Chapter 12: The Hunters Prey

The simplest solutions are usually the best solutions. That's, at least, the general consensus; if so, it should work for ghost powers too.

In his hand a ball of ectoplasm floated, roughly the size of a softball. He swapped it back and forth between his hands, playing with it like it wasn't a ball of supernatural deathly energy. He shifted the orb of energies properties, going through all that it could be. From a normal ball of energy, to a blast, then to a ray, to goop, and even charging it with electricity. This has been an exercise he's been doing for the past few days, and really, it has been helping.

Charging attacks, swapping types, range, and damage have all been increased in efficiency and power. Not by much, but it's a start. There's only so much that can be done in two weeks time, and he's really hoping this has long term benefits.

The ball of ectoplasm suddenly flattened, the energy protested, but was held in place by will alone. With another thought the flattened ball- now disc, started spinning. Slow at first, it gained speed at an increasing rate. Eventually the rapid rotation affected the wind, the sound resembling a high speed fan. Wind blew around it slightly, Danny's eyes gained a mad glint, no doubt inherited from his parents. He loved these experiments, testing the limits of his powers and seeing what he could do. If this is what they felt with ghosts, he could at least get why they spend all their time down there. That doesn't mean he has to like it.

The speed kept increasing until finally, the half-ghost could no longer hold it. The ecto-disc spun wildly out of his hand, startling him, and impacting the side of his cave and sheering right through. For the briefest of moments, sunlight illuminated the cave from the small hole, before the mountain crumbled itself to cover the new opening.

Danny's mouth was wide open, he wasn't expecting that kind of cutting power. A few seconds later a muffled explosion was heard. He quickly wrote the results in his notebook, but it needed more testing. Danny grabbed his things and went outside, he took off west, still away from town but definitely not in the direction of Lake Eerie.

It's not hard to find a spot to use his powers, but staying in one area isn't good. He can't train around his mountain, they'd find it eventually if he did so.

Danny's been on a bit of a tangent with his powers lately. Ghost fighting has stayed relatively the same at about three to four a week, but there's no telling when that will change. If the Box Ghost's words are anything to go by then there's a good chance this frequency will only go up. If the stable connection to the Ghost Zone, the Fenton Portal, is attracting all kinds of ghosts, then it's a fair bet to say that far more will come a-calling as time goes on.

God dammit.

That's not a pleasant thought, but Danny can handle it. More training is required, far more. Besides simply using them more in combat, it's not terribly difficult to think of a way to up his abilities. Compression, rotation, expansion, mixing, and splitting are all ways Danny has thought of that will maybe improve his powers.

And based off of this last test, compression and rotation make for a great combination. The ecto-discs fly at high speeds, and have amazing cutting power, with an explosive finish.

Making shapes with ectoplasm is still difficult as hell though. The disc took a week to get right, and compressing it further makes the already difficult ability, far more taxing. Each shape requires time and concentration, and based on his findings so far, unusable in battle at the moment. Taking almost five minutes to form a simple three foot rod out of ectoplasm is beyond viable, a sneak attack sure, but mid-battle? No. At least the ecto-disc has gotten easier, maybe a minute at most and he's got one ready to fire.

Danny sets down in a clearing miles outside of Amity Park, closer to the next town over than his actual hometown. Ectoplasm comes alive in both hands, flaring sporadically and contorting into random and predetermined shapes as Danny continues his testing. It's not the shapes that are hard to craft, it's crafting and conforming a shapeless energy into a more solid base.

Slowly, the ectoplasm shifts into a sphere, before flattening into the disc shape. Good, it's faster. Danny feeds more energy into the disc, testing its limits. He exhales as it caps out, roughly twice the amount of energy a blast has. Even more energy is expended when he adds rotation.

As the RPM's increase, so does the pressure released by the high speed rotation. Wind is pushed aside and noise is generated as the disc reaches the highest speed he can maintain. It's difficult to do this, there's so many small things happening at once, and the energy expenditure isn't terribly great. Rather, it's kind of bad how high it is. At this point the forming takes twice that of an ecto-blast, and keeping the rotation going is about the cost of two ecto-rays at once.

That's not saying a lot when he can fire them off non-stop for a while, but it's noticeable how quickly ecto-discs drain his reserves compared to his more basic attacks. "Tsk." It also takes way too long to form and be ready to use.

Danny aims his hand with the disc at one a row of trees to his right. With a thought, it flies, taking off at extreme speeds. It cuts through the air, and three seconds later five trees have a small hole punched straight through, and a sixth one is blown up from the disc's final detonation. Danny whistles at the damage, thoroughly impressed, but not satisfied with the new form of attacks viability. It'll need some work.

Danny continues with ecto-discs for thirty minutes, blowing holes in trees and felling others with ease. Slowly, the energy construct gets easier to form, as does its rotation. Accuracy leaves something to be desired, but he'll get it one day.

After a short lunch break, Danny moves on to a different combination. Over the course of five irritatingly slow minutes Danny forms a rod of ectoplasm. At three feet long, it's… nothing to really be proud of. It's cool, yeah, but it takes too long to form and requires concentration to keep its shape. This time, Danny's just focused on keeping it out and maintained.

The thing about his powers so far is that, the more Danny uses them, the easier they are to use. That's par for the course with most super powers, Danny assumes, but so far he has an impressive list of powers, and ways to use them, that just keep growing. It's awesome.

