Um…" Double D looked speechless, too. "Let's go find Eddy, shall we?"
They passed the rest of the solitary cells and went up more stairs to a door leading to another outside area. They were now on a balcony area, hiding behind some trashcans as guards watched a row of shackled prisoners crush stones with pickaxes. To their left was a tall wall that seemed to have another balcony above it. The ladder leading up there was rolled up, but the wall seemed jagged enough to climb.
"We'll climb up here." Emily said as they walked over.
"It's too high." Chad told her.
"Well then, give me a boost. Hold your hands out." Chad did so and put his hands together, holding them open for Emily to step on. The blonde boy heaved her up for her to reach and grab the jagged part. She grabbed the chain with her left hand and hauled Chad up to grab the wall and started climbing beside her. When they reached the top of the wall, Chad pulled a lever and lowered the ladder for the others to climb.
They crouched behind more trashcans and made their way behind two more guards, overlooking another row of shackled prisoners breaking stones with pickaxes. In the center of this row, they could see Eddy, telling stories to the prisoners as he hammered. "So I was flying to school in my homemade airplane, and I drop a bunch of stink bombs on the playground when everyone's at recess, then I jumped off and dive-bomb right through the ceiling and land on the teacher's head!"
"Mm, this guy's good." The prisoners nodded to each other, engaging in conversations.
"But that couldn't compare to this one time, when I took these kids' parents on a tour of the city, and I actually-"
"Psst. Eddy."
"Huh?" The leader Ed boy turned his head and spotted Double D.
"Eddy, we're going to get you out. Just keep the guards distracted."
"Don't forget to wiggle your bunion, Eddy!" Ed called.
"Um…" Eddy turned back around. "Hey, anyone ever hear about that prison ghost that's been spotted recently?"
"Hey, Zack?" one of the guards spoke to the other.
"Yah?"
"Was somebody just whispering to that short kid behind us?"
"Beats me. We usually just stand guard, ignoring all other sounds around us."
"Ah…" The guard looked around and wondered something else. "Hey, Zack?"
"Yah?"
"Why do we have all these trashcans lying around?"
"Well, because-"
"GRAHH!" Just then, Ed popped out of a trashcan, totally covered in gooey trash. "I am the ghost of Ghost Zone Prison. Here to steal your retinas, and feed them to a monkey named George."
"GHOST ZONE PRISON GHOST! AAHHH!" The clearly-oblivious guards spun their tails and took off.
Double D then walked over to Eddy and used his technical know-how to unlock his shackles. "Good work, guys! Now, let's get to scamming!" Eddy declared. "Ahem: step right up to have your shackles unshackled! Double D, the chain-breaking master, will undo them in the blink of an eye! Only 25 cents!"
"You'd think he would start charging for more than 25 cents." Emily whispered to Chad.
"Come on, Eddy. We need to get out of here." Chad told him.
"We need to reach the top of the tower." Emily explained.
"No problem!" The short Ed boy took out a huge piece of gum and shoved it in Ed's mouth. "Chew away, Lumpy!"
Ed kept his goofy grin as he chewed the large gum piece. He then started to blow a massive bubble, starting to float up. Eddy and Edd grabbed on, and the others shrugged and grabbed onto him as well, slowly floating higher up the tower. (Play the "Sweet Revenge Topsail" Theme from KND Operation: VIDEOGAME.)
Act 2
The six held on tight to the larger Ed as the gum balloon propelled them upward, looking down as they appeared nearly a hundred feet above the ground. Being this high up put chills down their spines. Even within this vastness of ghostly space, it felt as though a cold wind was breezing past their necks. There was an incredible view of the ghastly green ghost realm (even though there wasn't much to look at), and the shouts and voices of the people below were slowly fading.
When they made it to another segment of staircases, the gum finally failed and popped, Ed sucking it back in as they landed. They reached the top of the stairs to the building's roof, which had a wide, tall, cylindrical tower. "Sigh… why'd this guy have to meet us so high up?" Chad sighed.
