The ghosts of our past

Chapter Fourteen

Art above was done by me.

"This one isn't strong enough! Bring me another!" Asphera yelled as the nindroids carried away what was left of the poor ghost from Asphera, completely drained of it's core.

"How many of these ghosts are you going to drain? Do you know how frustrating it is to identify and capture a ghost with a fire core?" Pythor complained as he waved in the next set of Nindroids, struggling to carry in the next ghost.

"Well, unless you have a fire elemental hidden up your sleeve, I suggest you keep quiet and stop complaining or I'll shut your mouth permanently." Asphera said as she drained the next ghost.

"I'd like to see you try witch!" The two glared at each other, and if looks could kill, they'd both be dead about ten times already.

"I do hope the two of you aren't fighting." The two looked over to see Pariah emerge from the shadows, and widened their eyes in surprise to see the tyrannical king no longer possessing Garmadon, but floating before them in his true ghostly form.

"Ki- King Pariah?" Pythor stuttered out, not expecting the ghost to turn up. "Of course not my Lord." The serpentine bowed, both were intimidated by the ghosts appearance, one more so than the other.

"We were just discussing that there's not enough energy from these ghosts for me to get my powers."

"I see... You! Metal man!" Pariah yelled, pointing at Cryptor. "Bring in all the ghosts you have captured."

"Yes, my Lord." The nindriods dragged in the two remaining ghosts that they had captured, but they were putting up quite a fight. Pariah recognized one to be Ember, and he hadn't seen the other ghost before, but she was the spitting image of Phantom.

"Let us go! I hope you know this is your fault dweeb." Ember yelled at Dani.

"My fault? How in the ghost zone is this my fault?" Dani yelled back. The two had been fighting prior to getting captured.

"If you hadn't scared away my audience, I would've had enough power to turn these guys into scrap metal!"

"Oh yeah! Well if you hadn't been hypnotizing them, I wouldn't have attacked!"

"SILENCE!" The two ghosts jumped at the booming voice, and Ember looked in shock when she saw who was looming over him.

"Pa- Pariah!"

Dani looked between the two ghosts in confusion, even more so at Ember as she never knew her to get scared this easily.

"Wait, Pariah as in Pariah Dark? The evil ghost king who's ass got kicked by Danny. That Pariah?" 

"Yes, now shut up!" 

Pariah knelt down in front of Dani, grabbing hold of her face and took a close look of her.

"You... Why do you look like that Phantom boy..." Pariah asked as he let go and stood back up.

"Okay first of all, ever heard of breath mints? Because you really need some dude. Second of all, I'm his clone, and third of all, if you don't let us go, Danny is gonna come and kick your ass again." Dani said with a smirk, which dropped the moment the ghost started laughing.

"This one is amusing. Take her to the witch." The Nindriods picked Dani up and dragged her over to where Asphera. "Drain this one, and then we can commence with the attack on Ninblago."

"Let go of me!" Dani yelled as she struggled against them, trying to get out of their grip. It was no use as the nindriods wouldn't budge, and she was once again forced to kneel, this time, in front of the serpentine.

"Hmmm. This one shall do." Asphera said as she chanted the spell, and Dani found herself floating off the ground.

"Wha- What are you doing?" It took all Dani had in her not to scream. Her entire skin felt as if it was on fire, and she felt like she was being split in half.

"Dani! What are you doing to her!" Ember yelled, finding herself concerned for the halflings safety. "Let her go!"

She didn't know why, but the Rockstar found herself getting angrier the more she watched. When she heard Dani finally cry out in pain, something in Ember snapped.

"I said! Let! Her! Go!" Ember freed herself of the nindroids grasp, and sent them flying to the wall as she grabbed her guitar. Asphera was unaware of what was happening until a blue and purple blur hit her in the face, throwing her to the floor.

Dani fell to the floor as the spell broke, her entire body aching. Ember ran over to her, and practically dragged her to the nearest exit, ignoring the yells of the snakes behind them.

"Come on, let's get out of here." The two girls ran down the hallways of... Where ever they were, and picked up the pace after hearing the footsteps of the nindriods behind them.

"Where's the damn exit! This place is like a labyrinth." Ember yelled in frustration, banging her fist against the wall. She looked over to Dani, who was clearly exhausted, and she took a deep breath, trying to compose herself. Ember reminded herself that she was not in a position to lose it.

"Come on, we've got to keep moving." Ember said, helping Dani up as the two carried on moving. After many hallways and corridors, they reached a dead end, and the sound of metal footsteps were getting worryingly close, and the two ghosts were starting to lose hope of getting out of... Where ever they were.

"Let's turn back and go the other way..." Dani suggested, but as she poked her head round the corner, she could see the nindroids coming down the hallway. "Dammit we're boxed in!"

"And there's too many of them to fight." Ember slouched against the wall and slid down until she was sitting on the floor, holding her head in her hands. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. It wasn't your fault we got captured."

Dani was shocked. She had never expected Ember to apologize for anything or to anyone, let alone her. It was a strange sight, seeing someone she fought against so much looking like this.

"And I'm sorry for ruining your concert." Dani said sitting down next to her. "I suppose you weren't really doing anything evil this time." Ember just scoffed, as if someone just told her a bad joke.

"I never was. I always kept up the whole 'I'm gonna take over the world' act to keep up my reputation in the ghost zone. All I want to do is play my music, and I never had much of a chance to do so when I was... alive." Ember had a sad, far away look in her eyes. "Gaining power from it was just a bonus... I never really planned to do anything with it. I also kinda enjoy our fights, andikindalikeyouanditsanexcusetoseeyou." Ember said the last part so quick and quiet that Dani was unable to hear what was said, but didn't think much of  it.

Ember sighed. "Wow, that's the first time I've told anyone that." Ember turned to Dani, her usual scowl and hard stare back on her face. "You tell anyone what I've told you and you're dead meat Phantom."

Dani just smirked. and put her hand over her heart and raised the other one. "I swear on my afterlife that I won't tell a soul. But let me know when you're next going on tour, some of your music is kinda catchy."

"Check down this way!" The two ghosts jumped to their feet upon hearing the robotic voices.

"Well, I'm not going down without a fight. Care to join me, dweeb?" Ember said as she picked up her guitar, her hair flaming up.

"With pleasure." Dani replied, holding her glowing, green hands up.

"Excuse me ladies, but if I may, I have a better solution to your little problem."