Twenty minutes later, Danny finds the ecto-rod feeling about the same- as in there's no changes to cost of maintenance, so he swaps back to forming.

And this is how he's been training for the most part. For flying, Danny chose dodging trees as an obstacle course, though it was quickly getting boring. Every day he tested how high up he could go, not that he had a way of actually measuring the distance. Walking on walls and ceilings was fun and gave an interesting perspective. Pretty soon the he was going to have to steal a police officer's radar gun, he wanted exact numbers on his speed, not guesses.

Danny refocused on the ecto-rod construct in his hands, it solidified further under the newfound concentration. Electricity slowly coiled down his arms, trickling through his fingers, before it slowly encircled and empowered the javelin. He kept up the stream of ecto-energy and electricity, draining him at an alarming rate.

Having had enough, Danny flew up and chose a target. He spots a large boulder, about the size of a normal, non-Fentonized RV, at the base of a half-mountain about four hundred feet away was chosen. He rolled the electric missile in his hands, twirling it twice before taking aim. Danny reared back, his body stretching and turning in a way his human half never could reach, before throwing it with all his strength. The current infused lance flew through the air, leaving contrails of electricity and stray sparks behind in its wake. It flies true, landing at the bottom part of the boulder and hits on target, exploding in wild arcs of electricity and ectoplasm. The rock cracks and split, splintering shards peppered the area and the foreign energy scorched the former boulder and immediate vicinity. Any nearby flora was vaporized, the surrounding area smoldering black.

Danny flew over, satisfied with his impeccable aim. He floated three feet off the ground, inspecting his handiwork. He nodded at the results, the attack showed promise, but at the moment was useless for anything besides ambushes. One day, but not today.

That attack is exhausting through, especially compared to his others. He could easily throw four or five before he'd need a break, but Danny has to be careful with his training. The half-dead teenager can't afford to be extremely exhausted, not when a ghost could show up.

Danny checks his phone, noting the time, before snapping a picture of the results. He flies back and grabs his notebook, jotting down theories and results. The damage is great, but it could be better. Range is phenomenal, and accuracy is acceptable. At four hundred feet away, it's not the greatest distance, but it's enough to snipe some of the dumber undead. Throwing allows for greater penetration power and distance, rather than simply willing it forward like an ecto-blast. Next time, he'll add rotation to the projectile.

Training comes to an end though at two o'clock, any longer and he'd burn through too much. A quick fly back to the cave later and Danny's packed and ready to go.

He looks around at his secret hideout, still disappointed at the lack of furniture and fillings. He has a couple couches, a few chairs, two coffee tables and two end tables, but other than that there's nothing. There's only so much you can get from a junkyard that isn't rotted away garbage. Even the couches are barely passing, and that's after a thorough cleaning session and couch covers. There's no electricity, therefore no lights, no fridge, no television. The place is severely lacking in amenities, and it's not easy to get them; nobody throws out generators, they're all scrapped, and even then this is a cave, a gas generator can't be used without consequences.

He sighs and shakes his head, even without power there were a few more things he could add. The half-ghost still needed lots of shelves, metal targets, a weight set, and a ridiculous amount of medical supplies. He was going to have to ghost the last bunch on the list, but stealing first-aid kits so he could protect people was a good trade-off.

Danny took off through the mountain, coming tangible on the other side before flying back off towards his house. A quick fly around through the city was in order, and then he'd have the whole afternoon to himself.

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As the morning of August twentieth came around, the young half-ghost found himself tired and irritable. Last night there was not one, not two, but three separate ghost incidents! First it was the Box Ghost, Danny was getting tired of seeing him. Not that he was a problem really, he was just annoying. He didn't even know how he came back so often, it certainly wasn't the portal in his basement!

The second undead encounter came not only two hours later, a squad of ectopuses flew through the portal. At midnight, seven of the monsters came through, startling Danny out of the sleep he had only just gotten into. Infuriated and thoroughly annoyed, Danny took after them. He had caught two in the thermos before he had to abandon the idea of using it again. Over the course of two hours Danny blasted, zapped, pummeled, and tore apart the remaining cephalopods. Four fell to his hand before the last one was sucked into the thermos. Stubborn little shits. He was wary of getting caught by their tentacles again, but against so many, injuries couldn't be avoided. All at skin level, but his leg and back had some nasty tears on them.

An hour after Danny got home after that, nearly three in the morning, another ghost came through the portal. The third ghost that came through was alone, but it was easily the freakiest ghost he'd seen yet. It was basically a walking eyeball with spider legs and creepy withered fingers for wings. Disgusting, gross, revolting, there's not enough adjectives to describe the thing. He had gotten a late start on chasing it, exhaustion does that, and by the time he found the thing it had already deconstructed a construction site. Danny wasn't sure what they were building, but a fair bet would be another skyscraper. It's a good thing they weren't very far along, because the whole place was rubble now. There were no injuries from this thing, but he most likely was going to have nightmares for a while.

With only fifteen days left till school, Danny can't help but feel like he's racing against time. Time he doesn't have. He's still not that good at using his powers, better yes, but they shut off randomly at times, at least once a week he has an episode where he's in pain for literal hours. Nothing's right, and he's so damn tired. If ghost attacks are going to continue at this rate, he's screwed.

He had full intentions on sleeping in until maybe three in the afternoon, but after the three consecutive explosions from his parents lab, that option is out the window. Every time Danny closes his eyes, BOOM! Literally. It's ridiculous. At least he was able to get some sleep, it's better than nothing at all.

