Chapter 77
Ecto-Dive
The ghost screamed and darted forward, becoming a bullet of swirling red and a green center, his arms stretching for the typewriter.
But we charged as well, meeting him in the middle, the force of our letters sending an explosion of blue, yellow, and red words, flying every which way as both sides forced ever more letters at the other side.
The ghost's attack battered us, carving out enough space for his red letters to fall upon the typewriter. He must have thought he was winning but, no, that was all part of the plan. He made a little hollow bubble around the typewriter as he foolishly went straight for it, going to the very front of his defenses. He'd taken the bait completely.
We reached out with our minds on the front of our band of letters, spreading out and into the ghosts protected layer, carving out an entrance for us. He grabbed the typewriter, a shit eating grin on his face, wiped completely away as we walked inside his fortress, completely unharmed. Our letters swarmed inside the hole we cut and surrounded the ghost, cutting him off from his letters.
He brought up the typewriter, looking ridiculous hunched over it's new tiny form as he sent out more. But it was over. We held our hands out in front of us and closed them into fists, all of the letters and our mental energy enveloping him.
"You!!" He screeched, in pain and fury. "I will have you yet you sniveling shit!"
"Me?" Stephen said, separate from me.
I don't know if it was the question itself that did it, but our minds started to slip out of alignment. The letters started to pop all around us but that was just for show. The real threat was the ghost. When our minds parted, his energy seeped in between.
"You're mine!!" The ghost cackled.
I didn't know what he was talking about. He was about to lose... Right? I fought back with my mental energy but the ghost shoved me aside and wrapped itself around Stephen's, his aura of yellow becoming infected by green.
I only knew one way left that I could help. I let my mental energy seep back inside of me, a moment of lightheadedness hitting me as I orientated to being back fully in my body. I didn't bother to wait for it to go away completely, there wasn't time. I dashed forward, and focused on the ghost, trying to get a read on him to start the binding process.
As I ran toward him he flew around and away from me, cackling all the way. All I could do was watch as he plunged into Stephen's head.
"No!" I ran back toward him but once the ghost disappeared inside Stephen a wave of energy exploded out, slamming into me and taking me off my feet.
I flew back out of the last of the letters, flying toward the far wall where Netta had been tossed just minutes before. She was no longer there, but Dowser came running in from the fish tank wall and took a running leap. He caught me in a picture perfect finish.
If only that had been the finale.
#
"Whew, that was quite the exit," Dowser said, smiling down at me.
"Darcy!" Netta appeared, taking her own leap toward me, pulling me into a hug. "You did it!"
"It's not over!" I yelled. "The ghost went inside Stephen."
Their smiles were wiped away as they joined me in staring at Stephen. The last of the letters had popped, leaving him just standing there, his head tilted up, his eyes rolled back, green energy escaping out of his eye sockets.
"That doesn't look good," Dowser said. He let me down and we all three took up position around Stephen.
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Netta's mask started to glow.
"Wait!" I exclaimed. "What are you doing? We can't bind it with him like that."
"I just was curious if it would let me. Did you try it? Look what it says." Something about the way she said that gave me major bad vibes.
I focused on Stephen.
"Good job, Fleshbag!" The skull mask said. "Time to bind the ghost!!"
The mask started to do it, I had to force myself to look somewhere else to stop it.
"You see?" Netta asked.
I nodded. "It doesn't care that it's in Stephen. Does that mean it would take him inside the mask with it?"
Netta didn't have an answer but she was just as spooked by the possibility as I was.
Dowser punched his hands together. "Let's just pound the ghost out of him."
"Not everything can be solved with brute strength, Dowsy boy," Netta said as she shook her head.
"I have to go in after him," I said.
I stepped closer but Dowser and Netta both pulled me back.
"Mondo bad idea, dude," Dowser said.
"What if you get stuck too?" Netta seemed actually concerned about me, like that happening was an unimaginable horror.
It was wild to me how close we'd grown in such a short time, and so much of it had been littered with danger. I got it, I wouldn't want her risking her life either. But...
"There's no other way," I said. "I have to go in. But I'll come back, I promise." I squeezed her hand and swiveled back to face Stephen, my friends' protests lost to me as I sent out my mental energy into the depths of the ghost that had taken my friend.
And after we'd only just made up? Fuck that.
#
Going inside the infected mind of Stephen was like riding a icky gooey slide. One that was super handsy. It latched onto my energy as soon as I put it out there and forcefully pulled me down into it, my mind lurching into another's mind, somewhere I'd never been before, not exactly. Somehow I did not think it was supposed to feel... Like this. Wet and uncomfortable, the green energy assaulting me from all sides.
I fought back, protecting the core of my mind as the thing effectively swallowed me, depositing me inside... The writing nook?
I looked around, taken aback. I first noticed the wall of a fish tank missing, and then quickly gathered that all of Stephen's changes post getting a big head we're gone. And Netta and Dowser were also missing.
The other big clue that this wasn't the real Interverse was that the room was outlined with the sickly green. Like it was trying to leak into this space and I somehow knew that, if it did, Stephen might be lost for good.
"Let's see how YOU like changes!" The ghost's shrill voice came from behind me, startling the shit out of me.
I wheeled around, expecting him to be flying straight toward me but, no, he had his back to me. His full attention on Stephen, who was pinned to the wall in a layer of ghostly mucus while the ghost plucked strands of his perfectly styled hair.
"Ow!" He yelled. "Please dude, cut it out!"
My first thought was to try and use the mask to capture him right now. I focused on him.
[ Error! Can not bind! ]
Fucking hell. If it wouldn't let me bind now, I could only assume that meant my brain was jumbled up inside the ghost now too which was obvious, but it was worth a shot. And now I knew the mask would prevent things that would kill me. I could only assume it was programmed with the knowledge that a dead host meant no more souls to bind.
With that option out it was back to the good old faithful bad guy busting course of action: beat the shit out of them and hope for the best. And, luckily for me, I had the element of surprise on my side.
I crept closer, stepping to the side so that Stephen could see me over the ghost's shoulder. He didn't react much, thankfully, but he silently acknowledged me. And then it was back to being tortured.
"When I'm done with you you won't have any hair left you stupid little shit. Let's see you get the girls now," the ghost cackled like mad, tickling himself so much that he went into a coughing fit.
I quietly charged up my energy in my left fist. One good blow to the head and, hopefully, that would be enough to send us all tumbling out of Stephen's mind. That made sense to me but who knew if that was really how it worked. We definitely needed some more lessons from Kenzo when all this shit was over with...
I wanted to gather as much power as possible. I had about 40% of my mental energy left so I could probably spare 30% into the punch. That left me with little power to defend myself but I didn't see any other way out of this. I had one chance so I would have to spend as much as I could on it.
The ghost recovered enough to start pulling more hair out, Stephen crying out and begging him to stop. The situation was kind of more comical than sinister. I tried to imagine that other ghost doing something like this. His idea of torture would have been much more deadly and painful. Perhaps there were levels to ghosts, the more wild and far gone they were the more sinister their appearances and manner of attacks.
"Why did you have to do it?" The ghost said, almost pleading.
"For the last fucking time—ow!—I don't know what you're talking about, dude!" Stephen did some pleading of his own. Both parties seemed locked in complete misunderstanding.
Not that I knew what the hell the ghost guy was going on about either and, frankly, I didn't really care. However silly his methods, he was hurting my friend and I was done with his bullshit.
I completed the charge and stepped forward, swinging for the back of the ghost's head.
"You think I don't know you're there, missy?" The ghost snarled as he dodged out of the way, my fist hitting nothing but air.