#don’t worry ghosty these will be much easier to read through since there’s less

[banditblvd]

Sometimes I have thoughts about things and sometimes those thoughts become doodles and very rarely do those doodles leave my drawing app and enter the internet

Dynamax Gillion

[phantomphangphucker]

Journey Through The Mists - PhannieMay - Day 9 World Building

Summary: The Fenton parents decide its high time to actually check out the GZ, especially after this new land mass appeared right near their portal.

Jack and Maddie are giving themselves a good pat down, making sure they’ve got everything they need and that their suits are covering them head to toe. With a strong nod, Maddie turns to Jack, “I’d say we’re good to go, Jack dear”.

Jack grins goofily as he opens the portal and joins his wife in the Spectre Speeder, “I still can’t believe all our Spectral readers came back showing that going in is actually safe!”

Maddie nods as they fly slowly in, “still not worth the risk of skin exposure of course”. Jack slaps the torso of his suit humorously, “and that’s the wonders of jumpsuits!... To bad Danny-boy’s so opposed to wearing one”.

Looking around the Fenton’s elect for silence, no way to know just what might be around. But, unsurprisingly, Jack doesn’t last long, “would you look at that! There are plants! They glow!”. Maddie is tempted to shush him but she’s almost as excited as him, muttering to herself, “well, I don’t see any ghosts so I think we might be fine here”. However, the heavy mist covering the small island in front of them is putting her a bit on edge. She prefers to actually be able to see easily, but this will also help hide them and the Speeder; should anything come looking.

Landing the Speeder down, the pair triple check their jumpsuits before nabbing sample kits and heading out onto the island. Jack mutters as he runs a gloved hand over some of the fern brush, “why is it white though? Shouldn’t this all be green?”. Maddie nods as she’s attempting to collect clippings from the, also white, grass; which keeps dissolving near instantly, before reforming as it was prior to being clipped. Smirking as she manages to finally catch some of the ectoplasm before it fully dissipates, “it doesn’t even dissolve into the proper green either. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen white ectoplasm before”. As Maddie stands and looks around, “not only that but, according to our sensors, this island didn’t even use to be here. It formed practically overnight, two days ago”.

Jack is far more excited and unrestrained than his wife, “I know! It’s like a brand new discovery! No clue yet what’s caused it though...” Jack trails off as he tries to get ectoplasmic energy and density readings off of the thick mist.

Maddie watches amused as Jack faces different directions and gets a large grin on his face, “looks like it’s actually thicker in this direction!”. Knowing full well Jack’s just going to run off, she picks up their cases and heads off in the direction Jack’s facing before he even starts off.

Maddie, confused, pokes at and eventually traps a jar around what looks like a white glowing fairy light, with specks of blues and greens dancing inside. Putting a blanket over it and glancing underneath, “Jack! These orbs are actually lights! Somehow”. Shaking her head a bit as she looks up at Jack, as he runs over to check it out. Maddie can’t help but take a picture of Jack kneeling over and shoving his head under the blanket, before pondering out loud, “it’s not even like it’s just natural ghostly glow. It’s literally lighting up the entire space, like some sort of self-sustaining ecto-light. I’ve seen ghosts create them in their hands before but there are no ghosts around”. Jack bolts up excitedly flinging the blanket away, “maybe they’re tied to a ghost with Photokinesis!”.

Maddie quickly shakes her head, “but they’re just floating around? Even if this could be a ghosts lair, there’d be no reason to have these just floating around”. Though Maddie can’t help but admit that they do make it easier to see in the mist, even if that would be completely pointless to a ghost. Especially if this was a lair, since the ghost could just will away the mist. Shaking her head as she shoves the jar into her bag and continues on.

“I never imaged a place in the ghost zone could be arguably beautiful”, Maddie can’t help but mutter as she traces her finger over the petal of a moonflower. While Jack examines some black and pale blue morning glories peppering black vines, wrapping around the trunk of a tree. Brushing red leaves from a weeping willow out of her face, Maddie walks around the flower promptly realising its moving with her. Slightly creeped out, “now see that’s what I’d expect from something ghostly”.

Jack yelps a bit startled as the results for the ectoplasmic energy level test finally come back. Tapping at the screen a bit to make sure the results are right before speaking up, “Mads! There’s no way this isn’t a lair! These readings are way too high to just be created by the GZ itself. Heck! This ghostie has to be a strong fellow for these kinds of readings!”. Maddie shakes her head, surprised at the ectoplasmic level of three, which would only be a zero if this was Zone made, “wow, this mist or even the entire environment must have some level of consciousness. Or maybe it’s linked to the ghost?”. Maddie pales a bit as she clues in that that would mean that whoever this lair belongs to, probably knows they’re here. Even Jack frowns, checking that the Speeder tracker is still working, as both of them keep their weapons within easier reach.