But it still wasn't much, hence his mood.

Danny walked down the stairs, dark bags under his eyes and a deep scowl on his face. The kitchen was empty, thankfully, and he went about getting his meal. He really didn't want to deal with anyone right now, especially his parents. Tired of cereal, he opens the fridge and growls when a glowing green ham tries to chomp him. It's promptly grabbed and fried with electricity, it's only when the thing is thoroughly cooked and smoking does he realize that he used his electrokinesis while in his human form.

That's certainly useful, but that means that his ghost side seeps into his human half far more than he thought. He hums in thought, before shrugging. There's not much he can do about it.

Breakfast goes by fast enough and Danny runs upstairs for a quick shower. He changes into a gray light long sleeve shirt with a blue button down over it. He leaves it open and goes with his regular jeans. Danny takes a peek into his closet, noting how he only has a couple white and red shirts left. Honestly, he thought that they'd last through a majority of high school when they were bought in bulk, but now there's only a few left. All because of ghosts.

Well, there was a reason they were on sale, so it's not that big a deal.

Danny's out of his house minutes later, flying off towards town. He knew he should be training, but there's plenty of time left in the day. He wanted to fly around the city. Amity Park isn't the largest city in America by far, but it is big enough to have a couple dozen skyscrapers. At a population of over four-hundred thousand, there's a decent amount to do, even if the town is kind of a dead end place. Plus, he can go wherever he wants. Locked doors and impenetrable walls can do nothing to him, and he can just go invisible for cameras.

He can explore to his heart's content.

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"Well, it was fun while it lasted."

Danny had about an hour of goofing off when his ghost sense went off. It was pointing him south, towards the downtown area. A short ten minutes later and he finds himself floating above the zoo.

Danny looks around, searching for the ghost, he keeps his ears down to the ground to see if he can hear any screaming.

Nothing.

Danny frowns before he flies down to get a closer look. One of the large trees in the middle of the park catches his attention, and he goes over to take a seat while looking out.

Maybe this ghost is friendly? That would be nice, especially since the Box Ghost isn't exactly a well of information. Or easy to tolerate.

"Move whelp, this spot is occupied." Danny jumps, startled and confused, but catches himself before he falls all the way down below.

Floating back up, the half-ghost looks around for the owner of the voice. "Uh, who said that?"

A large metal figure materialized in front of him. A mohawk aflame with green topped his skull-like head. The figure, obviously some kind of ghost, was bulky, even more so since his skin was metal. A large pauldron of unknown material was on his left shoulder, and he had numerous gadgets on his body. His clothes were black and the belt he wore beeped with green and blue lights. Danny's eyes widened as he took in the full figure of the ghost in front of him. A robot ghost.

"I said that. I am Skulker, the Ghost Zones greatest hunter!" He boasted and spread his arms wide so Danny could take in his magnificence. The robot was taller than Danny by at least a foot, towering over the half-ghost who was in awe at the undead before him.

"Whoa! Are you a robot ghost? You're awesome!" Danny flew around to get a better look, there were many ports and hatches on Skulkers body. He had no idea what they did, but he assumed stuff came out of there if he was a robot ghost.

Skulker smirked and took in the praise with glee. He enjoyed the praises of the ghost child. "This is a battle suit I built, it is armed with the best technology to aid in my hunts!" Skulker flexed his arms and multiple weapons popped out of the ports on his arms. A blade on each wrist, blasters from his forearms, rocket pods from his shoulders, jetpack with wings from his back. More and more weapons littered Skulkers body, and Danny couldn't help but wonder how so much fit in there if it was a battle suit.

"Holy- that's a lot of weapons… that's so cool." The hunter became more intimidating than he first guessed, especially with the arrogant smirk he had plastered to his metal skull face. "You said you're a hunter? What do you hunt?"

Somehow, the metal skin of the suit smirked. The half-ghost really wondered how Skulker got metal to move like that. He didn't think that a robot suit could show such emotions.

"Everything! If it's a rare creature, I shall hunt it and hang it's pelt above my mantel! My realm has all of my trophies, from all of my hunts!" Skulker grinned as he reminisced in all his hunts, they were truly exhilarating, and he enjoyed collecting their skins.

"Ah…" Danny was getting a bad feeling about this ghost. How many half-ghosts could there be? "I see. Uh- ew. Why are you here at the zoo then?"

"I am here for a gorilla, one of the last of its kind." Skulker said, "I shall take its pelt for my collection." Again with the pelt nonsense. Gross.

"Wait, wait, you're going to hunt something in the zoo? Where's the fun in that?" If he was going to hunt something, fine, but at this point it's not hunting. It may as well be target practice.

Skulkers eyes narrowed at the ghost child. "What do you mean, whelp?"

Danny gulped, "Well, it's not really hunting if it's in the zoo, man. It can't go anywhere, there's no tracking it through dense woods or forests. It's just… there. Like a target. That's not really hunting, is it?"

Skulker tilted his head to the side, he supposed the child had a point. It wouldn't be like his other hunts, there would be no thrills, just the action of ending it. As fun as that was, it wouldn't be a true hunt.

"Also, that gorilla there, I'm pretty sure the purple-back is just painted on. If you're looking for hunting grounds, I would suggest Africa or South America. There's not really much to hunt on this continent, it's too populated." Danny was trying his best to get this hunter out of here. He had a bad feeling about him, like if he didn't play his cards right, he would be hunted. Where else would be better than across the world?

