#gonna go play phighting. smiles

[fearless-fisticuffs]

he walked in nervously, going to just… sit down on the couch

“ah uhm… that’s nice to hear!”

a small, hesitant knock was heard on Steam’s door

- @fearless-fisticuffs

-> Steam blinks and looks up from what he was doing, pushing up his welder's mask and turning off his blow torch. He brushed his work gloves off on his apron as he moved towards the front door. "Comin'!" -> Soon enough the bull opened the door, smiling down at Coil. "Hey puppy dog! What's up?"

[anguishedlurker]

A Twisted Situation

Phic Phight for @bellsandmischief / bellsandmischeif on ao3! Prompt "Board game night! The crazier the combination of characters, the better!"

I physically need you all to know that this just sort of happened in about two and a half hours. I didn't write, I was fucking posessed at 3.4k words. Here it is in Ao3 glory

Sam was gong to kill someone, actually.

Star’s lips peeled back in something that couldn’t be called a smile as she waited for Sam to make the first move, waving the hat menacingly.

“I will start a fight you can’t end. Don’t.”

Star’s eyes narrowed before sense washed over her expression, shaking rage off with a short jerk of the head, proper fake smile bouncing straight into place.

Dammit, Sam needed the excuse to leave. Even if it was in cuffs.

“Nothing?”

“Buy your school charity game night pass or leave. You’re gonna build a line, and I don’t care what your issue is, even if it’s really obvious.”

Sam was probably going to kill Tucker worse than she was going to kill Danny, this time.

Danny was… Danny. If box ghost showed up, then getting ditched wasn’t about her.

But Tucker?

“Not that you asked, but apparently the losers forgot to do their homework and now need to do it last minute.”

Sam was going to kill Tucker for not having a better excuse to ditch.

“They do homework?” Star asked, chipper as she watched carefully.

Case in point….

“That’s what I said.” Sam sighed, finally moving to pull out her wallet.

Stupid damn ghosts wrecking the stupid damn scoreboard and pieces of the football field, making Ishiyama panic to get a budget for fixing it now and not next year.

Begging on her knees to Vlad or Sam’s parents was not ideal, and Sam had to admit that this was a better option.

“You donating extra to add to the community ticket pool?” Star asked, leaning back in the shit chair in disinterest, shaking the hat in a taunt.

“Considering I only have a hundred on me, yes.”

Star’s eyebrows raised at that, but she ultimately didn’t remark on it as she put the hat down to unlock the register and shove the hundred in.

It was definitely a first class problem, but one of these days Sam was going to end up tearing out hair over trying to explain that hundred dollar bills are not appropriate amounts of cash to take to so much as an average middle class outing, let alone a charity event in the school gym.

It didn’t have to be her hair either. Violence on her mother sounded nice far too often.

Star absently tossed down four poker chips right behind a sign reading ‘DONATED EXTRA TICKETS’, and picked the hat back up. The crinkle of the numbered paper bits were a guise for the gods laughing at her, Sam was sure.

“Your move, Sam.”

And yeah, it sure was her move.

~

Group four. Japanese number of death, not that it mattered.

Group four, over on the left side of the gym. Wes and Ishiyama eyed her as she approached.

Nobody spoke as she held her paper piece for viewing.

“You know what, I think dad was right. This isn’t worth it.” Wes informed gravely, moving to stand.

“Sit. It’ll be fine, and you got half in advance.” Ishiyama informed, twice as grave.

“The hell does half in advance mean?” Sam accused, already looking to leave again.

Bite her, this was gonna go badly and she needed out.

“Wes has been hired to take some photo’s to help with paper coverage.” Ishiyama stated mildly, her expression warning that if Sam was anyone else the verbal abuse would be much more severe already.

“Okay. Can I ask why Stevie and-” Sam started, motioning to Wes as she spoke even as she made eye contact with Ishiyama.

“You know the butcher place?” Wes asked, cutting off her solicitation of a scathing remark. Ishiyama’s smile tightened, because Stevie and Logan probably were the original plan. Yet, she remained silent.

Dammit. Just this once, provoke her. Give her the excuse.

Bu yeah, fine. Sure. Whatever.

“The one down on-”

She could play ball. She could totally ace the polite conversation contest she and Wes were definitely having.

“They weren’t inside, technically, but like… it’ll be another week.”

Sam cringed in understanding. Lunch Lady and Skulker had both done their number on the joint.

“Well, everyone knows I don’t miss the place, but… Anyone made a card yet?”

They were an alarmingly destructive pair, and debris is rather dangerous to the average person.

“It’ll probably be the homeroom activity on Monday. Now smile, Manson.” Wes sighed, holding up the camera.

Sam immediately made the ugliest grimace she could, even as Wes scowled at her.

“Don’t give me that. I’m with Ishiyama for tonight, and Ishiyama is is in charge of group four. And like, I want to play! Part of my thing was free admission to play. What’s the point of a fight?”

“It just means I go down with you, idiot. And if I go down, I’d do it swinging anyways.”

“Take a seat and wait for the rest of the group.” Ishiyama finally growled, pointedly not looking at either of them.

~

“Ishiyama. I am begging you with no shame; You know, already, how this won’t work!”

Ishiyama was just as transfixed as Sam was on Paulina’s approach, Wes too distracted with taking photos to know the danger everyone was now in.

Ishiyama finally broke the trance to give Sam the most miserable look she could, right as Paulina looked up or long enough to see who she was heading for.

Wes continued to very narrowly evade losing the social politics required to keep from being punched by Dash over in group six, oblivious.

Paulina carefully looked at Sam, glancing at Ishiyama.

Paulina carefully looked at Ishiyama, glancing at Sam.

Sam grimaced and pointed at Wes, who was rapidly realizing that Dash might actually hit him this time.

Paulina immediately fixated on Wes, wide-eyed.

Wes, making his exit, turned to find out that paulina was staring at him, and Sam had swapped to pointing at Paulina.

Wes was now staring at Sam, and also pointing at Paulina.

Sam very slowly nodded.

Wes turned to Ishiyama, who was refusing to look anyone in the eye.

Paulina turned to look at the gym doors, clearly mentally calculating the danger and not coming to any favorable conclusions.

Before she could simply turn around and walk out however, Jack Fenton came bellowing in.

“Hey-o kiddo! You in group four too?” He asked, not waiting to loop an arm around Paulina and start dragging.

Wes looked like he was dreaming of the nearest breakable window, but there was money on the line. He began the miserable shuffle towards his doom..

Sam moved to stand, stopped by Ishiyama.

“God help us both child, if this has to be my night then it’s going to be yours too.” Ishiyama demanded, breathing just a little too hard.

“You and what blackmail?” Sam challenged.

“The glitter and glue spray bomb on the cheer team a month ago, straight to your parents.” Ishiyama hissed, just low enough Paulina wouldn’t catch it in her rapid forced approach.

Sam contemplated, and sat back down.

If she got Sam that meant she go Danny, and Danny was on some very thin tightropes right now. Tightropes apparently held by her parents monetary support, because even if Sam got punished they’d pull their next donation for being bothered with such lowly activities.

This was fine. This was going to be so fine. Why wouldn’t it be so fine?

~

“The first game, at least before we are free to chose…” Ishiyama started, taking a shuddering breath.

“Is however far we get in monopoly.”

There were multiple monopoly sets donated for this event, and no time limit on playing.

The limiting factor being potential assault charges was not mentioned as Wes clicked his tongue and Ishiyama and Paulina both plastered on smiles for the camera.

Sam was going to hate that tongue click by the end of the night.

“I love monopoly!” Jack sounded off, missing the sheer rage of the other four people tapped here with him.

~

“I…”

The silence of the third doubles in a row was deafening.

“I sit my little piece in the jail, and leave to go take a photo of group two in twister. Yell at me when someone rolls me out.” Wes huffed, borderline slamming the flatscreen TV token onto the board.

It was the second turn.

Ishiyama had made them take the Electronic Banking monopoly set, to hopefully discourage cheating as she now held the little device that could read their fake little cards. Ishiyama herself gave a faintly wistful look as Wes stomped off, likely dreaming of doing the same.

“Six, not a double.” Sam sighed, hauling her little coin case to the Mall Of America. Obviously she bought it.

Paulina glared at her, the purse token sitting innocently on the Saint Louis Arch. Her master plan of getting all of those spots was ruined, truly.

Might even have to buy it from Sam.

“Alright! My Turn! Two, woohoo baby! The airports are like train stations in this one, right? I’m taking it!” Jack hollered, deafening. Paulina cringed as she reassessed her plans yet again, watching Jack take his second roll straight into Sam’s MOA. Small blessings.

“So, Jack. What brings you, but not your wife.” Ishiyama asked mildly after fiddling with the stupid little device to transfer everyone’s money, picking up the dice and rolling.

She got herself another ten, and was sent straight to the parking lot. Where there was no pot to take.

“Oh, Mads is out chasing that box spook and the town menace!”

“Alone?” Paulina asked flatly, picking up the dice. Nine. Straight into a treasure chest, which she seemed pleased by.

She seemed modestly displeased by the card she pulled, but ultimately didn’t do anything as Ishiyama verified if she was supposed to do anything based on it. Clearly not.

“Mads is smart! And we promised we’d do something to help get the school in order, so I’m here!”

Ah, yes. Because they’re about ninety five percent of the reason the turf was ruined.

“Right then.” Ishiyama soothed, giving Paulina a flat look.

Paulina seemed unbothered at least. Ishiyama tossed the dice for Wes and came up with no doubles.

~

“Utilities are always good.” Jack hummed, getting his cards in order.

“What about your son?” Ishiyama asked, passive as ever.

“Hmmm…. Dunno. I don’t think this is his kinda thing, though.”

Sam was suddenly glad Wes wasn’t here, the doubles ever elusive.

By the way Paulina carefully eyed his position at team two, she was in agreement. Just because she thought he was nuts didn’t mean she was unaware the moment his little “theory” breached containment to Danny’s parents was the same moment secen kinds of hell broke loose.

“I see.” Ishiyama offered flatly, taking her question mark card.

~

“There’s no way none of you have rolled me doubles yet.”

“Tell you what, Wes… do you want us to just do a gentlemans agreement that you can come back in? I’m sure our lovely team here wouldn’t be opposed.”

“I… wouldn’t want to impose. And those photos-”

“No, truly. Sam? Jack? Paulie?”

“Really, no trouble at all Wes. It’d be mean to leave you there.”

“Whatever.”

“Oh, sure thing kids! Come on, all in honor of having fun!”

“I… thank. You. Your generosity towards rule breaking is truly touching.”

“No problem.” Ishiyama hummed, faintly pleased with herself about dragging everyone down with her.

~

Jack Fenton was the luckiest man this side of Amity.

Sure, Sam had gotten both green spaces already, but this was…

“That’s the last airport, right?”

“I think we’re done.” Ishiyama decided. Wes didn’t take his face out of his hands, his TV token sitting in jail again.

Jacks face fell.

“Yeahhhh, it’s not fun when one person dominates. I know it’s like, luck, but we’ve also got other games to do.” Paulina absently remarked, examining her nails.

“It’s like you’ve forgotten you hate us. Where’s your fast exit?” Sam taunted.

“Samantha.”

“Haven’t. You’re just more invested than I am. And my brother drove me because my engine blew, so I’m stuck anyways because I’m not taking a ride from any of you.”

Jack seemed to contemplate before making his statement.

“I guess that’s fair. But do you two not really…”

“Worlds most open secret my man, not unlike-”

“Wes. I cannot stress enough that I will simply take the murder charge. Ishiyama is not capable of pulling me off in time.” Sam threatened.

“Principal, are you going to take that!?”

“Yes. Of all the people to antagonize, not him!”

“What?” Jack asked, befuddled.

“Not a problem. Cluedo, anyone? It’s open, now.” Paulina offered, the picture of innocence.

~

Jack really was the saving grace to the whole situation, honestly. Insane luck aside, nobody wanted to pull any social triggers with him around.

Sam because she really didn’t need Danny’s parents to hate her, Ishiyama because Jack was the frontline of a contactable defense in emergencies, Paulina had just mentally checked out, and Wes didn’t want to die by Sam’s hand and Ishiyama’s approval.

“I know I asked about Daniel earlier, but did Jasmine not want to come? Rope, Green, Spa.” Ishiyama prattled off.

Paulina was elbowed not so subtly as the player to the left, pretty much her whole pad at Ishiyama so she didn’t have to ask her to speak again.

“Oh, Jazzy’s out tutoring!”

What? Sam tended to have a pretty good idea of where Jazz was at, given she was backup, and… well...

“I didn’t know Spike was on the tutor list.” Sam prodded.

“Manson, who?” Wes asked, glaring.

“Uhhh. I think it’s Edward? Edward… something. I don’t know what his last name is, actually.”

“Edmund Cox. His parents are like, freaks about Narnia.” Paulina offered, realigning with reality as Ishiyama blatantly cheated off Paulinas notepad in the background.

Nobody said anything for a half beat.

“Why do you know that?” Wes finally bit out.

“Money hides in odd places, and I know many with money.” Paulia said, almost totally tranquil as she gave Sam the stink eye.

She could keep at it, nobody would ever believe her that Sam was rich.

“I dunno that Jazzy tutors any Edmunds… You sure she knows an Edmund?”

Ishiyama cleared her throat, and Wes tossed the dice down to move a few more spaces.

A grand total of two.

“Okay, well, I’m sure Jasmine is helping your son. You know, with his homework.” Wes hissed, trying to kill Sam with his eyes.

“Hell if I know, I’m stuck here with you all.”

Wes deflated as Jack finally made it to the kitchen.

“Green, knife, kitchen!” Jack cheered, pointing at Wes to fork over information.

~

Sam was starting to get the picture of the murder, but something was wrong.

Very wrong.

“You. Scarlett, living room, bat!”

“Nothing! You! Loser! Stop trying to catch me lying!” Paulina screamed, barely restraining herself from throwing the entire notepad at Sam’s skull.

“If he doesn’t have it, and you don’t have it, and SHE doesn’t have it, then who has the god damn-!”

“Peace, children.” Ishiyama warned, clearly not believing that peace would be achieved.

~

“I just find it all odd.” Ishiyama hummed, pressing Jack for answers about Danny.

“Yeah, well… It’s not like he really opens up to us anymore. Me and Mads chalk it up to teenager stuff, but…”

Wes wasn’t even focused on chewing mental glass over the secrets he wasn’t allowed to spill, that’s how fucked up this game of Clue was.

“So we’re just ignoring that nobody can narrow it down to one murderer?” He hissed, inching closer to Ishiyama. “We’re just having a super casual little conversation about the idiots school life?”

Ishiyama finally connected that she was only skating by a shitfit from her captive audience because everyone was in an old western style stalemate, and turned to the board again.

“It is very strange….”

“I give. I fucking give. I give up and I’m looking in the fucking packet and I’m taking the loss.” Paulina ranted, snatching up the little yellow envelope before Ishiyama could protest.

Everyone pretended they weren’t super pissed about it when four cards fell out instead of three.

“We have two murders. Green and Scarlett in the kitchen, with the bat.”

Nobody spoke.

“Well… what’s our next game, then?” Ishiyama asked, slightly strained. Even Jack looked mad at this twist.

~

“Left hand blue.” Wes called, exactly as miserable as the rest of them.

Why twister? Who decided that letting Jack Fenton pick was a good idea?

~

Sam crab shuffled between the apropiate colors for limbs so that her head was closer to Ishiyama’s. Wes gave her an unpleasant look for technically cheating, but remained silent. Taking limb detangling off the option list was lethal.

“Call it.”

“UGH! Right foot green.” Paulina wailed, twisting even worse to make it work.

“You know I can’t. I don’t want to plead with Vlad, and this already isn’t enough. Everyone needs to walk away with perfect opinions so they come to the next one, and how can they do that if the organizer won’t play?”

“What about Vladdie!?” Jack called, getting dangerously close to having to stick his head under Ishiyama’s ass.

“Bullshit.” Sam barked, calling bluff. “Not a damn person would seriously rail at you about it.”