The seven started their trek up the tower's stairs, encountering some black Boos that popped up and floated over, trying to explode on them. Chad grabbed one by the tongue and used it to break open a hollow wall, revealing a ladder on the other side. They used it to climb to a higher level, which had a jagged wall, using it to climb further. When the jagged part cut off partway up, Emily used her ghost form to fly up and grab a higher part of it, using the shackle to pull Chad up with her. Afterwards, the Eds got atop each other for Shaunie and Luvbi to climb and reach that part, then lifted their selves up there.
They continued up another staircase around the tower before reaching another ladder that seemed to go the rest of the way. As they climbed upward, they passed by the mariachi band, sitting on a little branch and playing music. "Welcome to the Ghost Zone Prison Tower. From the top of this precarious platform, you can see the marvelous views of this wonderful dimension… 'wonderful', being in the case of a ghost, anyway."
When they finally reached the top of the tower, they found Penelope fixing a hang-glider, with a guard floating beside her. That guard spotted the main group and threw off his disguise. Bootler revealed to be a much shorter, round-shaped ghost, with stubby hands. "Hm. So, you've made it. Congratulations."
"About time, please. Now, are ya COMIN', or what?" Penelope asked, wrapping the glider around her waist. The others grabbed the top of the glider as Bootler flew over the edge. Penelope shot a glance to the camera and said, "Please.", before running and leaping over the edge, the kids holding on tight as they flew away from the prison.
They were able to get a few miles away from the prison, spotting a huge castle in the distance. "That must be the Ghost King's place." Emily guessed.
"Great, so let's land there, so we can-" Before Chad could finish, an Ecto Blast suddenly hit them from behind. (End song.)
"WHOOA!" The eight of them fell and crashed onto a flat, floating asteroid. They dizzily helped their selves up and looked around.
"Well, well." They looked up as the warden, Walker floated down onto the asteroid. "I'm surprised you were able to escape without barely making a sound. But Danny Phantom's escape was the last the prison will see. You kids have a little dinner date."
"That's right!" They looked up once more as Skulker and Ember carried Tubba Blubba onto the platform, Iggy Koopa on his head with a whip. "You beat my brother! Now you'll have the honor of being first on the menu for my ghost-eating monster. Get 'em, Tubby!"
"GHOOOOSTS." (Play Tubba Blubba's Theme from Paper Mario!)
Boss fight: Iggy Koopa and Tubba Blubba
The ghost-eater ran and punched the ground, missing the group as they scattered. Penelope aimed her wristwatch and fired some pink gas, making the Koopas cough. "Bleh! Get us out of here, ya lump!" Iggy ordered, whipping the monster. Skulker sprayed some black smoke around the ground, spawning Bomb Boos that flew over to try and blow up Chad and Emily. When Tubba shook the pink smoke away from them, he used his strong lungs to try and suck Emily in, but Chad quickly grabbed a Boo by the tongue and tossed it inside. The monster chewed the Boo before it exploded inside him, the quake knocking Iggy Koopa off his head.
"Blah!" the Koopa yelled, trying to whip at Luvbi, but the angel conjured a tornado that blew him upwards. When he came back down, Eddy leapt and kicked him across the field. "Grrr!" Iggy then ran and hopped back onto Tubba as the monster got himself up. But when he did so, Emily ran and kicked him in the gut while Ed jumped and slammed down on his head. He shook and spun away as he started to inhale once again. Chad grabbed another Bomb Boo and tossed him in Tubba's mouth, doing more damage on his insides.
"Bah. This is pathetic." Iggy Koopa said. "Good thing Kammy's been teaching me some magic!" With that, the Koopaling took out a magic wand and sprinkled some magic on the monster. Tubba started to glow with energy as he gained more muscles, bigger, sharper spikes on his shell, sharper finger and toenails, and spiky hair.