Just not here.

Also, he really did hear a rumor about the purple-back being painted. He didn't think it was true, but it was an easy lie to get away with. Sampson seemed like a ridiculous animal, Danny had never heard of a mammal that naturally grew purple hair.

Skulker looked back at the target, then to the whelp. He cupped his chin in thought, before asking the child in front of him, "Why do you care? You are obviously a ghost too, why do you care for where I hunt?" Skulker did take note of what the child said, if this expanse of land was that crowded, then he would have to find more suitable areas.

Danny tensed at the question and he racked his brain for a suitable explanation that didn't scream 'I am huntable'. He thought through some of the terms his parents had said about ghosts over the years.

He gambled, "Well, this place… is kinda like my… haunt?" Was that the right term? "I haven't been dead long, but there's a lot of ghosts that have been coming here. So far, all of them have been violent and destructive. I still have family here, so I've been trying to keep the place safe. Ah! The Box Ghost wasn't exactly destructive, but he was damn annoying. I sent him back to the Ghost Zone as well."

The hunter narrowed his eyes in suspicion, his explanation felt true, yes. He could also agree that the Box Ghost was, indeed, annoying. Skulker himself came from the portal in that basement lab, so he knew why there were so many coming here. They were being called. But there was a nagging feeling in the back of his head, one that he had associated with finding rare prey. His hunter's instinct, as he called it, and it was screaming at him. Particularly about the whelp in front of him. He looked similar to the smaller human child in the photos in the portal house. "Hmmm."

Danny felt like he was being evaluated, if the stare was anything to go by. "Uh, hey, what's the stare for?"

Skulker didn't respond to the question, "What's your name whelp?"

Danny stiffened. He couldn't give his real name, not in this form. He had a good name a few weeks back, what was it again? "My name is… Phantom. Danny Phantom. Nice to meet you?" He knew it wasn't the smartest idea to call himself Phantom, especially with it being so close to Fenton, but it called to him. The idea that the names were so similar was kind of funny to him as well. If he ever talked to the living in this form, he wondered if they'd make the connections. As he finally said his ghost name, an insignia formed on his chest. A flaming D, with a P in it. It didn't go unnoticed by Skulker.

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Skulker nodded, his metal skull face impassive. "Very well, whelp." So he wasn't going to call him by his name then? "I will take your advice. Till we meet again." The hunter ghost sprouted his jetpack from his back, before taking off. He turned invisible soon after.

Danny let loose a breath he didn't need to hold. That was scary, he didn't want to be a pelt. He wasn't too sure how that would work for humans, not a lot of hair to make anything worthwhile. Maybe he was overreacting, it's completely possible that the hunter wouldn't hunt him. Not that he'd trust someone he just met, especially a ghost, he didn't have any good interactions with them so far.

Danny slumped down on the tree branch, far more tired than ten minutes ago. He sat there for about thirty minutes, watching people and animals move about through the zoo. Eventually he got bored and decided to head home. He didn't feel like training today.

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Danny touched down in an alley two blocks away from his house. Ectoplasm quickly faded from his form, turning Phantom back into Fenton. He was about to walk out of the alley when his heart sank at the voice he heard.

"Ah-ha! I knew it!"

Danny stiffened, before slowly turning around. On the roof above him, stood Skulker. This time, he really was eyeing Danny with a predatory grin. Danny gulped and instantly turned back into Phantom.

Thinking on the fly, Danny brought out the quickest excuse he could think of: "How do you like my shapeshifting?" He held his hands out as if to show off, even then, his shaky voice gives him away.

Skulkers grin grew even more, "That wasn't shapeshifting, and I know what you are, Halfa. The other may be too powerful for me, but you… I can hunt you." Green and black blasters popped out of his gauntlets, primed and aimed at Phantom.

Those two short sentences were far more valuable to Danny than the hunter could have imagined. First was his species, he had been calling himself a half-ghost, but apparently, the proper term was Halfa. It seemed kind of half-assed, honestly. Also, there was another tidbit of information that caught his attention. Another like him, one who was so powerful that Skulker wouldn't dare hunt him.

He wasn't alone. There was another Halfa, just like him!

Phantom's eyes shone with intensity as he took to the skies. Skulker missed both blasts, destroying the pavement that the Halfa was just standing on. The hunter took off after Phantom, the jetpack launching him at full speed.

Danny charged a blast in each hand while flying sporadically, dodging left and right as stray rays flew by him. Stray rays hit random cars, houses, or other public buildings and signs. He wanted to be sneaky, to not attract attention, but he knew that he would need all the energy he could manage with this ghost. Danny took a sudden sharp right, flipping over and aiming both hands at the hunter. He seemed surprised that Danny showed such readiness. Both blasts left his hand, hitting the hunter and batting him away. The Halfa didn't wait around for the hunter.

Two minutes of uninterrupted flight later, and Phantom found himself with eight missiles trailing behind him. Danny charged a ray and dipped low to the ground, flying right above the street. He swerved left and right, sweeping the ray and detonating five of the eight missiles. A row of trees, about three hundred feet to the left caught his attention. He blasted off towards them, allowing the timbers to take the explosive projectiles in his place.