“Yes. They would.”

“Left hand blue.” Paulina called miserably. Jack went stock still as he now had very critical choice about where his center of balance, and thusly his head, was going to start drastically leaning to.

~

“Move, loser!”

“I physically cannot! Get your ass off my back first!”

“Get your thigh off my fucking-”

Jack, having detangled from Ishiyama a bit ago, muttered something about him and his bad decisions.

“Right foot yellow.” Wes informed innocently from the safety of the losers seats, watching as Sam and Paulina tried to break each others spines without falling over.

~

They had a crowd for this lunacy. Wes, so safe and cozy from the chair, was busy imortalizing the event with pictures. Even Ishiyama was openly unamused about her humiliation, trapped under Jack’s massive rear, desperately trying not to get squished by his leg curing back underneath..

Sam didn’t have very appropriate thoughts about the way Paulina was twisted around her, and she really wasn’t trying to be crass about it but god if she could do this in twister then professional level gymnast routines would be a joke for her.

“I think you should like, get tested for joint issues. Before you maybe fuck them up permanently.”

“Suck it, Manson!”

Dash gave an extremely pleased look as the spinner stopped spinning, having taken the damn thing from Wes.

… No.

“Left”

No.

“Hand”

No!!!

“Blue.”

Wes coughed from laughter as all four of them started screaming.

First Ishiyama fell. There was nothing near her that didn’t tangle her worse in Jack’s leg than she already was.

But then Jack, who had to contort into the bridge position just to make it to a blue circle, got a short stocky principal to the leg.

The carnage was immense. You couldn’t see Ishiyama’s head underneath Jack’s ass.

But then, Sam.

Second place wasn’t too bad, she decided as her wrist gave. It just couldn’t do it anymore.

And Paulina, tangled around Sam like she was, came down with her.

Yeowch…

The whole gym cheered, reveling in the chaos.

Paulina stared at the ceiling from beside Sam, expression unintelligable.

“I’m done.” Was all she said, unmoving.

Which, fucking same.

Wes laughed even harder, taking photos of Jack rolling off Ishiyama.

“You can’t stop us from leaving, anymore, Ishiyama. This was it. Nothing can keep me here anymore.” Sam declared, doing her best to detangle from Paulina’s limbs.

“I, too, yield. It was fun while it lasted.” Ishiyama wheezed.

“No. It wasn’t.”

“I think I should go check on Mads and the kids.” Jack decided, not moving from his side despite the declaration.

Wes was still too buy laughing as Sam did a four legged crawl off the twister board.

“You need a ride, kiddo?” Jack offered, still unmoving.

“Absolutely not.”

“I do.” Paulina decided.

But Sam was already heading for the door, trying to erase the whole night from her memories.

Tucker would never let this die once the news broke. Which meant she’d have to kill him even harder than before.

Still, that was a job for tomorrow. Right now? She sword to herself the entire school would burn before she could be coaxed into another charity game night.

[evil-alex]

im gonna yap abt a LOT of stuff (ultrakill phighting blah blah blah

i REALLY liek gabv1el. their dynamic?? BRO. manmade machine and (ex) archangel?? gabriel discoverinmg his 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 cuz of some stupid gopro!!! gigglign,.,.., siiigh!! i love doomed nb4nb... also i rlly like uhm the idea of them dying in their arms together!! at the bottom of hell!!! cuz their asses are DOOMED!!! grinning,,..,/ but liek. modern gabv1el is also rlly interesting 2 me cuz look at those little critters!!! v1 in a crop top sighh... i want to put them both in jars n shake them around like bugs!!!! i dont actually do that to bugs btw i js like the way the words fit together

did yall know that isopods r rlly cool i rlly like the big ones underwater and also the little tiny ones in the backyard i had a daily isopod post for a few weeks in one of my friends servers1!!! theyre rlly cool i like their legs

huhujm COIL!!!11!!!111!11!11 HES. SO COOL11! we have like no info on his but?/// like dud e i love playing as him LOOK AT BRO1!!! speed mode... jumping mode... regen mode... the fusion??/? i mainly play as bio but new main!!1! maybe!!! YAY!!! also PIRATES 4 LIFE!! YARRRRGHH!!! also one of my friends is valk (REAL) n id never betrsay my bestie valk 🛞🛞⛵⛵🏴‍☠️🪙🪙🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️💰💰 PRIATE!!!! i think subspace is rlly cool also i like pretending him sometimes with all the !!!! and the funny words!!!! IM THE GREAT SUBSPACE T MINE REAL!!!!!1! yayay ermm TEARS OUT YOUR EYE /silly

thinkign abt pes.t.. hes like. rlly cool. bug!!! yaya111!!1! + i forgot if i was hallucinating this cuz i dreamt abt regretevator last ngiht but wasnt bive going loike "HAHA SORRY" abt a bunch of stuff?? whats happening to my paranoid babygirl... cries out

i tihkn that eyefestation is a Cool Shark. i REALLY LIKE IT!!! YAYA!!!! ooooh me whejn i melt ur mind... "they js like me fr..." eyefestation and the other fish SEBATION yeah i think sebastian is also pretty cool hes why i got into pressure (gianni... gianni save me...) i rlly like gianni which also ties back into ultrakill bcuz GABRIEL!!11 yay.

uhm im so mnormal!!! im not btw smiles innocently!!! thanks 4 listening 2 me yap!

[thevoidisback]

Let me be clear for ya'll out there real quick cuz ya'll need to know smh about me

will do

Asked questions

Rp so put /rp in your ask

QnA any time make sure to put *📝* in there

Smh funny to put a smile on you!

will NOT do

Nsfw 🔞

Proshipping bc that's just wrong

Not talk about my irl self do to insecurity so that will be a red flag

Don't force me to do things I don't like

I will delete your ask if I don't like it

I'll redesign your oc if you pay $10 on cash app so DM me for that because I ain't gonna do it for free!

Please do respect my opinions on what I tell you on my thoughts of your ask because if you don't like then leave

Don't ask for a face reveal it's uncomfortable...same for the age I don't feel comfortable with telling

Don't try any dumbass shit and I mean that literally

About Narrator!

She is literally my self persona of me so of course she has adhd and autism and will probably procrastinate some times because that's how I am most likely....Womp womp I know it sounds lazy of me but bare with me here

I do love candy and chocolate! Personality I enjoy red velvet cupcakes because it's just chocolate dyed red lmao

I do some voice acting for Narrator w/ my irl friends and she honestly loves it because N.V aka Narrator void or just Narrator is actually a UK oc although in irl I was born in Louisiana then move to New Boston so Narrator has a British voice so remember that when she answers your questions

Narrator has control over Void and Silly void but she doesn't really bothers because she wants them to enjoy their void lives however they please

Do remember I have other oc's but I don't pay attention to them unless you ask who are they and I'll show you all of them!

Remember if you have any sad or just feeling down DM because I am a very caring person who will listen but if you want I can do my best to comfort you in any way

I do not have discord no more because I've done a lot of unresponsible things and got in trouble twice bc I let somebody "rp" with me and I fell for two different people and now I'm very uncomfortable that I let it happen without realizing it so I will never again plan to reinstall discord very sorry but not really

I'm very mature so I can handle g0r3, d3∆th, b1o0d, s3lf h∆rm, all that weird or crazy shit but I don't really support any of this type of act in irl so don't do it for content just go to a therapist about it now if it's nsfw or something else I can handle it but I still don't support actually doing it because there are kids on some social platforms plus the nsfw thing is just apart of humanity we can't control the internet so remember that

I dislike Gen Alpha kids it's just I personally think they are annoying af and hard to talk to without having to hear them say/text "skipitbi Gaytt rizz" type shit so you will be blocked immediately by me without no hesitation and if you don't understand why is because I'm a Gen Z girl because I was born in the 2000's when growing up so I'm some what brain rotten but not completely so remember that please and thank you!

I have a lot of different types of music I like listening to as in some: silly, random edit audio TikTok songs, Phonk songs, songs that just hit different, meme related songs, jazz/lofi because it helps me sleep at nights, Fnf songs- just a lot to keep up with

What fandoms I like?

I'll gladly tell ya!!

Fundamental paper education school

Poppy play time!

Lmk!

Pressure (roblox)

Doors (roblox)

Block tales (roblox)

Gacha life/ Gacha club

Sky children of the light

Cult of the lamb (just because of that damn black ram they are just too cute don't blame me!!)

Hellva boss and Hazbin hotel

Dandy's world (cuz I keep seeing this shit everywhere and yes I've seen the game play but I didn't play it myself so stfu!)

Phighting (yes I'm very much aware of this game on roblox and yes I gave it a try with my friend it was fun and I like it wish my computer didn't crash on it womp womp!)

Cookie run kingdom

Regretevator

Friday night funky

Five nights at Freddy

More coming soon if I fine fandoms I like any time soon

Who I am close with?

@unknownartistsmf

-> @out-of-nowhere231 <-

((she doesn't post much but I suggest you look her up...she doesn't have any asked questions also the same do and don't do apply to her as well))

@sam-the-tomboy

That's who I fully trust online sorry @babyevenfromgovacation but idk 'bout you nothing personal just don't fully trust you is all...

Thank you for reading all this! I had to rethink about everything but I do still love ya'll even though I don't know ya'll but stay cool!

Side note: I don't give a fuck how old you are just be honest with me and if your uncomfortable with it then I understand but still just let me know thank you!

This User loves Halloween!

I don't have TikTok because of the dark truth about it so sorry if ya followed me there and yes I do still have roblox but I suggest you just follow my user that way if I'm online you can join faster with me and my friends

Roblox user: Moaldr1278

[ghostgothgeek]

Pull.

My first for the Phic Phight! 1,685 words.

Danny's been summoned. But not by who you'd expect. In fact, not by an actual person. Prompt by Greyheartwriter.

-----

Danny had been summoned before. Or rather, Phantom has. Usually by Sam, with Tucker occasionally tagging along. Typically when he was grounded. His two best friends always got a kick out of it. Grounded or not, they were going to hang out with their friend, especially when he insisted he should probably stay home “just in case”. He hadn’t gotten caught yet, but there have been a few close calls. Regardless, summoning Phantom was one of the rare moments the trio had to goof off and be regular teenagers. Well, regular enough anyway. 

Danny sat with his elbows on the desk, hands gripping his hair in frustration. Falluca had assigned a large problem set to be done overnight. Like Danny didn’t have anything better to do - rest, catch ghosts, nap, hang with his friends, sleep. At 10:30 pm, he was almost done, he was just stuck on this one problem. He thought about calling Sam and asking for help, but he really wanted to try getting this on his own first. 

He grabbed his pencil and tried writing out the problem for the 400th time when he felt the pull. “Oh no,” Danny muttered and looked around his room before trying extra hard to focus on his math homework and not the pull. It always failed, but he had been trying to train himself to ignore the pull. “Not. Now.” 

Danny put his face closer to his paper and tried to focus, but the pull was getting stronger now. Ugh, why him? Why can’t people summon other ghosts? Well, that could get ugly and dangerous real fast, but come on! He was gonna kill Tucker and Sam. Or maybe…

Maybe his friends were struggling with the same problem as him and they wanted to put all their brain power together. But they could have just called. Regardless, he was still resisting the pull. 

The pull was just a feeling of needing to be physically somewhere else. Or it started out that way, anyway. It was like holding your breath and forcing yourself to not hiccup again. You could try to deal with it absentmindedly, but usually it was all you could focus on until you were satisfied. And that’s where Danny was at now, the pull was beginning to consume all of his thoughts, it was beginning to cloud his brain of anything else. He gripped his desk as he felt another strong pull. Whoever was calling him had done it at least 3 times now. Again, Danny tried to focus on his paper. 

Another pull, and Danny’s vision became cloudy. He felt anxious. He needed to be somewhere. What about math homework? That was supposed to be his top priority, they had a test on Friday. He gently started shaking as he tried to refrain. 

He fell out of his chair at another pull, another call. Fuck it. He couldn’t hold on anymore. 

He sighed, took a deep breath, and focused on the pull. He felt immediate relief as he answered. He felt the familiar feeling of following the call, like riding a waterslide or a rollercoaster in the dark. You had no idea where you were going, you couldn’t see anything in front of you. You didn’t know how long the ride would last and you had zero control. You were just being forced in a different direction, sometimes feeling the whiplash of the unexpected. 

He could feel his core becoming colder. He felt his transformation into Phantom, and soon enough, the blackness was beginning to fade, and he tried to gather his surroundings. “Sam, Tucker, if it’s you I swear I’m gonna-” 

Oh, OH. This was new. Danny didn’t even know that this was possible. He guessed it made sense though. Maybe Ouija boards were like cell phones in the Ghost Zone. Ghosts had to get a hold of each other somehow. 

He turned his body as he slowly looked around. He didn’t know this part of the Ghost Zone. He didn’t even see any ghosts around. He started to panic. He didn’t know where he was, or who called him, or if anyone even actually called him at all. Was this some new stupid ghost power he had to learn to controll again? He just figured out how to keep his pants from falling down when he tried to flirt with girls. Not important right now, he reminded himself. He formed a small ectoball of energy in his hand, preparing himself for any attack. 

But no attack came. Instead, he just felt a little nudge at his feet. Looking down, he sighed and dropped his ectoball. “Really?” He glanced down at his caller. “First of all, how did you even learn to do that?!” 

Headbutting his ankle was the small green fluffball nicknamed Cujo, in his puppy form. To answer Danny’s question, he used his nose to nudge the planchette on the board, moving it around until Danny began to feel the pull again, though this time the pull wasn’t as strong because he was already in his destination. 

Danny chuckled and scratched the pup’s ear. “What’s up buddy? I gotta finish my homework.” 

Cujo barked and wagged his tail ferociously, sticking his butt up towards the air as he bounced around. Eventually, the dog dragged his squeaky toy towards the halfa and barked again. 

“I can’t play! I have to finish my homework so I can try to get a few hours of sleep in a row tonight. Sorry dude, but no.” 

The puppy’s excitement level deteriorated quickly. He let out a little whine, and gave Danny his best puppy dog eyes. Danny sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. Cujo was adamant on playing, that much was clear. He called him 6 times already, what was going to stop the pooch from doing it again until he got what he wanted? Maybe just for a few minutes…

Cujo’s tail began wagging again as he could see Danny caving in. “Alright, alright. I needed a break anyways.” He formed another ectoball and threw it as hard as he could. “Go long, Cuj!” He smiled as the pup darted after the ball at lightning speed and stretched his muscles for the few seconds it took for Cujo to return with the ball. The pup barked excitedly. 

Danny smiled, he always wanted a dog anyway. He threw the ball for Cujo for another few minutes, before playing tug of war and teasing the dog with the squeaky toy. “Who’s a good boy?” Danny said in a voice only reserved for Cujo and other animals (except for Sam’s pet snake...he couldn’t use his little baby voice on that thing, it was too weird). He rubbed the dog’s belly, laughing when Cujo’s back leg would twitch in response to the belly rubs. 

The phantom yawned as he laid down on the ground next to the pup, using one hand to prop his head up and the other to scratch Cujo’s chin. “I’ll admit, you are making me feel more relaxed.” 

Soon enough, Danny was snoozing with the little puppy curled up into his side, snoring softly. Though, the moment of peace didn’t last more than 15 minutes as Danny woke up to the feeling of being pulled again. He groaned, gave Cujo a little kiss on his head, and answered the new call. 

Sure enough, he was in the middle of Sam’s room, falling to her rug as he was still too drowsy to make a better landing. He heard Tucker’s laugh and jolted up, shaking the remaining grogginess out of his head. Danny groaned, “what?!” 

“Look who woke up on the wrong side of the...rug…” Tucker tried. Danny could feel Sam rolling her eyes as she offered him a hand so he could stand up. 

Danny couldn’t help but let out a low growl, “Tucker…” 

“We’ve been trying to call you for 25 minutes already! Guess you didn’t have your phone on you. Thank the goddesses for Ouija boards,” Sam stated as she straightened out her skirt. 