As they’re walking past some trees, Maddie stops, “honey? I think there’s a pond over there, with actual water or something in it? And it’s, growing?”. Jack tilts his head over and sure enough there’s a light blue pond, upon closer inspection the pair can see what looks like neon green carbonation bubbles fizzing off the surface. Shrugging, Jack dips his fingers in and swirls them around, “it acts just like regular water?!”. Cupping some up and letting it pour out of his hands slowly, staring in amazement; while Maddie scoops up a sample. Shaking the container around, it’s clear the water is not actually carbonated. But she’s till confused by the fact that only the neon fizzing seems to glow, “it’s really is almost as if it’s regular water. If you exclude the green fizz”.

Jack grabs the container as soon as Maddie puts it down, opening it up and dropping none of the mini weights they brought with them inside. Tapping his chin, “well it looks like it’s actually less dense than regular water. So it’s definitely not the same”. The pair back off as Jack nearly slips into the “water”, confirming that the pond is indeed getting bigger. Shaking his foot off, “I wonder if lairs can change of their own accord! Or is the ghost doing this?”. Neither is really sure so they simply write that down as another mystery, before they decide to move on. Both would rather not find out what happens if they actually fall into the expanding body of “water”.

Their bags are decently full of samples but Jack shakes his head at his wife, “I would really like to find the epicentre of this fog, Mads”. Maddie sighs fondly, “well then let’s just hope that it’s not the ghost”. Maddie can’t help but glare down at the ghost sensor on her wrist, which still is showing “no ghosts”. Which at this point is starting to worry her, there really should at least be the occasional fly-by ghost.

Checking her wrist again after about half an hour, “Jack, somethings off. Either the sensor isn’t working, there’s interference, or something is actively keeping the ghosts away from here. And I don’t like any of those possibilities”. Maddie growing paranoia is only heightened by the grass suddenly going from a few inches tall to a solid foot tall. Both of them glare incredulously at the tall grass, which could now be easily hiding something without them even being able to tell. “Mads, there’s wind”, Maddie glances at her husband before bending down to stare at the grass, which does appear to be being blown by wind. Looking back up she spots red and white petals blowing out of the trees, akin to cherry blossoms, while Jack spins around slowly in a circle. Both watching as the leaves move about in the air lightly and swirling, but dissipating just before touching the grass. Maddie can’t help but admit that’s is extremely pretty and serene, whispering, “what even is this place? Why would a ghost want a place like this? It’s so...”.

“Human?”, Maddie nods up at Jack, gulping a little. Standing up, she pulls one of the petals out of the air. She can’t help but wonder if it carries a scent, so she bags it. Pulling her hands to her chest and looking to Jack, “ghosts are supposed to be monsters, evil, uncaring and unfeeling. But this...this is like a place of comfort, still unnerving and ghostly, like a beach at night. Why?”.

“I don’t know Mads. Somehow that makes this more daunting than if it was some forest of dead trees. At least I’d know what to do with that”, Jack shakes his head but is still far too eager to see the source of the mist to turn back yet.

“Uh Mads?”, Maddie only has to take a few steps to catch up enough with her husband to see through the mist enough to spot what he’s gapping at. In the distance, there is a very apparent large wall. Jet black bricks with white mortar, the fogs too thick to make out just how tall it is and they’re still too far away to make out any major details. “You think ghosts have houses?”, Jack talks quietly for a change, slightly out of awe and slightly out of concern there’s a likely powerful ghost around. Maddie writes in her notebook furiously as she responds, “maybe. I imagine not all of them have the same style of lairs. That would be very boring and there’s nothing boring about ghosts. But I could see no other reason for a wall like this”.

Nodding his head towards the building while looking at Maddie. Both them adjust their weapons to be a bit easier to access, as they approach the wall.

Tapping on the wall, Jack’s surprised at just how much it’s like regular brick, “for everything being so hard to see here, with all this mist, it’s all so detailed”. Maddie nods as she can feel the different textures between the bricks and mortar, as she runs her hand along the wall while they walk.

Touching her hand to the indented corner between the wall they’ve been following and a clearly curved bit of wall, “Jack, I think this might just be a castle”. Jack traps on her shoulder, as he’s much more interested in the tangles of rose bushes. Dangerous looking leafless black thorns, off-put but large soft looking white roses; the threat of thorns is even further offset by the intertwined purple asters. Jack’s noticed that the bushes have been slowly growing more numerous as they’ve walked. Some cluster around the bases of trees, others climbing up the trunks, others yet spider-webbing across open ground. Maddie, after also examining how the mist is thicker, “I think the deeper we go, the more unusual this all is”. Maddie tilts her head a bit, having never really expecting her gardeners' knowledge to be useful, “purple asters...those are a symbol of royalty. Combine that with what’s likely a castle...”.