There was no time to celebrate though as Skulker dropped his invisibility and shoulder charged the young Halfa. Danny spun out of control, breaking through a tree and skidding on the ground. He righted himself, feet digging into the ground, and charged his arms with electricity. It was wild and intense, burning a scar into the ground as he kept skidding backwards.

Skulker was on him again, blaster in one hand, blade extended from the other, a maniacal grin on his face. "What a hunt! I didn't expect such ferocity whelp! It'll make mounting your pelt that much sweeter."

Danny shivered, "That's gross, Tin Can!" He ducked under a swing, but the blast caught him in the chest. He screamed as he was blasted backwards. Skulker followed after, only to be zapped by Danny.

He had a grin matching the hunters, until he heard an automated voice, "Suit now charged at 200% power." Danny immediately cut off the flow of power, staring dumbfounded at the hunter. Of course, one of his most powerful abilities is useless against the mechanized hunter.

"Yeah, that's my luck." He grumbled.

Skulker stood back up, smoking but more than raring to go. The ports opened and weapons poured out of the hunter, immediately blasting the entire area. Rockets launched wildly and energy blasts disintegrated anything they touched. Trees fell and the whole area burned in green fire and energy, Skulker laughing the whole time.

Danny didn't stick around.

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Downtown Amity Park was having another peaceful day. The sun was out, warming its citizens with its shine. Kids were still out of school and providing business to the commerce area. The mall was packed, those very same teenagers and young adults boosting the local economy and enjoying their summer vacation.

And the sounds of explosions could be heard throughout the city. Concerned citizens looked around, the sounds were getting closer. They did what any sane civilian would do, they pulled out their phones… and didn't call 911, but started recording the strange day-goings.

Five stories up, Phantom came around the corner of a skyscraper, surprising the bystanders below. His speed was too great, and he went careening into a wall across the street. Luckily, he had enough wits to roll with the impact, before launching into a sprint along the side of the building. The watchers were stunned and awed at the display of power and skill, metas and other powered individuals had never been seen in Amity before, this was a first for many. Some even clapped, like it was some kind of show.

They all ran away with fear when a missile failed to round the corner the white haired teen flew by. The side of the building blew up in a green explosion. Rubble fell down onto the already empty street, adding further property damage. Danny gave a sigh of relief, he was too busy saving his own hide to worry about other people at the moment.

Phantom launched off the building, cracking it under his enhanced strength, but held it anyway. He figured running sideways would have felt weird or disorienting, but really, it felt natural. Danny went higher, trying to get away from the town.

"You're gonna have to try better than that trash can!" Danny taunted.

Skulker growled, but the hunt was still going on, and he was enjoying it. "Stay still whelp! It'll only hurt for a second!"

A blast to his face was the only reply he received. "Ha! How's it feel, skull face?!" Green smoke covered the area, but Phantom was under no impression that that was the end, so he just kept going.

Skulker followed the Halfa out of the smoke, green eyes ablaze in anger. His face had several scorch marks, but other than that, he was fine. It is a battlesuit after all, it could take a beating far more than most ghosts.

Danny reached the clouds quick enough, and with new cover, decided to try out one of his new attacks. He started forming a disc in his hand, using the other to force more energy into it to make the process faster. As the ecto-disc grew, he poured more and more power into it, fully intent on inflicting some form of lasting damage.

Skulker flew up to the area, angry and ready to finish the hunt. Not finding his soon to be pelt, he pressed a button on his gauntlet. Binoculars, red and silver in color, formed out of his other arm. He picked them up and attached them to his head. Several seconds later the new device and his suit were completely linked, and he had his vision through the clouds.

A shrill sound caught his attention before he found the Halfa. Cutting through the clouds came a bright glowing green disc, slightly smaller than a manhole cover. Skulkers mechanical eyes widened, and he barely had time to dodge. The disc still hit, and as a testament to his armor, it did hold out. For a few seconds, then his left arm was sheared off a little below the shoulder. The disc kept flying for about one hundred feet, before exploding and dispersing the cloud it found itself in.

Now imbalanced, Skulker had to reorient himself. Another moment of distraction that Phantom capitalized on. From the clouds above he came, fists and arms glowing green. Danny punched Skulker with both his hands, directly in the chest, going far faster than he wanted.

It was a mistake, he soon found out. Yes, Skulker, now missing an arm and having an indented chest, was sent flying down. But, it wasn't without cost.

"OOOOOW! MY HANDS! OH, IT HURTS! WHAT THE FUCK?!" Despite infusing himself with ectoplasm, it wasn't enough to completely cancel out the force. The pinky finger on his right hand was bent at an unfortunate angle, clearly broken. His right hand had his middle and ring finger cracked and broken as well. He would describe it as shattered, but to each their own. The teenager cradled his digits in agony, biting his lip to stifle tears that so desperately wanted to come out, but he wouldn't cry, especially not in front of the hunter.

It fucking hurt all the same.

"You'll pay for that brat!" And it was for naught, as an angry and irate Skulker flies up, a glowing green wrist blade pointed directly at the Halfas heart. Danny turns intangible at the last second, letting Skulker fly right through him. Steeling himself for just half a second, he straightens out his broken pinky, a muffled yelp escapes his lips, but it's heard by no one.

Broken fingers he may have, but that won't stop him from fighting. Just from using his hands directly.