“Why? What’s wrong? Is there a ghost?” Danny examined her room, making a face at the snake that he swore was glaring at him. 

“School starts in 4 minutes, dude,” Tucker explained as he grabbed his backpack. 

“You gotta fly us to your house to get your stuff then fly us to school, and maybe we won’t get detention this time,” Sam put her backpack on as well. 

“Ah, fuck,” Danny quickly grabbed his friends’ arms and flew as quickly as he could to his room, grabbing his backpack and flying to school. His parents were already in the lab working on stuff, and Danny doubted they even noticed he was missing and almost late for school. A bomb could go off in the town and they would be so immersed in their work that they wouldn’t hear it. His overattentive sister, on the other hand, had apparently been trying to get a hold of him for an hour now, only stopping when Sam texted Jazz that they had Danny with them. 

The trio landed in the bush as the first warning bell rang. Danny transformed and they ran into the school together, making it to their homeroom late, but for once luck was on their side as the teacher wasn’t paying attention...her car alarm mysteriously went off. 

Danny pulled out his notebook and realized he still had to finish that math problem. Shit. 

He turned as Sam tapped his shoulder, handing him her homework. He smiled gratefully. 

“Don’t worry, Tucker had to copy mine too. That problem took me 5 hours to solve. You both owe me.” 

Danny sighed in relief and nodded. He had 10 minutes to copy this down, and it was two pages long. It should be a crime to assign problems that long. He pulled out his pencil and started scribbling down the solution when he felt it. 

Another pull. Damn that dog. No, he loved Cujo. Damn that Ouija board. “Remind me to find Cujo a puppy friend,” the halfa muttered to his friends.

[ecto-american]

Liar Liar

Phic Phight Oneshot for Ectopal: After an argument with her now grounded son, Maddie wishes that Danny wouldn't lie to her-and Desiree overhears. [TransDanny]

The OG prompt: After an argument with her now grounded son, Maddie wishes that Danny wouldn't lie to her-and Desiree overhears.

Potential TW for trans-related venting and implied violence, but there’s nothing graphic

on FFN and AO3

The front door opened, and Maddie frowned as she glanced at the clock that informed her that yes. It was definitely hours past his curfew.

No lights turned on, but she still could tell from the faint light of the one kitchen light, the light that the family just never turned off so that they could see at night, that it was definitely her son doing his best to remain quiet. And now that she knew he was safe, all of her fears about if he was okay and his safety melted away and allowed for anger to start boiling.

"Daniel James Fenton," she finally called out. The figure froze, and she flipped the light switch on. Before her was her son, looking as guilty as ever. One hand was on the wall, guiding him as he approached the stairs, the other holding onto his binder and shoes. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"...Um...Can I plead the fifth?" he asked weakly. Her frown deepened.

"It's nearly two in the morning, and on a school night!" she scolded. "Let's not even talk about how you snuck out right now." His shoulders slumped. "You could have been dead for all I know!"

"I'm sorry," he replied quietly.

"Where were you?" Maddie asked.

"I was at Tucker's, we got caught up playing video games," he said. Maddie scowled.

"Tell me the truth," she said. Danny scowled back.

"I am!" he insisted.

"Then how come Pamela called me?" Maddie asked. At the name of Mrs. Manson, Danny paled.

"...She called you?" his voice croaked out.

"You bet she called me," Maddie snapped. "What were you thinking?"

"I wi-I just!" Danny cut himself off as he seemed to struggle to find his words. "I'm just wanting more freedom! I'm an adult now! I can legally buy cigarettes!" Maddie couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Well I wish you wouldn't lie to me!" Maddie argued back. Danny flinched at her words. "And maybe if you didn't, I'd let you have more freedom! But you lied about going to your room, you lied to me just now about where you were, and I already know that you're going to lie to me when I ask you what you and Sam have been doing!"

"We weren't doing anything!" Danny half-yelled back. "We fell asleep binge watching one of her true crime shows!"

"Don't lie to me!" Maddie told him.

"I'm not!"

Maddie made an angry grumbling noise, crossing her arms.

"You're ground, all weekend," she informed him. Danny didn't respond; he simply made a face at her. He brushed past her to angrily stomp up the stairs. She didn't bother snapping at him over that too.

"So you have wished it, so shall it be."

Maddie turned around rapidly at the voice. It wasn't Danny's...and Jazz was miles away at college…But what she did hear was Danny slamming his bedroom door shut. She'd get onto him about that in the morning.

A quick inspection, and she found nothing, and she decided to just call it a night. She went upstairs herself, pausing at Danny's door to listen. She could hear Danny shuffle around for a moment, though after a moment, she saw his light go out and heard his bed creak as he rested on it. She just knew he was going to fall asleep in class tomorrow. Maddie sighed, and she went into her room.

Jack was just coming from the bathroom with a light yawn, and she felt guilty.

"Did we wake you up?" she wondered. Jack gave her a small smile and shrugged.

"It's okay," he assured her. Maddie huffed.

"No, it's not," she insisted. "He should have been home. He was over at Sam's house until about ten minutes ago. Pam called to complain about it."

"Ah, he's just doing what teenagers do," Jack replied. Maddie frowned as she got into bed.

"Well that mentality is how we end up grandparents way too early," she reminded him. Jack gave a light sigh as he also slipped back into bed.

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed. "I'll talk to him about it soon."

"Thank you. He's pretty mad at me right now," Maddie turned her bedside lamp off. Jack chuckled.

"He'll probably be mad for a bit, but he'll get over it," he reassured her. He switched his own bedside lamp off as he got settled back in. "Night, love you."

"Love you too."

-----------------

Despite the late night, Maddie was up early. She could hear that Danny was already up and getting ready in the bathroom, so she didn't feel the need to say anything to him just yet. They could reserve any conversation for after school.

By the time she came downstairs, Danny was in the kitchen staring at the toaster, backpack on the kitchen table.

"Morning, sweetie," she greeted him warmly.

He gave her a somewhat dirty look, and he mumbled a cranky and short "morning" in response. She opted to ignore his attitude for now, and she went over to the coffee maker. While she was waiting for Danny, she had gone ahead and scheduled the coffee maker to start making coffee, and man was she glad. It was already pouring, and it smelled great.

"Danny, do you want a cup of coffee?" she asked him. He glanced over, and he shook his head no.

"Mm no thanks," he replied.

"Did you sleep okay?"

"I slept like shit."

Maddie glanced at Danny in surprise, and he stared back at her, equally as confused. Danny never cussed at her.

"Cause you stayed out all night, huh?" Maddie lightly accused, leaning her hand on the counter.

"No, cause I slept with my binder on and now my chest hurts," he snapped back. Maddie frowned.

"You're not supposed to do that," she told him.

"Well maybe if I wasn't fucking born like this-," he began but cut himself off. He looked so confused, and Maddie was too. Not at the statement. She had no doubt that it was true, but where did all this cussing come from? He knew better than to talk to her like that, and it was so...weird. Danny glanced back to the toaster, clearing his throat. "Sorry, I...I uh…" Two pop tarts popped out of the toaster, and he quickly snatched them up. "I gotta go. Bye."

"...Have a good day," Maddie called after him, staring as he quickly walked out, and she heard the front door close. She made her cup of coffee, and she got to work.

-----------------

She jumped as their ghost alarm went off, but Jack and Maddie wasted no time quickly collecting their things and rushing out the door and into the RV. It led them right to the scene. A fight against Amity Park's most popular ghost and another fairly familiar ghost, a green skinned woman with flowing black hair dressed exclusively in blue.

Maddie messily pulled into a parking spot off the side of the road, and Jack immediately hopped out. Maddie followed suit, and she hurried towards the action.

"Stop granting every damn wish you hear! I swear, it's ridiculous!" she could hear Phantom yell.

"I'm merely giving people what they ask for," the woman, Desiree Maddie believed she was called, replied smugly.

Phantom looked like he was gonna say something more, but stopped when he seemed to glance over and notice their arrival.

"Let's just finish this," he said instead, and he blasted her, only to miss. The woman smirked, but it was quickly cut off by a secondary blast from Jack.

"Jack!" Maddie gasped in excitement. "Excellent shot!" Jack grinned proudly, firing another. Only to miss, as sorta expected.

"I do not have time for this!" Phantom scowled. Maddie rolled her eyes. What the hell does a ghost have going on? He pulled out the Fenton Thermos and sucked the other ghost in.

"You ever going to return that?" Maddie called out sarcastically.

"It's my thermos! You gave it to me!" Phantom called back, immediately giving her a weird blank look. Maddie narrowed her eyes.

"We didn't give you anything," she replied. She held her hand out expectantly. "Give it back."

Phantom opened his mouth to rebuttal, only to get blasted. It knocked him back and made him drop the thermos. Maddie dove for it as Jack fired more shots, and she was thankfully able to grab it before it hit the ground. However when she looked up, Phantom was gone.

"Mads! Did you see that!?" Jack asked. She looked up at him with a proud smile as he jogged over to her.

"I did!" she replied cheerfully. "You've gotten a lot better!" Jack puffed up proudly. "Where did Phantom go?"

"Dunno," he admitted, and his shoulders immediately fell a bit. "After I got him, he flew off. Musta been scared." He offered his hand out to her, and she accepted it.

"Probably," she agreed. She held the thermos up. "Least we got this back though." Jack nodded. "We'll put her back in the Zone later. Let's get some lunch."

-----------------

Maddie made a point to make sure she was upstairs so that she could make sure Danny came home on time, given his grounding situation. While she waited, she began to make some cupcakes. As she was mixing batter, she heard the front door open and close.

"Hey Danny," she greeted from the kitchen. She glanced at the clock. He was ten minutes later than he normally would have come home, but it wasn't enough for her to say anything.

"...Hey mom," came the reply. He stepped into the kitchen, and Maddie glanced at him, only to do a double take. His right cheek was badly swollen from a bad bruise. Maddie immediately wiped her hands on a dish towel, staring at him.

"What happened?" she asked, stepping towards him. He stared at her in confusion before putting his hand to his face. He pressed his lips tightly together and didn't answer. She asked once more, more firmly. "Danny, what happened?"

He opened his mouth to say something, only to choke on nothing and close his mouth again. Maddie went to the freezer to get an ice pack. She motioned for him to sit down. He sat at the kitchen table, and she pulled a chair up to him. She pressed the ice pack to his face, and he took it from her, leaning his elbow on the table.

"I'll only ask you one more time," she began, only for Danny to angrily cut her off.

"I got beat up today, okay?" he replied, sounding exasperated. Maddie blinked.

"By who?" she asked. Danny gave her a sour look, and he refused to speak. "Danny…"

"I don't wanna talk about it," he finally spoke. He began to stand up. "Look, I'm fine. It's not a big deal."

"It's a huge deal!" Maddie argued. She grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to sit back down. "You're going to tell me what's going on right now. Who hurt you?"

"Just some dudes at school," he tried to keep his answers short. But Maddie was having none of that.

"But why?" she pressed. Danny stayed quiet. "Daniel James-"

"What do you want me to say, Mom?" he snapped. "That I constantly get my ass kicked for being queer? That every day I get reminded that they think I'm some freak that shouldn't be allowed to exist? Let alone in any kind of relative peace? People don't like me. Why do you think I want to get my name changed as soon as possible? Why I've been begging for surgery as a birthday gift? It's so that when I go to college, nobody will know."

"...I had no idea," she said slowly.

"Yeah, I know," he said shortly. He got up, managing to evade her touch again to go for the stairs. Before she could say anything else, he was upstairs, and she could hear his door closing.

What had gotten into him? Maddie had never heard Danny talk about any of those things to her before. How long had these feelings been going on? Why had he never talked to her before about this?

She forced herself to stand and return to her baking. Mindlessly, she began to fill her cupcake tray up with batter, slipping them into the oven when she heard noise in the basement. She frowned, quickly setting her timer before going down.

Phantom was there, looking through her stuff. Snooping around. He was carefully looking around, muttering to himself as he hunted for...something.

"Can I help you, Phantom?"

The ghost jumped, turning on his heel.

"I'm looking for the wishing ghost so I can undo a wish," he replied. She raised an eyebrow at his blunt honesty.

"What wish?" She asked. Phantom scowled, narrowing his eyes as he seemed to think hard.

"That's private," he replied. She glared back at him, but then it hit her.

"Well I wish you wouldn't lie to me!"

Her son couldn't lie to her. Because of the wishing ghost still trapped in the thermos. She hadn't had a chance to empty the thermoses of ghosts she had Jack had caught over the past two weeks.

"I suggest you leave through that portal then before I blast you through it," she said. "The wishing ghost is staying here with me." Phantom narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her.

"Not without that wishing ghost," he replied. Maddie picked a blaster off the table near her, pointing it at him. He held his hands up defensively. "Whoa, take it easy. Why do you want Desiree so bad? Don't you normally throw the ghosts back into the Ghost Zone anyway?"

"I do, and let's start with you," she replied. She pulled the trigger. It hit Phantom square in the chest, pushing him into the open portal. She quickly stormed up, slamming the closed button.

-----------------

It was hours before Danny finally came down from upstairs. She knew that he had stayed upstairs, for once, instead of sneaking out again, from occasional footsteps and the sound of him talking on the phone. Maddie had actually just gotten off the phone with him, having called him to ask what he wanted from their favorite Chinese restaurant before she sent Jack out to pick it up. Soon as Jack was out the door, Danny came out of his room and downstairs. She gave him smile as he came into the living room.

"Hey sweetie, dad will b-"

"I know about the wish."

Maddie instantly felt guilt wash over her as Danny stared at her with a frown, arms crossed. She stayed where she sat on the couch.

"What makes you say that?" she questioned. Danny's lips tightened, and she knew that he wasn't going to answer her. "Danny-"

"And I know that you know about it!" he accused. "I've been through this kind of thing before! Why haven't you undone the wish yet?"

"Because you don't need to be lying to me!" Maddie finally snapped back as she got to her feet. "For once, I'm getting honest answers from you after almost three years of constant lie after lie!"

"And you're okay with this being how you get those answers?" Danny talked back. His fists balled up, though they stayed by his sides. "Instead of making me feel okay and comfortable telling you these things? Or wait for me to be ready to say something?"

Ouch. Maddie flinched, and she just knew that had Jazz been here...she'd be absolutely agreeing with Danny. And she knew in her gut that Danny was right. Maddie's shoulder slumped.

"I know," she said quietly. Danny looked completely taken aback. "...But why haven't you said anything? You know your dad and I love you so much. I had no idea you've been in this much pain."

Danny stared at the ground, shifting to lean against the doorway.

"...I didn't want you guys to feel like you were bad parents," he replied. "Because you're not. It's not your fault everybody else sucks, or that I have to wait for surgery or to get my name changed and everything. And you can't fix it. It's just how it is."

"Dad and I would have started fighting harder for you had we known," Maddie said softly. "All we ever want is for you and Jazz to be happy and healthy."

"Yeah, I know," Danny half-grumbled. "It's just...It's just how it is. And I can't even tell the therapist that, cause she keeps pushing back everything if I hint at being depressed about it."

"If that's the case, we can find a new therapist," Maddie replied. "One that'll take you more seriously." Danny shook his head.

"No, it's okay. I'll be done with school this year, and I'll be seeing a new one anyway when I go to college," he said. Maddie frowned.

"But still-"

"Mom, it's fine," he interrupted. He smiled. "Seriously." She sighed. "Please, just. Undo the wish."

"...Okay," she finally agreed. She began to walk towards the basement, only to pause, turning to him. "But first." Danny raised an eyebrow at her. "What were you and Sam doing up so late?" Danny gave her a sour look, rolling his eyes.

"...Sam's been having a hard time lately. Lots of girls at school bully her for the same reason as me, and it's just been hitting her super hard lately," he explained. "I was up late with her cause she was crying so much, and we fell asleep while I was holding her to make her feel better."

Maddie's heart twisted a bit. She truly wish she had known. And she already made a mental note to march into Casper High first thing Monday morning after having a long phone call with Pam that night. A call to Vlad too, to get in touch to see if he'd help hire a lawyer. She had absolute hell to raise, and a school she was ready to sue.

