dragonsdomain

[dragonsdomain]

Let's not joke about hate crimes

I've seen a number of posts here on Tumblr joking about acts of violence against people whose opinions OP disagrees with. Often these posts are made towards Conservatives who misgender or otherwise disrespect LGBT people or characters.

These posts are made with the noble intention of protecting vulnerable individuals, but let me draw to your attention the fact that they use the exact same language as some radical Republicans use against gay or trans people. This is horrific behavior which we want to stop, which throughout history has been a gateway to discrimination and dehumanization. By pointing this same behavior back at them, we become hypocrites, perpetuating the cycle of hatred.

We want this world to be a better place. We want to spread love and understanding. We want to teach people how to act with understanding and kindness. We want to make Allies, not enemies. But before this world can be better we have to be better.

Let's not joke about hate crimes.

#LGBT #Deltarune #Undertale #Danny Phantom #those are a few of the fandoms where I've seen this type of behavior #do reblog this post but please don't publicly @ people with it

[dragonsdomain]

Monster in the Woods

"The more people tell Danny he is a monster the more monsterous he becomes. Things that seem innocuous turn into physical manifestations as he starts to believe what people say about him."

A Phic Phight prompt by @burning-clutch

...

Jazz walked through the forest, decaying leaves crunching under her feet. Her phone rang hollowly. "You've reached... please leave a message." Jazz dialed Danny's number again, the action mechanical at this point.

She almost didn't notice when someone started calling her. "Hello? Oh, Mom? No... Yeah, I'll call you. I will, I promise."

Then the call was over. There were bugs or other creatures making sounds in the forest. She still wasn't sure if she should be grateful for how they disguised her footsteps or if she should be cursing their noise, calling out for her brother. He could be lost, repentant from his earlier rashness, more than ready to go home. With his phone out of power, and that's why he wasn't answering her calls. Or... he could still be hiding from her. And that uncertainty was what was keeping Jazz from calling out into the forest.

A Fenton Thermos was at her belt. It had already been there since before Danny had run off, but it haunted Jazz with how its purpose might have changed. Would it be wrong to use it on Danny if she had to, if he tried to run away? Was it more important that she give him the freedom to choose what he wanted, or to get him home safe? She wanted to get him home, to dismiss everything as him being not in his right mind, but that wasn't fair, she should have been better at this point at valuing his feelings.

But if the conclusion was that she shouldn't use the thermos, should she even be looking for Danny at all?

Jazz drew to a stop, then wondered if that'd been a mistake. Starting to walk again would be difficult. Her body was calling her to drop to the ground and curl up in the dirt. Maybe she'd wake up and it'd all be a bad dream.

A childish thought. She kept walking.

As it got darker, Jazz had to turn on the flashlight of her phone, sacrificing any attempt at stealth. She started calling out Danny's name. The trees, taller here and thicker, felt like they were eating up her voice, preventing it from travelling more than a few feet.

Her phone was running out of battery. She'd need to go home now or risk becoming lost in the woods herself.

She turned on the navigator app on her phone to guide her back to town, wondering if it counted as giving up if you hardly felt like you had a choice, or if it even mattered if you kept going.

The leaves kept crunching on her feet. Her flashlight made a column of reality in the deepening darkness.

A sound. Something about it caught her attention, and Jazz looked out to the left towards it, not sure exactly what it was she'd heard, hoping to hear it again. There it was, a shifting in leaves, a whistling breath with some hollow quality.

On a hunch, Jazz clicked off her flashlight. She waited a minute for her eyes to adjust, then peered into that darkness again and saw a slight glow. Strange, why was it so dim? It would be sharper if it was just a matter of distance.

Jazz crept carefully towards the hollow glow, holding her hands out in front of her in the dark. The leaf rot didn't help her stealth; Danny, if that's who she was drawing close to, would know she was there. That was probably a good thing. She didn't hear the sound retreating.

More and more of something grew visible as she passed each tree, vague shapes in the shadows. An arm? A wing? She rounded the last one and saw him, limbs stretched tall and long and donned with sharp claws and chimeric feathers and scales. She couldn't tell if Danny's face was unchanged atop his neck; he was curled up as low as he could get. His aura was dim, possibly on purpose, possibly because he was feeling unwell.

Jazz walked up to him, letting the leaves shuffle underfoot, and put a hand on his back. "Danny. Hey. I'm here."

A sorrowful, crooning noise came from him and he tried to curl farther in on himself.

Jazz leaned into him and started stroking a hand down his back. "It'll be okay. You'll be okay."

Danny let out a shaky breath, his muscles loosening a little under Jazz's arms. He started drooping. It was getting late, and she knew he hadn't been getting good sleep lately; after such a rough day, he was probably tired.

Jazz stayed hugging him. It was slow at first, such that she hardly noticed it, but Danny's body started to shrink down to something closer to its natural size. After some dozen minutes, he turned around to hug her back. Hugging her brother didn't usually feel like this, lukewarm as a corpse, slick feathers fluffed with emotion tickling her cheeks, but Jazz couldn't say it was uncomfortable. She liked how his chest was still rising and falling, how she could hear his heart beating sluggishly within it if she listened closely enough.

"Can you talk?" Jazz asked at length, not yet looking at Danny's face.

He breathed a little sigh, which Jazz was about to assume meant no, before he managed, "Gnnuh-a li'l."

Danny's neck was now within reach, and Jazz curled her arms around it to run her hands through his hair--or feathers in this case, interspersed with a few reptilian ridges. "I know you had a hard day. Do you want to talk about any of it?"

Danny gave a pained whine, then winced at how loud it was. "N-no."

"Okay."

The sounds of the forest were friendlier now, keeping the silence from becoming pervasive. Jazz sat quietly with her oversized brother, glad to no longer have to worry about where he was.

Jazz's phone buzzed with a phone call, and she and Danny both jumped. Jazz fumbled for the phone. "H-hi, Mom. I'm still looking.... Yeah, I'm going to stay out longer, my phone still has battery. ...Uh-huh. ...Yeah, I hope so too. ...He's probably okay, Mom, he'll be back. ...I will. You too. Love you."

Jazz hung up the phone. Danny was hanging his head like he was ashamed of something. Jazz looked at his face without thinking, and he flinched nervously even though he looked pretty normal at that point. Maybe it was the uncanny valley he was worried about. He did look a little strange at this point, but Jazz had seen worse.

"You really don't look that bad, you know. I'm not just saying that."

"Ugh..." A clawed hand buried Danny's face. "I'm making her worry... I made you all worry."

"Come on, no shaming, we've talking about this. That's not constructive." Jazz ruffled the feathers atop Danny's head. They felt thinner now, closer to hair.

"Ssorry," Danny muttered.

Jazz rolled her eyes, pulling Danny to her side for a hug again and some pats on the back. "It's okay. I know you're doing your best.

Danny was getting better. He was pretty close to normal size. Jazz glanced over him and was pleased to see much of his skin now visible, ghostly simulacrum of his hazmat suit returning in place of feathers and scales. "You feel almost ready to change back you think?"

"Yeah..." Danny's shoulders drooped. "What am I gonna tell Mom?"

"What are we gonna tell Mom, you mean." Jazz gave Danny's shoulder a squeeze. "I've got your back. You're not alone in this, okay?"

Danny took a deep breath, the last of his feathers disappearing. "Okay."

Jazz stood up, then offered Danny a hand. "Let's start walking. We can figure out a story as we go, then I'll call Mom when we're ready."

Danny took her hand and followed as Jazz started walking. "Is there maybe some normal-ish explanation for all this? I'd rather not stick with the story that I ran away. Maybe me and Sam were on a walk or something and my phone died and I lost track of her?"

"That's a good start. I could message Sam about the excuse. Is youre phone actually dead?"

"Well, yeah."

"That makes me feel better about you ignoring my calls."

"Sorry."

"Y'know, Danny?"

"Yeah?"

Jazz pulled him in for another quick hug as they walked. "I'm really glad you're coming home."

"Aww man, don't make it weirder than it has to be."

"Emotions aren't weird, little brother."

"You're weird."

"My sincerest apologies for being the weirdest member of the family. I hope you'll all still be able to love me."

"Aww man, Jazz."

#my fanfics #Danny Phantom #Jazz Fenton #Danny Fenton #Phic Phight #Phic Phight 2024 #AU #yeah i made it wholesome sorry not sorry #fenton family fluff

[dragonsdomain]

Bleeding Out in the Backyard

"Mansions are rich and have a lot of security. One day their lead officer shows them a concerning video of Danny Fenton in the back ally behind their home."

A phic phight prompt by DizzlyPuzzled

...

Pamela Manson sipped her tea before blinking at the camera again. It had been a while since she'd paid attention to these security cameras, but she's starting to think that may have been a mistake.

"Honey?" she called into the hall. "Jeremy? Can you come over here?"

"Sure, sweetie!" Jeremy swept into the room, then drew to an abrupt stop at the view on the screen. "Is that Sam's scraggly boyfriend bleeding out in the backyard?"

Pamela opened her mouth to argue that he wasn't her boyfriend if she had anything to say about it before slapping her forehead. "Oh dear, I should call an ambulance! I wouldn't want to get sued by his crazy parents."

"Why is he bleeding out in our backyard?" Jeremy muttered.

"Here, call the cops, dear," Pam said, handing her phone to Jeremy before poking her head out to the hall again and shrieking "Sam! Get down here!"

Pam's phone dinged in Jeremy's hand. He glanced down at it. "Sam says 'what?'"

"Ugh!" Pamela grabbed the phone back from him and called Sam. "Get down here, you ungrateful girl! Your wretched friend is bleeding out in the backyard!"

There was a beat of silence. Jeremy was thankfully pulling out his own phone to call 911 with. "Mom..." Sam answered, "Are you trying to April Fool's prank me? 'Cause this is a really bad way to do it. Or-- wait, Tucker? Are you pretending to be my mom?"

"I am your mother!" Pam screeched. "Get down here before I have to come up and get you!"

Jeremy was speaking with an operator on the other side of the phone, describing the situation. Good.

Sam strode into the room presently with eyeliner half-removed. She takes in the screen, and Pam watches some indeterminate firecracker of emotions smack up onto Sam's face and then right back off. "...I forgot we have security cameras."

"Ugh," Pam rolls her eyes, mentally brushing off the fact that she had also forgotten.

"Okay, so... he's probably doing a prank."

Pam's eyelid twitches. "You can't be serious, Sam. Your father has already called an ambulance."

Sam cursed under her breath. "Uh, lemme go check on him, see what's going on. I'll call you from the yard and tell you what's up."

"Make it quick," Pamela said, gritting her teeth.

Sam dashed off again. Pamela propped herself up on the desk next to the cameras. She noticed she was shaking and tried taking some deep breaths to soothe her nerves. That boy was going to regret this if it really was just a prank.

Pam nearly shrieked when her phone rang, before she managed to fumble it up to her ear and answer.

"Hey! Haha, so! Yeah, it was just a prank!" Sam said, and Pam wondered if she was imagining that strained note in her daughter's voice. "It was just fake blood. Y'know. Uh, he didn't know about the cameras. And he was going to call me down to come see. So, ha, sorry about the ambulance, but you can send them away when they get here. 'Cause he's. He's fine."

Pamela's head drooped down on the desk. "Sam. Samantha."

Sam laughed nervously. "W-what?"

"You're grounded."

"Hey!"

Pam hung up. She gave a long, drawn-out sigh.

"What? So is he fine?" Jeremy asked.

"Yes," Pamela said exhaustedly.

Jeremy frowned at the screen. "He's still sticking to the bit."

Pamela glanced up and watched Sam dragging her friend across the grass, leaving behind an ugly trail of awfully convincing fake blood. She hoped it was water soluble.

"That girl is going to stop hanging out with those awful boys if it's the last thing I make her do."

#phic phight #phic phight 2024 #my fanfics #Danny Phantom #Sam Manson #Pamela Manson #Jeremy Manson #tw blood

[dragonsdomain]

A Sonnet for Ralsei

I will protect this precious fluffy boy. I've known him for two mins yet him I love. His kind and wholesome nature brings me joy. Ignore the dummy. I will give him hug!

He wore a cloak because he's sweet and shy. I hug him and he starts to squirm and blush. Does Ralsei like this charming girl or guy? (Am I the one who starts to have a crush?)

Please hold my hand--this sword will take but one. That Susie ran, but you'll stay by my side. I'm glad to hear our quest has just begun. I want you as my mentor and my guide!

For less th'n'a day has Ralsei been my guy, But if he's hurt then ev'ryone will die.

#AKA I've only had Ralsei for like ten minutes but if anything happens to him I will FIGHT everyone in this room and then myself #I am playing Deltarune and having a good time #writing #poetry #Deltarune #Ralsei #I don't know whether I want people to take this seriously or ignore it completely I couldn't just not write it though #Ralsei my precious bean

[dragonsdomain]

You! Are! History!

I drew some of Pit's fabulous adorable poses from his battle cry in Chapter 5. I love him so much.

There were more, by the way, but I got tired after inking and coloring two. Have all five sketches under the cut:

#Kid Icarus #Uprising #Kid Icarus Uprising #Pit KIU #my art #Drawing Pit and exploring his swishy swishy princess clothes was such a blast #I think as a fandom we need to talk more about how attractive he is. Like. Guys. #Can you please tell me I'm not the only one attracted to Pit #Like look at him in that sketch on the bottom left? Yes I'm simping over my own drawing don't look at me like that it's normal #Also guys line weight??? Why did nobody tell me making a heavier outline of your character makes the drawing look 10x more professional??? #I feel like I've unlocked a cheat code to life. Now I can feel like my art is ready to post even if it's not fully shaded #Which is great 'cause we all know I take an eternity to post any art ever #Anyway don't click on this. Don't zoom in. Don't question why the quality changes halfway across the piece #Just admire the bird wings or something like I actually pulled up a reference for those you should be proud

[dragonsdomain]

Blob Ghost Supreme chapter 4

AO3

Chapter 3

The colosseum was packed when it came time for the final battle. Eager ghosts were pressing in from all sides, forming a writhing dome of ghosts all trying to press towards the front. Walker's police ghosts had to be working overtime to maintain a shield around the arena to keep any ghosts from pressing too close.