Danny charges blast after blast, and lets them loose at the hunter as he sweeps around for another pass. The downside of using that jetpack is apparently wide turns, speed may be improved, but at a cost of the nimbleness that Danny still has. Blasts fly wide, bursting and exploding in mid air. The concussive force jostles Skulker, making him tumble briefly.

From the ground, the clouds in the sky thunder with green energy. Non-stop booms echo through above Amity Park, a prelude for what's to come in the future. Briefly the shadows of the two fighters are shown to those down below.

Although a majority miss, several blasts do hit, but they leave the armor merely dented and burned. Skulker flies into the clouds to lose sight, realizing all to well the advantage the Halfa has.

Danny tries relying on his ghost sense to pinpoint Skulker, but as usual, it's useless up close. He flies down, away from the clouds and inevitable ambush. Before he breaks free a rocket breaks through and slams into his back, propelling him down into the ground in an uncontrolled tumble. An echoed scream bursts forth from his mouth, startling those down below. Skulker breaks free from his cover, firing blast after blast from his wrist mounted blaster.

Several shots hit the falling Halfa, further adding to his pain as holes are burned into his back, stomach and arm, but Danny has enough clarity to know that he either gains control of his free fall, or he becomes a pelt on a wall. As the skyscrapers get closer Danny rights his flight, barreling left and right to avoid shots from the hunter.

He forms a claw on his right hand, and digs it into the side of a building. His pinky burns and demands release from the strain it's facing, but he bears with it. The sudden torque pivots his movement and he uses newfound momentum to propel himself in another direction. Danny dodges into one of the buildings, going intangible. He watches as the hunter flies by, looking for his prey.

Phantom sighs, deep and hurt. He glances to his left and right, finding himself in a storage area for an office. "It's kind of a waste of the view." He shakes his head, no need to be distracted right now. Danny looks down at his clawed hand and forms an ecto-blast in it. His other hand follows suit, ecto-claw forming and converging up to his wrist. A ray forms moments later.

A grin settles in on Danny's face, the hunter was in for a mean surprise.

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"Where are you whelp, there's no use hiding!?" This would be a lesson to the hunter. No matter how young, Halfa's are clearly dangerous. Plasmius was a no brainer, having been half dead for twenty plus years. This new spawn? He figured a far easier hunt than what he got. A glance at his missing arm makes Skulker groan, it's not easy fixing the suit with that level of damage. If he couldn't salvage the missing appendage? That'll double the time he needs, collecting supplies isn't easy in the GZ, especially without the protection of his suit.

His wrist beeps, showing that the tracking device finally located his prey. He grins while reading the results… "Above?" He looks up, only to have two silver boots slam into his face.

"Look high, metal man!" Danny taunts. He springboards off of the hunters face before he can swipe his legs off with his blade.

Danny takes the fight away from downtown, aiming to get to the park area. Skulker is on his trail quickly, following and blasting at the ghost child. Danny flips over and aims his hand at the hunter.

Expecting a simple blast, Skulker is surprised to see five separate ecto-blasts fire at him at once. Two land on his one good arm, the other three fly past and explode in an air burst a mere foot behind him. The shock wave is greater than expected, and he tumbles out of control, the wings from his jetpack being broken off in the process. If turns were wide before, they're even worse now. The wings can't even retract now, they just make him a larger target.

Danny sneers at the Ghost Zones greatest hunter, another blast forming in his right hand. Claws dig into it, splitting it into smaller, less powerful explosives, but they're still connected. A fun application of two different powers, the air burst is great as an anti-air method. The best part is, the cost is only a little bit higher than a normal blast. A name would have to be thought of for this move.

Danny fires again, and is immediately charging up another. More concussive air bursts hit Skulker, but their power is negligible. Damage is mounting though, his suit is battered and burned, and even with the boost from earlier, his energy reserves are waning. He sees the Halfa gained distance, and every remaining missile in his body pops out of their ports and fires at Phantom.

As thirty glowing green rockets make their way towards him, Danny laughs as he brings up his left hand. "Try again gearbox!" The ray fires out, destroying two missiles. Ecto-claws dig into the ray this time, splitting it five more ways. The energy beam splits in between his fingers, splicing into different arcs. They are far too weak to properly damage a ghost, much less Skulker in his robotic battle suit.

But the split lasers make for an excellent point defense against these missiles. A savage smirk dons Danny's face as he swings his hand left and right, Destroying every projectile that was on its way towards him.

Seeing his attack thwarted once again, Skulker growls at the half-ghost. "I will have your pelt, abomination!" Skulker fires off at Danny. Said Halfa flinches at the insult, having had similar thoughts about himself, before anger surfaces in its place. He snarls, large fangs baring right down and proving just how different he is to humans, and even other ghosts.

His hands hurt, broken and bruised. His back stings, burned and battered. The eyes tell a different story and he screams at the hunter, rage and anger clouding his judgement. He didn't need some pelt obsessed undead calling him that, he already knew that! Danny fired one last split blast at him, before charging in as well.

The hunter raises his good arm and blade to block the shot. On impact, his charge is halted. Clearly when all five shots land, it's more powerful than a normal ecto-blast. Something to take note of. He continues through the green smoke that blocked his vision, only to be surprised again.

A large ecto-claw tears threw his chest, taking critical operating systems and many bodily-control functions in the single swing. The hunter screams in frustration, and his mistimed swing misses, further adding to his ire. He spins wildly as the momentum from Phantom transferred to him in that attack.