Jack barely manages to keep his voice a whisper, “royalty! Ghost royalty!”. Furrowing his brows, “but so new? So close to our portal?”. Jack goes wide-eyed as he remembers the recent defeat of the Pariah guy, “Mads! You don’t think that maybe? Maybe this is the new ghost kings castle!?”. Jack’s torn between finding this awesome, being concerned that it’s so close to home, or fearful for his and his wife’s safety. While Maddie is more focused on just how this place is decorated, “Jack, maybe this is a good thing. This place, it’s not threatening or even all that unpleasant. Creepy in a ghost kind of way but still”. Patting at her bag, “fairy lights are guides, white roses mean purity, thorns are a form of protection, crystal clear water is a sign it’s safe. Even this mist, it’s like a protective blanket of white and it sparkles faintly”. Eyeing her clearly confused husband, “the previous king was downright evil. With extra evil. Maybe...maybe that’s why ghost have always been evil and violent. Because their king was”.

Jack blinks a bit, turning back to the wall and patting it tentatively, “then maybe this one, isn’t? Isn’t evil?”. Both them can’t help but gape at the wall as if it holds all the answers. “Jack...Jack, this could change everything. We can’t, we can’t mess this up”, locking her eyes with him through their goggles, “if we see this ghost, we leave. If it shows up on the sensors, we leave. We can’t risk even the possibility of ghosts no longer being pure evil, for a conversation or to capture this ghost”. Maddie’s both less and more tense, as her husband nods curtly at her.

The mist is so thick by the time they find the door that they really can’t tell if there are any symbols on the, black with green graining, oak door. Maddie mutters quietly as she traces her hand over the grain, “oak for strength”. Turning to her husband who nods, so the pair push the door open slowly. Sticking her head in the first thing she notices is the massive Yew trees with glowing green leaves and black trunks lining the walls. Also spotting the blue daffodils peppering around the trunk bases, “death, rebirth, eternal life. I’m starting to think there’s nothing here without deeper meaning”. Jack mutters as he sticks his head in as well, “Death and life? I think you might be reading into it too m-”. Jack cuts himself off as he spots the throne. The sharp angular white and black frame is peppered with green and red stones, white flames appear to come off the back of it and blaze skyward. But that’s not what captures Jack’s attention and Maddie’s as well, as she picks up on his sudden silence. Sitting on the throne is Phantom, eyes closed and head resting on a closed fist. A black velvet cape, that looks to have a white lining, with white flames around the collar; adorns his shoulders. While a blazing green crown floats above his head. Both of them can tell that the mist is clearly wafting off of him as they gape.

Both of them slowly close the door and take a few slightly shaky steps back, looking back to each other before Jack promptly gets out the Speeder tracker and points the way back; through a couple wisteria trees.

The pair are silent for a while, Jack’s the one the break it as he laughs faintly, staring at some flowers that even he recognises. Maddie turns her head to him, slightly confused just before he speaks, “look, ghost orchids”. Maddie can’t help but laugh a little too as she crouches down and cups the flower, “definitely Phantom alright”. Deciding to take a picture of the rare flower, answering her husbands' quizzical stance, “it’s unlikely we’ll ever see another growing wild like this, even if it’s just a bunch of ectoplasm”. Shaking her head as they head off again, “Phantom just keeps getting stranger and stranger”.

Arriving at the Speeder, Maddie looks back at the mist covered lair, muttering, “maybe, we really were wrong about you. I kind of hope so”.

Bonus scene 

Jack and Maddie sit at the kitchen table, Maddie mutters as she fiddles with her teacup, “I guess, we really shouldn’t be surprised. He defeated him after all, didn’t he”. Jack nods and leans forward on the table, “I think we should keep this to ourselves. Don’t want to scare the kiddies, specially since they all seem to love him so much”. Maddie simply nods as Danny finally gets up.

Both them can’t help but smile as they watch their son stretch and yawn, scratching at his messy hair, “it’s like eleven a.m.? What no ghost hunting or inventing?”.

“Naw Sweetie, today felt like a rest day. Sometimes even we need a break from all the craziness”

Danny smirks mischievously as he fetches himself some cereal, “yeah the world of ghost stuff sure seems like a wild ride. That’s Amity for you though, wouldn’t be surprised if the town was one big government secret. Or if half the residents or even ghosts here have crazy secrets and stories”. Jack can’t help but chuckle, Amity was weird but it was perfect for them.

Danny points his spoon humorously at them between bites, “and some secrets need to be kept and some stories should never be told, I’m sure”.

End.