Sam and Tucker probably would have had a very hard time seeing the fight if they hadn't been inexplicably invited into the fancy leader booth.

Tucker looked over at Sam with his eyebrows up high. What did she think about this? He was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Sam shrugged. So she wasn't looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Tucker sneered at her for being a hoity-toity rich girl.

Sam sneered back at him for insinuating that this had anything to do with that, and really, shouldn't he just be being more grateful? Be polite, Tucker.

Tucker rolled his eyes. Fine.

Tucker turned to the tall clock man beside him. He was apparently the Observants' boss who he'd heard about. "So. Who're you rooting for?"

Sam snorted, covering her face, and Tucker raised an eyebrow at her. If she was going to be judging him for committing high society faux pas, the least she could do was telepathically tell him what he was doing wrong.

Clock man, ahem, Clockwork, laughed. "It would arouse a great deal of trouble if I were to claim anything other than impartiality. Though I can guess who you are rooting for."

Sam looked up again. "If I may, how did you know Tucker and I knew Phantom? We didn't even know back then."

Clockwork's eyes twinkled knowingly. "Time is irrelevant for me. I have forgotten more things than either of you have ever known."

Tucker grinned. "Is that really something to brag about, Grandpa?"

Sam choked down a laugh, which somewhat stifled the effects of her pointedly elbowing him. "Sorry about my friend. He doesn't mean any disrespect."

Clockwork shapeshifted into a young man. "No worries. It's refreshing."

Sam coughed awkwardly. "Do you know much about the other finalist? I'm afraid I haven't heard much about them." Sam neglected to mention that she and Tucker hadn't watched any matches which didn't have Danny in them.

"He's rather mysterious," Clockwork said, but there was a knowing twinkle in his eye. "He showed up through a portal the day before the tournament, and quickly established himself as one of the most brutal and promising competitors. His skills are quite impressive. I know many ghosts in the audience are rooting for him."

Sam rolled her eyes, muttering to herself. "Power this, skills that. Isn't trial by combat archaic?"

Clockwork laughed, and Sam blushed. Tucker smirked at her. "Many ghosts believe power is related to the depth of one's connection to the ghost zone," Clockwork explained. "Therefore, the ghosts with the most power will be the ones with the strongest connection to it. Usually, blob ghosts are known to take on a weak appearance because they're close to passing on. Those types of souls have little reason to develop any power or reputation. A lack of resolve."

Sam glanced out at the throngs of ghosts in the audience. "I guess that'd explain why people don't really want a blob ghost on the throne, because they'd expect him to leave them before long."

Clockwork nodded. "Yes, likely. Though there are also reasons they're sensitive about the matter. Ghosts care greatly about appearance and change theirs to match how they wish to present themselves."

Tucker frowned. "But we haven't seen any ghosts doing that." He glanced up. "No, wait! Skulker!"

Clockwork chuckled. "Usually it's accomplished through magic, not technology, so it'd be less noticeable. But yes."

Sam started out across the audience, eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, so... if what Skulker did was common... how many of the ghosts out there..." She whipped back towards Clockwork. "Is this common knowledge? Are you supposed to be telling us this?"

Clockwork waved her off. "I can tell anyone whatever I please. Now take a seat. The final round is about to begin."

Sam pulled back and plopped down into her seat.

Tucker leaned over to her and whispered. "What did you mean? I'm confused."

Sam shook her head. "I don't know. It's a long-shot. I'm probably wrong."

Tucker's eyes narrowed. "Isn't that what we thought about Phantom having something to do with Danny?"

Sam shushed him. "Not so loud! I don't know." She sighed. "I'm just wondering, I guess, how many of these ghosts are hiding something?"

"Something like..." Tucker prompted.

Sam frowned, then whispered in Tucker's ear.

He pulled away from her, wearing a baffled grin. "That is crazy. It'd be hilarious if you were right."

Sam shrugged. "Well I'm probably not. Now let's watch this battle. Let's hope Danny wins instead of this nasty-sounding other guy."

...

Danny clenched his jaw as the gate opened into the arena, and he and his opponent both floated out.

His opponent was large, but in a way that was far more solid than the tornado from the qualifying round. He was shaped like a muscular human, but his skin was blue like a corpse, and blue fire consumed his head in place of hair. His gaze rose from the ground, and locked with Danny's. It stabbed into him, the sharp, uncanny smile, the red eyes that looked so sickeningly familiar. Danny had some sense that he'd met this ghost before, that he hated him, that he was afraid of him.

"Welcome, denizens of the ghost zone, to the final battle of the Ghost King Tournament! Blob Ghost Phantom versus Dark Dan!"

Dan lunged. He was where Danny was in an instant, and his clawed hands whipped the air inches from his face.

Danny pulled back, zipping towards the opposite side of the arena again to get a little space to think, but after only another instant Dan was on him again, grabbing at the air he barely halted before. Danny put up a ghost shield to block Dan's claws and ecto-blasts, but Dan grabbed his shield with him in it and pounded it against the wall only three times before it shattered, leaving Danny breathless.

Danny slipped out of the way again just before Dan could grab him. He started darting erratically through the air to try to keep away from Dan, and it worked for a couple of seconds until an ectoblast hit him. It flung Danny against the wall, but he bounced off of it harmlessly.

Dan frowned when he saw that Danny was fine, and Danny rushed out of the way again. He finally managed to pivot and get a few shots in as he flew away, but Dan dodged two of them harmlessly and blocked the third with what looked like his bare hand. Danny gulped and continued trying to avoid Dan's shots. He needed a second to think.

Dan's fist hit him from the side, launching Danny into the wall. Danny bounced off of it and onto the floor, and he pulled up spitting sand out of his mouth.

"So that meager form did have one advantage after all, does it?" Dan said, cracking his knuckles. "Interesting."

What did he mean did? Danny was right here! Maybe Dan wasn't talking about him at all.

Danny fired off some shots of frost, but Dan broke through each one with relative ease. Danny continued his game of keep-away while he tried to charge up an especially powerful blast of ice, though when he managed to fire it off, Dan dodged out of its way. Danny gritted his teeth. How was he supposed to beat this ghost? This was so frustrating!

Danny started curling power around his space core, channeling its destructive force and creating another black hole.

Dan flew right up to the hole easily and extinguished it between his fingers with a condescending smirk. He blew away the smoke on them.

Danny froze. "What?!"

Dan smirked. "Oh, my pathetic, inferior self. Let me show you how it's done."

Dan brought his hands together and pulled them apart to create a black hole of his own. Danny's eyes widened as the circumference of the hole in turn grew larger and larger.

"What are you doing?" Danny screamed as he pushed himself against the wall as far from the ball as possible. "You'll destroy the arena!"

"If that's what it takes," Dan said casually.

Danny set his jaw in determination, then surged toward Dan's black hole like the other ghost had just a second ago. He opened his mouth wider than he ever thought was possible and swallowed the black thing whole.

Dan stared at him dubiously. Danny stared back, hoping his chest wasn't about to implode.

After a few seconds of them staring at each other and the audience staring at them, nothing had happened, and the ghosts in the stands let out a collective sigh of relief.

Danny opened his mouth to yell at Dan again, but the force of the black hole suddenly blasted forth out of it as a void-colored laser, directly in Dan's face. Danny tried to force his jaw shut; he wasn't trying to kill anyone, whatever this was, but it took several seconds before he was able to.

When the power finally depleted, Danny could see that the arena had finally met its match. A hole had been burned clean through it and the hall behind it, with the pale green of the ghost zone sky visible at the other end. Danny gulped. "Dan?"

There was silence for a second. Then a small, round shape pushed out of the wreckage at the end of the tunnel, steaming. Danny squinted. It looked like a large green water balloon. It looked like him.

Dan the blob ghost floated dazedly out of the tunnel, then flopped to the ground on the edge of the arena.

Danny blinked, looking around at the audience. That wasn't real, right?

Up in the fancy booth, the two familiar figures of Sam and Tucker stood up and started to applaud. No one else followed, the entire audience held in stunned silence.

The announcer Observant was frantically whispering to the other Observants beside him. Finally he spoke. "So, um. Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. Dark Dan was a blob ghost this entire time. How cowardly of him to hide it! Surely no one else would be able to relate to something so foolish—"

Clockwork took the microphone from the Observant's hand. "On the contrary, I think we can all learn from this. While some ghosts like Dan and Skulker may disguise their true self, it is the one who showed the truth despite its humility who ultimately won this tournament."

Clockwork swept his arms wide towards the audience. "For too long we've assumed that a ghost's appearance defines them. We have passed off blob ghosts as weak, to be ignored and forgotten. But as we've seen today, that belief does not hold water. It is an impression of a more ignorant time. In fact, perhaps a small appearance, rather than demonstrating any kind of weakness, shows confidence, and a strength more than any other."

Hushed murmuring trickled through the audience, ghosts looking at each other in doubt. Sam and Tucker had stopped clapping when Clockwork spoke, and now Sam was glancing around anxiously as Tucker attempted to give Danny an encouraging smile.

Johnny 13 jumped up onto the wall and pumped a fist in the air. "Hail King Phantom!" he screamed, then, with a pop, turned into a small, dark green blob ghost.

Several members of the crowd gasped.

Ember McLain hovered above the crowd and thrust her guitar into the air. "Hail King Phantom!" and she shapeshifted into a squishy blue fireball.

Danny's jaw dropped. Her too? How many of them were secretly blob ghosts?

One by one, each of Ember's bandmates also floated up and turned into blob ghosts of varying colors. Danny could only stare. The murmurings of the audience members had taken on a different tone, them turning to each other with looks on their faces not of shame or anger, but of awe.

A couple of ghosts started to filter away. What, were they blob ghosts too and didn't want to show it?

Those who remained, though, gradually started to also turn into blob ghosts. Danny recognized several he knew. The vine ghost from the first round shapeshifted into a roundish bramble. The tornado ghost turned into a more peaceful-looking sphere of wind. Technus abandoned an avatar he'd been hanging out in to reveal his own sparking blob ghost form.

Danny gaped as the silhouettes of the audience melded into the pleasant appearance of a ball park. Every one of them. "What?" he asked again, dumbly.

A blue blob ghost with a clock pinning a cloak around its neck floated down to him. "Clockwork?" Danny asked, extremely confused.

Clockwork nodded. "We're all blob ghosts. The archaic belief that that appearance was weak has been holding us back for centuries. By winning this tournament, you showed everyone here that they don't need to be ashamed of what they really look like."

"Wait, they all have shapeshifting magic? Does that mean I have shapeshifting magic too?! Teach me how to--"

Tucker crashed into Danny from behind, and Sam was quick to follow, the two pinning him in a hug.

"That was so awesome!" Sam shouted. "I was kind of worried you were about to lose, 'cause apparently he's your evil future self and everything, but you totally kicked his bu—!"

"Evil future self???" Danny spluttered.

"Oh, yeah. Clockwork told us." Tucker said.

Danny stared at him, then said hopefully, "I grow up to look that cool?"

Tucker shrugged. "I mean, I guess? Anyway, you're the ghost king! This is awesome! You're an inspiration!"

Danny looked up at the crowds of blob ghosts floating around each other joyfully. So everything they'd been saying about him had been because they were just ashamed themselves. And now they finally felt proud enough to take their true forms. They looked so comfortable, so happy.

Danny looked back at Clockwork. "Okay, but seriously. Show me how to shapeshift into something cooler!"

#my fanfics #blob ghost supreme #Danny Phantom #blob ghost Danny au #crack #tw violence #ectoimplosion2023 #Sam Manson #Tucker Foley #Clockwork #ghost king Danny AU

[dragonsdomain]

Blob Ghost Supreme chapter 3

AO3

Chapter 2

Danny wasn't going to stop trying to win the tournament, despite what Tucker had said.

Yeah, it was comforting that Tucker had said that. That this doesn't change things. But however much he actually believed him, he wasn't the only one Danny wanted to prove himself to. He wanted to prove himself to everyone. To all the ghosts. To his peers at school. To himself.

By the time the second round of fights was about to begin, Danny was ready, floating just outside the gate.

The crowds were either cheering or yelling as he and his opponent walked out into the arena.

"Phantom the Blob," announced the Observant, "versus Spectra the Counselor!"

The other ghost who stepped out into the arena wasn't what Danny had expected. She looked almost human, but her sharp smile looked sinister, and a little too wide. Something about her made Danny feel off-balance, like she could see right through him to his insecurities.

Maybe she could.

"'Phantom the Blob', hm?" she said softly, with a sympathetic tilt of her head. Her voice carried across the arena straight into Danny's soul. "You probably didn't choose that title, did you? But no one will ever call you anything else."

Danny fired an ectoblast at her, but she stepped to the side to avoid it easily. She was slowly walking towards him. "Winning a tournament won't change anything. You've heard what they say about you. They still think you're cheating, not because they have any evidence for it, but because they won't believe anything else. And nothing will change that."

Danny glared at her. What kind of fight tactic was this? Was she taunting him? He opened his mouth to throw a retort at her, but blushed when he remembered his high-pitched voice.

Spectra chuckled at that instant, and Danny had the dreadful thought that she knew what he'd been thinking. "You know I'm right, don't you? You can't say anything. You're too ashamed of yourself."

Danny charged toward her, blazing with fury. He held an ectoblast in his mouth, but Spectra slapped him away with pathetic ease, and the fire died in his mouth. "You're so small. You're adorable. Cute. Nothing you can do will ever make you frightening or imposing in any way. No one's dumb enough to respect a sentient grape."

Danny snarled, firing a ray of ice at Spectra, but she slipped out of the way like steam. "Oh, look at you trying so hard. And you haven't landed a single hit on me. It's adorable to see such effort. Keep trying! Maybe you'll be able to hit me once~"

Danny fired a barrage of blasts at her, which she dodged, and he tried to trap her within a ranged ghost shield, but she slipped out the top before he could close it around her. "Aww, you're not trying hard enough. The whole audience can see how weak you really are! Your friends are up there in the stands, aren't they? You're embarrassing them."