Danny swings around in a somersault, correcting his aim and launching off again. Anger is the dominating emotion, and despite the satisfaction at seeing how damaged and out of control the hunter is, Phantom wants more.

Skulker's suit is losing altitude fast, many of the functions are down and his energy levels are dropping fast. Inside his suit, the hunter screams in frustration. "No, no, no, no!" This hunt is a bust, the suits out of commission and even if the one working arm cut off the Halfa's head, he wouldn't have a way to bring the body back to be skinned. His real body is too small to carry even a child like Phantom, how infuriating.

The hunter is ripped from his thoughts when he sees the ghost child approaching, intent on finishing him off. He grimaces, but prepares to meet the final charge.

Danny extends his hands out, ready to rend the hunters suit into pieces. The suit has lost most of its glow, clearly the damage has piled up enough, but he can see the bladed arm ready to intercept. His speed increases and he pumps more power in his claws. They grow and extend slightly, reaching his elbow.

Danny roars as they finally meet. He ducks under the slow blade swipe and succeeds in cutting into more of the metal body. Knowing that the suit itself isn't his actual body lessens the guilt to non-existent levels. Even as angry as he is, the Halfa is still wary of ending sentient life. He doesn't hate the hunter that much.

While still in close range, Danny chose the moment to disarm the hunter of his last weapon, literally. The suit falls down below into the park, armless and with rapidly draining power.

Skulker crashes into the park below, crushing a jungle gym and indenting into the ground. Was the suit that heavy? Off to the side, by the street, the arm he lopped off is impaling into the roof of a nearby car. He winces, "Oops."

Phantom floats down to the disabled battlesuit. He eyes it suspiciously, noting that the eyes are hollow and without their previous green glow. The flowing fiery green mohawk is gone as well. He can hear screeching and yelling of some kind coming from the robotic shell.

He lands and walks up to the suit, the park is quiet and devoid of any sound, not even birds or bugs. Picking up the broken metal body, he sticks his ear close to it, finding the sound coming from the head. Danny places a hand on the head and pulls, intent on seeing the face of the ghost who tried to pelt him. Metal creaks and groans as slowly, the head is forced off the body. The pain in his hands only adds fuel to his vindictive streak, pushing his motivation further.

Although a little startled at removing the head so easily, Danny peers into the body and then turns the head over in confusion. Where was Skulkers main body? Screeching and ranting echoes from the severed head, and seconds later, a small hatch is opened on the back of the head.

The Halfa stares in what could only be described as stupefied awe as a small green ghost slips out of the hatch. "Curse you whelp! This isn't over! I'll have your pelt!"

It's too much, Danny doubles over in laughter. "Hahahahaha, this is the Ghost Zones greatest hunter?! Aha!" Skulker fumes in anger, screeching and yelling in his high pitched voice. He wipes a tear from his eye, feeling much better than he did before.

"Do not laugh at me you unnatural atrocity! I will-" Skulker is cut off from his rant when Phantom grabs him. His eyes no longer contain the mirth that was there mere moments ago. His teeth are bare, large fangs snarling at the little green ghost. "Listen here, booger-boy, I will not be called that by you. Or anyone. I am not an abomination, or atrocity! Get that through your head-" Electricity coils in his hand, shocking the small blob- "or the next time I won't be so-" Another shock- "lenient." Danny hisses. He would not be called that by a baseball sized snot-frog thing.

Danny makes a stance and cocks his arm back. For good measure he shocks the dazed hunter one more time, eliciting a yelp of pain from the ghost that satisfies him more than it should. With as much strength as he can muster with his diminishing power, he tosses the still sparking Skulker as hard as he can. The half-ghost watches with an impassive face as the small form of the hunter is eventually out of sight.

He suddenly sighs, feeling far more tired than he originally thought. Danny rolls his shoulders, trying to get the soreness out, but winces when he feels his back again. That wasn't going to be fun to bandage up. A neck crack later and he walks over to the metal husk that was Skulkers body. With his enhanced strength, it's far too easy to pick up the metal body, and after grabbing the arm from the car, makes his way back to base.

He can patch himself up there, then, if he has enough energy, he can fly back to his house to pass out.

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The citizens of Amity Park were stunned to say the least. This wasn't Metropolis or Gotham. This was a medium sized city with less than a million people. So when a white haired teenager comes flying through the city with a robot blasting after him, literally, it would be safe to say that it wasn't a normal day.

The city took a decent amount of damage, over the last month, large amounts of property damage has piled up. This day alone was millions in damage. Roads were broken and battered from stray rockets and blasts, skyscrapers had chunks taken out from the two fighters, cars were crushed and on fire, and the park was quarantined and off limits until further notice. Random areas of what seemed like the whole city had damage, as if the two took the fight literally everywhere. One area in particular, a forested area near the residential area was devoid of all flora. The epicenter was scorched black and radioactive green, and a forest fire had started. The fire, originally green in nature, but turned a blazing orange had destroyed three blocks worth of vegetation. The whole area was uninhabitable and the Fentons had blocked off the perimeter for studying.

The city was a mess.

And the fight was recorded for all to see.

It wasn't hard to do, neither of the two combatants were being stealthy, and the show they put on was too good to run away from. Watching shadows in the clouds through green flashes was enchanting to the people of the mundane. Booms and bangs had rolled through the boring Illinois city, forcing attention on the two ghosts battling it out. It was awe inspiring, and fear inputting to the normal people who wouldn't be able to retaliate.