"But seriously," Danny's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "I'll eventually come and tell you these things when I'm ready. Don't rely on dumb ghost wishes."

"Yeah, I know," Maddie replied somberly. "I'm sorry, Danny." She took a few steps towards him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. After a moment, she felt him return the hug. She let go, cupping his cheeks and making him lean down a bit so she could kiss his forehead. "I just worry about you. I want you to feel like you can always come to me. You're my baby boy."

"I know, Mom," he smiled. "And I will when I need you, but I'm not a little kid. I can handle a lot of things on my own."

"Yeah, but you're still my baby," Maddie sighed. Hell, he and Jazz were both taller than her by now. They definitely got that from Jack. Or in Danny's case, he got nearly everything from him. Almost a mirror image the older he got. Danny's cheeks flushed a bit.

"Mo-om."

Maddie chuckled.

"Come on, let's go undo the wish. I have the wishing ghost still in the basement," she said. She paused. "But once we undo the wish, will you honestly tell me how you knew?"

Danny stared at her for a moment, seemingly thinking. And he nodded.

"Yeah. After dinner, just you and me," he promised. "I'll tell you the whole story. Start to finish."

[kinglazrus]

Therefore I am

Phic phight 2020

Submitted by @kili-kai-wox (kilikani on ffn): Danny is surprised when he receives an A+. I wonder what subject it could be from?

Summary: There are two things Danny never expected to get out of his philosophy class: an A+ and to be confronted about his never-ending existential crisis

Warnings: discussion of/thoughts about death and the meaning of death.

Word count: 2971

Today is a grim day for Danny Fenton. It just might be the end of him. He's backed into a corner, enemies approached from all sides. His allies have abandoned him. Friends, family, all gone. He's on his own out here and it doesn't look like he's going to make it. Rations are getting low.

Jazz slaps her hand against her forehead and groans. "Don't be so dramatic!"

Danny, pinned against the lockers by his friends and sisters, howls in outrage. "I'm almost out of gummy bears!" He shoves the near empty plastic bag in Jazz's face, shaking it furiously. "And look! It's mostly just the white ones! I might as well starve."

"Ooh, I love the white ones!" Tucker snatches the bag out of Danny's hand. Fishing a few gummies out, he pops them into his mouth and chews, a blissful smile on his lips.

Danny moans. "My rations."

Sam rolls her eyes.

Danny was on his way to the cafeteria for lunch when they cornered him. They came out of nowhere, surging out from the crowd of shuffling students, surrounding him before he could realize what was happening.

With Jazz in front of him, Sam to his left, and Tucker to his right, they block off all routes of escape. Except the ghostly ones, but too many students are milling about for him to safely use his powers.

Danny doesn't like the look in their eyes. Sam's eager glint, Tucker's grin, Jazz's stern frown. They all set him on edge.

"Can I just please go to lunch?" he begs. Thanks to Skulker, Danny didn't have time to eat breakfast this morning, except a handful of cereal. The only thing he wants right now is to go get some food, even if it's the crappy cardboard pizza they serve in the cafeteria. He needs sustenance damn it!

Tucker stealing his gummy bears is the deepest betrayal he could get right now.

"No," Jazz and Sam say at the same time.

Tucker stealing his gummy bears is the second deepest betrayal.

"Come on, man," Tucker says around a mouthful of gummies. "Just spill it."

"It wasn't my fault," Danny whines, wilting against the lockers. Jazz's frown deepens, turning from disappointment into a full-blown pout. Left with no other choice, Danny relents. "Fine! But I'm telling you, he was asking for it."

He's about to expose his plans but stops when he catches their confused faces. "What?" he asks.

"Lancer was asking for it?" Sam asks. She leans against the lockers next to Danny, eyebrow raised.

"Lancer?"

"Yeah. Mikey told us what happened in philosophy class. And we told Jazz," Tucker says. "What do you think we're talking about?"

Danny thinks about his parents' new ecto grenade—completely harmless to humans, of course—rigged up in Dash's locker, ready to explode as soon as someone opens the door. "It's not important right now. Philosophy? I got an A, yeah. Awesome, right?"

"And you didn't tell me!" Jazz says, offended.

Oh, Danny thinks. That's why she looked disappointed. He doesn't know how he was supposed to tell her, though, because this is the first time he's seen her all morning.

"Dude, you didn't just get an A," Tucker says.

"Okay, A+."

"Dude."

Sam, exasperated, grabs Danny's shoulders and forcibly turns him toward her. "Mikey told us how Lancer stood up at the front of the class and said your paper was the best he'd ever read in that class."

"Oh." Danny's cheeks burn and he ducks his head. "Yeah. That."

When he turned the paper in last week, he honestly thought he would fail the assignment. The night before it was due, Cujo managed to dig his way out of the Ghost Zone again and immediately wanted to play. Danny was happy to oblige since, for once, he had all his homework done on time and there were no ghosts to take care of that night. The real trouble came when he had to go downstairs for dinner, leaving Cujo in his room with a stern reminder not to leave it.

Miraculously, Cujo obeyed the command. But that meant there was a bored, excitable puppy in Danny's room, alone, for almost an hour, with nothing to play with. His room hadn't been neat when he left it, but it was trashed by the time he came back. His backpack was particularly mangled, and his essay ripped to shreds.

Danny hadn't thought Lancer would accept "a ghost dog ate my homework," as an excuse for not having the assignment done. But he no longer had the library books he used to write the damn thing in the first place. Which meant he had to replace his typed, carefully referenced, well-thought out essay with a rushed, handwritten mess that consisted only of Danny's personal thoughts.

Suffice to say, he wasn't too confident in the new essay. The last thing he expected was to get a passing grade for it, much less actual praise. Danny doesn't get praise, not outside hero work, at least. He gets lots of sighs and disappointed looks. Maybe a stern, "This is proof you can do better," when he pulls a grade higher than a D. But not praise. Never praise.

"It was... something," Danny says. He doesn't usually get embarrassed by attention, although that doesn't necessarily mean he likes it either. But getting called out by Lancer in front of the whole class was an entirely new experience.

Before Lancer started handing out the papers, he had stood at the front of the class and waved the stack in the air.

"I have to say, I'm very impressed by the work some of you did. Very thoughtful," he started. "But there is one paper in particular that I would like to bring up."

Lancer shuffled through the stack, shifting everything around until a bundle of loose leaf ripped from a notebook sat on top. The pages were stapled poorly, and the handwriting was borderline illegible. Danny knew instantly it was his and expected the worst.

"This paper was, perhaps, the most insightful essay I've ever read in all my time teaching this class," Lancer said. He beamed in Danny's direction. "It was speculative, introspective, and intuitive. Written purely from the student's own thoughts on life and death. This is what philosophy is about, and I hope I can see similar work from the rest of you in the future."

Danny sank into his seat as Lancer walked down the aisle, heading right for him, and held his paper out.

"Thanks," Danny muttered, taking his assignment. He couldn't bear to lift his gaze and meet the burning stares of his peers. The worst part, though was when Lancer asked to see Danny at the end of the day.

"Are you gonna go?" Tucker asks.

"I don't know." Danny's grip on his backpack tightens as he thinks about the paper stuffed inside. "I'm not in trouble or anything, and it didn't really sound like I have to go."

"I think you should." Jazz reaches out and ruffles Danny's hair, smiling proudly at him. "You did good, little brother. You're smart, and Lancer knows that. Whatever he wants to talk to about, I'm sure it's good."

Danny grumbles, shoving Jazz's hand away and fixing his hair. He doesn't make it neat, but he messes it up the way he likes it to be messed up. There's a difference.

"I guess. As long as no ghosts interrupt, I'll go," Danny says. Jazz is right—she usually is, much to his chagrin. Whatever Lancer wants, after what he said about Danny's paper, it has to be good. But he still hopes the Box Ghost shows up so that Danny doesn’t have to go.

"Can I have my gummy bears back?" Danny asks, turning to Tucker.

Tucker, cheeks puffed with gummies, looks down at the empty bag. He slowly shakes his head. "I don't think you want them back."

—

Danny hesitates outside Lancer's door. The final bell rang five minutes ago, and most students have already fled the school grounds. The football team is still here, somewhere, because they have practice in half an hour. Everyone else is out front waiting for their buses. Jazz left in the initial crowd. Sam and Tucker offered to hang around and wait for him, but Danny waved them off and told them to go ahead. They have better things to do.

It crosses Danny's mind that he can lie to them. If he skips out and only tells them he talked to Lancer, they will probably accept it and leave it at that. Jazz might probe him a little about it, but if he acts annoyed about it, she'll stop. But he's being ridiculous. There's no real reason why he can't walk through this door right now and get this over with. Jazz is right. It's probably a good thing. But something about it sets Danny on edge.

Sighing heavily, he reaches out and knocks on Lancer's door, standing on his toes to peek through the window.

Lancer, sitting at his desk, grading a pile of new assignments, looks up. He sees Danny and smiles, waving him inside.

Danny pauses for a second, then turns the handle and steps into the room.

"Please, Mr. Fenton, close the door and take a seat," Lancer says.

Danny does as told, closing the door a little too hard, and shuffles over to the desk closest to Lancer's. Swinging his backpack off his shoulder, he sets it down on the floor beside him and slides into the chair.

While Lancer makes a few more notes on the paper in front of him, Danny scans the classroom. Sometimes it feels like he spends half his day in this room. Lancer teaches a surprising number of courses. Danny's almost impressed by the range. Little hints of each course are scattered throughout the room. A poster about calculating surface area by the window, a cartoonish timeline of US history along the top of the wall, aperiodic table taking up most of the back wall.

For philosophy, there's a collage of famous philosophers taped to the front of Lancer's desk. Danny thinks a former student made it, because it's just some images cut out and glued onto a stiff piece of poster board.

Danny stares at each face in the collage, trying to recognize them. Friedrich Nietzsche is the only one he can identify by name. The only reason Danny remembers him in the first place is his wild mustache. Hard to forget something like that.

"Mr. Fenton."

Danny's head snaps up, gaze jumping to Lancer.

"I'd like to congratulate you again for writing such a wonderful paper" Lancer says. "But I had a few questions."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Are you okay, Mr. Fenton?"

Danny blinks. "I­­­– what?"

"In your paper, you spoke a lot about death, dying, and our perceptions of life now that we know there is some form of afterlife. Some of your points were rather... personal."

Danny thinks back over his paper. The moment he realized he had to make the whole thing up, he decided to talk about the one philosophical debate he was personally invested in: the significance of life after death. He mentioned his parents' views on the matter, that ghosts are mindless monsters, but mostly spoke about his own and what questions he had about it. Thanks to his personal experience with dying, he had a lot to talk about.

Lancer reaches for an open notebook sitting on his desk. Lifting it up, he scans the page for a moment, then reads, "'Some people falsely believe ghosts are not, and never were, human, but are instead creatures from another dimension connected to our own. While some ghosts definitely aren't human, I have met countless that were. They remember living and dying, and there is evidence of their human lives left behind. What does this mean for people who are still living? If we can die and nothing changes for us, does dying matter at all?'"

Danny immediately recognizes his own words. Lancer must have written down what Danny said in his essay. It makes him uncomfortable. He doesn’t want his thoughts lying around where anyone can read them. He especially doesn't want Lancer to pick and choose them at random for whatever this conversation is.

"That doesn't really sound personal," Danny mutters.

"No, it doesn't," Lancer agrees. "But the things you go on to say after this point are concerning, to say the least. Which brings me back to my original question. Are you okay?"

Danny's face scrunches as he thinks. So what if he got personal? It's a personal matter. That was the whole point when he wrote it. He doesn't understand what Lancer's getting at.

Lancer sighs and keeps going. "'Lots of people think about what happens after they die. Usually, they're talking about religion and what waits for them on the other side. Personally, I wonder about what happens to everything I leave behind, and what dying would do for me.' Would you like to expand on that?"

Danny leans away. "No?"

"What dying would do for you," Lancer repeats.

"What are you­­– oh." Finally, realization dawns on Danny. He squirms uncomfortably. "I'm not– I don't want to–"

He cuts himself off with a sight. How is he supposed to explain what's going on in his head without giving his secret away? Danny's not okay, but he isn't not okay, either. He's just... dead.

He died, but he lived, and it changed him. And yet, at the same time, nothing changed at all. In the grand scheme of things, Danny died and everything stayed the same. No one noticed, except his friends, who were there and are probably scarred for life.

Besides, Danny lived, in the end. So he's supposed to be fine, right? But he doesn't know how to deal with going through something that traumatic and realizing it didn't matter.

Ghosts look at life differently. They don't regret dying because once you're dead, whatever led up to that point no longer matters. They remember their lives, but they don't care about them. If Danny had died all the way that day, he wouldn't care either. Thinking about that messes him up.

Lancer watches him expectantly. Danny realizes he's been silent for too long, and he has to say something.

"It's complicated."

"We have the time, if you'd like to try," Lancer says.

Danny shakes his head. "I really don't. You don't need to be worried about me, or anything. I don’t want to die or anything. I just..."

My whole life is just one big existential crisis.

"Mr. Fenton." Lancer stands up, pushing away from his desk.

Danny keeps his eyes on the philosophy collage as Lancer approaches. Holding himself perfectly still, he doesn’t look away, even as Lancer crouches next to Danny's desk.

"Okay."

There's nothing special about the word, or the way Lancer says it. He has no clue what's going on in Danny's mind right now, but he's looking at Danny with warm eyes, offering him a comforting smile, and Danny actually feels like he could be okay.

"For whatever it's worth, Mr. Fenton, I don't think my days would be the same without you. But I understand."

He really doesn't, but Danny appreciates the effort.

"If this isn't something you'd like to talk about with me, I won't push it. Perhaps I could have approached you more delicately about the matter." Lancer pats Danny's shoulder. "I hope you will talk to someone, if you need it. And don't let this stop you from pursuing your interest in philosophy."

Danny doesn't have the heart tell Lancer he only took the class because he thought it would be easy.

"You have a knack for it."

"Um, thank you," Danny says.

Lancer pats him again, then stands. "Don't let me keep you. I'm sure, as you students would say, you have to get vibing."

Danny grimaces. "We really wouldn't."

Dismissed, he gathers up his backpack and practically sprints to the door, yanking it open. Halfway out, he pauses, looking back over his shoulder. Lancer is back at his desk already, resuming his grading.

"Thanks, Mr. Lancer," Danny says. "You're not really 'hip', but... you are kind of cool."

He runs out of the room before Lancer can respond. Lips pressed in a firm line, he contemplates whether today was good or bad after all. A+ on his essay? Good. Getting praised in front of the class? It sounded good, but it felt bad and it was awkward as hell. Tucker eating all his gummy bears? Definitely bad.

The talk he just had with Lancer? Debatable.

Danny rounds the corner, heading for the front doors, and almost barrels right into Dash. He swerves at the last second—thank you reflexes—and skitters out of Dash's way.

"Watch it, Fenfreak," Dash says.

Danny rolls his eyes. "You get more creative every day, Dash. Why are you even still here?"

"Practice tonight, duh," Dash says.

Right. Danny gives Dash a critical look. "Going to your locker?" he asks.

"My stuff's already in the gym, dweeb. Why do you care?"

"I just thought I saw Paulina put some in there early. Could have been a love letter or something." Danny shrugs.

An eager gleam enters Dash's eye. Danny almost feels sorry for the poor guy. He's probably the only person who can't tell Paulina is hopelessly in love with Star. Why else would Paulina say she can't date any boys because she's saving herself for the ghost boy? Seriously.

Dash runs for his locker, yanking it open. As a resounding bang echoes down the hall and green go splatters all over the walls, floor, ceiling, and Dash, Danny finally makes up his mind. Today is a very good day.

[phandomphightclub]

Round 5 Match 2: @ecto-american vs. @half-dead-half-wit

Writer: @dannyphandump

“If you’re that worried about it, you could always throw the match,” Vic said as Nick paced in front of her.

