Painful Memories

The night was cool and a refreshing breeze graced Danny's skin as he walked down the sidewalk. It was a rarity to be able to walk peacefully without being harassed by the media or fans. Ever since his big identity reveal, 'fans' would pester him constantly. This left only his home as a safe place to escape, having closed the ghost portal three years ago leaving that off the table. The Ghost Zone, a day didn't pass when a thought of it didn't cross his mind. Danny could remember when the portal opened for the last time like it was yesterday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Three Years Ago: December~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam Manson, Tucker Foley, and Danny Fenton walked through the Amity Park mall, lights and tinsel adorning each shopfront. A large crowd followed the trio everywhere they went. "Man Danny the paparazzi never sleep, I saw them waiting outside your house all week" Tucker turned his pda to show the picture he had taken. Sam had stayed quiet most of the day, the fans and media following them all day had slowly been getting on her nerves. No matter how many times she asked Danny to get rid of them, they always found their way back. Months she had endured the harassment, and she was finally at her breaking point. An ear piercing shriek cut through the sound of camera shutters, "DANNY BABY!" Paulina slammed into Sam knocking her to the ground. Sam looked up and saw her clinging to Danny's arm rambling on about how they were made for each other. Then out of the corner of her vision she saw it, a pair of ectopus phasing through walls at high speed. "DANNY GHOSTS" Sam quickly picked herself up and chased after them with Danny going ghost closely behind.

Chasing the spooks through multiple stores, Danny finally managed maneuver the pair outside. Firing an ecto beam into one, while grabbing one of the others tentacles and slamming it into the roof. Acting quickly he pulled his thermos and sucked the one he blasted , only to be slammed into by the other. Danny shook the stars from his vision and focused on the last enemy only to notice something strange he had failed to see before dangling behind it. The thought was interrupted however as a fireball came flying over his head, colliding with the green ghoul and knocking the foreign object loose. The now scorched ectopus let out a pained squeal and fled at a high speed. "That's right run away before I turn you into sushi ya damn thief." Danny turned to see the last person he would have expected, Ember Mclain stood over him with fire in her eyes. "Move it dipstick, I don't have time to deal with you right now so move it or lose it." Ember didn't wait for a response and pushed past him and moved to the object that fell. Picking it up she revealed it was in fact her guitar, Danny couldn't help but think that was strange as he'd never seen her without it before. He could easily tell by the look on her face that something was broken. "What's wrong, the roadies to rough with the props?" Danny readied himself knowing she would retaliate, she always did after he quipped.

Ember was seeing red, first her guitar was stolen from her and then this dipstick goes and insults her more. "That's it Baby-pop I hope your ready to rock because I'm not gonna let you go for that one." Quickly swinging her guitar around and struck a chord, sending a green beam into Danny's chest causing him to fly back into the roof. He didn't get much breathing room as Ember was already on top of him swinging her axe downward into him. Danny rolled to his left shot a small beam into the weapon redirecting its course slightly. It flew from Ember's hands and collided with an AC unit, causing a few sparks to fly from it. Throwing up his arms in a mock guard as Ember flew into him fists raised and ready to pummel him into submission. Each impact sent shockwaves through Danny's form, cracking the roof beneath him with each consecutive blow. Ember reared back her fist and filled her palm with pulsing green energy intending to finish him right there and then. Danny didn't miss a beat and took the opening. Bringing his legs up and hooking them under her arms, he pushed with all his might. Before Ember hit the roof Danny phased through and flew at full speed, passing dozens of bystanders. He had to regroup with Sam and Tucker and come up with a plan. Ember seemed more aggressive than usual today as she had never attacked him relentlessly like that before. Each time they had fought before she would just fire off a few attacks, get hit a few times and then teleport away. Danny could feel in the pit of his stomach a long day was ahead of him.

Sam and Tucker found themselves in a very bad situation. After Danny took the fight outside a greater enemy made their presence known, Skulker. He didn't notice the two at first as he had his eyes set on his actual prey. His binoculars glowed a ghostly blue, the world then revealed to him. A rocket appeared from a launcher on his wrist and instantly it fired toward a wall.