The entire fight was not captured on a single camera in one go, but two days later, someone would have a compilation of all the videos, showcasing almost the whole fight. The video would go on to reach millions of views.

The mayor of Amity Park genuinely considered retiring early. He wanted to stay in politics, he loved it. Helping his people, providing for the needy, furthering the prosperity of those who presided over. But this was a pain in the ass like no other, and he had no way to get rid of it. Ernesto Montez had zero desire for his city to house super powered individuals, he can only imagine the headaches the mayor of Gotham went through. He shuddered at the thought.

It was hard enough dealing with a city full of people in this day and age. Nothing was ever up to anyone's standards, work was constant, and pleasing the public was close to impossible. Especially with everything being either racist, or sexist, or homophobic, or anything really. If anyone takes too much offense? They take it to twitter and it's game over.

It was impossible to win.

Now it seems like the only option left was to lose. The Hispanic man sighed into his hands, he had a really bad feeling that this was only going to continue. Why? Why?

"Why me?" He groaned into his hands, a strong drink was required.

Or maybe the whole bottle.

The office phone rang, the ringtone identifying the caller as his secretary. Ernesto took a deep breath and answered the phone. "Yes, Michelle?"

The caller could hear just how tired her employer and mayor was. It didn't make the coming news any better. "I… don't have good news."

The man bit his lip and suppressed the urge to scream. The only good thing to come out of this mess so far was that no one was hurt.

"… I wasn't expecting good news." He croaked.

The secretary continued, if only to end the man's suffering. "It's over twenty million in damages so far, sir. Most of the cost being accounted for road infrastructure, skyscraper repair cost, and environmental remediation and repopulation. Practically the whole town has called with complaints and questions, and we don't have the answers to them."

The line was silent for three horribly long minutes. Michelle got worried and was tempted to go check on her boss, "That'll be all, Michelle. I'm… going home."

She really couldn't blame him, so the secretary bid her boss a goodnight and hung up, presumably to do the same.

The mayor of Amity Park screamed into his hands, before getting up and grabbing his briefcase and laptop bag. He stared out the window for another ten minutes before walking back out.

It was definitely going to be two bottles.

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Danny lands in his cave, the armor dropped in a large thud that echoes in the secret lair. He's barely hanging on, thoughts are strained and muddy, moving hurts far more than it should, and the Halfa doesn't even know how he's holding out.

He looks down at himself, taking in all the damage that's accumulated. His back was burned and it might still be bleeding. Legs are okay for the most part, sore and numb, but otherwise okay. The few times the hunter hit him with his blasters, it left quarter-inch deep burn holes in his chest, both upper arms, and two spots on his lower back. Danny was pretty sure he had a concussion too. Also, three of his fingers are broken, one on right and two on left.

Phantom groaned in pain and annoyance. If he was fast enough, he might be able to turn intangible when he turns human and save his clothes. He really liked the button down, and the long sleeve was still new.

He prepared himself to use the last bit of energy that he had to save his clothes. Danny walks over to the cleanest couch and puts the medical supplies on the coffee table in front of it. As soon as Phantom is Fenton, his body is intangible and the clothes fall to the floor, and Danny falls onto the couch naked, barely holding onto consciousness.

As human nerve endings and pain receptors attempt to process the damage done to his body again, Danny slowly takes out some burn cream. The easy places to apply it are up front, and he wasn't even sure just how much of his back was burned this time.

Fenton pauses and slowly puts the cream back down, replacing it with peroxide. He bites his lips for the oncoming pain, but a hiss still makes its way out when the disinfecting alcohol makes contact. As fast as he can, he pours it on every wound he can, quickly using up the whole bottle and practically dousing his whole body in it.

Finally, with all his injuries more or less disinfected, he picks up the cream again. A whimper escapes his mouth when the cream touches the first wound, but he holds on and moves onto the next wound, then the next and the next. After the front is fully covered, he takes out large bandages and places them on his body, covering the grievous wounds.

As much as he wants his fingers in their splints now, he still has to apply the cream to his back, somehow, and then he can place them on.

Danny turns to try and get a better look at his back, scared of what he'll see, but determined to be done with this. After reorienting his body into a more comfortable position on the sweat and peroxide soaked couch, he fully twists his body to get a look.

He blacks out and slumps forward from the pain of it. In the two hours that he's out, the wounds do heal slightly, but when he shuffles his arm, he wakes himself up. His finger had been touched a tad too much, and sent shivers of pain down his whole body.

The Halfa looks around in confusion, before he remembers the events of today and quickly gets back to work. The last turn forced him out cold, so he turned the other way to get a look. It seems to work, because the grizzly sight of his back honestly scares him.

He gulps at the sight, hoping that this wound heal the soonest. A second or third degree burn- he didn't know- takes up a large chunk of skin on his lower back, going down as far as the top of his butt cheeks if he's feeling it right. Shitting wasn't going to be easy for the next two or three days. At least it's in an easy place to work his arms around, a little higher and he wouldn't have been able to do nearly as much.

An hour later and the Halfa finds himself fully patched up, in pain, and drained of energy. Before he falls asleep, Danny at least has the thought process to spare to send his sister a text, explaining how he's spending the night at a friend's house. It's uncomfortable and awkward with the splints on each hand, but he makes do. He knows she probably won't buy it, but he can't be bothered to care at the moment.

Danny passes out minutes later, content to sleep the pain away. Again.