“Nope.  Can’t do it.  I made it this far, I go big or go home on my own terms.”  Nick shuddered and took a bite out of his emotional support hot pocket.  “Besides, Ninja’s good. He’s totally gonna kick my butt either way.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”  Tali smirked, lounging against the wall in the pit.

“Who are you supposed to be, Clockwork?”  Nick scowled.

“Nah.  Clockwork’s way less helpful.  But he is excited to be here, so go out there an put on a good show.”  Tali grinned and flashed him a thumbs-up.

“All my hard announcing work, and this is how you repay me?  ...Am I even getting paid?  Have I been enduring Aurora’s vibe checks without even being compensated??”

“Bold of you to assume any of us get compensated.”  Vic snorted.

“Ha ha ha ANYWAY,” Tali cleared their throat before shoving Nick towards the door, which led out into the ring.  “Don’t re-die! Or do!!  Good luck!!!”

“Wow.  Three exclamation points.”  Vic nodded somberly.  “He’s a goner.”

“Maybe.  Maybe not.”  Tali shrugged cryptically before Vic teleported them both back to the VIP box, where Clockwork was sharing a bowl of popcorn with the three (mostly-)living teenagers.

“We sell regular popcorn?”  Tali blinked. “Huh.  Learn new things every day.  Anyway!”

They dooted the kazoo.

“Stepping into the ring is Ninja (half-dead-half-wit) and Nick (ecto-american)!  I would give them better introductions but you know who they are, also I procrastinated and I only have 15 minutes left to write this, so!  PHIGHT!”

“Hope you’re ready to be left out to dry!”  Ninja said, pulling the Fenton Wash&Dry out from… well, Tali didn’t really know where.

“Didn’t he use that last round?”  Danny asked.

“There’s no rule that the phighters can’t use the Fenton gear twice.”  Tali shrugged.  “But will it be enough??”

“Two question marks.”  Vic nodded, prompting Danny to raise an eyebrow.

“Too much dialogue tags!  Shut up and let me announce!”

Vic rolled her eyes.

“ANYWAY— Ninja’s loading the Wash&Dry with Fenton Pods now, oh man, that’s— one, two, three— twenty-seven Fenton Pods, that’s gonna be a lot of bubbles— but oh, it looks like Nick’s got a trick up his sleeve too!”

Nick snuck behind Ninja under the cover of his cloud of darkness.  While Ninja was almost ready to explode the Wash&Dry with the unholy power of Too Much Detergent, Nick added the special ingredient chemical X: FANFIC REVIEWER TEARS.

“Oh no,” Vic said.  “This won’t end well.”

“It doesn’t.”  Clockwork smiled and ate another handful of popcorn.

The Wash&Dry still exploded.  It exploded a lot.  Much explode.  Very water.  Much tears. All over Ninja.

Unfortunately for him, that explosion just happened to be of the emotional variety.

Tears shed over angst and hurt bubbled up with the sheer crack energy of the Fenton Pods.  The end result was a mixture that fried all of Ninja’s emotions, leaving him face-down on the pavement.

“That… was not what I was expecting,” Danny said.  Nick seemed to be thinking the same thing.

“That actually worked??”

“Two question marks,” Vic said again.  “You really need to chill, Tali.”

“SHUT UP, IVE GOT LIKE FIVE MINUTES.”

They played The Final Coutdown on the kazoo as horror dawned on Nick’s face.

“Half-dead-half-wit is unable to battle!  Ecto-american wins! Which means he will be facing Aurora in the Phinal!”

“As I knew.”  Clockwork grinned.

Nick shuddered, already hearing Aurora calling for another Vibe Check.

[phantomphangphucker]

Gray's A Ghosties Host - Phic Phight

Prompt Creator: @latterdaysaintvampire​ Prompt: During a high-stakes chase, Danny’s parents’ newest invention has shorted out all his powers, except one - possession. Summary: What to do when the boy who possesses your heart is literally possessing your heart?

No warnings Italics means thinking that the other can hear

“What are you doing, Phantom?”, The Red Huntress watches Danny Phantom carefully as he falls out of the sky onto her board. “Uh, not a whole lot of time to explain but you see that”, Phantom points aggressively to the faintly glowing red centipede as he continues, “yeah needs to be stopped and my shit ain’t working, so could I jack your body for a bit?”. Red opens her helmet to gape at him, to which he just sighs, while the centipede draws closer, “over-shadowing, get with the program. All my other powers are fried”. Red throws her hands out to the side, “why the hell would I! I could beat it with my own body better than you could!”. Phantom groans and flails a bit as Red swerves to avoid the centipede, “because you don’t know how to beat the thing and I don’t have time to explain!”. Red glares at him and he makes a pouty face at her, Red facepalming, “fine! But don’t turn off my consciousness or whatever!”. Phantom groans again but nods, quickly slipping inside.

“You know that unconscious shit happens naturally, pretty damn hard to force it not to”

“I don’t care, my body not yours”

“Yeah yeah, now how do I use your goo blaster thing?”

“Right elbow, twitch like you or I or whatever, have an inch”

“Well that’s vague”

Phantom can feel Red mentally glare at him but he just rolls her eyes. Shooting her board forwards and maneuvering it with ease, as he chases after the centipede; which has unfortunately gotten pretty far away by now.

“Phantom, how do you know how to use my board?”

“Uh, I’ve done it before. That and it’s pretty straight forward”

“What! When?! And bullshit I took days of practice to maneuver it this well”

Phantom quickly jerks to the right as the centipede tries to smash his tail into them.

“When I got us out of the zone, when Skulker abducted us. I got you home my way, which yes, meant over-shadowing”

“You ass! But fine, good enough reason”

“And Red, your board is way easier than my tail and that’s attached to me”

Phantom manages to use her blaster after a few tries which he can feel her snickering about. Shooting off the goo to melt away some scales on the mid-back of the centipede. Ducking low on the board he flies them in. Phantom’s kind of glad for the full body suit right about now, since this thing is dripping ectoplasm all over them. Red pipes up again as Phantom is flying them through twists and turns of what’s basically a giant maze, all lined with what’s basically egg sacs.

“Okay this is disgusting, you are helping me get this off my suit”

“It’ll be a lot worse if those sacs burst, which will happen if I, or I guess we, don’t find the right one in about 30 seconds”

“Well you fucking better, driver”

Phantom mutters out loud, “that’s what I’m trying to do”. Flying past one of the offshoot hallways Phantom jerks to a stop, flies backwards and speeds down the hall. Smirking the whole time, “found you”.

“Care to explain why I couldn’t just play scavenger hunt myself?”

“One, I could sense about where it is. And two you can’t just shoot it, that’ll make everything way worse”

Phantom feels quite satisfied with himself at Red mentally grumbling to herself. Phantom starts rubbing Reds hands on the sac and a bunch of lights show up in it. He starts tapping the lights wildly in a specific pattern, that he forced himself to memorise after one too many unpleasant encounters with this thing.

“How many times have you had to do this?”

Phantom completely ignores her, which she mentally glares at him for. But watching the sac turn green and liquify, Phantom grins, “Hell yeah!”.

“More times than I like and here comes the unpleasant part”

“Um what?”

After about a second or two the entire ghost just liquifies into very wet jello like green ectoplasm. Half climbing and half swimming, Phantom gets them to the surface and sits them down on Red’s board, shaking the ectoplasm off her hands.

“This is disgusting, again you’re helping me clean my suit”

“Try doing that without a helmet. Shit gets into everything. And yeah sure, I’m not an ass”

“Well, could you get out of me now?”

Talking out loud, “yeah yeah, sure”. But before he has a chance Red’s suit electrocutes him and results in him knocking Red out cold, accidentally. “What the fuck!”, shaking her head he tries to actually hop out of her but nothing happens. “Oh fuck”, mentally poking Red back into consciousness.

“What the hell Phantom!”

“Your suit shocked me, or us, lost my grip on the not knocking you out thing”

“Fine”

Phantom shifts a bit awkwardly on her board.

“There’s uh, a bit of a problem though. I can’t seem to get out now”

“What! Did you even try?”

“Of course I tried! I’m not an asshole and no offence but I like my own body. Preferably not inside someone else’s, even if it’s you”

“Uh, you’re not half bad yourself but seriously, you can’t get out?”

Phantom nods her head but tries again anyways, this time Red can actually feel him trying to get out but both can tell that somehow the suit is stopping him. Frowning, Phantom flies them into an alleyway.

“Okay that’s weird, it would be really dumb for my suit to have a feature like this. I’m guessing we’re in an alley so you can deactivate my suit?”

“Yup, not about to reveal you in broad daylight”

“I don’t even know how I feel about that, you’ve revealed me before”

“Only to your own dad. To stop you from a damn suicide mission”

Phantom shakes her head and deactivates the suit, or at least attempts to. Talking out loud, “uh, unless this works differently from last time, we’ve got another problem”.

“Oh come on! I bet you anything that weird ectoplasm is at fault here”

Sighing, “yeah probably, I swear I had no clue though”

“I believe you, this doesn’t really benefit either of us”

With a groan, Phantom summons Red’s board out again and flies them both to her place. Landing in her bedroom,

“I’m guessing you have suit repair stuff”

“Yeah, though my suit’s self-repairing, usually. Just grab the diagnostic machine from my closet. It looks like a PDA but red and pointy”

Phantom chuckles as he pulls it out, looking exactly like what she described. Thinking to himself about how Tuck would love to get his hands on this. Flopping down on her bed,

“Now open up the panel on the underside of my left arm and plug it in. It’s just a push and pop, I’m sure you can do that”

“What do you take me for, a moron? Well, you’re absolutely right”

“You’re awful”

Phantom leans them back on her bed as he waits for the machines results. He can’t help but smirk at a couple of the glow-in-the-dark stars on the roof.  

“You know, I can fell what you’re doing with my face. What? My stars not to your liking?”

Phantom can feel the sarcasm there and chuckles almost loudly at that.

“Red, my ceilings covered in them. Hell, I’d stick these fake ones on everything if that wouldn’t make me look insane”

“My knowledge on lairs is pretty small, Phantom. Couldn’t you just make literal stars everywhere?”

Phantom laughs again as the machine starts beeping, grabbing it as he responds to Red.

“Pretty sure Amity Park would have problems with me doing that. Might make it hard to drive or live with literal balls of flaming gas everywhere! Even fake ones would make things difficult, for everyone involved”

“Wait, all of Amity is your lair?!”

Phantom nods as he stares at the screen, “Uh, the hell does any of this mean?”. Rubbing Red’s neck, “and yes all of Amity is my lair, though I have my own little room inside Amity as well”.

“That’s major contamination, need a system flush. We’re stuck for a bit and seriously? Why is there such a ghost issue then? Shouldn’t you be able to keep them out or whatever? And you better not be messing with people”

Phantom can feel her glare, though he can tell she’s more curious than genuinely angry.

“You can’t just keep ghosts out, all you can do is make your lair a place they really don’t want to go. Tons of humans is pretty well attracting them, looking to mess around with them. Amity would be a very unpleasant place for anyone but me to live, if I went out of my way to make Amity unappealing to ghosts. And there’s nothing wrong with a prank or two”

Phantom rolls her eyes at Red’s continued glaring, “I don’t mean anything nasty, so chill. You know me better than that, I’d hope”. Sitting up and glaring at the little device, “so system flush?”.

“Just push the green button, red one and blue one, at once. And you’re right, I do know you better than to be mean. Thanks, I guess, for not screwing with Amity. Lots of folks live here. You really are as protective of the people as much as the town, aren’t you?”

Phantom nods and smiles warmly as he pushes the buttons. Jumping a bit at the sudden weird tingling and movement in her bodies veins, but shaking his head a bit amused at Red’s mental laughter.

“Trust me having two or four bodies feels weirder, that was just unexpected. I forget your suit is literally inside you and part of you. And what? You gonna sue me for being a protective little shit. I care more about the people than the town. Buildings can be fixed, people just can’t”

Phantom can’t help but shiver at some old memories. He could feel Red’s shock, though he’s glad she seems kind of happy.

“I’m not sure I want to know what your sudden disturbed feeling was. But that’s good you care about the people. Man, I really used to be a dick to you”

“Don’t worry about it, I don’t really care much about myself getting hurt. And no you don’t, I wish I didn’t. Well, sorta; it’s complicated. Anyway, how long does this take?”

“We are both messes, but about six hours”

Phantom flops them back down on the bed and fiddles with Red’s fingers in front of Red’s face. Blinking her eyes a bit before muttering, “oh well that’s, uh, not actually good, shit”.

“Oh now what?”

“Well, the stupid weapon that shorted my powers is gonna wear off in about an hour. And they’re going to be a bit squirrely”

“So what? You’re just going to use them at random?”

“Pretty much, only easy to use ones though. Might fall through the bed a couple of times or start sneezing ice”

“That is going to be very weird, it won’t hurt me will it?”

Phantom rubs her neck and chuckles awkwardly,

“Uh, can’t say I know for sure. But it is safe to use my powers in someone else’s body. This really isn’t a power I use much”

“That’s just great. Well, try not to hurt me”

“Of course, and I’m guessing you’ll  need to sleep at some point?”

Thinking to himself, about how he really needs to himself and he’s not even a regular human.

“Duh, which is going to be a whole new level of weird. Do you even know how to sleep?”

Phantom can’t help but start laughing his ass off, putting Red’s arm over her eyes. “Sometimes I think I don’t, god! But yes, hell yes”

“Not sure why that’s so funny, ghosts don’t sleep so it’s a damn valid question”

“It just is. Just chalk it up as another weird aspect of the enigma that is Phantom”

“How do you manage to be so powerful, horrible and cute”

Phantom coughs, caught a bit off guard, “what was that?”.

“Uh”

Phantom laughs playfully at that complete lack of a response, “well then”.

“Jerk”

“Oh come on, you’re all those things too. I’m just not embarrassed to say it, well, think it; in your general direction. But at least you weren’t 24 years old this time ”

“What? What the fuck? You’re less of a jerk now, but what?”

“What the fuck is a pretty accurate way to describe time travel. You look pretty good with a buzz cut by the way”

“That’s insane, what uh, what was I like?”

“Pretty much the same, didn’t really talk much. You realised I was from the past, called me cute and then passed out”

“Wow, somehow that feels really lame”

“That was the only real highlight of that day. Pretty shit day. Come to think of it, every-time time travel is involved shit gets really messed up”

“You really are a mess”

Phantom scrunches her face up a bunch before lifting her hand to her face, completely invisible.

“Holy shit, you weren’t kidding. How did neither of us feel that”

“My powers are extremely natural to me, like blinking or breathing to you. It can be harder to not use them than to use them”

“That’s weird even if it makes sense, I guess it’s like how I don’t notice my suit doing its thing in me anymore”

Phantom shakes her head but feels a fair bit embarrassed,

“Even from the very beginning, it was like that for me. Half the time I was using my powers on accident and usually didn’t even notice”

Phantom can feel her snickering at him

“Goddamnit that’s adorable, oh hell”

“I like how you go from mocking me, to being embarrassed”

“Oh shut it”

“I don’t think I will”

Red mentally yelps as the two phase straight through the bed and floor. Phantom has to latch onto a ceiling light to keep them from crashing into the living room. Phantom silently watches Mr. Gray walk from the living room into the kitchen, before phasing then back into Red’s room. “Well, that was eventful”.

“More like nerve-racking”

“Eh, nothing much phases me anymore”

“You’re awful”

“Then you must have awful taste in men”

“You’re a child!”

“So are you!”

“You’re a ghost...”

“So what? Why care?”

Phantom sighs a bit as he sits them down cross-legged on her bed, she doesn’t think anything at him for a bit.

“We’re not the same, you’re literally possessing me right now”

“No one is the same, and you have a nanobot suit in your veins. How is that not just as weird as my powers?”

“You, you’ve thought about this before”

“Like I said, or thought, I’m not embarrassed by my interest. Hell, most ghosts and even a few humans, know how I feel”

Phantom rubs Red’s neck, “though I’ve been called an insane idiot many times for it. I guess it is kind of absurd and stupid to be interested in someone who’s trying to kill you”.