Danny almost wanted to try another black hole, but he flinched as he remembered how badly he'd scared the audience with it, how he'd almost killed Skulker.

"What's wrong?" Spectra held out her hands, leaving her core open. "Are you frightened of me? Or of yourself? Funny how you're the only one who seems to feel that way. You want people to respect you, but that's really just because you're scared, isn't it? You don't even respect yourself."

Could the audience hear what Spectra was saying? It all sounded so loud in Danny's head. The idea that they could be hearing all this, all so horrifyingly accurate, made him even more angry and even more embarrassed.

"You might as well just quit while you're ahead," Spectra whispered, loud and clear.

"Shut up!" Danny screamed, shooting at her with all the force of a comet. Her eyes widened in the instant before and after he blasted against her chest, launching her into the wall with such force she passed out.

And the match was over.

...

"Tucker, you can look. Tucker, nobody's bleeding."

Tucker looked up cautiously where he'd curled up under the wall. "What?"

Sam shrugged. "I dunno, he smashed into her really hard and she's knocked out, but she didn't start bleeding. I guess being a blob ghost has some benefits? He's like a cushion."

Tucker cautiously peeked over back towards the arena. There he was, Danny, floating above Spectra. He was looking downward, so Tucker couldn't really tell what his face looked like at the moment. He was a little surprised that no skin had been broken. The cracks around Spectra made it clear that Danny had hit her really hard.

"Do you think Danny would be okay if he accidentally killed someone?" Tucker whispered.

Sam shrugged. "I mean, after seeing that, I don't think he will. His powers might even be designed to protect people."

Danny was still hovering there, unmoving. The turmoil from the audience was something he was used to at this point, and he tuned it out like white noise. "I wonder if the Observants would let us down there to make sure he's okay."

Sam said. "Good idea. Let's let ourselves down there."

"Wait, that's not what I said," Tucker started, and he felt a jolt of panic when Sam moved to climb up onto the wall. "Sam, we're like two stories up!"

Sam paused and frowned at him for a minute. Then she sighed and slipped back down to the ground next to Tucker. He let out a little 'whew'.

Sam grabbed Tucker's hand and started pulling him back towards the hall again. "Then let's go this way. We'll shove past the guards if we have to."

Tucker followed without resistance. "I doubt it'll come to that. they'll probably take him out of the arena if he hasn't moved by the time we get down there."

Tucker couldn't see Sam's face ahead of him, but he could sense that she was scowling. "Ugh. Fine," she said.

"We don't wanna be pushing boundaries, Sam. We're already only here 'cause we have special permission."

Sam glanced back curiously. "They said their boss let us in 'cause we're the future ghost king's friend, right? Does that mean they think Danny's gonna win?"

Tucker shrugged. "I mean, he's made it to the finals now, hasn't he? The next round'll be the last one."

Sam whistled.

Eventually they stopped running, which Tucker was glad for. Dashing at him like the sky was falling wasn't going to be very helpful if they were trying to comfort Danny. Also, Sam had sped down the stairs with a level of insanity that Tucker had not been able to or wanted to keep up with.

They found Danny floating vacantly outside of the arena.

Tucker stepped up to him. "You okay, dude?"

Danny startled for a second, then calmed down. He came back to himself to scowl at the ground. "That was pathetic. I made a fool of myself without her even throwing a single shot."

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked. "You won. You hit her so hard at the end she cracked the arena wall."

Danny cringed. "I don't know. That doesn't feel right. I just did that 'cause I got too angry, and I almost..." he trailed off.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "I thought you wanted to show people how powerful you were."

"Are you beating yourself up about almost killing her?" Tucker asked. "Pretty sure she would have done the same to you if she'd had the chance. And she wouldn't have stopped at 'almost'." Tucker moved with the intention to pat Danny's shoulder, but since Danny was a blob ghost then he ended up just patting his head and it was a little weird. He pulled his hand back awkwardly. "I mean. Um. It is a full-out brawl. I don't think you have to feel too bad about hurting people. That's kind of the risk you take when you enter one of these things." Tucker spoke from no authority except through the video game experience of getting game overs when dying to a boss, but the words felt true enough.

Danny kept boring a hole in the ground. "Do you guys... really think I didn't look pathetic? Everybody already thinks that. And what if I'm not even really that powerful anyway? Then I'll just be wrong. And this'll all be for nothing. And things'll just go back to the way they were before. Or worse."

"I mean," Sam began, "I don't think you really have to worry about people assuming you're weak again. Regardless of how graceful it was, you just won the semifinal round of the Ghost King Tournament." She shrugged. "This thing is a pretty big deal, right? So it's objective. You are powerful. Nobody can argue with it."

Danny sighed wetly. "I don't know if everyone'll be as sensible about it as you are, Sam."

Sam threw her arms out. "Oh, forget it! This is stupid! Why do you care so much about what everyone thinks anyway?! You said it yourself, they're being stupid about it. So it shouldn't matter what they think!" She stomped her foot for emphasis.

Danny glared at her. "I don't know if you've noticed, Sam, but most people aren't like you. It matters to me what people think, because I have to see it everywhere I go!"

Tucker held up his hands between the two. "Woah, hey! It's okay if we have different opinions about stuff. And it's totally legitimate to want to be respected. I mean, I sometimes wish I got more respect myself."

Sam and Danny glared at each other for a second longer before Sam sagged, looking down. "Sorry. I didn't mean it like there's something wrong with it. I just meant I wish it didn't have to hurt you so much. 'Cause you're never going to be able to completely control what people think about you."

"But I can try," Danny said. He glanced down and begrudgingly said. "I'm sorry too. There's nothing wrong with you either."

Tucker stepped back, smiling in satisfaction. "You're gonna do great, Danny. And whether or not you win, you've probably gone a long way already towards proving yourself to everyone." He hesitated, then held out his fist. Danny started at it for a second, then mustered a smile and bumped his head against it.

"We'll be rooting for you," Sam said.

"Yeah. And be careful out there. The last opponent will probably be really strong," Tucker added.

Danny gave a smirk. "Hopefully by the end of it they'll have wished they were more careful around me."

...

The Observant slammed a set of papers onto Clockwork's makeshift desk. "Did you really think we wouldn't notice?"

Clockwork tilted his head innocently as he took on the appearance of a child. "Notice what?"

The Observant held up the two top papers and pointed to them. "Ectosignature readings. The signatures of the two finalists are awfully similar, aren't they?" He looked like he was barely keeping his cool.

"Should be an exciting fight then, shouldn't it?" Clockwork grinned.

The Observant took a deep, exasperated breath. "Clockwork. We all know you have your eye on that young blob ghost. But how can you possibly consider this fair play?"

"Whatever could you possibly mean?" Clockwork asked. "This tournament is meant to showcase the most powerful ghosts throughout the infinite realms! In that sense, how could it possibly be fair to exclude one of them?"

The Observant pinched where the bridge of his nose should be and gave a long sigh. "After thousands of years of existence," he muttered, "shouldn't you be more mature?"

"Nope," Clockwork smiled. "We stay silly."

"You are the worst."

"I try."

Chapter 4

#my fanfics #Blob Ghost Supreme #Danny Phantom #blob ghost Danny au #crack #tw violence #ectoimplosion2023 #Sam Manson #Tucker Foley #Clockwork #The last chapter after this will be posted on Monday! Get ready!

[dragonsdomain]

Blob Ghost Supreme chapter 2

AO3

Chapter 1

Danny's first victory was not met with the unadulterated praise for which he'd hoped. He heard terms ranging from "Cheater!" to things he wouldn't be able to repeat over the dinner table flung towards him like javelins, along with empty snack packages he had to dodge. The screams of the audience carried a whole range of emotions, the kind of sound that might herald a riot. Would it make things better or worse if Danny tried to step in and get them to settle down? No, Walker's minions were already on that.

Danny glared defiantly at the audience, then headed out of the arena. This was the beginning. So they didn't believe a blob ghost could win that fight fair and square? So they were enraged by the very idea of it? He'd show them. He'd make them believe he was the real deal, that he deserved their respect. If winning this whole tournament was what it took to make that happen, so be it. He would do it.

...

Sam and Tucker had to grab hold of each other to make sure neither got swept away by the increasingly riotous crowd after the battle ended. The ghost cops all jumped into action and soon enough were able to calm the crowd into a tamer simmering discontent.

Muttering continued between audience members as they finally started to settle back into their seats.

Tucker grabbed the shoulder of a Day of the Dead skeleton to his right. "Hey excuse me, what was that? What just happened?"

"I don't know!" She exclaimed. "A blob ghost, just taking out so many ghosts like that? It shouldn't be possible! Did it cheat? Did it bribe all those ghosts somehow? What does it want? We can't let a cheater get away with becoming the ghost king! We—"

"Wait!" Tucker waved his hands to grab her attention. "I just mean like, what are the rules of this tournament? How does this work?"

The woman sagged, scowling at Tucker. "If you care so little about this tournament, why are you even here?" she sighed. "It's the Ghost King Tournament. It'll have three rounds of one on one battles between eight contestants, and the final winner will be the new ghost king." She pointed down at the arena, where the ghost cops were now working on freeing the defeated contestants from ice. "That was a preliminary round. There'll be eight, with contestants randomly divided between them, and the last ghost standing at the end of each preliminary round will be one of the eight contestants."

Tucker nodded. "Okay. Thank you. That helps a lot."

The woman stood, dusting herself off. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go discuss this with someone who actually cares how it turns out."

Tucker turned back to Sam as the other ghost turned away, finding her having some debate about ghost races with a dangerous-looking ghost to her left. Tucker pulled her away from him. "Sam, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Oh. Yeah. Sure." Sam looked like she was about to fire some final word at the large ghost behind her, but Tucker yanked her away into the crowd before she could.

Tucker grabbed her face in his hands. "Sam, that blob ghost Phantom is really powerful."

Sam's eyes narrowed. "We're not leaving."

"What do you mean?" Tucker glared at her. "What are we even doing here then? Putting our lives in danger for curiosity's sake?"

Sam grabbed his shoulders, holding him away from her. "Look, we may not be sure exactly what's important about what's going on, but this tournament is a huge deal. Seeing it could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

Tucker started to respond, but Sam interrupted him. "Plus, how much danger can our lives be in if we've somehow been sponsored by the Observant boss or whatever it was that police officer ghost said?"

Tucker frowned. "What was that about, anyway? Why would some important ghost want us here?"

Sam let go of Tucker and started tapping her chin. "I think the ghost mentioned that it was because we're the future ghost king's friends. But we don't have any ghost friends. Do you think it's some kind of mix-up? Did we actually fool them?"

Tucker shrugged. "Yeah. I don't know. It's weird." He straightened. "If we're not the right people, then... what'll happen when they find out the truth?"

Sam cringed. "So we might be in a little danger. Okay. Still, it's not like we'll ever get another chance like this."

Tucker curled in on himself. "I don't know. I don't like it. I feel like we're getting in way over our heads, Sam. We're supposed to be having a hangout with Danny right now! What are we going to tell him when we get back if he's been there waiting for us now?"

Sam pulled out her phone. "Do we have service—? No. Yeah, um. Okay. How about we compromise. If things start going south, if somebody tries to hurt us, we leave. Okay?"

Tucker rolled the idea around in his head. "Okay. Fine. I mean, yeah, I'm curious too." He shuffled awkwardly. "Do we have to watch all the prequalifying fights though?"

Sam smiled in relief. "No, we can probably find some hallway to hang out in 'til the one-on-one fights start. Thanks, man."

Tucker smiled wryly. "I'm the one who gets to call if things are getting too dangerous, 'kay?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Fine."

The two of them walked up towards the top of the audience seating, looking for an exit to somewhere else. The next pre-round was about to start, and it'd be better to get out of the way before things got exciting again.

Tucker worried there wouldn't be anywhere to go since most ghosts got around by flying, but thankfully they were able to find an exit to some hallways that could easily be reached by foot. Was this place based off of a human colosseum? Or was it originally built by humans? It'd be pretty interesting if the places in the ghost zone were the ghosts of places from the real world too.

The hallways weren't completely quiet and still had a fair number of ghosts milling about, but it was significantly more peaceful back here than out in the audience.

Sam and Tucker started strolling aimlessly down the hall.

"You know," Sam said, "If you don't want to be here, I could drop you off back at the Fentons' with the Speeder. You don't have to be here with me."

Tucker snorted. "Yeah, right. I'm not leaving you here in some deep part of the ghost zone all alone."

Sam smirked. "I guess it is kind of nice having you here too."

They found a bench and sat down. "Too bad Danny's not here," Tucker said.

Sam leaned back, stretching her arms above her head. "His fault for being so late," Sam said. "Plus, he hasn't been that interested in ghost stuff anyway. Any time I try to talk about that blob ghost—Phantom—he's always changing the subject."

Tucker frowned, thinking.

Sam glanced at him. "What?"

"Why is it always us who see Phantom? It's not like it’s rare for the little guy to show up, but Danny's never been there when he does."

Sam tilted her head. "Well, huh." She frowned down at the floor. "Is he avoiding Phantom on purpose?"

"But how would he know when Phantom was gonna show up?" Tucker asked.

"I mean, whenever a ghost shows up for it to fight? I have noticed Danny taking bathroom breaks often when that happens." Sam tapped her fingers.

Tucker stared down at his shoes. "Correct me if I'm wrong. But didn't Danny always leave before the ghost would show up?"

"Oh." Sam nodded. "I mean, that makes sense. I was trying to remember why teachers would let him leave if a ghost was there. Makes more sense if he'd left before."

"Weird," Tucker said, folding his arms.

A flash of green zipped by at eye-level.

Tucker and Sam launched up from their seats. "Phantom!" Sam cried, dashing after him, and Tucker followed quickly after.

Phantom was far faster than the two humans were on foot, even when he was having to slow down to take turns in the narrow hallway. Soon enough they'd lost sight of the blob ghost, but kept tracing his path by asking nearby ghosts which way they'd seen him go.