"YEEEAA! Dat feelsh gooood!"
"Haha! Now let's kick some heinie!" Iggy exclaimed, giving the monster another whip.
"Save room for us." Skulker smirked as he and Ember flew down. Chad and Emily ran as the ghost-eating monster chased, reaching his arms down to try and grab them. Skulker fired a net that trapped the two, Tubba smiling as he lifted it above his wide-open mouth. Emily wrapped around Chad and turned intangible, phasing through the net before Tubba swallowed it.
They flew behind Skulker and became visible, Emily using the chain to swing Chad around and knock Skulker into Ember and to the ground. Tubba walked over to try and suck them in again. "I have a plan." Chad said. Emily nodded and flew them to the top of Tubba's head.
"Duh? Where'd dey go?" the dimwitted monster asked.
"I hope this works." Emily said, dropping in front of his face while Chad held onto the shackle. Tubba glared at her and sucked her inside, swallowing her whole. Inside, Emily hung from the shackle to keep from falling into the digestive acid. She spotted Tubba's heart and proceeded to fire an Ecto Ray, the monster screeching from the damage. Chad immediately hauled Emily out of the monster before he shook both of them off, coughing fireballs around the area.
Shaunie yelped and shielded his eyes from some of the flames as Luvbi shot in front of him and blew them away. "Ugh! Must thou stand cowering in one spot if thou hast to be such a-" Just then, Ember swooped down on her guitar and grabbed her. "AAHHH!"
"That'll be one less bug. Let's see how well you fair without your wings." Ember threatened.
"TASTE STINK BOMB, BABY!" Eddy yelled, drawing out his slingshot and firing stink bombs at the ghostly singer before she could rip off Luvbi's wings, dropping the angel for Shaunie to catch her.
Walker made a little 'huff' before making a whistle, summoning a squad of ghost guards. Eddy and Penelope tackled two of them before bashing their heads against each other. Ed wrapped around another one and gripped its helmet, yanking it off and exposing his hideous face. "AYAHH!" He ran away.
Chad grabbed the last guard's tail and swung him around before tossing him up to Walker, knocking the warden out of the sky and onto the monster's head. Tubba picked him up in his right hand and held him by his face, sniffing and sticking his tongue out to taste. "No, you idiot!" Iggy yelled, whipping him and dropping Walker with a thud. "That isn't the ghost you wanna eat!"
"Nope. This one is!" Emily exclaimed, flying over and punching Tubba's groin, then gut, then swinging Chad into his head, knocking him over. The two landed as Chad crawled into his mouth, finding the heart and dealing a few punches before Emily pulled him back out. Tubba then threw up a few slime balls, getting everyone covered.
"Uck, gross." Emily groaned.
"Ay, I am going to need five baths-" Luvbi was then swooped by Ember once again.
"LUVBI!" Shaunie yelled.
Skulker smirked at his girlfriend, but then felt a pair of arms grab onto his shoulders from behind. "Hey, what the-" He looked back at who it was.
"MAH-HAH!" Crazy Courtney yelled.
"Huh- Get off, you crazy brat!" the hunter yelled, throwing Courtney to the ground beside Shaunie.
Shaunie walked over and asked, "Courtney, how did you get here?"
She sat up and answered, "I flew."
"Well… can you fly me closer to Ember?"
"RAH-HAH!" she yelled, standing up. "Sure. Grab on." Shaunie did so and leapt onto her shoulders. The crazy girl ran and leapt over the edge, extending her arms and flying around the area like a bird. Ember spotted them and flew further away on her guitar, strumming sonic waves in their direction. When Courtney flew over the guitarist, she dropped onto her head.
"Augh! Get off me, you brat!" Ember yelled as the guitar spun rapidly out of control. Shaunie landed on the tip of the guitar and held onto Luvbi's arm as he tried to control it, aiming it back at the platform.
