7 day: Free day
Flying through the green infinity of the Ghost Zone, Danny is definitely not sulking.
Boom.
He's upset, sad. And maybe a little angry.
Bang.
Another tiny flying rock shatters into pieces. His hands are still smoking from the other dozens of ectoblast shots.
Danny didn't want to admit it to Tucker, much less Jazz. They have enough problems without him. That's why he's in the Zone now, smashing everything that catches his eye.
To all the injustice of the universe, he didn't meet any of his usual rogues along the way. There wasn't even a trace of the Box Ghost.
“So when you need to find me, you're welcome,” another shot at a passing stone. “And when I want to find someone, there's no one there.”
Finally, he finds a huge island. Dark green thickets of vines hang from the edge, and huge and tall trees cover the entire ground. Danny grins, gathers the ecto charge in his hands and throws it at the trunk, breaking the tree in half.
Jazz could say that his whole way of cooling down is unhealthy, he doesn't need to respond to everything with aggression. Maybe a human doesn't need it, but a ghost?
When a ghost accumulates emotions, it's an energy bomb.
Danny found out about this completely by accident when he was sad after a failed test and at night he met Johnny on the border of the city. He just shot at the garbage, then at the stones, sometimes at the wall of a long-collapsed building. Then Johnny explained to him the features of his body and he really felt better. Not much, but still something.
Having already cut down three trees, Danny prepared to launch another one.
Suddenly, something grabs his ankle and turns him upside down. Abruptly, he changes his target and throws the ectoblast to the side. A scream is heard, but they do not let him go, but quickly throw him into the ground. His back breaks through the top layer, cracks spread across the pit.
They don't even give him a second when several vines stick into him. He barely manages to become intangible and push off, flying into the air. Finally, he could see the attacker.
She's a ghost he doesn't recognize. Her long black hair is intertwined with vines, her eyes are completely green with barely visible pupils, and her lips are dark purple, as if poisonous. The ghost hisses, squinting at him.
“Getoffgetoffgetoff!”
Her core pulsates to the beat of his.
“Fightfightfight”
She's not waiting for his move. Her vines rise up from behind her again and attack swiftly. Danny dodges some, explodes others with ectolights. Sometimes he gets hit by particularly small but well-aimed vines, leaving thin cuts on his suit and skin.
When he got close to her, he could only make a couple of punches, as she was already retreating and attacking again. Each of their blows shakes the air of the Zone, cuts through stones and scares weak ghosts. It takes him a long time to realize that at some point he started smiling, and she stopped using small tricks to scare him away, trying to completely suppress him.
Their fight is like a dance of death. It's movement, it's adrenaline, and it's relief.
Perhaps by breaking her main vines from her back, Danny got too proud.
Suddenly, his body goes numb, every movement of the limb slow and heavy. The next moment, the ghost herself grabs the suit and throws it to the ground. Danny lies on his back, feeling a spreading weakness. The girl stands over him, pressing his chest with her foot. And only now he notices that she is wearing only a mini dress made of leaves, which reveals a lot of white skin with green veins. The stem around her thigh looks too hot, which somehow makes his unbreakable heart skip a beat.
“Beautifulbeautifulbeautiful," sings his core now.
Danny agrees that he should be buried here.
“Beautifulbeautiful?” The ghost is embarrassed in response.
"You..." she says, coughs, and then continues. "You, uh... what are you doing here?..”
"Well, I'm lying under you at the moment..." Danny blushes and raises his arms in front of him. “That is, I'm lying on the ground, and you're above me... that is! The Ancients, it's terrible…”
“Embarrassmentbeautifulred”
Would it be advisable if he just ripped out his core? Her laughter softens the situation. The forest around her rustles in unison with her, and small dark purple flowers bloom on her hair.
"You don't explain yourself well.”
"I've already been told that…”
She let go of her leg, and even so, he still couldn't move. Her gaze passes over him, then she looks around and her eyebrows furrow.
"And yet," she waves her hand at the edge of the ruined island. “Why the hell did you harm innocent trees?!”
“Angerangeranger," her core screams.
“Oh…” he examines the scale of the destruction, barely moving his head to the sides. "Is this your... family?"
“Sorrysorry.”
“No!” She crosses her arms in front of her. "But they also exist, just like you. They don't deserve to be destroyed.”
"That's right, you're right...I'm sorry," her words sink into his head. Just a couple of hours ago, he was told the exact opposite. Its core emits a quiet hum: “Sadsadsad.”
"Did something... happen?" She asks slowly, when a whisper gives her away: “Curiositycuriosity.”
“No.”
And they both know it's a lie. The silence is overwhelming.
"If you want, we can have sparring sessions," she looks into the distance, stealing a glance at him. "I think we both want to blow off steam sometimes."
“I would like that!” Danny nods at her. Finally, his body is moving away from this weakness, maybe someday he'll find out what kind of abilities she has.
“Likelikelike,” He abruptly looks away, feeling his face burn. The hand is lying over the core, hoping to somehow drown it out.
It had never failed him so much.
She, such a kind soul, doesn't say anything, but her face, like his, glows green. Instead of saying anything, she waves at him and pushes off from the island. Her figure begins to disappear.
"W-wait!" Danny shouts and flies up to her. She stops and turns to him with a question. “I wanted to ask… What's your name?”
“Oh…” It also dawned on her that they hadn't introduced themselves. "You can call me Nightshade." She looks at him. "And you?"
Danny smiles and bows with his hand on his heart.
“Phantom. You can call me Phantom.”