Eventually they wandered their way down to a basement story, where there was some kind of ghost gym (it looked pretty similar to a human gym except that some things were floating). Phantom was visible repeatedly tackling a sandbag with enough force to send it swinging wildly, and the ghosts near him kept giving him nervous glances.

Sam strode up to the blob ghost and said, "Hey, Phantom!"

"AH!" the blob ghost jolted to a halt with an adorably high-pitched shriek.

Yeah, okay, Tucker was no longer scared. He walked up to the ghost and stood next to Sam.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," Sam said with alarming respect towards a tiny creature with such an adorable voice.

Tucker coughed, trying to regain his composure.

Phantom muttered something about how he wasn't startled, and was Tucker imagining things or was his face a darker shade of green? Anyhow, "Well, what is it?" Phantom asked.

Sam drew herself up and cleared her throat with a level of professionalism that made Tucker wonder what was about to come out of her mouth. "As the ambassadors from the humans to this auspicious occasion, we'd like to ask you a few questions about you and this event."

Phantom scoffed. "You two are ambassadors? From what government? No one sends ambassadors to the ghost zone!"

Tucker glared at Sam with the intensity it'd take to telepathically call her an idiot for thinking that would work again.

"Uh," Sam continued. "Well, from America. We're the kids of the president!"

How far are you going to push this? Tucker telepathically glared.

Sam glanced at him and finally noticed his glaring and gave him a telepathic I dunno, man.

Phantom dipped down low in a mock bow. "Oh, my apologies, Princess Samantha." He froze.

"How'd you know her name?" Tucker asked.

"I- uh- I heard it? From someone? Didn't you mention it?"

"No?" Tucker said in bafflement.

"Uh, well, I think my fight is about to start!" Phantom gave a laugh that sounded very fake and anxious. "BYE." The blob rocketed out of the room.

There was an awkward silence in the gym as the other ghosts stared after Phantom. "I don't think they're even done with the pre-rounds yet," one of them muttered.

After a minute, the ghosts started going back to their exercising. Sam and Tucker looked at each other. "Is it just me," Sam began, "or did Phantom know a lot about the human world?"

Tucker frowned at the floor. "Maybe he died recently? And how did he know your name? Do we know him?"

Sam inhaled. "Something felt familiar about the way he talked. I can't put my finger on it."

Tucker shrugged. "He hurried away pretty quickly. Seems like even if we did know him, he doesn't want to talk to us."

Sam folded her arms. "Or he doesn't want us to find out."

...

If Danny was lucky, Sam and Tucker would write off that interaction as just weird and awkward and forget all about it. And then they wouldn't bother him anymore, and they'd never have to find out that he had secretly passed halfway into the afterlife in the most embarrassing way possible.

Danny was not lucky very often.

Still, he was trying to put it out of his mind. He had to be focused when it came time for his first battle. It would stink if he lost in the first round.

"Welcome to the first round of the Ghost King Tournament! Behold our first two contestants: Phantom the Blob and Skulker the Hunter!"

Both contestants entered the ring, and Danny saw who he was fighting. Was that a mech? His opponent looked like a robot. Maybe he was operating it through possession.

Skulker gave a condescending smirk. "I usually don't waste my time with common prey, but I'll make an exception this once." He lifted his arms, which unfolded into a gun. "Make this interesting for me, whelp."

Danny dodged away from the blast, hissing. "Since when are we allowed to use outside tools in this fight?!"

Skulker glared. "This mech is as much a part of me as any other ghost's power." He raised his arm cannon for another shot.

Danny dodged easily again, but the shots looked powerful enough that he didn't fancy getting hit by one. He should make this quick.

Danny tapped into his second core, pulling forth the power of space. He opened his mouth, letting loose a miniature black hole.

Crowd members shouted as they started being pulled towards the battle. Danny's eyes widened. Oops. He hadn't thought about that. With some focus, Danny managed to create a shield around the arena, stopping the force being exerted on the crowd and eliciting some relieved breaths.

Skulker, though, was still struggling against Danny's hole's gravity. Danny floated lazily beside it, waiting for it to do its work. Starting to look panicked, Skulker fired another blast at Danny but it curved into the black hole harmlessly. Skulker gave a cry of dismay as his arm gun broke loose and was consumed by the black hole. Danny smiled smugly.

"What are you?!" Skulker huffed as he pressed himself up against the wall.

Danny sneered. "I'm a ghost, just like you!"

Skulker looked terrified. "Blob ghosts can't do things like this."

"I can," Danny answered darkly.

The black hole grew in size, and Skulker's armor started ripping away piece by piece. He shrieked, trying to hold onto his breastplate, but it flew out of his grip. Skulker finally gave a last ditch effort to lunge at Danny with a set of blades, but Danny dodged easily and started firing his own ecto-shots to slice off whatever weapons he could see.

After another second, Skulker's entire silhouette seemed to break apart and fly towards the black hole. Danny yelled, zipped over and consumed the black hole before it could destroy the ghost.

He hovered there panting.

That. Had been too close.

Skulker's robotic limbs lay scattered across the arena. Danny was suddenly aware of how quiet the audience was.

He floated forward in dread. Nothing was moving.

"...Skulker?" Danny pleaded, drawing close to the disembodied head.

It broke open, and Danny screamed.

"Hey! Shut up! You won, okay?"

Danny froze.

Inside the opened robotic helmet was... another blob ghost. Kind of skinnier than Danny, with shrimpy little limbs. He sat up and glared. "I hope you're happy."

The audience burst into murmurings. Danny heard snippets again of what they were saying, accusations of cheating again, of collaboration, miscellaneous trash talk about blob ghosts.

Danny floated away from the blob ghost that was apparently the real Skulker. He hadn't killed him. That was good. Still, he'd probably need to be more careful with his powers in the next battles.

...

"Another blob ghost! Of course. Finally, something that makes sense. Of course a blob ghost could beat a blob ghost."

The ghost beside Tucker started laughing rather hysterically as pandemonium continued in the audience around them.

Tucker turned to Sam. "Did you see that?"

"You're gonna have to be a little more specific, Tuck," Sam responded.

"At the end there, after Phantom got rid of the black hole," Tucker said. "It looked like he was breathing. Panting."

Sam gasped. "You're right. And the black hole? Space powers?"

"Who's one of the people we know who's most likely to accidentally call you by your name? Your nickname?" Tucker said, feeling thoughts piece together in his mind.

He and Sam stood up as one and bolted out into the hall.

"What does it mean? It doesn't make sense!" Tucker called after Sam.

"I don't know! But we're going to get answers." Sam shot back over her shoulder as they ran.

The two of them pounded down a staircase, dashing down the hall and past a couple security guards. They yelled after them but were ignored by Sam and consequently by Tucker.

They reached their destination: the door where Phantom would come out after the battle. There he was, just about to head off down the hall.

"Phantom!" Sam called at the same time as Tucker yelled "Danny!" All three of them froze.

Tucker gulped. "I, uh. Wasn't planning to call you that."

Phantom swooped closer and bit Sam and Tucker's backpacks to drag them hurriedly into an empty side room.

He pushed them in and wrenched the door closed.

"You can't be yelling weird stuff in the halls at me," Phantom snapped in a voice that Tucker was now distinctly aware sounded almost exactly like Danny on helium. "I don't know who this Danny is, I don't know anything about him. What do you two want?"

Sam started spouting out their handfuls of evidence at the blob ghost's annoyed face, but Tucker started to tune her out as his mind whirled. This ghost was acting exactly how Danny would if he was annoyed, or even more like if he was pretending to be annoyed but was really trying to hide something.

"...Did you come from him?" Tucker said softly, almost not even aloud. "Were you born when Danny had that accident with the ghost portal?"

Phantom froze, looking at Tucker in alarm.

"Or... no, you were breathing back there, like a living human. Wait, and why-- you--" The pieces snapped into place. "You are Danny."

Phantom started to pull back, eyes wide and scared.

"Tuck?" Sam spoke softly.

"That's why you didn't show up this morning," Tucker breathed, piercing the ghost with his gaze. "Because you had the tournament to go to. It's why you've kept leaving class before ghosts show up and why you're late for things and busy so often these days. Because you're Danny. You're Phantom."

It all made sense in Tucker's head, but spoken the ideas sounded almost ridiculous. Almost, because Phantom looked far too alarmed. Like Tucker was right.

Sam gave a weak laugh, glancing searchingly between Phantom—Danny and Tucker. "What?" she asked.

Danny shrank down towards the corner. "I... I didn't... not like this..."

"What?" Sam asked desperately. "He's right? You-- Danny?"

Danny curled down further.

That was all the answer Sam needed. "What happened to you?"

Danny couldn't look at them. "The ghost portal half killed me. So I'm part my human me, and part... this."

Why didn't you tell us? Tucker wanted to ask, but he knew the answer. "And you were too embarrassed to tell anyone."

Danny nodded. "Nobody respects my ghost form. I wanted to use this tournament to prove to everyone that I'm not just some tiny cute ghost."

"Can we go back to the part where you're dead," Sam said dazedly.

Tucker ignored her. "So were you gonna tell us about this after winning?"

Danny tilted thoughtfully. "I dunno. Maybe."

Sam blinked. "I mean. Do you really need to do all this? I mean everybody already knows that you're crazy powerful, even if you're also kind of ado—" Tucker smacked her.

"For the record, this doesn't change how we see you, man. You don't have to win some crazy tournament for us to know you're cool." Tucker put out a fist for a fist bump before awkwardly remembering that Danny currently was a blob and had no fists.

However, Danny hovered up off the floor and gave a little smile before headbutting Tucker's fist. Tucker couldn't stop a little laugh from escaping. He was so squishy!

And adorable.

But he would die before saying that out loud again.

Chapter 3

#my fanfics #Blob Ghost Supreme #Danny Phantom #Blob Ghost Danny au #crack #tw violence #ectoimplosion2023 #no one knows au #Sam manson #Tucker Foley

[dragonsdomain]

Here are the fabulous animations that go with the fic!

ECTO-IMPLOSION 2023 ART!!

Danny: Blob Ghost Supreme

au where danny straight up turns into a blob ghost every time he transforms.

he fights by being adorable... or does he... find out from @dragonsdomain's fic!!

#Getting to work with you has been so much fun #art #animation #Danny Phantom #Blob Ghost Supreme #ectoimplosion2023

[dragonsdomain]

Blob Ghost Supreme chapter 1

Check out @justaphantomhuman's amazing animations that go with this fic! And thank you to @maxattax for beta-ing.

Ao3

Sam and Tucker sat in the Fentons' front room waiting for Danny to finally get home from whatever was going on.

Tucker tapped away on his phone.

"Has Danny texted?" Sam asked.

"Nope. Nothing.” Tucker sighed. “What's been keeping him so busy lately?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Maybe he's off flirting with Paulina or Valerie."

Tucker chuckled. "Yeah right. He wouldn't have the guts for that."

Sam slumped against the couch.

"What if he got kidnapped by a ghost or something?" Tucker asked.

Sam shrugged. "Or he could just be late. Again. It wouldn't be any use worrying over nothing. He's probably just being irresponsible."

Tucker clicked back to his text messages again. Still nothing.

Suddenly a green light zipped into the room, and Sam and Tucker both jumped. The creature froze upon seeing the two of them, and all three just stared at each other for several seconds.

Tucker's jaw was hanging open. "Sam. Sam, that's the blob ghost. The one! The— the one that fights off the other ghosts!"

Sam stared, dumbfounded. "Man. It really is adorable."

The ghost bolted for the staircase down to the basement.

Sam scrambled off of the couch, grabbed their half-empty snack bowl, and dashed after it. "Come on!"

Tucker rushed after her. "What are we doing?!"

"Catching it!" Sam called back.

"Why?!"

"'Cause it's cool! I have questions!" Sam bounded down the staircase just as the tiny ghost zipped through the swirling portal to the Ghost Zone. She cursed, tossed the bowl aside, and grabbed a Fenton Thermos off of a cluttered desk. She then yanked open the door to the Spectre Speeder and hopped into the driver's seat.

"Are we sure we want to be taking the Fentons' flying ghost car without permission?" Tucker asked, even as he climbed into the passenger seat and clipped on his seatbelt (not sponsored).

"Like they could be mad if we came back with the most interesting ghost ever!" Sam started pressing buttons until the Speeder jerked, then whipped toward the portal.

Tucker yelped and slammed his door closed just before the vehicle was enveloped by green light.

...

Did blob ghosts blush? Danny hoped not. He was horribly embarrassed for two reasons, the first being that he'd forgotten about promising to meet up with his friends on the same day as the Ghost King tournament and inadvertently stood them up. The second was that they'd now seen his tiny, pathetic form directly, and Sam had called him adorable to his face.

At least he could be grateful they still didn't know it was him.

Danny floated off through the ghost zone, following the slight tug on his core. He hadn't noticed it until Frostbite mentioned it, but now that he knew to look for it, it felt plain as day. He flew past a shoal of blob ghosts who chirped at him in greeting, and he gave a bubbly growl back at them. He may be a blob ghost, but he didn't want to be associated with all those normal weak ones.

What could he do to let people know how intimidating he was? Could he turn around and fire an ecto-laser from his mouth like a rocket booster? ...No, that'd look stupid. Forget it.

Danny plucked a ghost apple off of a tree he passed and chomped it down with as gruesome of an expression as he could muster. Yes, listen, anyone watching, know that could totally be your head. Wait, that sounded gross. Danny wouldn't eat your head, but so too would your head be crushed! Yeah!

...What was he doing? Trying to intimidate people in his mind? Time to get this over with.

A beam of light flashed just to Danny's right, and he gave a startled, unflattering squeak. He bolted to the side, then swiftly pivoted towards the source of the light.

The Specter Speeder. With... Sam and Tucker inside. Danny grimaced. Great, they were chasing him. This was his karma for ditching them, wasn't it?

Danny picked up his speed, zigzagging away from Sam and Tucker. They pursued, but Danny could turn more quickly than the Speeder could. Danny darted down into a belt of floating islands, weaving between the chunks of land and branches of ghostly trees. A couple more beams from the Fenton Thermos struck obstacles behind him, indicating that Danny hadn't yet left his human friends behind.