At this time, the Eds got done beating a few more guards before Tubba walked over and started devouring the guards. "No, you stupid monster! Eat THEM, not our guys!" Walker shouted. "Iggy, what's wrong with you? !"
"Gah! I'm trying to! Stop eating, you dumb beast, and pay attention to-" He then looked up in fright when the guitar zoomed over and shoved the short Koopa right off Tubba's head, knocking him right over the edge. "AW NOOOO!" The Eds watched as Iggy Koopa fell into the endless, ghostly abyss below.
"HAHA! Have a nice fall, Sucker!" Eddy yelled.
Tubba smacked his lips afterward and said, "Mmmm… dat goood. Me want seconds…" He looked down and spotted the three boys.
"Oh, geeze." Eddy cried as they ran away. They were stopped in their tracks when Skulker shot ectoplasm at their feet and stuck them.
"Gotcha." The hunter smirked.
"Hey, Skull Butt!"
"Huh?" He looked up and saw Chad and Emily flying straight at him. The Halfa dropped Chad, extending the shackle and catching Skulker between them. "Hey!" The hunter tried frantically to shake away as they were flying him straight at Tubba Blubba, the monster holding his mouth wide open. Emily shot away and grabbed Chad when they stuck the hunter right in Tubba's mouth, Skulker's upper half sticking out. Skulker tried to shake away, but Tubba bit down, ripping the lower half of his suit right off, the upper part dropping and crawling along the ground.
When Tubba swallowed, he looked up and saw Ember's guitar zooming straight at him. Shaunie and Luvbi jumped off and allowed it to crash and explode right on his head, making him wobble in dizziness. "Gah, stupid kids." Walker mumbled angrily. He felt a shadow loom over him and looked up to see Tubba Blubba standing over. Walker gained a frightened expression and screamed, "AHHH!", before the monster toppled over and crushed him.
At this time, the upper part of Skulker's suit died out, and the tiny green ghost climbed out of the head and rolled along the ground, shaking his head dizzily. He looked up and screamed at Chad and Emily towering over him, the Halfa reaching down to pick him up. "Hey, let me go! I am the greatest hunter in all of Ghost Zone! You will ALL fear me!" the tiny ghost declared.
"Surrrre we will, Buddy." Emily remarked doubtfully. "But for now," she wiggled him in front of Tubba's face. The monster shot his eyes open and sniffed. "Here, Tubby! Nice, tasty ghostie!"
"Mmmmm. Deserrrrt."
"ACK!" Skulker immediately jumped out of her hands and scampered away as the giant Koopa smiled and stood up, licking his lips as he chased the tiny ghost. Skulker leapt over the platform's edge, Tubba jumping after him.
Chad looked over at Skulker's fallen armor and went to dig around. "Aha!" He pulled out some kind of thermos.
"A thermos?" Emily asked.
"Fenton Thermos. Perfect for catching ghosts." Chad then opened the container and aimed at Emily, pressing the button and firing a blue ray.
"WHOA!" Emily yelled when she was sucked inside. As a result, she slipped out of the shackle, making the energy chain switch off and for Chad's to come off, too. He then released Emily from the thermos when they were both freed. "Hm… good one."
"Hmm, a spectacular performance." Bootler came and said.
Penelope had also finished fixing up the glider. "Let's go, please."
"Yes. Now is the time to meet with the Ghost King. Follow me, please." The others grabbed onto the glider and started flying after the ghostly butler. Crazy Courtney watched them all fly off, with the mariachi band on her shoulders as she flew.
"And so, this team has defeated the ghost-eating monster and the… er, ghosts. And are now on their way to meet with the Ghost King. How will this meeting go? Find out… er, right now. And so, we leave you with this note:"
"RRRAH-HAH!" Courtney yelled. (End song.)