Danny phased through a wall only to have a rocket explode in his face. The smoke cleared to revealed Danny knocked down in his human form unconscious. Anything and everything that seemed to be able to go wrong was happening right then. Multiple enemies surrounding their location, Danny being knocked out, and the shoppers panicking and pushing around each other. With each passing moment the human pair knew one wrong move would be their last. Sam pointed at the thermos at Tuckers side and then to Skulker, motioning to uncap it when he got closer to Danny. Tucker could only not silently as he watched his best friend silently. Explosions rocked the mall as the sound of guitar riffs continued to grow louder and more intense. Ember could be seen in the distance searching frantically, eyes still glowing red "Show yourself Phantom!" She blasted a hole through a wall and continued to fly ever closer. Suddenly a glowing green net surrounded her causing Ember to fall to the ground. She struggled in her enraged state, tearing at the net trying to free herself. A lording voice broke through clouded conscience "Woman… It looks like you got my invitation. Now that I have both you and Phantom you'll see just who the lousy hunter really is. I'm going to make an example out of the both of you, now all of the Ghost Zone will know not to oppose the great Skulker!" He then grabbed the net and threw Ember over towards Danny who was just starting to regain consciousness. Danny could feel his head spinning, he tried to sit up trying to orient himself and figure out exactly what was going on. However a boot held him in place, looking up he could tell through his clouded vision that skulker was standing on him. "Now ghost child I will have my revenge for all the times you have escaped me. Once I'm done collecting your pelt I'll tie up the loose ends with my soon to be ex". Skulker then drew a short curved blade from his hip and began to play with it. Ember had managed to wiggle her way closer to Danny "Phantom if you have any tricks up your sleeve now would be the time to use them, maybe your waily thing." Skulker quickly whipped the knife across the side of Ember's face "I can hear you ya know." He brought himself down closer and cupped her face before his fist crashed into her temple. Thick green ectoplasm dripped from the now bloodied gauntlet as well as where it impacted. Danny knee even if she was one of his enemies that if he didn't act quickly, Ember might be done in right then and there. Even though his body screamed out of exhaustion, Danny sucked in a deep breath as he turned ghost. Skulker turned back after a few more jabs only to realize what was about to happen "Oh great." That was all that could be said before the ear piercing wail echoed throughout the mall. Its effects showing immediate results as Skulker's armor seemed to tear away from his body, revealing his true form within. Before he could be completely decimated a blue beam shot out and captured and secured in a thermos.

Sam and Tucker ran out and hovered over Danny, both fussing over his wounds. Though he could barely breathe he flipped over and crawled past the two, taking the knife Skulker had dropped with him. Both friends had witnessed Skulkers brutal beatdown of Ember, though neither made out the extent until they were closer. Ectoplasm leaked from multiple wounds, and multiple bruises were already forming. Sam watched in disbelief as Danny started to cut away at the net. "Danny she's your enemy, just leave her so we can go and get you home before the press has a field day with you."
Danny just ignored her and continued cutting " Look Sam like it or not, even though we're enemies I can't just leave her here because that's not what a hero does.I can't start discriminating on who deserves to be save." Sam scoffed and stormed off unable to believe what she was hearing. Did he suddenly forget all the pain Ember had caused? Why didn't he ever listen to her either? Sam's thoughts continued to grow more twisted in their ideas of ideal conditions. "Just wait Danny, I'll make you see your wrong."
Danny and Tucker stood over the unconscious Ember " Tucker what are we gonna do, I can't just leave her here. She's likely to fade from existence if we leave her to bleed out." Whipping out his PDA Tucker began tapping away " I'll get call your parents out of the house and we can stabilize her there. Then you can decide what your gonna do after this." Danny only nodded as he picked up her battered form, feeling the ragged breathing through his arms. Fighting his own pain, Danny phased through the wall and began flying his way home. Flashes of memories from previous fights clouded his mind. Each of the fights he had with Ember never really felt like his life was in danger. It was more like they were having advanced arguments. Never truely after each other's life, more like just blowing off steam. Maybe if they sat down and talked about their beef, Ember might consider not taking over the world. Maybe it's just wish full thinking at this point.

The Fenton residence could be seen just down the road by this point. Danny noticed the ghost shield was down, likely thanks to Tucker. Phasing through the ceiling into his room, he set the battered frame on the bed. From his bedside table he pulled the vial of medical ectoplasm he often used to recover. Drawing two syringes, Danny injected both of them with the serum, only stopping to wonder what kind of effect it might have on a full ghost. That thought only lasted but a moment as the adrenalin dissipated and darkness overtook his vision.

Danny sighed as the memory faded, he could hear his destination. The music was pounding loud enough to hear from outside the door, a guitar riff could be heard peeking a speaker. He frequented this club mostly because they support local rock bands, a habit he adopted. Grabbing his ID from his wallet Danny headed inside hoping this would clear his head.

From the Fenton residence a high pitched squealing from the lab could be heard. The rusted doors of the Ghost Portal began to peel away from each other revealing the ever circling green vortex. A pale face poke itself through the energy. A smile crept across his face "Ah Ha after years of research and work, I Technus 3.0 have finally reopened the gateway."

And that's a wrap on this months instalment. This one took a little longer than I wanted it to but here it is. I'd like to push a chapter out every month however if I can't it won't be longer than two. Hope you all like this as it's a setup for what's to come. Not super confident currently on my fight scenes but they'll get better.