Danny pushed his speed even further, zipping out of the belt to the left. A glance back showed him that the Speeder hadn't followed him into the belt. Sam, who was at the wheel, had just been shooting him from outside it. Of course.

Pivoting, Danny rushed straight towards the Speeder. He saw Tucker flinch back, Sam snatching the Thermos from him and pointing it at Danny as he drew close. Danny dodged down again, inhaled (he tried not to think about how his body was inflating like a balloon), and let loose a blast of ice. The ice enveloped the front of the Speeder, even tipping it dangerously upwards. Danny winced for a second, trying to remember if he'd seen his friends wearing seatbelts (not sponsored), then quickly swung around the back of the Speeder and used more ice to clog the Speeder's boosters. That wouldn't last long if it were to be started up again, but it'd at least give Danny enough time to get away.

He swung down, flying quickly off again towards the tug on his core. He had a tournament to get to.

...

The colosseum was deep down in the ghost zone, on a large, flat surface which Danny had first assumed was the dimension's floor (though he would soon enough be informed that it was only a massive slab of stone). Even from a distance, a cloud of ghosts was visible surrounding and churning towards the colosseum, and Danny felt an involuntary bubble of nervousness. It was a tournament for who was going to be the new ghost king. There were probably a lot of contestants.

He shook off his apprehension. That was what he was counting on! Danny was here to prove himself; the more ghosts that saw him do it, and the more powerful the opponents he defeated, the better. He was sick and tired of everyone thinking they could push him around just because he was a blob ghost. Today was the day he'd show them all how wrong they were.

Danny rushed down towards the entrance, shoving through a couple more shoals of blob ghosts and a small crowd of humanoid ghosts all vying for entry. Walker's goons were guarding the entrance, along with an Observant.

Danny tried to slip through the archway, but a ghostly cop barred his way with a rod. He cleared his throat disdainfully, and Danny in turn shot him a murderous glare.

The Observant glanced over towards the two of them and gave a long-suffering sigh. "Let that one in. It's the blob ghost rumored to have fought Pariah."

The cop gaped back at the Observant. "You can't be serious. You actually believe that crazy rumor?"

The Observant flipped absently through some papers. "Do you really want to find out how powerful it is right now?"

The cop scowled, then reluctantly moved his rod. Danny smiled smugly at him as he swept forward into the entrance hallways surrounding the arena.

He floated down the hall, wondering where he was supposed to be. Thankfully, no one else was trying to stop him, but various tough-looking ghosts kept firing dubious glances his way. He heard one whisper to his girlfriend about who had let him in. He scowled. Reflexively he was grateful that at least no one was picking fights with him yet, but then he reminded himself that he wanted to pick fights. If anybody stood up to him, that'd be his chance to show them what was what.

One of Walker's goons spotted him hovering uncertainly in the middle of the hall (oops, he should have made it look like he totally knew what he was doing. Drat). He floated over to him.

"This isn't the entrance for spectators. You're supposed to be on the second floor or higher."

Danny glared, hesitating. How could he communicate to this man how wrong he was? Would he have to talk? Danny tried rolling his eyes and floating on past the man.

"Hey now," the man said, grabbing Danny unceremoniously. Oh, it was on.

Danny unhinged his jaw and swallowed the ghost's hand whole before charging a ghostly laser in his mouth. The cop screamed and frantically shook Danny off.

Danny regained his balance in the air and glared at the man challengingly.

He nursed his hand and glared back. "What's with the attitude?!"

Danny cringed internally. Fine. He had to. "I'm a contestant!" he declared as angrily as he could, but it was no use. His voice was high-pitched and squeaky and adorable. His face felt hot, and he resisted the urge to curl in on himself in shame.

The cop's face dissolved into a smile as he barely contained laughter. Danny fumed. "Ye sure, little guy? I dunno if you want to be involved in something like this. It's the ghost king tournament, you know. The strongest ghosts around'll be competing. You could get hurt."

Danny shook with rage. "'You could get hurt'," he mimicked in a singsong voice, then immediately felt more embarrassed for how childish that sounded. What was he doing? How was he supposed to get this man to take him seriously?

Danny decided he was done messing around. He sped off down the hall to where he found a desk occupied by a bored-looking Observant. There was a stack of application forms in front of him, so Danny yanked one out and faceplanted on it in lieu of a signature. The Observant gave an undignified shriek of surprise as Danny zipped off again.

Firing down the hall like a homing missile helped Danny pretty quickly find where he was probably supposed to be. He found a collection of ghosts gathered in a large room around the back being generally rowdy and hostile, like a bunch of feral cats locked in a room together. Danny flew in through the central archway and asserted his presence by floating there silently, trying to will the ghosts to respect him through force of mind.

Finally the biker ghost he'd beat up once — Jimmy 15? — spotted him in the doorway and smirked. That was not the reaction Danny had been looking for, thank you very much. Danny's glare intensified. 

Jimmy pitched his cigarette at Danny.

Danny shot a fine laser at it, vaporizing it in midair.

Jimmy blinked.

Danny glared harder, and finally Jimmy realized it would be a better idea to look anywhere else in the room than at him.

Danny started slowly moving through the room, trying to exude the same energy as a dark, muscular man with a large gun walking into a bar. It was pretty difficult to do as a sentient water balloon. No, Danny didn't manage it, but he probably got closer than any other sentient water balloon ever had, so good for him, really.

Eventually, after receiving no attention, Danny decided to sit as menacingly as possible in the center of the fireplace mantle. He occupied himself by scanning the room for any more menacing place to sit. Now all he had to do was wait until the pre-round of the ghost king tournament started, and he'd finally be able to show all these people who they were dealing with.

...

"Wow! That was awesome!" Tucker said from the passenger seat of the frozen-over Specter Speeder.

Sam slumped down in her seat. "I can't believe we blew that. We were so close! We almost got him a couple of times!"

Tucker flipped on the heater and defroster. "Eh, would've been anticlimactic if we'd gotten him right away."

Sam gave some wordless grumble and started pressing buttons and flipping switches.

Tucker watched her. "You're just gonna..."

"Yep," Sam responded. "We're getting back out there."

The Speeder suddenly tipped downwards. Sam and Tucker yelped and were only saved from whacking their heads on the dashboard by their seatbelts (not sponsored). Sam slapped back the switch she'd just flipped and the car righted itself. She went right back to pressing buttons.

Tucker gulped and turned the heater up.

Finally something exploded, and Sam and Tucker both screamed, but they were fine. The vehicle had somehow exploded only outwards, expelling shards of ice out into the green atmosphere.  The shards pierced a couple blob ghosts who cried out dramatically, but were completely fine after eating the ice.

Tucker turned off the defroster. "Okay, then."

Sam sat there dazed for a second, then shook herself out of it and said, "Finally! Let's go!" She floored the accelerator, and the Speeder jerked forward with enough force to send Sam and Tucker both slamming back into their seats.

Tucker, eyes watering against the whipping ghost winds, reached forward and pressed the button to roll the windows up.

As soon as the windows were closed and Tucker could hear himself think, he said, "Sam, where are we going?"

She slammed on the breaks. "Oh. Ah." She coughed, then started scanning their surroundings. She perked up. "Hey, there are a lot of ghosts headed in the same direction, aren't there?"

There were. Shoals of blob ghosts were all drifting lazily forward and downwards, close to the same direction the phantom blob had been heading before they lost him. "Huh!"

"Great. Here we go!" Sam slammed on the accelerator again, making Tucker wonder whether she was a bad driver or if the Fentons' vehicles were just wired to start and stop with extreme abruptness.

They powered on, following the trail of ghosts. The flow continued, other ghosts converging in from other directions too, so it seemed that Sam had been right. There was something going on that lots of ghosts were headed towards. Before long, they'd arrived at what seemed to be the destination.

"Woah-ho-ho!" Tucker gasped as the colosseum came into sight. The river of ghosts they'd been following were busy crowding into the audience seats.

A couple of ghost cops sped over to Tucker and Sam as they tried to drive up towards the stadium. "You two are humans, aren't you? What gives you the right to bring in all this debris from the living world?"

Sam and Tucker glanced at each other blankly for a second. Then Tucker gave her a wild grin that hopefully portrayed the correct message of I'm about to try something crazy, play along. Tucker turned back towards the ghost cop. "We're ambassadors, actually, so we have diplomatic license. You don't recognize us?"

The ghost raised his eyebrow. "The humans sent two children as ambassadors."

"Excuse me?" Sam chimed in, drawing herself up to full regal height. "You really don't know who we are, do you? The ghost authorities are really slacking with their training, aren't they? In the past we've at least been able to count on security to have basic information." She rolled her eyes at Tucker, and he shook his head disdainfully.

"What are you talking about? There's never been any kind of truce between the humans and ghosts." The cop's eyes narrowed. "Do I have to escort you off the premises?"

Tucker gulped, but he kept his expression stern. "Look, if you need to confirm our identities, you can check with your boss or other immediate superiors. They'll know what's going on. Now please, we have important responsibilities to attend to. We can't be late for this."

The ghost scrutinized them for a second, then he pointed a finger. "I'll be back. Don't move."

"Make it snappy," Sam said, waving a hand in a shooing motion.

The ghost cop flew off.

Tucker jerked forward. "Okay. Now we've probably got, like, two minutes before that guy comes back with confirmation that we're definitely not supposed to be here. We gotta hide the Speeder, then get in here somehow disguised as ghosts so he doesn't recognize us."

"Good quick thinking back there," Sam said, giving him a grin. "Love rebelling against authorities with the besties."

Tucker chuckled. "To each their own."

Sam pivoted the Speeder and pulled it behind a nearby outcropping of ghost rock.

"Is this really going to fool the ghost police?" Tucker asked dubiously.

Sam put the vehicle in park and pulled off her backpack. "I think our biggest concern should be how we're going to trick them into thinking we're ghosts."

Tucker peered into her backpack. "You don't happen to have a pair of sheets in there, do you?"

Sam snorted, continuing to rifle through the bag. "I was more hoping for something like green makeup. I don't think I brought any though..."

"Aww," Tucker pouted. "So then now what? Do we call it quits?"

"No!" Sam glared at him. "We've come so far already! There's something crazy going on over here! We can't turn back now!"

Tucker put his hands up placatingly. "Sheesh, okay. Then what's our plan B? Or C. Whatever letter we're on by now."

"We'll think of something..." Sam said. She scanned her gaze over the Speeder. Her eyes lighted on the ectoplasmic energy core, and her mouth pulled into a grin.

"Why are you looking at the ectoplasm core, Sam?" Tucker asked, hoping he was misreading the situation.

Sam climbed back to it and popped the glass container out of its socket.

"Sam."

"I mean, if anything's going to convince them we're ghosts..." Sam fiddled with the lid to the tank of ectoplasm.

Tucker scrambled over to her and slapped her hand away. "We're not going to paint ourselves with toxic alien sauce!"

Sam pulled the tank away from him. "I thought we agreed the Fentons aren't right about everything?"

Tucker threw up his hands. "But they're right about some things!"

"There you are!" Came a voice from outside the vehicle, and Sam and Tucker froze.

The same cop ghost from earlier was hovering next to the Speeder, looking rather annoyed. "Why were you trying to sneak off?"

Tucker spluttered. "Oh, we weren't— no, we were just parking the Speeder out of the way! Just getting out of your hair!"

The ghost had no visible hair. He squinted at them, then sighed. "Well, apparently you're welcome at the tournament. The Observants' weird boss says you're the future ghost king's friends or something, so I guess you can come back." He muttered something under his breath about clocks and favoritism, starting to float away.

"Wait, can you give us a lift? We can't fly." Tucker asked, and Sam smacked him in the arm for some reason. He later found out it was because she'd wanted to take advantage of the apparent favoritism to park the Speeder closer so they could have an escape route whenever they wanted. That would've been smart. Oh well.

The ghost sighed long-sufferingly then floated back and pulled them out of the car, floating over back towards the stadium.

"It's good I got the news soon enough. The pre-qualification fights are about to start, and I might've gotten in trouble if I'd kept you out of that."

"What did we say?" Sam said, pulling on a scoff.

"You can drop the act. I know you were lying before," the ghost grumbled.

"Oh." Sam blushed.

The colosseum was in an uproar. The officer deposited Sam and Tucker near the top of the rows of seats, one of the only places where there were empty seats left. Sam and Tucker both had to stand up atop their seats to see past the large excited ghosts in front of them to see what was going on.

Sam tapped the shoulder of a pumpkin-headed ghost in front of them. "Hey!" she had to yell to be heard above the cheering. "Do you know what's going on?"

"It's the ghost king tournament!" the ghost yelled back. "The event of the century! Someone took down Pariah Dark so we're having a tournament to choose the new king of the ghost zone!" He paused, suddenly comprehending. "Are you two humans?"

"We have permission to be here," Tucker chimed in defensively.

"Okay!" the pumpkin ghost yelled back. "Have fun!" He turned back towards the arena and continued cheering.

"Can you see what's going on?" Sam asked Tucker, standing on her tiptoes.

"It looks like ghosts are starting to come out? No, wait--" He cringed. "Let's go to the bottom of the stairs. There won't be seats, but at least we'll be able to see."

Sam grabbed Tucker's hand and pulled him quickly over to the staircase and down to the bottom almost too fast for Tucker to keep from tripping. Cheers bellowed on and off from every side. Enough ghosts struggled to contain their excitement that the air was starting to fill with spirited spectators and guests who continued to arrive long after the seats were filled.

Sam and Tucker managed to squeeze down to the foot of the stairs, gaining a clear view of the arena. They were just in time; only a second later a firework went off and the ghosts in the arena launched into battle.

"Is that Ember?" Tucker asked.

"Kitty!" Sam cried, pointing.

Tucker recoiled as ectoplasm started to spray. "Ooh..." he cringed backwards, holding his stomach.

Sam put a steady arm around his shoulders. "Don't worry about watching. I can give you a recap later." She gasped. "Tucker look! Or-- oh."