“Wait, so you’ve been, interested, in me since almost the beginning? Yeah that is pretty stupid, I really was trying to destroy you”

“Heh, yeah I know. My self-preservation was pretty well butchered by the time you popped up”

“Can’t really say mines all that intact either, but this is just so weird”

“Red, for as different as we are, we are also very similar. Hell, our “jobs” are basically the same. And we’re both out to lunch compared to the rest of our kinds”

“True, I don’t know if this would be more or less awkward face to face”

“You’re the awkward one here, I’ve been owning this shit pretty well publicly for years”

Phantom can feel her embarrassment as he rolls over to stretch out a bit, blinking at the layer of ice they’re laying on, “well there’s an ice breaker for you”.

“Pft you’re awful, it’s not even broken”

“Oh you know better than to tempt me”

“Don’t you dare!”

Snickering, “I’m the scary ghost boy! I do what I want!”

Phantom flicks a corner of the blanket, shattering it off, “HA!”. While Red mentally laughs.

“So, you going to own your shit now too? Or do I need to make more horrible puns for you actually admit you like me”

“God damn you, how are you so just out there? With everything? And yes I’m still hung up on the ghost thing, but you really don’t care do you?“

“Nope, I really don’t. Two humans, two ghosts, a ghost and a human, or something else entirely; I see no real difference. Though, I’ll never get over Boxy getting with the Lunchlady. They're going to be so confused at the baby shower, I fist fought their kid before they even started dating”.

“Oh my god, that is really ew. I think this kind of shit is why you are so self exposed. No matter what weird shit you show publicly, there’s something weirder unsaid or did”

Phantom scratches Red’s head with her hand, “you might just have a point there”. He then flings her hand over the top of the garbage can, clearly seeing the glowing green forming ectoblast.

“Well I hope nothing was hidden in there”

“Why would I hide stuff in a garbage can? That’s asking for it to be thrown out”

“Must you insult me so”

“Seriously? What even are you?”

“A mess that’s what. A spooky mess”

“The spookiest”

“A spooky that you likey”

Phantom puts her hands behind her head and smirks while Red mentally groans.

“So...”

“Oh my god”

Red doesn’t get to properly respond as Phantom snaps her head to the side, ghost sense going off. “It’s been all of three hours”, with a groan Phantom flings them up off the bed and sticks her head out the window to look around.

“What even was that? And what are you looking for?”

“Ghost, that was my Ghost Sense. Goes off whenever a ghost is near”

“Oh my god, you have built-in ghost radar and ghost tracker”

“So do you?”

Phantom jumps about a bit, making sure he can make her body float reliably, as Red thinks at him.

“From nanobots, not my own natural body, but point. And you know none of my suit is usable right now, right?”

Phantom smirks, “yup” as he vaults them out the window. Flying low to the ground, off to where he can sense what turns out to be a snake ghost.

“Please don’t crash me”

“Flying might as well be my number one skill, Red”

“And your powers are being crazy right now, so your point?”

Rolling Red’s eyes, “oh please, have a little faith”. As he shoots off an ectoblast at the snakes head, “that’ll give ya something to sink your fangs into!”. Only to snap Red’s head towards Skulker as he shoots a capture net around the snake. The two, technically three, float there for a bit while Skulker slowly tilts his head. Until Skulker smirks, tosses his catch over his shoulders and gives the two of them a thumbs up, “well whelp, that’s not how I’d go about snagging a lady but a fellow hunter always congratulates another on a successful hunt”. Phantom, snapping back at the retreating ghost, “I asked first, you metal ass”.

“You really weren’t kidding about that either. Am I seriously the only one who didn’t clue in?”

Snickering as he flies them back to her place, “well most humans don’t know and ghosts are horrible gossips, but I’m pretty sure you knew; sort of”.

“That makes no sense”

“I’m an enigma remember”

Flopping down on Red’s bed and crawling under the blankets, “comfy”.

“Glad you approve, not sure how you’ll handle sleeping for the first time in however long”

“Like a very scary baby”

“More like a cute one”

Phantom raises her eyebrow, “Oh is that so”

“Alright fine, I like your ghostly ass ok? And not in the just friend's way. The interspecies thing is still a mind trip though”

Smirking contently into her pillow, “well now I can die happy”.

“Don’t you dare”

“Be happy or die?”

“You’re awful and we’re a mess”

“Well then, I’ll remind the reaper to bless this mess”

“You are an affront to god, now let me or us or whatever sleep”

“Oh you have no idea”

Red wakes up after only an hour or two of sleep, thinking to herself, she’s mentally blaming that on Phantom.

“You still here, Phantom?”

“Yeah, you can’t get rid of me quite yet”

“I think I’m ok with that”

“Same, but I’m still jumping this body-sharing ship when I can”

“Good, cause we so need an out of my body talk, you cute ass spook”

End.

[ibelieveinahappilyeverafter]

Just You And Me - Phic Phight 02

Event: Phic Phight 2019 Team: Team Ghost

Title: Just You And Me  

Prompt Giver:  Ave-aria on tumblr

Prompt Chosen: One side effect of fighting spooks in your spare time? It makes for a lot of good stories to tell around the campfire. While away at camp, Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz get the chance to share some of their best and creepiest firsthand Ghost Stories, with their classmates none the wiser. *Can also be set Post Phantom Planet if desired.

Rating: T Content Warnings: Mentions of past character death (ghost). Status: Complete Final Word Count:1,028

Author’s Comments: Written alongside Kasena/Cheshire-Kas!

Summary: What’s better than real ghost stories around the campfire? Well, it’s a lot more fun when the ghosts actually show up.

              Click here to read the work on Archive Of Our Own.

                           ⍣ I have a Patreon! Support me?⍣                         ☪ I have a tip jar! Buy me a coffee?☪

                                                     ::

They had gotten the campfire going, and now it seemed like everyone was looking around, waiting for something. It was Dash that finally spoke, “So. Who’s got some good ghost stories?”

“Ghost stories?” Danny felt the grin growing on his face as he realized this stupid camping trip he had been forced to go on might end up being more fun than he thought. “Depends on how scared you’re willing to get.”

“Jeez, Fenton, we want something actually scary. What are you gonna tell us about? The little ghost kitten that went ‘meow?’”

“If that’s the only story you think you can handle, Dash, sure,” Sam cut in sweetly. “Just leave it, Danny. Pretty obvious they can’t handle stories like we’re used to telling.”

Kwan leaned forward. “What kind of story would you guys tell?”

Danny looked at their classmates and shrugged. “Just the story about Amber.”

“Amber?” Star frowned, huddled in a jacket and already looking wary. “Amber who?”

“You haven’t heard about Wailing Amber?”

Sam and Tucker looked at him and they all grinned as they leaned forward. “Amber was just another girl. A teenager, she wanted to be a total popstar.”

“She was sixteen when she died, and that was probably about ten years ago.”

Dash shook his head, interrupting almost immediately, “You’re really just gonna start off with ‘oh, here’s this girl who died ten years ago.’ Weak, Fenton. Weak.”

“Well, hang on. Gotta build up to it, first,” he told Dash with a grin. “Amber went to a high school pretty close by. She loved writing songs, and so she had sheet music and a whole bunch of lyrics and stuff around her bedroom, right?”

“It was total music heaven,” Sam laughed. “She loved the guitar, the most, and she was actually really good at it. She could even play a few other instruments, but the guitar was the best for her, and she knew that she and her guitar were going to be famous.”

“Amber, you know, she was a teenager, right? She had a crush on a guy at school. His name was Adam, he was like the Dash Baxter of their school.”

“Aw, yeah, sounds awesome!”

“Dude was totally not awesome.”

“Aw, what? You said he was like me!” Dash whined, a few of the other A Listers snickering or hiding behind coughs. “How bad could the dude be?”

“She asked him out, and he said yes,” Danny said. “He told her to meet him… In the forest right around here. At midnight. You know what she thought was gonna happen. So she came out here to the forest, and she waited.”

Sam picked up the story. “She got there at about eleven-thirty. She didn’t have a watch, or a phone, so she never knew what time it was. Midnight came and passed, and he never showed.”

“She kept waiting,” Tucker said. “She waited until one. Until two. When she finally got home, it was like four in the morning.”

“Jeez, what a douchebag,” Kawn grumbled, crossing his arms as he looked around. “And she was alone throughout all of this? Until that late?”

“Yeah, they basically thought Amber was like one of the losers.”

“Amber went back home and basically passed out in her bed.”

“While she was sleeping, her house caught on fire. Remember all that music and those papers? They lit up. She stayed up so late, she didn’t even wake up. She didn’t make it.”

“They say that if you’re out here, late at night, you can hear her practicing one of her songs while she waits for him to come meet her.”

Paulina gave a huff, crossing her legs, “Please, there’s no way any part of that is…” Paulina trailed off due to the fact that a gentle guitar song was filtering through the trees. “Oh, very funny, Fenton. You can stop whatever you’re playing on your phone, now.”

Danny pulled up his phone. “My phone’s been off this whole time. Sam? Tuck?” Both of them pulled out their own phones, Tucker even turning his on to show that nothing was playing.

“Then one of you guys need to stop it,” Paulina snapped, everyone else quickly pulling out their phones to show they were either off or not playing anything. The guitar was getting louder, too.

“What if we could be… Just us, you and me?”

“Uh, guys?”

“Oh, no way, no way, no way, no way, I refuse to be the dumb jock in the horror movie! Fenton! This was your stupid story do something!”

Just before anyone could do anything, there was a rustling in the bushes near them, and a translucent girl with a glow about her came forward. She looked like any other teenage girl, except obviously ghostly. “You finally came.”

Danny watched with absolute glee as every kid there except him and his friends screeched and then took off running into the woods. It was impossible to hold in his laughter as the ghostly girl’s form flickered before Ember was floating in front of them and looking amused, “Man, babypop, you’re more sadistic than I thought.”

“That’s not sadistic,” Danny defended. “That? That was payback!” Tucker was still laughing, Sam shaking her head with a happy sigh.

“I hope Paulina breaks a heel before they get back to camp.”

Danny stood and looked at Ember. “You alright?”

“Aw, worried about me?” Ember laughed, flying over to ruffle Danny’s hair. “No worries, Danny, I’m fine. Besides, did you see the looks on their faces? Johnny and Kitty are gonna be jealous missing out on this.”

“And hey, that sounded like a cool song,” Tucker pointed out. “You just start writing it?”

Ember blinked, looking surprised before giving a rare, softer smile, “Thanks for the compliment, but that was actually an old one of mine. Thought I might play around with it again.”

“Thanks for the help, Ember. Those jerks totally deserved it.

“Of course! And hey, you know, if you ever told a story about two lovesick teenagers who died on a motorcycle… And then a ghostly motorcycle just happened to run through you all…”

“We’ll save it for next time.”

[pipermasters]

Hide and Seek- Phic Phight

Prompt: Start and end the fic with the same sentence, the first time it's positive and happy. The second time it's chilling and foreboding. 

@quishaphantom

Sam couldn’t find Danny, and she’d been looking for hours. He was unfairly good at hide and seek.

Sam couldn’t find Danny, and she’d been looking for hours. He was unfairly good at hide and seek.

“This is impossible,” She huffed to Tucker. “He has to be cheating!”

Tucker snickered. “It’s your fault for choosing to play in the park- I warned you he was good.”

“No one is this good!”

“Danny is,” Tucker smirked, reclining in the shade of a tree.

Sam scowled, hand on her hips. She turned in a circle, scanning the crowded park. Danny wasn’t hiding in the playground- she’d checked twice. He wasn’t by the fountain, the pond, or the amphitheater; She was seriously beginning to wonder if he had snuck into the bounce house that was set up for some kid’s birthday party.

“My offer still stands,” Tucker teased. “I’ll find him for you- you just have to admit he’s the king of hide and seek!”

“You swear he’s not cheating?”

“I swear,” Tucker stretched his arms above his head. “But I also swear that as soon as I show you, you’re gonna feel like an idiot.”

“I’ve looked everywhere!” Sam cried. “Twice! If anything, I’ll be impressed.”

“Nah,” he disagreed. “You’ll feel stupid.”

Grumbling, Sam followed Tucker towards the part of the park populated by trees. She’d already spent too long in there looking for her friend; She’d even climbed the trees to see if he was hiding in the branches.

“He’s not in here, Tuck,” She assured. “I checked.”

“You didn’t check everywhere.” Motioning for her to be quiet, Tucker crept over to a log, an evil grin on his face. He jumped on the log, stomping his feet. A shriek sounded from inside before none other than Danny Fenton was scrambling out.

“Not cool!” He shouted, shoving Tucker playfully.

Sam stared at him. “You were in a log?”

“Yup.” Danny brushed dead leaves out of his hair.

“Told you you’d feel dumb!” Tucker laughed.

“Three hours,” Sam couldn’t believe it. “You sat there for three hours? Didn’t you get bored?”

Danny shrugged. “Not really- I was texting Tucker.”

“Tucker!” She snapped in betrayal.

“To be fair, I had no proof of he was here,” he slung an arm over Danny’s shoulders. “But I had a good idea.”

“Sometimes I think you two share a brain,” Sam crossed her arms, smiling.

“That’s what happens when you’ve been friends for 12 years!”

“12?” Danny verified the math in his head. “My God we’re getting old.”

“You’re in 8th grade,” Sam rolled her eyes. “You aren’t old.”

“In a few months we’ll be in high school,” Tucker pointed out. “Can we consider ourselves old then?”

Sam just laughed as she and the boys left the park to get lunch at the Nasty Burger.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------           Tucker couldn’t find Danny, and he’d been looking for hours. His best friend was still mortified over losing his pants in front of Paulina.

         “Dude, come on,” Tucker called. “It’s not that big a deal!”

         Tucker and Sam had been searching the town since Danny had run out of school, going ghost behind a tree and taking off. Now, Tucker was in Danny’s house, checking every hiding spot he knew of.

         Frustrated, Tucker pulled out his phone, dialing Danny for the thousandth time. He smirked when he heard his ringtone.

         “Rookie mistake, Danny!” Tucker followed the sound to Danny’s room; there was a shuffling in the closet, presumably caused by Danny trying to silence his phone. Tucker threw open the door, sighing when he didn’t see his friend.

         “I know you’re here dude, being invisible won’t work,”

         With a sigh, Danny appeared, sitting on the top shelf in his closet. It had been his designated moping spot in middle school- not that anyone else knew that was where he hid. Tucker had thought Danny had given up on hiding there, but obviously he was wrong.

         Pocketing his cell, Tucker climbed up to join him, squishing himself into the remaining space.

         “I’m amazed we still fit up here,” Tucker said lightheartedly. Danny said nothing.

         “C’mon man, it wasn’t that bad.”

         Danny scoffed. “I beg to differ. I totally blew any chance I had with Paulina.”

         “That’s so not true! We all know you never had a chance,” Tucker chuckled weakly as Danny glared at him with glowing eyes.

         “Not helping.”

         “Sorry.”

         “I hate these powers,” Danny moaned, burying his head in his hands. “They’ve been nothing but a curse!”

         “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

         “Why wouldn’t I?”

         “What about all the awesome stuff you’ve been able to do?” Tucker asked. “Dude, you can fly! Do you know how many people wish they could do that?”

         “It’s not as great as you’d think. If I don’t keep my mouth closed, I get bugs in my teeth.”

         “Okay, gross. But what about your other powers? You can turn invisible!”

         “As if I wasn’t invisible before!” the ghost groaned, hitting his head back on the wall.

         Tucker rolled his eyes. “You’re so dramatic sometimes. You aren’t cursed dude. You were given a gift- just like any other superhero! Think of all the people you’ve helped- people you’ve saved? Do you think they see you as a curse?” Danny said nothing. “Exactly.”

         “I still totally embarrassed myself today. Paulina probably thinks I’m some perverted freak!”

         “Well, actually, before Sam showed up, I think she was impressed!”

         “Really?” Danny’s eyebrows drew together in confusion. “Why?”