Ghost King's Castle
The eight followed the ghostly butler across the vast ghost realm to a huge castle sitting on a flat asteroid. They entered and walked through the castle's ghostly halls, viewing all the scary pictures, cobwebs, and any other typical haunted house stuff. The ghostly butler led them through a huge door into a massive throne room. "Mmm, they are here, Your Majesty."
The eight gaped at a massive, green ghost with bright, orange eyes. "Ah… I thought I spotted little children wandering around in my woods." He spoke in a deep voice.
Emily could only give a great, wide smile, seeing the king of her favorite creatures. "Oh. My. Gosh! The Ghost King himself! I am like, your BIGGEST fan, I-"
"That's enough, Child." The Ghost King chuckled. "You may call me Kibosh."
"Yah, great. So, how 'bout helping us find a way out of this joint?" Chad asked in a sassy tone.
"STILL YOUR TONGUE, BOY!" Kibosh thundered, scaring Chad frozen. "I don't really care for you. But I am interested in your friend." He faced Emily. "She is a Halfa. Halfas are very special creatures in the Ghost Zone. You see, we ghosts are merely outcasts of the dead that have evaded possible justice in the Underworld. We make our retreat in this old realm, and live in peace, although the humans don't see us as peaceful. As you know, Halfas are half-ghost, and half-human. Like the Avatar is a link between the Mortal World and Spirit World, we believed that Halfas were a balance between humans and ghosts, and allowed our two kinds to interact."
"Wow, do I suddenly feel special." Emily smiled.
"You just seem like another freak to me." Chad replied.
"Gee, thanks a lot." Emily frowned and glared. "But you know what's funny? He didn't start acting like this until after getting hit with that weird ray gun."
"He was hit by a Darkness Cannon." Kibosh replied. "When someone is hit with a Darkness Cannon, they are shown visions of their inner darkness, and it even bends them into acting in a negative away, seeing only the bad side of things. It isn't quite mind-controlling him. Rather, the cannon has awakened thoughts inside his head that he's always had, but never wanted to speak."
"In other words, he's always been like this deep down." Emily deduced.
"What does a ghost know, anyway?" Chad asked.
"A lot more than you do, Brat." Kibosh retorted.
"I'm not a brat! I'm a teenager!"
"Kid or teenager, you. Are. Both. Short!"
"Very fascinating information, but it isn't helping us get any closer to Amanda, please!" Penelope shouted.
Kibosh only growled and shot a glare at the girl. "Well, I believe our time is done here. I know the perfect place for you to go next." He waved his right arm and opened a green, spiraling portal. "Ghost portals can open anywhere in the universe. This one will take you to the Valley of Avalar. Surely, that place may stop the effects of the Darkness Cannon."
"And a great big thanks for your help, Kibosh." Double D smiled and bowed.
"Yeah! And for a Ghost King, he isn't really that scary." Eddy said.
The king immediately erupted a massive roar, spewing saliva and mini ghost skulls all over the frightened Eds. He stopped and smirked at the shivering trio. "That scary enough for ya?"
"Hehehe." Emily giggled. "Thanks for the help. Great meeting you, Your Majesty!" she bowed humbly. Still very excited to be in his presence, she spoke, "If there's anything I can do…"
"Since you ask," Kibosh perked up, "many of Ghost Zone's usual inmates have been running amuck, due to Walker's bargain with the Sith Lord. If you could use that Fenton Thermos to gather them up, I would be honored to repay you."
"Will do!" Emily saluted perkily. "Now, let's go!" With that, she grabbed Chad's wrist and pulled him through the portal first, followed by Shaunie and Luvbi, the Eds, then Penelope Taynt as the portal vanished.
Side Quest: Gather all of Ghost Zone Prison's inmates and bring them to Kibosh.
Kibosh is from Casper: The Friendly Ghost, Bootler and Tubba are from Paper Mario, and all those other ghosts are from Danny Phantom. Next time, we'll truly be heading for Planet Avalar. There, we'll meet another spirit and learn some info. And also a romantic scene with Chad and Emily! ;D