Tucker was already looking, whether voluntarily or by reflex. And what he saw was indeed a spectacle. In the center of the arena was the very blob ghost they'd chased into the ghost zone. Well, Tucker could only assume it was the same blob ghost based on its size and the fact that it was suddenly dominating the competition. He started by pinwheeling a laser in an arc that sent each of his competitors launching backwards to strike against the stone and barred walls of the arena. He then swept a beam of ice in a circle, freezing the greater part of his competitors solidly against the walls.

"Wow," Tucker breathed. "Maybe it's not such a good idea to mess around with that ghost..."

"Mm, or all the more reason to do so?" Sam suggested.

Tucker shivered. "I think we got lucky."

A small handful of ghosts had managed to dodge the attack upwards, and one or two large ones broke out of the ice through brute force. The phantom blob rocketed towards a dragon, causing it to double over in pain. The blob bit its tail and somehow lifted it up, into the air, then spun in a circle again to gain enough momentum to launch it upwards towards the ghosts that'd escaped his ice. The dragon slammed into them all, taking another group of ghosts out of the arena.

Tucker gestured towards the display, giving Sam a pointed look.

Sam squirmed. "Yeah, okay, maybe more preparation would've been better."

Out of the ice burst a tornado creature, shaking loose a genie-looking ghost next to him, who took one look at the floating sphere of terror in the arena's center and bailed out on her own. The tornado fired a pair of lightning bolts at the phantom blob, who summoned a ghost shield that blocked it easily.

"How many powers does it have?" Tucker whispered. He really hoped things didn't get bloody again. The blood being green and glowy didn’t really help. He wasn't sure he'd be able to tear his gaze away a second time.

The blob aimed an ectoblast at the tornado creature's head, which it blocked with an armored hand. Next, the blob started splitting into multiple versions of itself and firing at the tornado from multiple directions, which quickly caused it to shrink into a sizzling heap on the ground.

Ghosts to Sam and Tucker's left and right started to murmur in awe. And Tucker found himself feeling the same.

The last foe left was a mass of thorny vines cowering on the ground of the arena. The blob quickly subdued it with several ferocious beams of ice followed with slams of ectoblasts that left it shattered and thoroughly pruned.

The colosseum held its breath. The phantom blob coalesced into one again, then slowly scanned the arena around it, almost seeming to dare any ghost who was left to challenge him.

No one came forward.

A tall ghost seated in a booth near the top of the arena stood up. The audience remained hushed as the being's singular eye, which floated in place of a head, gazed down upon the arena.

It spoke. "We have our first ghost who has won the right to compete in the Ghost King Tournament! The Phantom!"

The audience erupted into an excited, confused, and enraged roar.

Chapter 2

#my fanfics #Blob Ghost Supreme #Danny Phantom #AU #Blob Ghost Danny AU #crack #tw violence #ectoimplosion2023 #no one knows AU #Sam Manson #Tucker Foley

[dragonsdomain]

Out of Office chapter 5

AO3

Chapter 4

Charlie was done with snipping her scissors. Now she was just sitting in the corner, hugging her knees, with said scissors held in a death grip in her left fist. The reasonable part of her understood that she was the guest here and this was a flower shop, but the emotional part was in charge right now and she wanted to scream at everyone in the room to get out and stop making noise. The two kids were back down there and bustling around and doing work like everything was fine.

Sean was not in the room. Charlie wasn't sure whether she felt a spiteful satisfaction at that or whether she wanted to give him a piece of her mind again. Maybe it'd feel good to just glare at him from across the room, putting little cuts in his conscience like the way she snipped at napkins. He wasn't there though, which maybe was good, since she really wanted to hit him over the head with something heavy.

Her hand tightened 'til she could feel every sharp edge of her scissors on her skin. Why did Sean tell Eugene about the ghost she'd run from? What made him think he had any right to rat her out like that-- or-- or to let Eugene go off by himself! What was that about? Was he stupid?

She'd already yelled all that Sean about all that, but she felt ready enough to do it again. And he was gonna try to defend himself again, saying, what was it, that Eugene deserved to know things, that it wasn't like there was someone better to take care of it. He hadn't said that she should go and fight it, which she distantly appreciated even though she was still unreasonably angry at him.

Charlie tipped sideways onto the floor and grumbled to herself. Sean could pull out that card at any time, actually. And logically, he would be right. Logic was so nasty sometimes. Why couldn't it be on her side for once?

Suddenly Sean burst down into the room and started fiddling against the front door handle. Charlie scrambled to her feet, making some affronted sound in lieu of any formulated words.

"You were right," Sean said without looking at her. "I shouldn't have let him go alone. I'm gonna go find Eugene."

"You're what?!" Charlie sprang after him. "Are you an idiot? What can you do!"

Sean got the bolt open and shoved through the door. "Whatever I can!"

He flew out at top speed. Charlie watched him through the glass door, wide-eyed, and he'd disappeared around the corner before the door had even slowly clicked shut.

"...Huh?" Charlie stood dazed. What. What was that.

Her scissors slipped from her hand and clanked against the floor.

Finley looked up curiously. "Scissor ghost?"

Charlie clenched her fist. She felt cold. She scratched at the last flecks of white on her chest. They were going to know. Eugene and Sean were both about to find out that that horrible monster was her father, that he was like that, that he was dead, because she'd murdered him.

Charlie stumbled backwards, trying to breathe, but she didn't have lungs. She was dead too. Maybe it was about time she started paying for her sins.

That thought made her freeze. No. She couldn't she couldn't. She wasn't ready.

Charlie gasped, grabbed her scissors off of the ground, and threw open the door to run after Sean. She had to stop Sean. She had to stop Eugene. She couldn't let them find out all the horrible truth about her, or she would lose the last few people in her life who were still around and willing to give her a chance.

Hopefully she wasn't already too late.

...

Getting to his body was slow going.

Eugene managed not to pass out this time, but he had to keep alternating between flying and walking. His vision was fuzzing at the edges again, and it hurt, a lot more than he'd even known spirits could hurt, but he had to keep moving. What would even happen if he didn't make it to his body? Would that be death? Worse than death? His mind conjured the worst case scenarios, years passing as Sean and Charlie had to collect the fragmented bits of his spirit until he was whole again, only to be left with no memory of who he was and a dead body.

Eugene shook his head at the thought, then had to fight off a wave of nausea. He would keep going.

He journeyed in a painful daze. It felt like a long time passed before he reached his body, even if he could hardly remember any of it in retrospect. Finally he managed to slip back down into his body, and he started feeling his human senses come to life again.

"-lo? Hello?" Eugene came to feeling an incessant tapping on his shoulder.

"H-huh?" Eugene hissed then, pain twisting through his torso. He curled in on himself and groaned.

"Woah, man, are you okay? Should I call an ambulance?"

Eugene pulled his head up. It was... Mike. The guy who'd asked for Charlie.

He was looking at Eugene in concern, which was probably reasonable. "Are you hurt?"

Eugene drew in a sharp breath, then pulled himself upwards in an effort to sit normally and offer Mike a polite smile to ease his concerns. He failed miserably to do any such thing, and Mike's frown deepened.

"I'm alright," Eugene assured him, not because it was true but because there was nothing he could do, and he didn't want to explain to anyone right now about how pathetically he had just messed up.

"Oookaaay," said Mike doubtfully. "Um. I was just wondering if there was any update about Charlie? I haven't heard from you for a bit."

Eugene tried to stand, but grunted quietly and sat back down. "S-sorry about that. Charlie said she doesn't want to see you, though she wouldn't tell me why."

"Oh," Mike's shoulders drooped. "Okay then. I guess... I don't know. I guess she's still mad at me."

Eugene closed his eyes. What would she have to be mad at Mike for? He hadn't sicced a massive evil spirit right towards her.

Mike sat down next to him and leaned over to try to look at Eugene's chest. "You really don't look very good," he said. "Why don't you at least go to a clinic and get checked out?"

Eugene abruptly stood up, gritting his teeth at the new rush of pain it caused. "Maybe I will. I'll be fine. I'll get back to you if anything changes with Charlie. Goodbye, Mike."

Mike waved doubtfully as Eugene stumbled out the door and towards the subway station. He struggled to the platform, finding a bench to sit down on. Twice in a row he tries doing anything without a bodyguard and gets seriously injured. Pathetic. He really can't do anything, can he?

He sat there panting and felt a slight annoyance when Mike sat down next to him, then an embarrassment as he realized that this was the only way out of the station.

The pain from his injuries gradually became bearable as they waited for the train. It would've been pretty embarrassing if Eugene had passed out or something, and there probably would've been no way to get out of going to the hospital then either. The silence was awkward though.

Mike eventually broke it. "Did Charlie mention why she doesn't want to talk to me?"

"No," Eugene responded. "She just said she didn't want to talk about it."

"Okay," Mike looked away thoughtfully. He started muttering to himself. "Would it be a bad idea to try to talk to her anyway...?"

Eugene watched him, wondering if he knew he'd heard him. "If you don't mind me asking, what were you wanting to talk to her about?"

Mike glanced at Eugene, then looked away. "I don't know if she'd want me telling people. I should probably leave that to her. I'll just say that something happened a while ago, and I want to talk to her about it. I haven't gotten the chance before." He looked somberly down at the ground. "For... reasons you can probably guess."

Eugene scrunched his brows. Why should he be able to guess the reasons?

Mike saw his confusion. "Oh, it's just... she died soon after. Oops, maybe that was too much information too. Um. Drat, I hope she's not upset I told you that."

"Okay," Eugene said. The subway approached as he thought about Mike's words, and he got on first, trying not to wince as he moved. Mike, giving Eugene one last concerned glance, went and sat down elsewhere.

Mike said Charlie had died soon after the event, but he worried that that'd been too much info. Had what happened between them had something to do with her death? And what did that towering evil spirit have to do with it?

...

Luke bit down on the flower and was immediately torn out of his seat and flung across the room and through the ceiling.

Luke made a baffled whimper as he found himself on his back, staring up at the roof of Joy’s kitchen, the room above the basement.

After pulling himself to his feet, Luke processed that somehow he wasn’t actually in any pain. He jogged over to the stairwell he’d somehow been flung through (how does someone get thrown by a blast in multiple directions? In a curve? This would change crime scene investigations), but stopped short when he found the door still closed.

“Huh?” Luke asked, then jumped at the sound of his own voice, weirdly echoey. “H-huh?” Yeah, he definitely hadn’t imagined that. The echo was slight, but distinct, like the sound characters’ thoughts make in movies.

Luke glanced down at his hands and shrieked. They were semi-transparent, and colored a gentle shade of yellow-orange.

“H-heh, uh, Joy? Oliver?” Luke tried to knock on the door, but his hand phased right through it. Luke should’ve felt sick, but he didn’t have a body, did he? “Joy? Oliver?”

Luke held his breath, then stepped through the solid wooden door. He gasped as he stepped out the other side. Had he phased through the floor too, been flung upwards after biting the flower? That would make more sense than a curved force. And also much less sense, because none of this made sense, because people don't go through roofs.

Thankfully walking down the staircase felt fairly normal, except for Luke feeling weirdly weightless, but he tried to ignore that.

"Guys?" Luke asked as he reached the bottom of the staircase, but rather than being greeted by his friends, Luke found himself floundering against a force pushing him backward. Luke fell backward and looked out on the room he hadn't been able to enter.

Joy and Oliver were looking expectantly at-- o-oh, uh, woah, yeah, that was his body over there. Luke was outside of his body. Okay. Wow. That's fine, that's okay, everything's fine. Ahem. Joy and Oliver were looking at. His body. Expectantly or in puzzlement. What really drew Luke's attention was the crucifix from Oliver's grandmother, which was glowing with a blue-hot radiance that overpowered the little light bulb on the ceiling. It felt bizarre that Joy and Oliver didn't seem to notice it. Had it been glowing like that before and he just couldn't see it, or had it started glowing when he left his body.

Luke pushed gently against the invisible barrier again and was pushed back just as hard, with the crucifix noticeably growing in brilliance. So. He wouldn't be able to get back in that room. That was probably what had thrown him out right when he bit the flower too. How was he going to communicate what was going on to his friends? And... how would he get back to his body?

Surely there was a solution to this. Surely there was no reason to freak out. Luke was freaking out. Well, drat.

Luke hummed frantically in an attempt at self-soothing as he headed back up the staircase. He reflexively tried to push the door open, but of course it didn't work, and Luke's humming increased in urgency as his arm fell through the door again.

He darted through the door quickly, finding himself again in the kitchen.

A desperate laugh bubbled out of Luke's throat. He stopped abruptly. "I need help. I need Eugene."

When he set his mind to it, Luke could do something that felt almost like taking a deep breath, and it did help him calm down, at least a little. He did a few more, willing the air to stay within him each time before he exhaled it.

Finally he was calm enough, so he walked towards the front door, steeled himself, then stepped through it.

Looking around himself revealed a familiar environment, except, that is, for the giant spindly slenderman walking down the street.

"hMMM," Luke turned the opposite direction from whatever that was and started walking resolutely toward Eugene's apartment.

Luke was distracted enough that he ended up bumping into someone. "Sorry--" he said, then froze.

"hMm?" a female voice said, sounding distracted as well. "Oh, you're so colorful. Like Eugene."

Luke stared at the woman. She wasn't shaped quite like a human. Her entire being was made up of greys and blacks and whites. "Who are you? How can I touch you? Where am I? What's going on?"

The lady curled back timidly. "Oh, I'm not good at this. Where's the Underworld Office when you need them? Oh... Eugene..."

"Huh?" Luke perked up. "How do you know Eugene?"

She made a nervous hum. "He's the living boy at the Underworld Office. They help ghosts." She tapped Luke's shoulder experimentally, then gave a nervous laugh. "You're not supposed to be out of your body. You're still alive."

"Yeah. Um. Okay." Luke swallowed. "Do you know where Eugene is?"

The sadness on the woman's face deepened. "He looked hurt when I saw him last. Maybe he's working too hard. He's always working hard, and now his coworkers have all left."

Luke frowned. When he'd last seen Eugene, he'd been really sick. "Where did you last see him?"