         “Dunno,” Tucker shrugged. “But I did see her tell off Mikey for laughing at you. Maybe you didn’t blow it after all.”

         With a smile, Danny reverted back to human. “Thanks Tuck. What would I do without you?”

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

         Jazz couldn’t find Danny, and she’d been looking for hours. He’d come home that day with another failed science test and was trying every way possible to avoid telling their parents. Clutching the test in one hand, she scaled the ladder leading to the roof- since getting his ghost powers Danny had been spending more and more time up there.

         Sure enough, Danny was laying flat on his back, staring vacantly at the clouds.

         “Hey Dan- “

         “Jazz, don’t,” Danny draped his arm over his eyes. “I really don’t need you to lecture me right now.”

         “Lecture you?” Jazz sat next to her little brother, reclining on her hands. “What makes you think I’d lecture you?”

         “You’re my big sister- it’s what you do.”

         Jazz smiled, nudging him gently. “Well it’s not what I’m doing now. I just wanted to talk.”

         “About what?”

         “Mom and dad.”

         Danny removed his arm, looking at his sister suspiciously. “What about them?”

         “Well, maybe it’s time to tell them about… you know…” Jazz glanced around, making sure none of their parents’ equipment was around to hear her. “Your powers.”

         “No!” Danny shot up, eyes wide with panic. “Jazz I can’t!”

         ��Why not?” she set a calming hand on her brother’s shoulder.

         “Are you crazy?” Danny snapped. “What do you think they’ll say Jazz? They’re entire life is dedicated to hunting ghosts; Dad can’t go one day without talking about new methods of dissecting things molecule by molecule! And mom,” Danny shuddered. “I don’t even want to imagine what she would think.”

         “They’ll love you no matter what, Danny,” Jazz assured. “They just want what’s best for you.”

         “And you expect them to think that being a ghost is the best thing for me?” Danny scoffed. “They’d never stop trying to ‘fix me’.”

         “You don’t know that!” Jazz argued. “They’re worried about you Danny- being a secret superhero doesn’t leave a lot of room for normal teenage things. You don’t eat or sleep regularly, you’re falling behind on your chores, and your grades are slipping!”

         “I know!” Danny shouted, frustrated. “But what am I supposed to do about it? I can’t be normal and save this town at the same time!”

         “They could help with that too! You already borrow their stuff all the time- imagine if you worked together to create new gear!”

         “No!”

         “You’re being unreasonable! Are you really that scared they’ll hate you?”

         “Yes! No! Kinda!” Danny seemed to deflate, all anger leaving him. “It’s complicated.”

         Jazz paused, feeling her frustration melt away. Her brother looked so tired and lost. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him into a soft hug. “Want to tell me why?”

         “Do you remember when the accident first happened?” Danny asked quietly. “When the portal exploded?”

         “Of course I do. Mom and dad were arguing all the time. Mom was so mad that- oh.” She trailed off as realization hit her. “You’re scared of them fighting again, aren’t you?”

         “It’s not like they don’t fight anyways,” Danny muttered. “But mom was so distressed, and she was so worried that there would be side effects, and knowing what I know now about Vlad and how he got his powers… I don’t know how they would handle it.” He groaned, glaring at the test in Jazz’s hands. “Of course, they might understand ghost powers more than another failed test.”

          Jazz glanced at her brother before shredding the test, the pieces blowing away with the wind. “What failed test? As far as I’m aware the teacher misplaced your test after putting in an incorrect grade.”

         Danny looked at her, shocked. “But… Jazz, that’s- “

         “Cheating?” She shrugged. “Given the circumstances I think it’s fair. C’mon, I’ll help you study for your retake.”

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

         Amity Park was in utter chaos. Buildings were in ruin, overturned cars burning in the streets. Civilians ran around in horror as emergency services did their best to calm the crowds. Parents and children cried out for one another, having been separated in the panic. In the midst of it all, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz were anxiously watching the road.

         The ghost attack had come out of nowhere, catching them all by surprise. Danny had been completely overwhelmed, even with support from his friends and sister. The ghost had dealt a particularly devastating blow, sending Danny through the pavement and into the sewers. The three had tried to follow, but police were already on the scene, keeping them away.

         The Fenton’s had appeared on the scene 10 minutes ago; they’d entered the sewer 30 seconds later. For 7 minutes the trio had heard muffed shouts and battle cries as various equipment sounded, smoke rising from the hole in the street.

         A minute later, Jack Fenton emerged, hoisting his wife after him; she proudly brandished a shaking thermos. Happily, they lead the crowd away, Jack making a point to brag in front of everyone who had ever doubted him. Determining there was no danger, the police marked off the area to be fixed as soon as the mayor sent a construction crew. They too left to celebrate with the Fenton’s.

         Tucker, Sam, and Jazz stayed, waiting for Danny to join them.

         At 5 minutes, Jazz got anxious; After 10, Tucker was starting to panic. When Danny still hadn’t appeared 15 minutes later, Sam jumped over the caution tape with a declaration of “Screw this, I’ll find him myself!”

         Sam didn’t find him after 15 minutes.

Tucker was still scouring the wreckage 30 minutes later.

         Jazz hadn’t found him after an hour.

         Twenty minutes later, Tucker had made himself hoarse calling for his best friend

         Twenty minutes later, Sam was searching by the light of her phone.

         Twenty minutes later, Jazz started to cry.

         Jazz couldn’t find her brother- he wasn’t laying on their roof.

         Tucker couldn’t find his best friend- he wasn’t hiding in his closet.

         Sam couldn’t find her hero- he wasn’t under a log in the park.

         He’s the king of hide and seek. He’s just hiding. He’s unfairly good at hide and seek.  

         Sam couldn’t find Danny, and she’d been looking for hours.  

[ecto-american]

The Fenton Conspiracy

Phic Phight Oneshot for SummersSixEcho: The Fentons only have two children...Right?

Read on FFN and AO3

"Um...hello?" Maddie spoke hesitantly at seeing three children sitting in the Fenton kitchen, eating breakfast. They all looked up at her when she spoke. "Morning Jazz, Danny. And…" She trailed off.

An unfamiliar child was eating cereal, and she was an absolute doppelganger of her son. Black hair pulled back in a side-braid, bright blue eyes just like Jack's. She smiled warmly at her as she chewed. Maddie couldn't help but notice that she was dressed in Jazz's old black tank-top and jeans.

"Morning!" Jazz chirped. She had a bagel and coffee, and Maddie never took her eyes off of the trio as she went to fetch a cup.

She broke contact enough to pour herself some, only to set it all down. Nobody was sleeping over that she could remember. She looked a tad too young to be one of Jazz's friends, and the only girl Danny ever brought around was Sam. This was definitely not Sam. Who was she? How come she had never seen her before?

The huntress spun to meet the three.

"I'm very sorry, dear, but who are you?" she asked. The unfamiliar child frowned.

"Mom, this is Ellie," Jazz scowled. "Your youngest? Our little sister?" Maddie had no clue how to respond to that. "How can you forget her?"

"I only have two kids," Maddie said firmly. She turned to get her coffee, taking a drink. There was no way she was just simply so tired that she was hallucinating the entire thing.

"You have three," Danny spoke up. As always, he sounded exhausted, and he was also eating cereal. "Trust me, they gang up on me."

"It's true, I made him give me a piggyback ride home from school yesterday," the unfamiliar girl, Ellie?, replied cheerfully.

"She did, lazy little," Danny muttered off something as he shoveled another spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

"It was far, and I was tired!" Ellie exclaimed.

"No, no," Maddie insisted. "I have two children." Danny sighed tiredly.

"Mom, how come you don't remember me?" Ellie's voice sounded absolutely heartbroken, and Maddie immediately felt a wave of guilt.

It didn't take long to immediately be hit with concern. What was this? Maddie knew she only had two children. There was no way one simply...forgot a child. As in, not forgot your child at the store, but the entire existence of a girl who had to be at least fourteen? This had to be some kind of prank. Her children wouldn't prank her like this though, would they? Neither were cracking up into giggles, the normal giveaway. Instead both were casually eating like it was...normal. Nothing seemingly out of place.

Maddie studied the girl as she took a long sip of coffee. She looked way too much like Danny and Jack for it to be some random girl for a prank either. Even if they found a doppelganger, which in itself was so unlikely, she could already immediately notice Fenton-specific quirks. The using of the inner wrist to wipe her mouth instead of a napkin of her hand, the way all of the children hunched over as they ate. It was odd how...much this girl fit into the family.

"What's going on?" Maddie demanded to know. She set the cup down on the table. Danny sighed, dropping his spoon into the cereal.

"Fine. I got detention again," he confessed. Maddie stared at him, and she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Look, I'm sorry. It wasn't my fault, it was Dash, he-"

"I mean about this girl, Daniel James," Maddie spoke coldly. Ellie dropped her own spoon in shock.

"I didn't do anything!" Ellie whined. "He's the one who got detention, I was in the library the whole time with Valerie!"

"You little liar!" Danny accused. "You weren't in the library, you were setting up a prank for Paulina with Sam!"

"Was not!" Ellie protested.

"Was too!" Danny argued back.

Was she having a stroke? Maddie watched the bickering in stunned silence as she tried to piece together everything.

"Are you a ghost?" Maddie asked bluntly, even though she immediately felt silly for asking such a thing. Of course a ghost wouldn't come out and confess such a thing.

Jazz sighed, annoyed as she put her bagel down.

"Mom, this is your daughter," she insisted. "Why do you resort anything to ghosts? It's not healthy to obsess this much on ghosts. Maybe tonight we should have a family night. It's been a while since we had one."

"Ugh," Danny made an annoyed noise from the back of his throat. "I'm not in the mood to watch Ghostbusters for the hundredth time."

"We can play board games!" Ellie pointed out.

"That's even worse," Danny complained.

"One of you two are going to explain what's going on," Maddie pressed her two (?) children, staring directly at Jazz and Danny. Neither flinched, nor gave any of their normal indications that they were lying, which honestly? Chilled her. What was going on?

"Ugh, one second." Jazz left the room, muttering something about the stairs. She returned moments later with her scrapbook, opening it, and Maddie couldn't believe her eyes.

This girl was in every family photo, and there were baby pictures of her. Pictures of school events with her there. Pictures of Maddie holding her as a baby, of her having three children at the beach and three Fenton children opening presents.

She didn't know what to think.

"We're gonna be late," Ellie spoke up, nodding at the clock. Everybody else glanced up.

"Ah, shoot," Jazz sighed. "Come on, I'll drive us."

Maddie watched Jazz and Danny pick up their normal backpacks, and Ellie pick up Danny's old backpack, a Crash Nebula themed one that he claimed to have outgrown.

"Bye Mom, love you!" Danny called out.

"Love you, see you after school," said Jazz, the three leaving the kitchen.

"Bye Mom! I love you!" Ellie chimed in.

"Um...have a good day, kids," Maddie spoke slowly. "I love you too."

She heard the trio of children chattering happily in the hallway, collecting coats and other winter gears. Nothing in particular, mostly just teenage talk about the upcoming day. School projects, friends, pointing out the recent snow and discussing weekend plans. The door opened, and it shut.

Maddie hurried to the window, watching the trio get into Jazz's car, it turning on almost instantly. Dani sat in the back, and Danny in the passenger seat. The car sat idle for a few seconds before her daughter pulled out of the driveway and took herself and her sibling, siblings?, to school. Maddie slipped back at the table, drinking coffee and looking through the scrapbook. When the hell did she gain a third child?

123456789

Jazz sighed heavily as she grasped the steering wheel. Her siblings got into the car, and as soon as the doors shut, she finally spoke.

"I think that...actually kinda worked," she replied. She glanced up at FentonWorks in amazement.

"The power of just acting casual," Ellie grinned. The clone buckled her seatbelt. "Tucker's amazing at Photoshop."

"Was this really easier than just telling them the truth?" Jazz accused Danny. He shrugged, clicking the seatbelt into place and leaning back.

"That's the backup plan. But all we really need to do is convince an entire school, Dad when he gets home, our neighbors and extended relatives that Ellie's always been here, and also somehow keep Vlad from finding out," Danny grinned. Jazz made an annoyed huff.

"Good luck," she scoffed, and she backed out of the driveway.

[phandomphightclub]

Round 5 Results: Prelude

Clockwork, as it turned out, had a lot of free time.  Maybe Tali shouldn’t have found that surprising, but…

It was still a little weird to see the all-powerful ghost sitting in the VIP box, decked out in promotional gear to cheer on the semifinalists.  He wore a foam finger with Ninja’s signature spider-danny meme, a green-trimmed black jacket that perfectly resembled Aurora’s, a boombox that played PJ’s theme song (the 80’s remix of Numb by Linkin Park), and finally, a bucket full of Nick’s perfectly-cooked hot pockets.  That was an awful lot to carry when Clockwork shifted into his child-form, but somehow he held onto everything.

“So.  Uh.  You watched the Phight before?”

“I watch everything,” he said.  His voice might have been cryptic, but it didn’t have the right effect when said around a mouth full of hot pocket.

Well. At least he seemed to be having a good time.  Probably.  

“Do you already know who’s going to win?”

“Maybe.”  Clockwork smirked.

“Do you just like screwing with all of us?”

“Me?  The immortal spirit of time, use my power for personal entertainment?”

“...I’ll take that as a yes.”  Tali polished her kazoo on her jacket.  “Well, since the rest of us don’t know who’s gonna come out on top, we’d better get on with it, shall we?”

“If you’re in such a rush.”

“I am.  Unless you feel like turning back time so I have more than two hours to write this…?”

Clockwork just smiled insufferably.

Tali sighed.  “Oh well, worth a shot.  On to match 1, then! ...As soon as Danny tracks down Nick to announce it. Hopefully before Aurora does.”

“Nick will be fine.”

Coming from a ghost who could see everything, that should have been reassuring, but somehow, Tali doubted Clockwork’s definition of “fine” was the same as Nick’s.

...She’d send Vic and the security team after him too, just in case.

[phandomphightclub]

Lexovorus vs. Dannyphandump:  Epilogue

Note: This one is mostly under the cut because it got a little long and I don’t want to clog anyone’s dash, but if you want to know who Vorus is, you’ll want to at least scroll to the last section :)))

The stadium was in chaos.  Vorus had disappeared from the ring after the phight, but not before leaving an ominous “SOON” hanging in the air.

“I’m probably going to regret this, but you and Bug are in charge,” Vic said quickly as she shrugged on her jacket.

“Okay, I’m down for that, but what are you doing?”  Lexx asked.  “You’re not gonna take on Vorus too, are you?”

“Not exactly.”  Vic’s lips pressed into a thin line; her eyes grew brighter.  “I’m going to get Tali back.”

“But she…”

“She’s not gone,” Vic snapped.  “She’s not.”

“Dude, chill,” Lexx raised her hands, one still holding her smoothie.  “Just be careful, alright?  Bug and I will hold down the fort.”

“Good.” Vic nodded. She hadn’t expected to need to call on the other two phandom moms so soon, but it was good to know there were still people she could count on.

She flew down to the ring, looking for any sign of Lexovorus.  The duplicate was still around, Vic could feel that much. How had they gotten so out of hand?  This was supposed to have just been a fun phight; she’d never expected Vorus to win at all, much less to… do whatever they’d done to Tali.

“Vic!”  Dots called, flying into the ring with Wes running breathlessly behind.  “We were watching and Tali — is she really gone?”

“No,” Vic replied firmly.  “She’s not.  The Denny’s is mainly her lair, it would’ve started crumbling if she was really destroyed.”  She glanced over her shoulder just to check, but the Denny’s was still standing.

“And what about Lexovorus?”  Wes asked with a frown. “They escaped again.  How are we supposed to figure out who they are now?”

“Lexovorus is closer than you think,” Vic replied cryptically, making Dots frown.

“How do you know?”

“I’m head of security, remember?  The security system can help me track them down.”

With a wave of her hand, a translucent green map of the stadium and the Denny’s appeared in the air.  One darker flashing V appeared in the space beneath the ring.