The woman tipped her head thoughtfully. "Mmm. He was going over that way." She pointed in the direction of the tall black monster lumbering along. "That monster went the same way soon after."

"So I. Have to go that way. Great." Luke gulped. "Okay, um. Thank you, ma'am."

She hummed one last time, then turned and floated off in the other direction. Luke's brain twisted at the sight, and he turned away quickly.

So... Luke started walking off in the direction of the tall, dark creature. He could guess at a couple of places Eugene might've been headed. Maybe he'd been going to Linda's flower shop, where the two kids they'd saved a couple of years back lived. Or maybe he'd been heading towards Station 00. Was that where the "Underworld Office" was? The woman had mentioned that his coworkers were gone. Maybe that was connected to why Eugene had been in such a depressed mood. Funny, Luke had somehow found out more about Eugene's double life in a one-minute conversation with a ghost lady than in years of being friends with Eugene personally. He wanted to laugh and cry at that.

Ideally, Luke would be able to check on the flower shop first, but the towering creature was still between him and it. Luke wasn't stupid, though. He ducked into a nearby side street, jogged down it and around, and popped back onto the main street in front of the tall figure.

Right in front of the tall figure.

Luke stared at it as it stared back down at him, and he thought that maybe he was, after all, a little bit stupid.

He screamed, then dashed off down the street at full speed.

Luke spotted another ghost as he ran, a chubby one this time. He was running towards him. "Hey!" Luke called, waving his arms. "Run! There's a monster this way!"

As they came upon each other, the ghost grabbed Luke's arm, eliciting a yelp, and pulling him to a stop. "Did you see Eugene over there?"

"Huh?" Luke said. "I thought he was over this way?"

"Who told you that? Do you know where he is?"

Luke pulled up his hand defensively. "I don't know! Some ghost lady!"

"Maybe... um," the ghost man cringed. "I can't be wasting time hesitating. He could be in danger. Bye, guy."

"Wh-- hey!"

The pudgy ghost man dashed off towards the towering shape coming ever closer.

Luke gritted his teeth. "He's crazy." He continued running down the street in the other direction.

Soon enough there showed up another ghost charging towards him, this one an all-black androgynous figure. "Outta my way!" She yelled as she passed him, but then she screeched to a stop. "Luke?"

Luke was surprised enough that he also paused in his dramatic flight. He turned around. "...Yeah?" He scanned the person up and down, but he didn't recognize her.

She blinked, then shook her head. "Ugh, forget it." She turned to run off again.

"Wait!" Luke cried, grabbing her wrist.

She froze.

Luke got the distinct impression that he'd done something wrong. Carefully, he let go of her wrist.

She turned back towards him slowly, a haunted expression on her face. "What?"

Luke held his hands up away from her. "Sorry. Sorry. I just... why are you guys running towards that thing over there? Is that where Eugene is? I'm trying to find him, 'cause he can probably help me figure out what's going on, and I'm kind of confused--"

The girl pointed a pair of scissors at Luke which he hadn't noticed her holding. "You better not go towards that thing, got it? I'm on my way to bring back Sean and whoever else you saw going toward it. So help me, do not ask me any more questions right now or I will cut something!"

"A-ah! Okay, I'll-- um, wait here, I guess, or..."

The round ghost man came running back towards the two of them. "Eugene's not there!" He yelled.

The scissor girl whirled on him. "What do you mean he's not there?!"

"I didn't see him! Run! Or else--"

A shadow covered the three of them, and time froze. Luke looked up, and found himself standing in the line of sight of the towering black figure he'd been running to avoid. It had caught up with them.

"chARLIE."

...

She couldn't move.

The grandfather clock was ticking, so slowly, next to her father's desk. His long fingers drummed on its polished wood. She couldn't meet his eyes.

"Charlie," he said. "Tell me what happened."

He knew what had happened. The teacher had already told him when she called. Charlie wanted to purse her lips and say nothing.

"Charlie." There was a sharper edge to his voice.

It snipped through Charlie's composure. She bent down, shaking. "I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't m-mean... I... I didn't..." her voice was so small.

"Stop groveling," he snapped, standing. "Tell me. What. Happened."

Charlie fell to her knees. Her uniform was dirty. She remembered a lot of things that had happened. She'd kicked a locker. She'd ripped up that girl's notebook. She'd punched a teacher.

She'd cut a slash across Mike's face. Blood everywhere.

She hated herself for all of it. She hated her father for making her hate herself.

Hot tears were coming down her face. Charlie gritted her teeth, and exhaled a hiss of air she wanted to be a scream.

"What did you do, Charlie?"

Her scissors were in her hands. There was blood all over the floor.

Charlie's voice was a tiny gasp, barely there at all.

"I killed you."

Drip.

Black, black blood slid off of the scissors' handle, from her father's chest, where it was impaled.

"Why did you do that, Charlie?" he asked, voice deceptively cool.

Charlie was panting, gasping for breath. "I--" I don't know. "I--" I didn't mean to. "I-I... I..." I... was... angry.

"Of course you were," Charlie's father sighed. "And it's always other people who have to deal with the fallout. It's always me. You're still a disgrace. You keep managing to top yourself."

He stepped around his desk towards Charlie. She gave a cry as he grabbed her hair and yanked her up to eye level. "Now you're not just a failure and a brat. You're a murderer too. Was it fun? Did it feel good to finally do everything you've ever wanted?"

Charlie was sobbing too hard to answer. She reached up to grab the hair that was being pulled, but her father shook it until she let go, crying harder.

"Well? Was it?"

"No," Charlie gasped out. "N-no, it w-wasn't."

Charlie's father finally let go of her hair. Instead he grabbed her head in both hands, and turned her face up to his, and she had to look in his eyes. Those sharp scribbles of eyes that cut just by looking. "Then what do you do now?"

Charlie didn't want those eyes to swallow her. There was a right answer to give. One answer her father wanted. An apology would be the wrong answer, one she'd already given, and it had not been enough. He didn't want a promise that she would do better. He wouldn't believe her, and neither would she.

There was no right answer.

Her scissors had slipped from her hand at some point. Where were they? She wanted them, for some reason. Maybe she would stab her father again. Maybe two wrongs would make a nothing. Maybe she could forget everything again, run to the other side of the earth and pretend none of this was real.

But her scissors were gone. She was weak without them. Powerless.

"Well?"

Charlie opened her mouth breathless, maybe with a plea for mercy on her tongue, but suddenly a slash lanced down through the dream, and she was awake again, back on the sidewalk. She blinked, looking around herself.

Luke had her scissors in his hand, and they were stabbed into the reaching arm of the monster that Charlie's father was. The fingers that were holding her pinned against the ground. A drop of black blood slid down her father's arm and dripped onto the one white spot left over her heart, staining it black.

Then the arm ripped back away from Charlie, and the monster screamed. Someone grabbed Charlie and started dragging her back towards the flower shop until other arms scooped her up and carried her there. They burst through the door to the shop, startling Tatum, and slammed it shut behind them. Sean clicked the lock shut.

Sean set Charlie onto her feet, looking dazed. Luke was panting. "Can someone... explain... what just happened?" Luke gasped wildly.

Outside the flower shop, the legs of the ghost of Charlie's father came into view. He crouched down, holding the sides of the shop and blocking out the sun through the windows. He peered in through the front door straight at Charlie.

Sean gulped. "That's probably not good."

#Underworld Office #Charlie in Underworld #my fanfics #Out of Office #Charlie UWO #Eugene UWO #Luke UWO #Sean UWO #Mike UWO #Charlie's father UWO #tw violence

[dragonsdomain]

Random Convo: Holding Aurum weapon

AO3

Pit: I feel kind of uncomfortable fighting with an Aurum weapon.

Palutena: If it's any consolation, they're not actually from the Aurum. Dyntos just copied their technology.

Pit: That doesn't really make me feel better. Dyntos has done some weird stuff.

Palutena: ...If it's alright for me to ask, why do these weapons in particular make you uncomfortable? You haven't had trouble with other weapons based off your enemies.

Pit: Well, that whole Aurum situation was really weird. You remember what happened to Pyrrhon? He tried to control the Aurum, but...

Palutena: ...They ended up controlling him instead.

Pit: And I had to watch. He's somewhere out in space now. Not in control of his own body.

Palutena: I can see why that would have been disturbing.

Pit: Yeah...

Palutena: This isn't just about Pyrrhon, is it?

Pit: Maybe we can talk about the rest some other time. After I've switched to a nicer weapon.

#Kid Icarus #Kid Icarus Uprising #KIU #Pit #Palutena #my fanfics #KIU random convos #spoilers #KIU spoilers #you guys Tumblr's update tricked me into posting this on my side blog by accident #life is so hard

[dragonsdomain]

Random Convo: Never learned how to read

AO3

Dark Pit: So... how was the Aurum invasion?

Pit: Oh, it was great! They had such cool jazz music! If only you'd bothered to show up.

Dark Pit: Nobody told me about it!

Pit: Oh.... sorry.

Palutena: We managed without you, but next time there's a world-ending invasion, we'll be sure to ring you up.

Pit: "Managed", huh? That's an understatement. I almost died!

Palutena: I doubt you would've wanted what you yelled as you were falling to be your final words. You might want to workshop that.

Pit: You heard that?

Palutena: You yelled it, Pit.

Dark Pit: What did you yell?

Pit: Nothing important.

Palutena: Aww, are you getting shy about it? Come on, tell him.

Pit: ...I said ...”I never learned how to read.”

Dark Pit: Wh‒ huh?

Palutena: I admit, I was a little confused too.

Dark Pit: You know how to read.

Pit: Yeah. But I wanted someone to teach me.

Dark Pit: But you know how.

Pit: I just wanted to learn it! It sounds nice! Like, practicing making my letters pretty in a book with lines, reading about a girl saying “go, Spot, go!” and getting praised for doing a good job!

Palutena: Oh, Pit! That's so adorable!

Pit: Augh! Stop! Let's talk about something else!

Dark Pit: You don’t want to learn how to read, you want a childhood.

Pit: Well, just lay it bare, why don’t you?

#Kid Icarus #Kid Icarus Uprising #KIU #Pit #Dark Pit #Palutena #my fanfics #KIU random convos #get headcanoned #I don't care whether or not you agree with me I'm just presenting the concept #I don't even know whether I agree with me so there #headcanon #spoilers #KIU spoilers

[dragonsdomain]

Out of Office chapter 4

AO3

Chapter 3

"You got the flower?!" Joy's voice cried through the phone, making Luke wince and pull it away from his ear.

"Yeah, I did," Luke answered with a frown Joy couldn't see.

"Wow, you go! You're a credit to the EPS, Officer!"

"Joy..." Luke grumbled.

"Alright, alright. Sorry. Where are you? I could call Oliver and we can come find you."

"Right now?"

"Yes, right now. I mean, unless you're busy? It's a Saturday, so I thought..."

Luke sighed. "No, it's fine. Let's meet at your house again."

"Awesome! See you soon."

Luke hung up the phone. He touched the wilting flower in his pocket. This all felt so wrong. He'd never done things behind Eugene's back before. Obviously they didn't tell each other everything, but this was a whole new level of not okay. This didn't feel right. Somehow Luke couldn't imagine Eugene wouldn't eventually find out what he, Joy, and Oliver were doing, and the thought of his reaction made him feel sick. There was no guarantee he'd understand their reasons for doing this. Luke barely understood his reasons for doing this.

He was already walking towards Joy's house. Was that it? Was he just weak-willed, so he let himself be swept along with whatever Joy and Oliver wanted to do? What if... he stopped?

Luke paused in his tracks. He could tell them right now that he didn't feel good about this. He could give the flower back to Eugene. They'd understand his hesitance; it'd all be fine. Eugene might feel a little betrayed about him taking the flower, but he'd apologize, and they'd make up, and it would be over.

And then Eugene would keep doing whatever it was that he'd been doing. He'd still be depressed and distant and Mom unable to tell Luke why. Luke clutched the flower's stem. It might be a childish thought, but Luke sometimes wondered if Eugene secretly wanted someone to talk to about what he was doing. If it was as hard for him to keep things from Luke as it was for Luke to be kept out of it. It still didn't feel like this was Luke's decision to make; it should be Eugene's. But... it had been years, and Eugene hadn't.

Luke sighed, sagging. Maybe the fact that Eugene hadn't told him about things was a sign that he didn't want him to know. That thought kind of hurt. Luke considered Eugene his best friend, but maybe Eugene didn't feel the same way. And... should Luke be upset about that? Shouldn't he let Eugene make his own decisions? Maybe none of this was Luke's choice to make.

Luke's phone buzzed with a text. "Oliver and I are here. You close?" Joy.

Luke shook his head. Had he really just been wondering if Eugene even wanted to be friends with him? Maybe he was just overthinking all of this. Maybe he was overreacting. He might as well just find out a little bit more with Joy and Oliver. Maybe they'd find out they had nothing to worry about all along.

...

Eugene's plan had been to go on patrol, but usually the goal on one was to make sure there weren't any evil ghosts in the area. According to Sean, Charlie had already found one for him, right near his apartment, so he might be able to just skip the first part of the patrol and go straight to... confronting a powerful evil spirit. Which had frightened Charlie enough that she was cowering in the flower shop.

Eugene put a hand to his chest as he walked down the street. It wasn't hurting anymore, and he felt fine. Mostly.

He still really didn't want to fight anyone. Now that he knew the truth, that every monster was just a spirit racked with guilt, Eugene couldn't help but feel that sealing any away was a sin. He wondered sometimes what would have happened to himself if, that day all those years ago, he'd chosen to take it upon himself to avenge Susan's death and kill her husband. He remembered considering it. Things could have gone very differently. Eventually he'd shaken off the idea since he didn't think he was strong enough alone.

Maybe he was projecting a little too much... but maybe he was right. Maybe this ghost could be reasoned with. Almost every one of his ghostly friends had struggled with some degree of dark guilt. It would be unfair to their memories not to try.