“There.  You two stay here and don’t do anything stupid.  Lexosaurus and Bug are in charge.”

Bug was already calling over the speaker system.  “Alright binches, listen up!  Everyone get your butts back to the Denny’s!”

When the crowd still stalled, Lexx ripped the mic from their hands.

“You heard your other mom, hoes!  The phight’s over! Unless you want me to let the lexxpocalypse loose on you all…”

Ghosts finally started fleeing back to the safety of the Denny’s.  Lexx nodded.

“That’s what I thought.”

“...Yeah, excuse me if I don’t trust those two,” Wes deadpanned.  “I didn’t come to watch a phight; I came to solve a conspiracy.”

“Yeah,” Dots said.  “Let us come with you, Vic!  We’ll help find Tali and bust Vorus!”

As much as Vic wanted to turn them down — this was a task she’d rather take on alone — she knew Dots and Wes both well enough to know that if she left them alone, they’d just sneak along after her anyway.

“Fine.” Vic sighed.  “Don’t come crying to me if anything bad happens, though.”

With that warning, she grabbed Dots’ and Wes’ arms and pulled them intangibly through the ground.

XXX

“Is this where you guys keep the Reality Gauntlet?”  Dots asked worriedly as they walked (so as not to leave Wes behind) down the dark, moldy corridor.  “That’s not what Vorus is after, are they?”

“No.  They already tried that once.”  There had been a brief time when Vorus used the Reality Gauntlet to turn everyone into a Lexx, but that “prank” had been short-lived.  Everyone’s memories of that were fuzzy; Vic would hardly believe it had happened if she hadn’t been there herself.  After Vorus had regretted their decision, Vic had been the one to take the Gauntlet and lock it away somewhere no one would find it.

“They — what?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Vic told Dots, lifting her hand and illuminating the dark hallway with her green ecto energy.  “We’re almost there.”

The stone corridor widened into a domed chamber.  The only light came from a small fire in the center of the room.

“Come out and show yourself, Vorus!”  Wes shouted. A low chuckled echoed through the chamber.

“Brave words from a human.” Vorus came into view behind the fire, casting a long shadow up the far wall.  “I can see why Dots respects you.  It doens’t matter though. If you haven’t figured out who I am by now, I doubt you ever will.”

“That’s enough, Vorus,” Vic said with quiet intensity.  “Do you know where Tali is?”

That question was the first thing to get under Lexovorus’s ectoplasmic skin.  Their head hung low; their dark shades barely balanced on the end of their nose.

“I don’t,” they whispered.  “I didn’t know what Tali was going to do, I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s not your fault, Vorus,” Vic said, approaching the ghost slowly.

“What are you talking about, Vic?”  Dots gaped. “You saw them!  They got Tali — w-well, I don’t know what happened to her, but…”

“It’s not Vorus’s fault,” Vic repeated.  This might be a bad idea, but… it was time.  “It’s my fault, Dots.  I let this happen to Tali.”

Vorus gaped, but Wes spoke up before they could.

“Because you didn’t stop the phight?”  Wes asked, brow furrowed.  “That’s stupid.  You didn’t know what was going to happen.”

“Don’t do this, Vic,” Vorus hissed.  “I know you feel bad, but if you do—”

“I know.”  Vic nodded.  “But this has gone on long enough.”

“Vic…” Dots stepped forward into the ring of firelight.  “Are you saying…”

“Yeah.”  Vic turned around, looking between Dots and Wes.

“I am Lexovorus.”

If Wes had been drinking something, he would’ve spit it out.  “All this time, it was you?  But we’ve been in the Denny’s with you before!  Besides, you’re both here now… unless you learned duplication?”

“But I thought only Bug knew how to duplicate out of the phighters?” Dots said.

“That was true,” Vic answered, pacing around the fire while Vorus tried to blend into the shadows. “But I watched her during the Phight.  Then when the Phight was over, Tali was on vacation playing Kingdom Hearts, and the rest of the staff was on break too.  I was the only one left in the Denny’s.  I got bored and thought I’d try to work on strengthening my ghost powers.

“It was just a joke.  I was going to make a duplicate of myself and dress it up to prank the original Lexx.  But duplication isn’t easy, as I’m sure you know.”  She nodded to Dots.  “It didn’t go exactly right.  You’re supposed to be able to control duplicates directly, as if it’s really you in multiple bodies, but that didn’t happen.  Instead the duplicate kept the intention of the prank I’d been planning — and it turned into a distorted copy of Lexosaurus.”

“Watch who you’re calling distorted,” Vorus hissed from the shadows.  “I’m still you, Vic.  Don’t forget that.”

“I don’t get it though,” Dots asked.  “Why didn’t you take Vorus back?  Can you not reabsorb your own duplicate?”

“I can,” Vic answered.  “I was just having fun, though.  Others decided to join in on the prank of their own choosing — the other Lexxes you saw.  And you were having a good time solving the conspiracy.  A bunch of ghosts were coming together over it, and none of the copies were hurting anyone.”

“It was really fun!”  Dots admitted.  “I got to make friends with Wes, and a bunch of the Lexxes were actually really cool.  But wow, I never expected that you were Vorus.  I’m going to have to let that sink in.”

“Well, you can do that while I work on finding Tali,” Vic said.  “Now Vorus, get back here and help me out.”

Vorus had been slinking off back down the corridor, but at Vic’s call she sighed and came back into the light.

“It’s not my fault you made me so strong,” Vorus muttered.  “I never would’ve beat Tali otherwise.”

“I know it’s not your fault.  But it is my fault, and you’re me, as you’re so keen on reminding me.”  Vic rubbed her temples.  Who would’ve known her own alter ego could be so annoying?

“Alright, fair enough.”  Vorus shrugged.

“This is so freaky,” Wes muttered to himself.

“If Tali’s lair is the Denny’s, wouldn’t she respawn there if her form vanished?”  Dots asked Vic.  “Maybe Wes and I should should stay here in case she comes back.”

“Good idea,” Vic replied.  “I have one other idea of where she could’ve ended up though.  Me and Vorus will go check that out.”

“Me and me, you mean.”  Vorus grinned.  

“Sure.”  Vic rolled her eyes.  

“Okay, well… be careful,” Dots said.  

“I’ll be fine.”  Vic flashed a smile.  “I did beat Tali, after all.  What could go wrong?”

XXX

The sunset was warm on Vic and Vorus’s skin, uncomfortably so after the darkness of the ghost zone.  Vic squinted against the light, nearly stumbling off the edge of the tall clocktower they’d stepped out of the portal onto.  Of course, she was a ghost, so it wouldn’t have mattered if she had.

“I never did get what Tali liked about this place,” Vorus muttered.  “It’s sunset all the time.  Why would you want to live somewhere that’s always bright?  Not very proper for a ghost if you ask me.”

“I really didn’t give you any filter when I created you, did I?”  Vic sighed.  “Why does everyone keep calling you precious?”

“I don’t friggin know!”  Vorus threw her hands in the air, glitching in annoyance.  “I swear, I try to be intimidating and chaotic and no one takes me seriously!”

“Aww, don’t say that, Vorus.  I took you seriously.”

Vic and Vorus turned to the source of the voice – Tali, who was sitting on the ledge of the clocktower, eating a bar of blue ice cream as if she hadn’t just blown herself apart hours earlier.

“I knew I’d find you here.”  Vic snorted.

“Oh yeah?”  Tali grinned.  “You weren’t worried about me at all?  Not even a little bit?”

Vic rolled her eyes before sitting down next to Tali.  Vorus even took a seat too, swinging her legs off the edge.

“Okay, fine.  I was a little bit worried,” Vic huffed.

“She was really worried,” Vorus spoke up.  “She thought I’d killed you!  Well, re-killed you, anyway.”

“I did not.”

Tali just laughed.  “Aw, you really think you could kill me that easily?  That’s cute.”

“I’m not cute!”  Vic and Vorus said in unison, only causing Tali to laugh so hard she nearly dropped her ice cream off the tower.

“Anyway, no hard feelings, bro.  Here.”  She pulled two more bars of ice cream seemingly out of nowhere.  “I had a feeling you might show up.”

“Wait… you had two?”  Vorus asked.  “You knew we’d both show up… did you know who I was this whole time?”

“Not the whole time.  There’s only one ghost who’d seen me practicing with my keyblades, though, and that’s you.”  She pointed her half-eaten ice cream at Vic.

“I guess that’s fair,” she replied before biting into her own ice cream.  She made a face.  “Ew, what the – why is it salty?”

“Hey, I had to pay you back for kicking my butt somehow,” Tali said with a laugh before scarfing down the rest of her nasty salty ice cream.  “And for not telling me.  I mean, come on! You create even more chaos than the Phight Club all by yourself and don’t even invite me?”

“You were playing Kingdom Hearts 3, you weren’t even here!”

“Fiiiiiine.  Honestly, I’ve gotta say I’m impressed.  I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”  Vic said, smacking Tali lightly.

“No one saw you much in the Phight Club.  You were always behind the scenes.  Y’know, maybe I should’ve expected this from you, in hindsight.”  She tapped her empty ice cream stick against her chin.  “That explains how you could go under the radar for so long.  And why the security system didn’t kick out Vorus along with all the other Lexx blogs. She still had your ectosignature.”

“I wondered if you’d catch that,” Vic said.  Her own ice cream melted down onto her hand, but she had no intention of finishing it.  Instead she let it drip to to the cobblestones far below.  “But we should be getting back.  I left Lexx and Bug in charge.”

Tali laughed.  “Wonder how that’s going.”

“I’m sure they’re fine.  The other ghosts listen to them… mostly.”  Vic stood, dropped her ice cream off the side of the tower, and held out a hand to help Tali up.

“Rude.”  She frowned, accepting the hand.  “I would’ve eaten that.”

“Should’ve thought about that before you gave it to me as a prank.”  Vic smirked.  Vorus handed Tali her half-eaten bar though.

“Hah.  At least half of you will be nice to me.”  Tali smiled smugly.  “Are you two going to merge back together now?  Or are you planning on staying like this?”

Vic and Vorus shared a look.

“I don’t know,” Vic said.

“...I kind of like existing,” Vorus added.  “Even if I’m just half of a ghost.”

“...We’ll see what happens.”

Tali nodded, and with that they entered the portal back to the ghost zone.  Vic would have some explaining to do back at the Denny’s… but at least Tali was okay and didn’t seem to be mad.  Even Dots had been pretty forgiving.

It was sad that the Lexxpocalypse had to end, but at least the friendships that she’d made she would get to keep for much longer.

[phandomphightclub]

Lexovorus vs. Dannyphandump Phight

As much as Tali liked to tell other people to fight her, it had been a while since she’d actually taken on other ghost.  Since the Mod Phight, which had been rather short.  Vorus had probably seen that, or at least heard about her fighting technique; meanwhile, Tali had no idea what kind of tricks Vorus had up their sleeves.  

That didn’t stop her from taunting her opponent, though.

“Are you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna show me you actually live up to the OG Lexx?”

“I’m not standing.  I’m floating, obviously.”  Vorus rolled their eyes behind their dark sunglasses.  “You’re the one who challenged me to this stupid phight.  Why don’t you come at me?”

Tali hadn’t wanted to make the first move — she’d modded enough phights to know that whoever went in first usually lost.  But Vorus was playing cautious too.

“GET ‘EM, TALI!”  Lexx was shouting from the VIP box.  Other ghosts were getting impatient too; they couldn’t keep circling each other forever.

“Alright, you asked for it!”  Tali raised her kazoo, ready to play in time with the pounding dubstep beat that was still coming from the speaker system.

But she didn’t get the chance.  Faster than she thought possible, one of Vorus’s fidget spinners shot forward.  Cloaked in fire, it collided with the kazoo and melted it instantly.  Tali was left gaping.

“You — I paid four whole dollars for that!  In the human world!  Do you know how hard that’ll be to replace?”

“Good.”  Vorus grinned.  “Everyone’s sick of your stupid kazoo music anyway.  If you can even call it music.”

“...Are they?”  Tali asked quietly.

“Don’t listen to that binch!”  A ghost called.  Bug.  The words brought Tali a little more determination.

“Doesn't matter.  I don’t need my kazoo to beat a poser like you.”  Tali stretched out her hand, channeling her wind core into a blast of air that took Vorus by surprise; the Lexx imposter crossed their arms at the last second to block, but was still blown back several feet.

“There we go!  Show me what you’ve really got!”  Vorus spun and hurled a barrage of flaming fidget spinners.  Tali slid to the side, deflecting them with a gust of wind — most of them, anyway; one still caught her coat sleeve on fire.  She blew it out quickly.

“Man, even if I win, I’m gonna have to replace my kazoo and my clothes,” she muttered.  Then with a burst of air, she launched herself forward, aiming a kick at Vorus’s chest.

The other ghost caught her foot in her palms.  “Jump attacks, Tali? Really?  So predictable.”

They swung her and tossed her across the ring.

“Is this it?”  Vic announced over the loudspeaker.  “Had Vorus taken down — wait, look!  She’s getting up!”

“Heck yeah I am,” Tali grumbled.  “You think I’d go down that easily?  I’m an ace, which means I have to have at least one extra card up my sleeve.”

Despite having short sleeves, she still reached across her chest and pulled something from them — two hooked blades that by all the laws of physics should not have fit inside her coat.  But this was the ghost zone, so the laws of physics were more like suggestions.

“Keyblades?”  Vorus laughed.  “I saw that coming a mile away.”

Tali growled and rushed forward anyway, raining down a flurry of blows with her two blades.  Vorus blocked each one with a flame-enveloped hand. Tali didn’t understand — she knew her obsession was more obvious than most ghosts’, but there was no way Vorus should’ve been able to block her keyblades so easily, even if they’d expected the weapons.  Something was very, very wrong.

But she stayed on the offensive, looking for an opening.  Vorus couldn’t keep blocking forever.

“It’s useless, you know,” Vorus said, catching one blade in each hand.  The fire from her palms spread down the blue metal, heating it until it Tali was forced to drop her weapons with a hiss.  The keyblades clanged loudly against the concrete.  Vorus kicked them out of Tali’s reach.

“You may not recognize me, but I know you, Tali.  You’re all bark and no bite.  Even these keyblades are just a sham.”

“Easy for you to say!  You’re the real sham!”  Tali spat, backing up.  Weaponless again… things weren’t looking great.  “You won’t even show your face!”

“Hmph.”  Vorus grinned and adjusted their sunglasses, their form flickering fitfully for a moment.  “Fair enough.  I guess you could say I’m the biggest nobody of them all.”

With that, they stretched out a hand and sent a bolt of fire blasting into Tali’s chest.

The crowd hushed.  The music cut out.  Tali stared straight ahead, her hand slowly coming up to cover the burn.

“That’s how it is, huh?”  She whispered.

“It just be like that sometimes.”  Vorus nodded, hands still glowing with flames.  “You ready to give it up?  You can’t defeat me.”

Vorus was right.  Tali wasn’t going to win this match… that firebolt had struck too close to her core.  There was only one thing left to do.

She smiled up at Vic, who was watching the fight with an unreadable expression.  Vic was always too good at masking her emotions.

“Take care of the Denny’s for me,” Tali said.  Then, with the last bit of energy in her damaged core, she dabbed.

The shockwave of wind from the dab blasted across the arena.  Concrete shattered under their feet.  Vorus was thrown back, hitting the invisible wall hard.  From the view in the VIP box, it looked like Vorus had to be out.

But then the dust cleared… and Tali was gone.

Vic stared at the ring, unable to believe it.  Tali had actually… lost? And there Vorus was, slowly regaining the strength to stand.  Tali’s last attack hadn’t even been enough to take them out completely.  

“No way,” Lexosaurus breathed.  “You mean I have to watch Livin’ Large sober?  Are you kidding me??”

That was hardly the biggest problem at the moment, but Vic ignored her.

“Tali… is unable to battle,” she announced slowly.  “Lexovorus wins?”

Lexovorus held up her remaining fidget spinners in victory.

“YEET :)))”