Eugene sat alone on the subway on its way towards Station 00. He always thought it was interesting how the ride looked. The farther down the track they went, the more people got off, the fewer got on, until gradually the train trickled into emptiness, leaving Eugene all alone. It was routine, just as usual. He wondered how many of these people even knew about what had happened at Station 00. Was the confrontation that had been so life-wrecking for him just the ghost of a thought for them?

The feelings of the ride were also familiar to Eugene. With people crowded around him, he always felt isolated, but the emptier the train became, the more that isolation dissipated. He'd assumed before that it was in anticipation of seeing his friends at the Underworld Office, but he felt the same this time. Maybe he just felt better being alone when there weren't others around at all. 

The train slowly pulled to a stop at Station 00. Eugene got off. Broken glass crunched under his shoes as the train rumbled away. It didn't look like much progress had been made with repairs. Maybe this station was low on the city's list of priorities.

Eugene made his way into the empty room that used to be the Underworld Office. He walked up to the lost and found closet. He'd be going to face this ghost alone again, but should he bring something to help? Hayden's hat might not be much help in combat, but it might come in handy for finding the ghost. Joan's gun... that didn't feel right to use. He grabbed Hayden's hat and the lock of River's hair, putting both with Boss's fan in his pocket.

Eugene brushed aside some debris with his foot then sat down against the wall of the room, pulling out Sean's flower to look at it. It felt like he was holding his breath. Going to face a powerful ghost felt wrong without anyone else. But what choice did he have?

Eugene bit down on the guardian flower, leaned against the wall, and closed his eyes.

...

Luke sat down in Joy’s basement. He pulled out the flower, and held it out towards Joy and Oliver.

“Wow… you really got it.” Oliver looked up at Luke in surprise.

Luke didn’t look at him. “Now what?”

Joy glanced down at the flower again. “I guess one of us should probably check on Eugene. See if he acts any different or mentions the flower.”

Luke sagged down. “This is stupid,” he grumbled. “We don’t even know what we’re doing.”

“No, no!” Oliver said. “One of us needs to put the flower in our mouth like he does.”

Luke raised an eyebrow at him. “What if something weird happens?”

Oliver clapped his hands. “I already ghost-proofed the basement.”

Luke gaped at him. “You what?”

Joy made a horrible grunting noise that sounded awfully like a stifled laugh. She coughed to cover it up, straightening her face. “He was bored. While we were waiting for you. So he started googling ghost wards and sticking every one he could find around this room.”

“I got holly, haint blue cloth, a weird crucifix from my great-grandmother,” Oliver listed the items off on his fingers. “Salt.”

Joy sniffed in what may have been another attempt to cover laughter. “Yeah, um. I maintain that there’s probably a bigger risk of, say, a surprise allergic reaction. But I guess it’s good to know we definitely won’t be getting possessed tonight.”

“Then who’s going to be putting the flower into their mouth?” Luke asked, staring down at it in his lap.

Joy and Oliver looked at each other. Joy raised an eyebrow. Oliver’s eyes widened, and he shook his head.

Joy looked back over at Luke. “I mean, I could do it, if neither of you want to.”

Luke looked up at her, then back down at the flower. “No. I’ll do it. If we’re right about this, I want to know what Eugene has been going through.”

Joy frowned. “I hope you won’t be too disappointed if it doesn’t do anything.”

“I’d rather it not, actually,” Luke said. That would mean their worries were for nothing. Or at least, nothing quite so strange as Luke was worried. He wasn’t afraid of being proven wrong. “I guess we’ll see.”

“Good luck,” Oliver said solemnly.

Joy was starting to look uncomfortable. “Okay, get it over with. This suspense is killing me.”

Luke put the flower in his mouth. He looked at Joy and Oliver.

Oliver stared. “Anything?”

“Mm’m,” Luke shook his head.

Joy sagged in relief.

“‘M’a try one m’r thing,” Luke mumbled past the flower. Then he lay down on his back in his beanbag chair, and closed his eyes.

...

Eugene sat up, his body slumping away from his spirit, then checked his pockets to ensure he was ready to go toe to toe with a dangerous spirit. He still had Boss' fan, as well as River's lock of hair and Hayden's hat. It felt strange to just take the artifacts without asking, but this was the reason they'd been left with him.

Eugene floated up through the ceiling, then flew quickly towards his apartment. His flight was slow compared to River's or Boss', but it was quick enough. Faster than the subway, anyhow. He reached his building within a few minutes and landed atop the roof, scanning the surrounding streets.

It was oddly peaceful. There were a couple of living people walking down the streets, one peaceful spirit he recognized who hung around his apartment complex. Nothing seemed wrong. Had the evil spirit Charlie ran into left?

Eugene hovered down to talk to the peaceful spirit, a woman with a melancholy face. "Ma'am? Have you seen any dangerous spirits around here?"

She looked at him hesitantly, tilting her head. "Hmmmm... I saw... a thin individual, pitch black... with scissors...?"

"Oh, that's just Charlie. She's harmless," Eugene said, frowning.

"Harmless...?" the woman muttered. Her eyes became visible under her long hair. "So dark for someone harmless... She... has done something terrible..."

Eugene coughed, avoiding her searching gaze. "She's good now. I'm looking for a different dark spirit. Have you seen another one?"

"Mmm... no..." the woman pondered. "But your dark friend... she was... running... Afraid..?"

"Which way?" Eugene asked.

The woman pointed. "From there."

"Thank you, Ma'am," Eugene said, giving her a nod.

"Be careful..." she said.

Eugene gulped, then nodded, walking away. He headed off down the street. What did she mean? Sure, Charlie had done something. There was something she felt awful for. But how bad could it have been if she'd never become a monster for it? Should Eugene ask her about it?

Wait... that man from Charlie's high school had come to Station 00, wanting to talk to her. He knew what had happened. So it couldn't have been so bad, if he still wanted to talk to her. Right?

Eugene came to an intersection, and wasn't sure which way to turn. He's seen no sign of Charlie's monster.

"Hello?" he called out tentatively.

Silence. Strange. How could Charlie have been the only one to notice a spirit so dangerous it left her spooked?

"Mrow."

Eugene jumped, whirling around. A cat. He let out an embarrassed chuckle. "Ah. Hey there," he said.

The cat gave another sharp meow, flicking its tail impatiently.

Eugene hurriedly pulled Eugene's hat out and put it on. "Sorry," he said, "I forgot."

The cat sniffed disdainfully. "If you want my help, act like it," it said, now understandable to Eugene.

"Sorry," Eugene said again, then winced at the redundancy.

"You're looking for an evil spirit who was chasing your friend, hm?" the cat said.

"Yes," responded Eugene. "So yo--"

"This way," the cat interrupted, turning and dashing off to the right.

"Ah! Wait!" Eugene jumped off of the ground and flew quickly after the cat.

The two of them zipped along the sidewalk, then the cat led Eugene down an alleyway. Buildings stretched tall on either side, and the place was dark and dirty, like it was rarely visited. The kind of place Eugene would never go as a human, for fear of being mugged.

“Keep walking along this path, human. I’m leaving,” the cat said.

Eugene nodded to it. “I’ll reward you later today.”

“As you should,” the cat scoffed, then turned and dashed away.

Eugene gulped, looking back at the alleyway. He felt the fan and lock of hair in his pocket. He was starting to wonder if he really should have brought along Joan’s gun.

Eugene shook his head. He wasn’t going to fight this ghost, not unless he had to. He’d find out what was wrong, and then help. He didn’t want to cause any more damage than he’d already helped cause.

There was a dark feeling hovering in the alleyway. Malice from the ghost. Eugene tried to focus. He took an unnecessary deep breath to calm himself.

“Hello?” he called out. His gut clenched with fear. It’s fine, it’s fine. The spirit was just in pain.

“ChaArlie…?”

Eugene froze. He turned around. And his eyes traveled up… and up. He met a set of wide, piercing eyes. It felt like they were looking into his soul, picking apart his every flaw.

Eugene’s mouth was dry. “Who are you?”

The creature stared down at him, where he stood far below its long, long limbs, and hands that could crush him. “Who ArE YOU?”

One of the hands reached down and grabbed Eugene by his collar, causing him to cry out, then yanking him up towards the face. Those massive eyes felt like they were burning him, roasting him for every sin.

“Ah‒” Eugene choked. “Stop… please…”

“Where is Charlie… Where is my daughter?” The eyes burned into him hatefully.

“Ah! Y‒ your what?” Eugene’s eyes widened as the long fingers curled around him. “Your daughter?!”

“You know where she is,” the monster’s eyes narrowed. Its voice was becoming clearer. “And you’re trying to avoid telling me. You awful boy.”

The fingers squeezed Eugene, and he whimpered. “Th-that hurts‒”

“Tell me where my foolish daughter is, and I’ll let you go, boy.” The creature pulled Eugene close up to its face.

Eugene desperately tried to breathe. He was fine, he was fine. It wasn’t like he had ribs to crush. He… he needed to get the ghost to calm down. “Why do you want her…?” Eugene gasped out.

“Because she’s in trouble, boy.” His hand squeezed tighter. “Now tell me.”

Eugene cried out. He felt himself starting to panic, unable to breathe. Great, calm down, calm down. Panicking wouldn’t help anyone. “I’m sure she’s… sorry…”

Something seemed to snap in the monster, and it crushed Eugene in its hand. Eugene gasped silently at the pain. Some part of his soul had ruptured.

“SORRY?” Charlie’s father slammed Eugene againt a brick wall. “You think she’s sorry, for KILLING ME?!”

Eugene couldn’t respond. Killing… him…

Charlie had killed him?

Charlie had killed her father.

Charlie had killed her own father.

Something was dripping. The ghost tossed Eugene onto the ground, and Eugene drew in a painful breath.

The monster leaned down over Eugene. “Where. Is. She.”

It was him. He was dripping. His spirit had split again along the wounds from yesterday and was leaking. Eugene hurt. A lot. Maybe he should have used River’s hair earlier? Yeah, he should’ve… he was too weak now.

“...Flower shop,” Eugene panted.

The ground shook as Charlie’s dead father stood up. Eugene felt him walking away.

Eugene closed his eyes.

What had just happened…?

Charlie had killed her own father…?

And Eugene had just directed him right to her…

Chapter 5

#Underworld Office #my fanfics #Charlie in Underworld #Out of Office #Eugene UWO #Cat UWO #Luke UWO #Joy UWO #Oliver UWO #Charlie's Father UWO #Uh how do I trigger warning this... #tw fantasy violence #(is that good? If something I write triggers you then tell me what to tag)

[dragonsdomain]

Random Convo: Holding character weapon

AO3

Pit: It's a little weird holding a weapon based off someone I know. Who's making these?

Palutena: Someone probably commissioned them, maybe from Dyntos.

Pit: I mean, I get that for the ones based off gods. But what about the Magnus Club? The Gaol Blade? And how did Dark Pit get a staff named after him?

Palutena: Jealous?

Pit: Well, yeah, a little!

Palutena: If you had a weapon made for you, which kind would it be?

Pit: Ooh... maybe a bow 'cause that's classic... or a blade 'cause I'm versatile... but I'm strong and reliable, like a club or cannon...

Palutena: Or constantly feeding off of things, like a palm.

Pit: Hey! It takes a lot of energy to fight all these enemies!

Palutena: No comeback?

Pit: I know who I'm not comissioning for my weapon.

Palutena: Oof. That was a good comeback.

#Kid Icarus #Kid Icarus Uprising #KIU #Pit #Palutena #my fanfics #KIU random convos

[dragonsdomain]

Random Convo: Holding default weapon

AO3

Pit: This weapon is great! Can't go wrong with the classics!

Palutena: You're right! That weapon is a staple of its kind, isn't it?

Pit: Mmhm. Cool special abilities are great, but sometimes it's nice to just have something reliable.

Palutena: Just like you!

Pit: Aww, thanks-- wait, are you saying I'm reliable, or that I don't have any cool abilities?

Palutena: I just said you're like that weapon.

Pit: But what did you mean?

Palutena: Hmm...

Pit: I have cool abilities! I can run fast!

Palutena: Hmm...

Pit: I'm good at fighting monsters!

Palutena: Ah, just like your weapon.

Pit: No! I'm special!

Palutena: Just as special as a weapon that's unique among its peers as the default.

Pit: You're so cold...

#When I say ''default weapon'' I mean weapons like the first blade and EZ cannon #y'know the first ones #Kid Icarus #Kid Icarus Uprising #KIU #Pit #Palutena #my fanfics #KIU random convos

[dragonsdomain]

Random Convo: Chimichangas

AO3

Palutena: I wonder why Medusa has snakes on her head.

Viridi: I know, right? They don’t match her brand at all. If she’s trying to be scary, why’d she pick such an adorable creature?

Pit: Snakes are adorable?

Viridi: Of course! Just look at this picture I’m projecting into your brain:

Pit: Uh… okay…

Palutena: Unfortunately it is a statistical fact that many humans find snakes frightening.

Viridi: Ugh, humans! So there’s another thing to add to the list of reasons all humans need to die.

Pit: That’s not fair, you’re biased. Why don’t you listen to some of the items on our list of reasons all humans don’t need to die?

Viridi: This oughta be good.

Pit: Reason 1: Humans are great.

Viridi: I’ve already lost all respect for your list.

Palutena: Reason 2: Chimichangas.

Viridi: I don’t know what that is, but it sounds awful.

Pit: You’ve never had a chimichanga?

Palutena: Of course… How could someone possibly hate the human race if they’d ever had a chimichanga?

Viridi: Okay, now you’re just messing with me. Chimichangas sound like something you just made up on the spot.

Palutena: Someone sounds a little hangry. You should have a chimichanga.

Pit: Lady Palutena might be joking, but I mean I could totally bring you a chimichanga if you want to try one.

Viridi: Try that and I’ll hit you with a moon laser.

Palutena: Now where would you get one of those?

Viridi: I’d build another one just so that I don’t have to hear about your stupid human chimichangas!

Pit: Oh, by the way, that’s what Medusa’s snakes were for. Lasers.

#Kid Icarus #Kid Icarus Uprising #Uprising #KIU #Pit #Viridi #Palutena #my fanfics #KIU random convos